Hannah nearly panted with desire as Chad finally moved away to peel the dress from her body. She started to get up, to make it easier for him, but he pushed her back down on the couch gently. He moved slowly as he took it off, like he was unwrapping a gift, leaning down to kiss her stomach, her hip, her inner thigh teasingly close to her heat, and finally the inside of her ankle as he slid the dress off of her. She was left naked except for her thong. Chad hooked a finger beneath the elastic on each hip then teased it down her body, dragging his hands over her skin and sending sparks everywhere he touched. After he removed her thong, he leaned over and placed a soft kiss at her seam and she couldn’t control the desperate roll of her hips.

  Chad stood up and stared at Hannah’s body for a moment, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He pulled his shirt over his head and revealed a chest that was rippled with muscles and even more incredible than anything Hannah could’ve dreamed up. She reached for him, desperate to claim him, but Chad stepped away with a small smile. He toed off his boots, then popped the top button of his jeans and paused with a devilish grin.

  “Hurry,” she whispered, examining the body she couldn’t wait to claim.

  He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet then pulled a condom out, tossing it on the floor next to the couch, then peeled his jeans off slowly.

  “Oh my God,” Hannah breathed at the sight of him. His muscular legs, the broad, rippled torso … and of course, the bulge that hinted at something magnificent hiding in his briefs. “Get over here.”

  Chad lowered his naked body on top of Hannah and she sighed like it was a homecoming.

  “Are you ready?” Chad asked as he leaned over to grab the condom.

  Hannah parted her legs so that she could feel his hardness pushing against her. She’d never wanted anyone more.

  “Yes.” She sighed into his ear.

  11

  Chad placed the bags filled with takeout containers on Hannah’s bright blue kitchen table and handed her a cup of coffee.

  “Is she awake?” he whispered.

  Hannah shook her head and adjusted her floral robe. “Still sleeping, but I’m going to get her up soon. She has a play date with Nina’s daughter Olivia at ten.”

  “Look at you, getting in good with the wives!”

  “Well, in this case it’s sort of selfish,” she said as she peeked into a small bag filled with cinnamon rolls. “I want Aria to make friends here in Kingsley, but if it comes with a side benefit to our, uh, partnership, then so be it.

  Chad unpacked the food and considered how their “partnership” was coming along. The night before had progressed from the couch, to the bedroom, and to his shock, had started off their day as well. He’d decided that making love to Hannah in her sunshine-filled bedroom was the best way to wake up, and he hoped she agreed.

  He studied her as she considered her food options. Chad had gone all out, bringing back everything from brioche French Toast to huevos rancheros. Hannah opened the lids and snuck bites of each one, her long hair obscuring her face. Even with slightly sleep-puffy eyes, she was pretty beyond words. Chad walked over to her and took her into his arms, catching her off guard. But her mouth was on his in an instant, and he realized that despite her pretense of focusing on the food, Hannah was thinking about the exact same thing he was.

  She melted into his arms and Chad could feel himself preparing for round two of the day when he heard footsteps on the stairs. They jumped apart.

  “Hi, Mommy.”

  Aria trudged into the kitchen with her blankie hanging over her shoulder, still half asleep.

  “Good morning, baby!” Hannah replied. She swooped down to hug Aria and plant a kiss on top of her head. “Look who stopped by with breakfast!”

  “Hi, Mr. Chad,” she said as she yawned and pointed at the stacks of boxes. “What’s in those?”

  “Anything you can dream of,” Chad replied. “Why, you can have scrambled dinosaur eggs, or cinnamon fairy rolls, or bacon from the moon!”

  “Mr. Chad, you’re silly.” She giggled.

  He turned to Hannah. “Can we knock off the ‘Mr. Chad’ stuff? I feel like a teacher,” Chad asked in a low voice.

  She nodded. “Hey, Aria, there’s no need to say ‘mister,’ okay? You can just call him Chad.”

  “Okay,” the little girl replied as she ripped off a piece of pancake and stuffed it in her mouth.

