“I imagine they look exactly the same as in California.”

  “You never know,” he said as he opened the passenger side door. The light illuminated his smiling face.

  That man was way too good-looking. Way better than the boy she’d known.

  They shut the doors and walked around back. The rear of the truck faced the valley below, away from the town. Ranches and government land stretched out for miles, much farther than they could see in the dark with only a quarter moon for light. Toni unlatched the tailgate, put her hands on the cold metal and jumped up.

  “I’m surprised you don’t have one of those camper shells over the back,” Wyatt said as he boosted himself onto the tailgate beside her.

  “I would, except I sometimes transport appliances or other tall items in the back. Besides, I have a locked tool chest bolted to the bed of the truck. That’s usually all I need.”

  “The thought of you with power tools turns me on.”

  Toni laughed. “You wouldn’t say that if you saw how grubby I get sometimes.”

  “Sure I would. Besides, I’ve seen you grubby before. I don’t remember that being a turnoff.”

  “Wyatt, you were eighteen. Nothing was a turnoff back then.”

  “You think I’ve changed?”

  “I imagine you’re more sophisticated now,” Toni said, swinging her legs. She looked out onto the landscape. Very few houses were visible from here.

  “I’m a guy. We don’t mind sweat and a little dirt.”

  “I’m a girl. I like showers and shampoo that smell like flowers.”

  He leaned over and fingered a strand of her hair. “Hmm, you do smell like flowers.”

  “Disappointed I’m not covered in sawdust?”

  “Not really,” he said, leaning even closer, until his hot breath raised goose bumps along her neck. “I like girly-girls, too.”

  He kissed her just below her ear, making her close her eyes and sigh. Wyatt had always known just where she liked to be kissed. Touched. Did he remember? She thought he must, from when they’d kissed—and more—this past week.

  She turned her head and found his lips in the dark. His arms closed around her and pulled her sideways, half across his lap.

  “Wait,” she whispered as she broke away. “I can’t bend that way.” Her legs scrambled for traction on the tailgate.

  “How about this way?” he asked against her lips as he leaned back and pulled her with him. He kissed her deeply, his hands threaded through her hair. She felt light-headed, oxygen-deprived as the kiss went on and on.

  Finally he broke for air, panting. “This metal is hard. Do you have blankets?”

  “Um, yes.” She reluctantly pulled away from his warmth and scrambled to her knees on the truck bed. She pulled two clean packing blankets from the tool chest, glad she’d remembered them earlier. When she’d thought about what kind of bold moves she might make while she had the chance.

  Suddenly his warmth was against her back. He kissed her neck again as she knelt against the tool chest. Her fingers grasped the blankets as he rubbed against her. “You look and feel even better than you did when you were eighteen,” he said. “I swear, the first time I saw you sitting behind your desk, I couldn’t think of anything but what you might be wearing. On your legs. You have terrific legs.”

  “Um, thank you,” she whispered, as his hands moved from her shoulders down, around her sides and toward her breasts. Yes, touch me there, she wanted to say.

  His hands closed over her as if they’d been doing this forever. Thankfully, she’d worn a soft, lacy bra instead of something more practical. She could feel his fingers seeking, finding her sensitive nipples through the two layers of clothing. She moaned as he rolled the tips between his thumb and forefinger.

  “We need those blankets. Now,” he said against the side of her neck. “We may be acting like teenagers, but the bed of this truck is damn hard on my old knees.”

  That wasn’t the only thing that was hard, she thought as she brushed against him once more before lifting the blankets the rest of the way out.

  “You came prepared,” he said as they spread one blanket on the truck bed. “I like that in a woman.”

  “Speaking of prepared, does that mean…”

  “Yes, I came prepared also. Not that I assumed we’d do anything, but a guy can hope.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t have…Well, the mayor can’t very well go into the drugstore and buy condoms.” She shivered in the night air, now that Wyatt wasn’t pressed against her.

  “I don’t suppose that would be a good political move.” He tugged on the last corner of the blanket, then shrugged out of his jacket. “Come here, Miss Mayor, and I’ll warm you up.”

  Yes, he would. They knelt facing each other, then he kissed her again and they sank slowly to the soft, thick blanket. Wyatt flung the other blanket over them as they tangled arms and legs. He rolled on top and she welcomed his weight.

  “We have too many clothes on,” he murmured close to her ear.

  “I know, but I don’t want to let you go. Even for a minute.”

  He looked down at her, an odd expression on his face, until she realized what she’d said. “I mean to get undressed. You feel so good.”

  He kissed her again, at the same time lifting her sweater. He barely broke contact to lift it over her head. Then his fingers went to work on her jeans. She ran her hands up his sweatshirt, feeling his hard muscles and rapid breathing. This grown Wyatt was bigger, stronger. He was a man, no longer a lean and sometimes too-rushed eighteen-year-old.

  At least, she hoped he wouldn’t rush too much.

  “Lift up,” he said as he unzipped her jeans.

  She gasped as he whipped off her underwear right along with the pants.

  “Now, that’s what I call efficient,” he said, a smile evident in his voice.

  “You’re not playing fair,” she said, reaching for his sweatshirt.

  “I’m not playing at all. I’m serious about getting you naked as quickly as possible.”

  “Don’t rush me,” she complained, pulling off his shirt. She reached for his jeans. The top button was already undone. She ran her finger along the zipper.

  “Now who’s playing?” he asked, his breathing heavy.

  She pushed him onto his back, and he took advantage of her position to unfasten her bra and pull it off. The second blanket shielded her from both the cool temperatures and his eyes. But not his hands, which seemed to be everywhere as she struggled with his jeans.

  “You’re making me nervous, babe,” he said as she tugged on the stubborn zipper. He moved from under her, quickly took care of undressing and turned toward her once more. “Now, where were we?” he asked as he dropped a handful of condoms on the blanket nearby.

  She closed her eyes and stopped breathing as he pressed against her. Oh, yes. That’s exactly where they were. Naked and suddenly in a great hurry.

  Some things didn’t change in fifteen years. And some things were much, much better.

  WYATT LAY ON HIS BACK, staring at the stars and wondering what had just happened. Technically, he knew. He and Toni had just had mind-blowing sex in the bed of her pickup truck. In December, in Texas. Beneath the infamous water tower.

  But why? He knew he should have asked, but he really hadn’t wanted to talk. The adage, Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, came to mind. If Toni wanted him enough to throw rocks at his window, engineer an escape from town and fry his brain with sex, who was he to question her reasons?

  And yet, he couldn’t help wondering what had happened between the third quarter of the Cowboys game and the I-can’t-get-you-out-of-your-clothes-fast-enough experience they’d just shared.

  She wasn’t talking. She was breathing, though, as she lay across his chest. He’d pulled the blanket over them until just the top of her head, his neck and face were free. The night was cool, crisp and silent. They seemed to be the only people on earth.

  He could stay this way all night. Or until she roused. She felt so damned good, all damp and warm and womanly, her thigh across his and her arm around his chest. Her breasts, fuller now, were soft against him. She smelled like flowers and good sex. Like Toni.

  The memories weren’t as good as the reality. Or maybe he hadn’t let himself remember how they’d been together. If he’d thought about her too much, he might have tried to see her on the rare occasions when he’d returned to Brody’s Crossing.

  Despite what he’d joked about earlier in the week, a “same time, next year” kind of relationship, that wouldn’t have worked with Toni. She was too focused, too serious. He was too flighty, too adventurous.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” she said softly, her breath tickling his chest.

  “I thought you were asleep.”

  “Not really. Just…drifting.”

  “Yeah, drifting. Me, too.” That was as good a description as anything of the way he felt. Knocked off his foundation was more like it, but he didn’t want to admit as much to Toni. At the moment he was content to hold her in his arms. Sooner or later, though, he knew he’d feel the urge to run.

