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“Perfect! This will be so great.” Kyra started to spin circles in the chair. “We can do some hiking during the day. Maybe some horseback riding too. And she’s got a hot springs pool up there so we can lie out in the sun and relax.”
“That sounds really nice.” Like the perfect getaway weekend for a couple.
“Nice?” Kyra stood up. “It’s going to be a blast. I promise. It’ll be the little mini vacay we all need right now.”
Lyric typed the Ladies’ new chair session into the online calendar and then stood too. “I’ll text you after I talk to Thatch.”
“I’ll be waiting.” Her friend sent her out the door with a pat.
But Lyric took her time walking to her car. They could easily get out of this trip. There had to be a way. By the time she’d pulled up in front of Thatch’s house, she still hadn’t thought of any good excuses that would satisfy Kyra. She knocked on the door, almost hoping he wasn’t home.
But Thatch answered right away.
“Hey.” He greeted her with an alluring, simmering smile. “You want to come in?”
“Sure.” Parts of her were simmering too. He always had to look so damn appealing. What was it about a cowboy in a flannel shirt and fitted jeans anyway? Steering her gaze away from him, she stepped inside.
“Want to sit?” He gestured to the couch. “I can get you a drink. No kombucha, but I do have some iced tea.”
“Iced tea would be great.” God, why was she so nervous? This was Thatch. Her friend. Her kissing friend nowadays. And over the last few weeks, he’d gotten to know her better than most people. Lyric perched on the very edge of the couch.
“So what’s up?” He sauntered to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, doing some digging before coming up with a pitcher.
“Kyra is forcing us to go on a couples’ getaway this weekend with her and Aiden and Silas and Tess.” She hadn’t quite meant to blurt out the news that way, but the nerves were taking over. Even being here alone with him in the middle of the afternoon had her craving another kiss.
“She wants us to go on a couples’ getaway?” He set a full glass on the coffee table in front of her.
“Yes.” Typical Thatch. He made it sound like they were simply going to the café for a beer. “One of her patients offered her three cabins at her romantic bed-and-breakfast for free this weekend.”
He kicked back in one of the chairs across from her. “Sounds great.”
“So you think we should go?” Lyric picked up the glass and took a sip of the fragrant black tea blend.
“I don’t see why not.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “What’re you worried about?”
“That’s a lot of time to spend together.” And she couldn’t lose her heart to him.
“Are you afraid you won’t be able to resist me?” he teased.
But she wasn’t laughing. She did find it hard to resist him now. “This isn’t funny. We have to spend a whole weekend with our best friends pretending to be a couple.”
“We don’t have to be a couple.” One shoulder rose in a half shrug. “We can be good friends if you want.”
Oh, sure. Neutrality would be that simple. She already knew she couldn’t maintain any boundaries when it came to this man.
“So you’re fine with this?” She studied him searching for a chink in his armor, but there didn’t seem to be one. Thatch was all confidence.
“Sure. But if you’re not fine with going, tell them I can’t make it.”
Aiden and Silas would know better. “No, I’m fine with going too,” she said. Because if he was fine with going and she wasn’t, that might indicate she had a reason fornotbeing fine, which he might attribute to his sex appeal. “I wanted to make sure you were fine. Maybeyoucan’t resistme.”
“We’ve already proven that, haven’t we?” The shadows in his eyes deepened, and she knew he was thinking about kissing her again. She knew because she was thinking about kissing him again too. “Okay. Good. It’s settled then. We’re going.” She and a sexy cowboy would spend the entire weekend holed up in a romantic cabin with lines blurring and boundaries fading.
In that case, she’d best bring along her man-repelling flannel pajamas.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Thatch handed Franco a section of the plank flooring and supervised while he snapped it into place. “You’re really getting the hang of this construction thing.” When he’d agreed to hire the kid, he hadn’t anticipated that Franco would actually become an asset to the team. But they were knocking out this floor faster than any of them had thought they would.