  Hannah’s phone beeped and she walked to the counter to pick it up. “Crap. Olivia has chicken pox!”

  “Chicken pops? What’s that?” Aria asked with her mouth full.

  “Pox, honey. Olivia is sick so we have to cancel the play date.”

  “Aww!”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Hannah said under her breath to Chad. “I had a whole day of work mapped out. It’s impossible to get anything done when she’s home.”

  She looked so disappointed that the words came out of Chad’s mouth before he could think them through. “I can hang with Aria for a while.” But as soon as he said it, he realized he liked the idea. “It’s the least I can do to help, since things have been lopsided lately. You’re doing so much for me; let me return the favor.”

  Hannah looked taken aback. “Seriously?”

  “Sure,” Chad replied. “I can take her to the park for a few hours then grab lunch. Would that be enough time for you?”

  “Yay, I want to go to the park!” Aria said, standing up on her chair and jumping.

  “Sit down,” Hannah scolded gently. She turned back to Chad. “Yes, that would actually be amazing. Thank you.”

  He nodded. “You hear that, little lady? We’re going on a treasure hunt at the park today!”

  “Treasure?” Aria’s eyes went wide.

  “Yep. Nature treasure. We’re gonna find a frog, and a bluebonnet, and an arrowhead, and a honeybee. Bzzz!”

  Aria threw her head back and cackled when Chad pretended to sting Hannah on the arm.

  “Thank you,” she said softly to him. Hannah met his eyes with a look that meant she was thanking him for everything that was happening between them.

  Well, she should know that the pleasure was all his.

  “Do you still have that heart stone?” Chad asked Aria as they slid into the booth at the diner.

  She nodded and patted her pocket. “Yup. I’ll give it to Mommy when we get home.”

  Chad and Aria had found the little rock during their treasure hunt at the park, in addition to a feather, a penny, a half-dead bluebonnet, and a stick that looked like a slingshot. Their morning together had been a huge success, and Chad’s heart had swelled when the little girl reached out to hold his hand on the way into the diner.

  “What should we get? I’m hungry enough to eat two of everything!”

  “Milkshakes!” she shouted.

  “I like the way you think, kid,” Chad said with a wink. “And how about burgers and fries?”

  “Yes, please!”

  After they ordered, Chad entertained Aria by drawing pictures of animals on the paper placemat. He couldn’t believe how easy and natural it felt to hang out with her, and how sweet she was. Sure, she could be mischievous, like when she ran off and hid while Chad was searching the ground for interesting leaves. But apparently, that was life with a four-year-old.

  Chad put the crayon down as a group of men strode into the diner, laughing and talking loudly. He recognized Tripp’s unmistakable profile first, then Hank and Tyler and the several other members of the association board. The group settled at a table in the far corner.

  He’d wanted to pitch some new fundraising ideas to the committee, and talk to them about inviting the animal wellness and nutrition rep from the main branch to come and do a presentation for the Kingsley chapter. In fact, he had so many ideas that he was now keeping a list on his phone. Chad peered at Aria as she colored in one of the cows he’d drawn on the placemat.

  “Hey, Aria,” he said. “Can you sit here for three minutes by yourself while I go talk to those guys who just came in?”

  “Uh huh,” she said without looking up, adding some pink to the cow she was working on.

  “Great, I’ll be right back. Holler if you need me, okay?” He pointed across the room. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Uh huh,” she repeated.

  Chad stood up and nearly ran into their waitress, who was carrying a tray with their food and drinks.

  “Whoa, good timing!” he exclaimed, stepping out of the way just in time. “Aria, you can start eating while I’m gone.”

  Her eyes lit up when she saw the milkshakes. “Okay!”

  Chad threaded through the crowded restaurant and tried to formulate which idea to bring up first. He was still halfway across the restaurant when Tyler spotted him and called out his name. The rest of the table looked over and smiled as he approached, except for Tripp.

  “Hey, fellas,” Chad said, nodding at the familiar faces gathered around the table. “How’s it going today?”