  He always did.

  But not right now. “You know, I don’t have any pressing business back in California. I could stay a few extra days. Maybe we could talk about more Christmas decorations for the streets.”

  He felt Toni tense before she responded. Her breathing changed. Slowly, her leg slid off his thigh. “Um, that’s probably not going to work for me.”

  “What?” He’d offered to change his plans, maybe buy something really nice for her town, and she said no?

  “I’m really busy, and besides, if you stayed around town we’d want to do…this some more. I’d get caught in a compromising situation sooner or later. Probably sooner. No, I just don’t want to push my luck.”

  “Luck?” What about us? he wanted to ask before he remembered that there was no us. “What about this?” he asked, sweeping his hand down her back and pulling her close.

  “Oh, this was great,” she said. “Better than I remembered. But we both know we don’t have a future, right? You’re West Coast and I’m strictly small-town Texas.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “And like I said, I’m really busy. We have budget meetings, and I’ve got the old hotel project. All the other Christmas events are coming up. The Settlers’ Stroll next weekend, the VFW Christmas party, the Dewey’s Christmas party. I’m just going to be so busy I wouldn’t have time to spend with you, anyway.”

  Suddenly he felt really irritated. Very naked. And a little bit…used. “So, what was this?”

  “This was great. Thank you very much.”

  Thank you? Had she really said that?

  Chapter Ten

  “You just wanted to get laid?” he asked. He couldn’t believe she’d just told him “thank you” after what they’d done together.

  “Crudely put, Wyatt. I prefer to think of it as a special reunion event.”

  This wasn’t like any reunion he’d ever been to before. “In any case, you don’t want to spend more time with me?”

  “You were clear that you didn’t want a relationship.”

  “No, I said I didn’t want to get married. There’s a huge difference.”

  “Really? I guess I missed that point. To me, a relationship doesn’t make sense if it’s not going anywhere. At my age, I have to start thinking about things like that. I mean, maybe I want to get married and have a child. Or children. I can’t waste time on relationships that aren’t moving in that direction.”

  “So you’re looking for a husband?” The idea really irritated him. No one had mentioned that Toni was dating anyone or interested in finding a husband. Or that her biological clock was ticking. She hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort. He had the sudden urge to jump up and pace, except he was naked, it was cold and he couldn’t very well walk back and forth on the rocky ground or in the truck bed.

  “I haven’t been, but maybe it’s time,” she said, sounding thoughtful. “I’ve spent so much energy on my business and my public service that I haven’t looked.”

  “You told me you didn’t have anyone in mind,” he said, mentally going through the list of single men he knew in the area. There weren’t that many that he was aware of, but still, the idea made him itchy.

  “No, I don’t. But Texas is a big state. I’m sure there’s someone out there who’s just perfect for me,” she said as she ran her hand down his chest.

  He and Toni had been pretty darned perfect together fifteen years ago. And also just a short time ago, for that matter. If she kept rubbing him, she was going to find out that his recovery time wasn’t that far off what it had been when they were teenagers.

  But he didn’t want to get married. He couldn’t imagine having a family to come home to every single night, a wife who would never bore him and most of all, children who wouldn’t be disappointed if he screwed up or had to go out of town or made any of the other mistakes parents made. He was much more comfortable flying off whenever the urge hit him, having no one to report to and especially no one he was responsible for.

  After all, being responsible was his weak point. Everyone except his mother said so. The most responsible thing he’d done was come back to Brody’s Crossing so he could start his foundation with a clean slate. And he’d only taken care of his past indiscretion under pressure. Sure, he’d felt good about providing the new Christmas decorations, but that was hardly the same as dealing with a family of his own.

  And Toni was looking for a mate, a family of her own, not just a roll in the hay. Or in the bed of a truck.

  “So, this is just about having a good time?”

