“Let’s go out front and I’ll tell you where we keep some of the things you might need, like extra propane tanks.”
Laney had already figured out thatout frontmeant the lodge itself and the lawn and outbuildings surrounding it, andout backmeant the camping area and field. As soon as they walked through the gap in the trees, though, she saw two guys—one of them being Josh—standing next to a trailer bearing an ATV that looked a little worse for wear.
“Who’s that with Josh?” she asked, knowing she’d be meeting a whole lot of new people in the days to come.
“That’s Ben Rivers,” Rosie answered. “He grew up in Whitford, but he moved away to the city years ago. Now he’s back, which makes his mama happy, let me tell you. Ben’s a good boy.”
Laney bit back a laugh at the idea of the man standing across the yard being described asa good boy. He looked about her age or maybe a little older, with dark hair and a scruffy jaw. He wasn’t as tall as Josh but Laney could tell he was at least a couple inches taller than her, so he was probably five-ten or five-eleven. Very faded jeans and a navy T-shirt hugged his body, and he was wearing battered work boots.
But it wasn’t his appearance that caused Laney to be amused by the wordboy. Whoever Ben was, he carried himself with the kind of confidence and authority that came from life experience and feeling secure in his place in the world.
Must be nice.
And then he turned his head to look at her, one eyebrow arched as if silently asking why she was staring at him. She felt her cheeks warm before his gaze shifted to Rosie beside her. He smiled, and his face lit up in a way that made Laney’s pulse quicken.
How ridiculous to feel as if she could burst into flames just seeing a man smile, and not even at her, she thought. It had been a very long time since she’d had that kind of reaction to a man and, while she was glad everything felt as if it was in good working order, she wasn’t here for that.
She was here to work so, as Rosie spoke to her, she tore her gaze away from the handsomegood boyand tried to pay attention.