  He watched them closely and it seemed like—except for Tripp—they were all genuinely happy to see him. He took it as a good sign.

  “Hey, Chad,” Tyler said, standing to shake his hand. “Nina said your girlfriend is quite the planner. Looks like our festival is going to be first class this year. Nice work.”

  He couldn’t help but grin at the mention of Hannah. “Yeah, thanks. She’s pretty incredible. Anyway, fellas, I’ve got a few fundraising ideas I wanted to run by you, plus there’s a sustainable ranching conference coming up in Austin that I want to attend as a rep for our branch.”

  The men nodded, but Chad could see one of the more senior members staring behind him.

  “Uh oh,” the old man said.

  He turned to look just as the conversation-stopping crash happened.

  Aria was standing up in their booth holding the now empty milkshake, with the other one knocked over. The contents were half on her and half on the table, turning their meals into a soupy mess and dripping onto the ground. Her pretty white top was stained with pink, and she started to wail as she seemed to realize what she’d done.

  “Shit, I need to go deal with that,” Chad said as he started to jog back.

  He scanned the men’s faces and saw a few of the younger ones wearing sympathetic “been there” expressions, but the judgement from the more senior members was unmistakable.

  Tripp’s laughter echoed around the restaurant. “Looks like you’re out of your league, Radford. Maybe you’re not cut out for being a nanny?”

  He shot Tripp a glare before jogging back to Aria.

  “Hey, hey,” he said when he reached the table. “You’re okay. It’s fine.”

  Aria was still standing, holding her dripping hands in front of her. A waitress came over with napkins and a mop and started swabbing the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” Aria wailed even louder. Chad swore that every single person in the place was watching the disaster.

  “Let me clean you off.” He wiped her hands and dabbed the front of her shirt, only to realize that there was no saving it.

  “It’s … it’s … cold!” She hiccupped and cried.

  “I know, honey. It’s okay, we can leave. Get you home and changed into something warm and dry—how’s that sound?” He looked down at the waitress trying to clean the mess. “Ma’am, I’m so sorry. Can we box up whatever isn’t wet?”

  She nodded and left to get to-go boxes.

  Aria was still sniffling and crying, so Chad picked her up and headed for the cash register by the door. The second she was in his arms she quieted slightly, and the regular hum of the restaurant resumed.

  “Sorry,” she said with tears in her eyes.

  Chad pushed down his embarrassment over the scene and focused on the little girl. “It’s okay, accidents happen. Now let’s get you home and have some soggy, milkshake-flavored French fries, okay?”

  Aria crashed through the front door with Chad not far behind.

  “Mommy, I spilled everything,” she shouted.

  An apology was on Chad’s lips for returning home earlier than planned—but Hannah didn’t seem to be around to hear it. The house was still, so Chad peeked around the first floor. “Hannah? You home?” He paused. “Guess your mom is out running an errand. Let’s get you a clean shirt.”

  Aria took off for her room, peeling the soaked shirt off and dropping it on the ground. Chad sighed, picked it up and put it on the washer in the laundry room. He heard faint tapping sounds.

  “Hannah?”

  He followed the noise and discovered Hannah in a small office off the kitchen that was actually more of a repurposed closet. She had noise canceling headphones on, and her fingers were flying over the keys. Chad watched her for a moment, fascinated by her intense focus. It was like nothing in the world existed except for what was on the screen in front of her.

  He knew it was shitty to creep on her, but he was curious about what she was doing. Chad took a few steps closer and peered over her shoulder. The screen was black except for lines of white text, and Chad realized that Hannah was coding.

  Coding?

  “Hannah?” he called out.

  Her fingers paused for an instant then resumed.

  “Hannah!” This time, he punctuated his words with a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

  She shrieked and ripped off her headphones. “You scared the hell out of me, Chad!”

  The shock on her face went beyond a typical scare, and Chad couldn’t understand why she looked like he’d caught her viewing online porn.

