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He shrugged. “I don’t know. Busy. Nobody around.”

“The next time you have an injury, you call me,” I said.

“It’s just a splinter—”

“You call me.”

“All right. I will. But only because you scare the shit out of me. I don’t want to ruffle your feathers.” He grinned.

I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

Maybe I was a mean little protective chicken. Maybe I was starting to feel a little protective of him. This nice, unbothered, lonely man who didn’t care what people thought and probably rarely asked for help, even when he needed it.

He was kind to animals. Hardworking and funny. Maybe a little much at first, but I think that was a shield. I think he was tender underneath. Vulnerable. I bet he showed up for people he loved. I bet that’s why he showed up that day Emma and I first came here. He was probably Daniel’s first phone call.

He deserved to be the best friend. He wasn’t a technicality.

He looked at his finger. “You were gentler than I thought you’d be.”

I wrapped the splinter in a tissue and set it on the coffee table. “I can be soft,” I said, quietly.

“I bet…”

I glanced up at him and he gave a smile. Then his eyes dropped to my mouth.

Heat rushed to my cheeks.

Fuck.

I liked him. For some reason I didn’t want to.

Maybe because I didn’t believe there was any point in it.

I wanted to hope that Emma was going to thrive here. That she would heal and be okay. But the reality was that she might not. And if she didn’t, she wouldn’t stay. And then I couldn’t stay. I would have to go where she went because that’s what I did. I looked out for her. She was my family.

So a relationship with a handsome rugged farmer was not going to be a thing.

But a fling could be a thing. A one-night stand. A hookup.

A situationship.

I licked my lips. I never liked putting off till tomorrow the things I could be doing today.