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“You’re a terrible singer.”
“But I make up for it with enthusiasm.”
Naomi laughed and felt everything in her settle. This was good. Hormones aside, this was what she needed, wanted. This easy affection. They were friends, and they always would be. She’d see to that.
“Okay,” she said, giving Legend one last pat, “now that I’ve won an argument—”
“Not an argument. No one shouted.”
“A debate, then,” she amended. “I have chickens to assault and eggs to kidnap. If you don’t hear from me in half an hour, come and find me.”
“You’re taking this whole rancher’s wife thing to heart, aren’t you?” he asked, and his mouth was still curved in a smile.
“If I’m living here, I’m doing my share of chores,” she said. “As long as the chickens don’t kill me.” She looked past him to the horse. “Legend, it was nice meeting you. Toby, I’ll see you at breakfast.”
She headed for the corral gate and stopped when Toby laughed. Turning around, she saw that Legend had pulled free of Toby’s grip to follow her. “I’ve never seen him do that before,” he admitted.
“I’m new here, that’s all,” she said and kept walking. But now she heard the horse’s hooves plopping onto the powder-soft dirt right behind her. Naomi stopped again and this time waited for the horse to come close. Staring up into those chocolate-brown eyes, she smiled and said, “You’re on my side, aren’t you?”
The horse lifted his huge head then laid it gently on her shoulder as if giving her a hug. Touched, Naomi whispered to the big animal and stroked his neck as she would have a puppy.
She looked over at Toby and saw amazement on his face as he watched her. And Naomi thought that maybe this was all going to work out, after all.
Six
The next couple of weeks were harder than Toby had thought they would be. Living with Naomi was both torture and pleasure.
She was his friend, but more and more, he was noticing her breasts, her butt, her smile, her low, full-throated laugh that tugged at something deep inside him. Lust, pure and simple, he told himself. Now that she’d relaxed about her pregnancy and he’d gotten her to loosen up and actually eat real food, she was curvier than ever, and that was giving him some bad moments.
He didn’t want to feel for her. Didn’t want to start feeling a need for more. But he didn’t seem to have a choice in that. Cursing under his breath, Toby grabbed a screwdriver, stepped behind his latest project in the workshop and tightened the screws there. He smoothed his thumb over them to make sure they were deep set, then took a long walk around the piece, inspecting every inch before moving to test the design. Better to keep busy, he told himself. To keep his brain so full of work it didn’t have time to pick apart thoughts of Naomi.
The workshop was his sanctuary. When Toby had the ranch built, he’d had this shop done to his specifications. The floor was hardwood, as it was easier to stand on for hours than concrete. The windows were wide enough to let in plenty of natural light, plus there were skylights in the roof. The walls were peppered with sketches he’d stuck there with pieces of tape. There were walls full of shelves holding every kind of supply he might need. And the wall behind his bench was covered in Peg-Board so he could hang his favorite tools within easy reach.
On the far side of the building, he had lumber, plastic, metal and vinyl and a table saw to let him cut anything down to whatever size he needed. This building was the one spot in the universe that was all his. No one came in here, so he was always guaranteed peace and quiet and the solitude he needed to spark ideas. He’d come up with some of his best stuff in this shop, and whenever he was here, his brain kicked into gear.
Until lately.
“Just keep focused.” He studied the raw version of his design, looking for areas he could improve. If it worked as it was supposed to, of course, he’d redo the whole thing in finer materials and, with patent in hand, get it onto the market. It was what he did, what he’d been doing most of his life. Taking ideas and making them real. A few of those inventions had helped him amass a fortune that had allowed him to buy this ranch and live exactly the way he wanted to.
“And nothing’s going to change just because Naomi’s here,” he muttered. But hell, even he didn’t believe that. Things had already changed.
Having Naomi around constantly was like having an itch he couldn’t scratch. He hadn’t counted on that. Her scent was everywhere. It was like she was stalking him. In his sleep, in the kitchen, hell, even here in his workshop he couldn’t get her out of his mind. She’d invaded every part of his life, and what was worse, he’d invited her in. He’d done this to himself by coming up with that marriage-of-convenience idea. Now his skin felt too tight, his mind was constantly filled with images of her and she was looking at him as she always had. As good ol’ Toby.
“And that’s how you’ve got to stay,” he said tightly. Once he got used to her constant presence, he’d get over the whole want-to-strip-her-naked thing and their relationship would smooth out again. That would be best. He didn’t want any more from her than friendship, because anything beyond that was too damn risky. He could deal with the sexual frustration. But if she got any deeper under his skin, Toby could be in trouble. And he’d had enough female trouble to last him a lifetime already.
So he deliberately pushed everything but the moment at hand out of his head. All he needed was to keep his distance from her once in a while. Clear his head. Get some space. Like today. Some time spent in the workshop, focused on what he loved doing.
“Toby,” Naomi called, walking into the workshop. “You in here?”
“So much for that idea,” he muttered. “Yeah.” He raised his voice. “In the back.”
Sanctuary was gone now, so he braced himself for being near her. It was just as well she was sleeping in the stupid guest room, he thought. He didn’t know if he could take it, having her in his bed every night and not touching her.
He heard her footsteps and could have sworn he smelled her perfume rushing toward him. Toby didn’t dare take a deep breath to steady himself—he’d only draw more of her into him. And he was already on the slippery edge of control.
“Wow, you’ve been busy,” she was saying as she got closer.
He turned to watch her as she approached and asked himself how any man could keep his mind on work when Naomi Price was around. Hell, she was his friend, and right now it felt like a damned shame to admit it.