  “Sorry, we had to come back early because Aria spilled, well, everything.” He nodded at her computer. “What are you working on?”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment, still wearing her guilty expression. “I, uh, it’s a side project.”

  “You know how to code?”

  Hannah nodded slowly but didn’t offer any details.

  “But … why? How?” She’d never mentioned anything about this before. Why was she working in a bakery if she was some kind of coder? What was going on here? Chad wasn’t about to let the moment pass without getting more information.

  “It was part of my old life,” she said softly. “I still pick up side jobs now and then, for extra money.”

  “Huh. I guess there’s a lot about you I don’t know,” Chad replied, his eyes darting between her face and the computer screen.

  “Yeah. Sorry. There’s some stuff I’m still trying to get past.”

  He leaned against the doorframe. “Like what? Why the secrecy?”

  “I don’t want to get into it, but let’s just say I could use a PR makeover myself.” She let out a hollow laugh. “That’s why I can only do this as a side job—no one would hire me for it full-time.”

  “Seriously? What happened to you, Hannah?”

  Her eyes went sad, and she looked like she was on the verge of either crying or saying something horrifying. Or both.

  “Hey, hey, come here,” he said, striding to her. She stood up, and he grasped her shoulders gently. “It’s okay, whatever it is, it’s okay.”

  It was the second time in an hour he’d had to comfort a sad Smith girl, and he had to admit that he was pretty darn good at it.

  She sniffled and Chad could tell she was trying to choke back tears. Whatever she was struggling with was yet another layer in the mystery that was Hannah. He wanted to know—hell, he needed to know—but it was plain that she still wasn’t ready to reveal the ghosts in her past.

  “Mommy!” Aria ran into the room and wrapped her arms around both of their legs, turning it into a three-way hug.

  Hannah pulled away from Chad and knelt to give Aria a kiss. “Hey, sweetie, what happened to you?”

  Aria recounted their day in a typically rambling fashion. She was heavy on detail but kind of low on organization, jumping back and forth to different events in no perceptible order. When she dropped in a description of something about the diner, Chad winced, remembering the judgmental expressions on some of the board members’ faces. He was supposed to be presenting a polished, professional appearance, and he’d upended everything in the span of a few minutes. Sure, they knew the spill wasn’t his fault, and that kids would be kids, but the underlying fact was that if Chad couldn’t handle a toddler, how the hell was he going to manage an entire organization?

  He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his accounts while Aria continued telling Hannah every detail about their day together. He was still adding new followers and friends every day thanks to Hannah’s clever posts. Chad smiled as he scrolled through her work.

  He jumped to the Cattlemen’s page and hated to see Tripp’s stupid face in the most recent post, taken at the restaurant with the rest of the men smiling alongside him at the table. He sped through the post.

  Tripp Hamilton … planning to attend the sustainable ranching conference in Austin to represent Kingsley … formally announcing his candidacy for the regional leader position.

  “Crap,” Chad said under his breath.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Your workload just tripled. Tripp’s announced that he’s running against me.”

  12

  “Where is everyone?” Hannah asked as she climbed the steps of the Radford ranch house’s porch. Aria was skipping beside her, clutching a grocery bag filled with supplies. Willie met them with happy wags. “It feels deserted here.”

  Chad shrugged. “Out to dinner? Running errands? But don’t worry, they’ll all find their way back here soon enough and you’ll wish that we were still alone.”

  She hoped so. Hannah loved the messy, joyful chaos of the Radford family. She never realized how much she craved feeling like she belonged somewhere. And to someone. She’d lost her dad when she was in high school, and her mom just after she graduated college. John had kind of taken over everything after that—but even when they’d been together, even when they’d become parents, she’d never felt fully secure in her role in his life. She’d been a satellite, hovering around him, only ever a second priority while Green Spaces had always come first. She’d felt like she was always being forced to “prove” her commitment, her loyalty. The idea that she could belong, fully and completely and just as herself, was entirely new. But God, it was everything she wanted—for herself and her daughter. Watching Chad interact with Aria almost made her forget that it was all an act.