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Chapter Two
Hannah Otto pressed her palms into her hips as she slid her hands over them. These jeans were amazing, delivering everything they’d promised they would from the ad she’d tapped on. They had some sort of magic material in the waist and hips, and they’d slimmed her by at least five pounds. Probably ten.
The flowery shirt she’d paired with them actually lay mostly flat against her stomach, and she stepped into a fashionable pair of cowgirl boots she’d never wear around the ranch. She was a part-time cowgirl at best, and she was truly happiest curled into the couch with a bowl of caramel popcorn and the largest diet cola someone could bring her.
She loved horses and dogs, goats and chickens. She didn’t mind her daily chores of making sure the small animals on the ranch got fed. She even knew how to mend fences, as the goats at Hope Eternal seemed to have a special knack for breaking things. Every morning was an adventure as she walked out to the paddock as the first rays of sun warmed the path beneath her feet.
Hannah had learned to like getting up early, just like she’d learned to like her barrel-sized and shaped midsection and her impossibly thick hair. In high school, she’d shaved the bottom half of her head—everything in the back below her ears—in an attempt to have the same amount of hair as other girls her age.
“All right,” she said with a sigh. She turned and picked up the keys to her car, which she’d only gotten a few days ago. She’d only driven it back to the ranch, and she realized as she went into the kitchen that she should’ve gone out yesterday to practice.
Her nerves needled her, but she managed to pour herself a large amount of coffee into her thermos, add sugar, and a healthy splash of cream. She reached for her purse, which held all of the essentials, and headed outside.
She’d expected to be early, because she was always early. Always ready before everyone else. And yet, she seemed to have fallen behind all of her friends. She put away her jealousy, because it could act like a poison, spreading through her whole system before she even had time to breathe. The antidote worked in a far slower way, and Hannah hated how off-kilter her envy could make her feel.
“Ready?” Luke asked, and Hannah flinched away from him, dropping her keys in the process.
“Oh.” Her humiliation had no end, as she was constantly making a fool of herself in front of the man. Things between them had been much easier before Jill had told her Luke was going to ask her out. She’d gone out to the cabin construction site several times and had intelligent—or at least cohesive—conversations with him.
Since her break-up with Bill, though, everything between her and Luke had shifted. He never had asked, and then he’d left the ranch.
“Here you go.” Luke had bent and retrieved her keys while Hannah stood there mute. She’d done the same thing yesterday, but at least she’d had a good reason then. The man had muscles everywhere. Muscles on top of muscles, and while she’d never seen him work outside without a shirt on, he obviously went shirtless at some point, because his skin had been golden and beautiful.
The familiar heat that had assaulted her yesterday made a reappearance, and she was grateful she’d thought to double-down on the deodorant.
“Thanks,” she said, taking the keys. “Let’s see…unlock…” She found the right button the key fob and pressed it. The car made a satisfying clicking noise, and Hannah beamed at Luke like she’d done an amazing thing by unlocking the car.
“Can you pop the trunk?” he asked. “I just have the one bag.”
“Sure.” Hannah got that job done too, and Luke lifted his bag into the trunk as if it were empty. He met her gaze as he rounded the trunk to the passenger side, and Hannah opened her door to get behind the wheel.
The new car smell filled her nose, and she managed to get the engine started. “Okay.” She flexed her fingers on the steering wheel and looked at all the controls. “This is a brand new car for me. I literally got it a few days ago.”
“It’s nice,” Luke said, sliding his seat back to accommodate his longer legs. “Why did you need a new car?”
“Oh, uh.” She laughed lightly and wished she’d pulled her hair up for this drive. An hour trapped in the car with this man. What in the world were they going to talk about? “I had a little mishap a week or so before Christmas, and my old car got filled with river water.”
“Filled with river water?” Luke chuckled, and Hannah dared to look at him. Their eyes met, and the ice broke into tiny shards. She laughed with him. “That doesn’t sound like a little mishap, Hannah.”
He drawled her name out like a true Texan, and this time, the warmth filling her body was comfortable and wanted.
“I sense a good story,” he said, buckling his seat belt. “You can tell me on the way.” He was so calm, and Hannah wondered how he did that. He probably didn’t have feelings for her anymore. That was how.
Too bad hers hadn’t disappeared, despite her relationship with Chuck Knight. They’d only been seeing each other for a month, but he’d kissed her on the second date, and she could admit that she liked Chuck a whole lot.
They had a decent level of electricity between them, but nothing like the spitting, crackling lightning she felt when Luke got within ten feet of her.
“I want a good story from you too,” she said, putting the car in reverse.
“Oh, I can’t promise that,” he said with a grin.
“You’ve been gone for four months,” she said. “Surely you’ve had at least one interesting thing happen in that time.” She eased past the cars and trucks parked in the gravel lot and turned around to leave the ranch and go over the bridge covering the river.
She turned toward town and reached for her coffee. “I’m assuming you want me to go first.”
“Hmm?” Luke looked up from his phone, clearly distracted. “I hate to say this, but my flight just got delayed.”
“Oh.” Hannah eased up on the accelerator. “Should we go back? How much of a delay?”
