And given that he had suspected for a long time that his friend was in love with her, it hadn’t taken an emotional genius to figure it out.
“Oh,” Rose said, looking genuinely deflated. “I thought I was the first one to know.”
“Sorry, kid.” He emphasized that word. Anything to put distance between them. “I told you, I know about chemistry. I know about sex. Sorry if it bothers you that I might be a step ahead of you when it comes to this sort of thing.”
“You’re going to lose our bet,” she said. “You’re halfway to losing already.”
She pitched forward and nudged him with her elbow, and he drew back. She looked up at him like he had said something mean. And he immediately regretted that reflex. The whole point of not touching Rose was to avoid hurting her.
“Yeah. Too bad I’m a sore loser.” He decided to cover it up by making it seem like his concern was the bet.
“We never established what was going to happen if you win,” she said.
“I thought you were so confident you didn’t need to make allowances for the potential of me winning.”
“To be totally fair, I have to. So. How about if I lose, then you teach me what you know about relationships,” she said.
He nearly choked on the damn sandwich. “Relationships?”
“All right. Chemistry and stuff. The things that you seem to think that I don’t understand.”
His chest went tight, his airway constricting. And all the blood in his body rushed down south of his belt. And just like he’d warned Rose, it was really hard to think when a man didn’t have any blood in his brain. And currently, he was struggling. Struggling to form a coherent thought. Struggling to remember why it was a bad idea to pull her into his arms and teach her about chemistry here and now.
To explain to her exactly what it was she felt when he had touched her on the waist.
Because he had seen it.
She’d been confused. And she had looked at him like he was a stranger. She might not know why that was, but he did. In that moment, she had wanted him. Had wanted more of his hands on her body. More of his touch.
And he sure as hell had wanted to follow that line of inquiry that had flashed through her eyes.
Had wanted to answer all the questions he’d seen there. Questions he knew she didn’t even realize she had.
But he wouldn’t. He hadn’t then, he wouldn’t now.
“Sure,” he said, his voice rough, knowing he wouldn’t do anything of the kind, but also knowing he was not in a position to issue any denials at the moment, either. “Not saying you’ll like the lesson. It’ll involve you admitting you’re wrong.”
“If I lose,” she said. “But if I don’t lose I’m not wrong.”
“But then who will tell you about teeth?”
Her cheeks went cherry again and he knew he’d overstepped. But this whole day was an overstep and it was her damn fault. He almost wanted her to win the bet.
It wasn’t a good idea for him to explain anything to her.
Hell, eating a sandwich with her didn’t feel safe.
Everything with her was thorny right about now. Just like the name.
“Then you have yourself a deal.”
“Great.”
But he didn’t mean it. