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“We’ve only just met.”

“I know. I’m not trying to rush anything.” His gaze stayed on hers. “I just like being with you.”

Kate smiled. “I like being with you too.”

The band changed songs inside, something slower carrying through the open doors.

“Would you like to dance again?” Wes asked.

Kate held out her hand. “Yes.”

The second dance felt different from the first. Kate no longer watched anyone else or worried about her feet. She let Wes draw her a little closer, her hand resting against his shoulder while they moved with the music. This time she simply enjoyed being close to him.

They stayed a little longer after the song ended and talked with Gabe and Mara before leaving. By the time they walked out to the truck, Kate realized she hadn’t checked her phone again.

The drive back was quiet in an easy way. When Wes turned onto her parents’ drive, the farmhouse was mostly dark, with a lamp glowing in the living room and the porch light left on for her.

He parked and switched off the engine.

Kate unfastened her seat belt but made no move toward the door. “Thank you,” she said. “I had a wonderful time.”

“So did I,” he murmured. “I was hoping you would.”

She looked at him, aware of the darkness beyond the windows and how close he was. Wes’s gaze dropped to her mouth, and she knew that if he leaned toward her, she would meet him halfway.

For a long moment, she thought he would.

Then, just when she expected him to close the distance between them, Wes drew back. “Goodnight, Kate.”

She had been so sure. “Goodnight, Wes.” She climbed out and crossed to the porch. At the door, she looked back. Wes was still there, waiting until she was safely inside. Kate lifted a hand before opening the door, and he returned the gesture.

Only after she stepped into the house did his truck pull away. Kate stood in the dark hallway, listening to the engine fade between the trees. Why had he stopped? She hadn’t imagined the way he looked at her mouth. She touched her fingers to her lips, then let her hand drop.

Yesterday morning she had not even met him. So when had she started wishing he would kiss her?

CHAPTER 8

Wes

You should have kissed her, Wes’s bear said.

Wes sighed as he lifted the taller orchard ladder from its hooks in the equipment shed. You’ve mentioned that.

His bear had been mentioning it since Wes woke earlier than usual that morning and had no intention of letting the subject go.

He had wanted to kiss Kate. He was fairly sure she had wanted him to as well. But fairly sure was not the same as certain. What if he had been wrong? She had spent one evening with him, danced with him twice and stood beside him by a fence. That wasn’t the same as asking him to kiss her. Wes shifted his grip on the ladder. A kiss could wait until he was certain. He hoped it would not have to wait long.

She would have kissed us back, his bear said with unshakable confidence.

Probably.

His bear made a deeply unimpressed sound. Definitely.

Wes smiled and balanced the ladder against his shoulder. Alan had called twenty minutes earlier to ask if he could borrow it. Eileen Shaw was back for the harvest and staying at Bear Creek Lodge, and she had driven over that morning to pick apples from the old tree her husband had planted years ago.

That sounded exactly like Eileen. Wes had known her and her husband for years, and he knew how much of her history was tied up in those rows. But that tree had always been different.

It reminds her of him, his bear said.