  “Right.”

  Despite his slightly foul mood and his opinion that he’d been used for sex, his body didn’t seem to understand. As Toni’s hand traveled lower, he sprang to attention.

  “Don’t be upset,” she said softly against the side of his neck. “We have tonight. Good memories, right?” She kissed him right at his collarbone, just as he liked. “You can go back home all free and clear of your past.”

  Free and clear. Right. He might be legally free and morally clear of the transgression of painting the water tower purple and gold, but he wasn’t going to forget Toni. And now he had new memories that he was pretty sure would haunt his nights.

  “I’ll go back to California tomorrow, just like I promised,” he said, framing her face with his hands and gazing into her eyes in the faint moonlight. “Just don’t forget me when you’re out looking for Mr. Right.”

  “I won’t,” she whispered. “You know damn well I won’t.” Then she pulled his head down and kissed him, and he forgot to feel anything but their passion for a long, long time.

  TONI PULLED INTO HER DRIVEWAY after turning off her lights and coasted to a stop in front of the single-car garage she used for storage. Old Mrs. Olsen next door was a fairly light sleeper and Toni would hear about it if she disturbed her after midnight, especially “on the Sabbath,” as her neighbor would say.

  Toni glanced at the dashboard clock. Twenty minutes past one in the morning. She was going to be tired—and probably achy and stiff—all day.

  She was going to be lonely and full of memories for a lot longer. She’d done what she’d wanted to do, but she would pay a high price. Wyatt would leave sometime today and life would go back to normal. Toni knew she wasn’t going to go back to the way she’d been before he’d returned to town just last week. He’d made her think about what she wanted, what was important at this point in her life, and now she couldn’t ignore her needs.

  She wouldn’t be fulfilling her wish list with Wyatt, but that was to be expected. They had little in common. They were at far different places in life. And as she’d learned at the Brodys’ ranch less than twelve hours ago, he never wanted to marry.

  She hadn’t thought much about getting married until then. She’d focused so much attention on the future of Brody’s Crossing that she hadn’t had any time left over to think about her future. She’d also thought she was over the past, but she wasn’t. Now she could seriously look at both issues—how much Wyatt had hurt her at eighteen, and what she wanted now at thirty-two—and go forward.

  Well, she couldn’t sit in her truck all night. She needed a hot shower and some warm flannel pajamas. Maybe some herbal tea. She smelled like Wyatt, ached as if they’d rolled around on a metal mattress and was far too wound up to sleep.

  She eased the driver’s-side door open and hoped the interior light wouldn’t shine into Mrs. Olsen’s bedroom. She manually clicked the lock and softly latched the door so the “beep-beep” of her key alarm wouldn’t engage. Resisting the urge to walk on tiptoes, she climbed the three steps to the back door and let herself in.

  There. She’d made it home without getting caught in a compromising situation with her ex-boyfriend. Good going. She and Wyatt had used condoms and that was responsible, and as far as she knew she had no marks to show that she’d spent the night making love under the stars.

  No, having sex under the stars. They weren’t in love and apparently he’d never been in love with her. She couldn’t say the same about her feelings for him. Maybe it was better to have loved and lost, because she felt sorry that Wyatt didn’t know what it felt like to love someone so much that it took more than fifteen years to get over that person.

  On the other hand, he didn’t have the burden of getting over someone who didn’t love him back.

  With a sigh, she pushed away from the door and went to her bathroom. Time for that shower. And just to be careful, she’d check to make sure Wyatt hadn’t given her a little extra love bite as his way of saying goodbye.

  That would have been so Wyatt-like, she thought with a sad smile.

  TONI ARRIVED AT HER JOB SITE early that morning and kept busy despite her lack of sleep.

  “Did you have trouble sleeping?” Leo asked. “You look bushed.”

  “Yes, I guess I did. Maybe I’m getting to that age where I can’t drink any caffeine after six o’clock at night.”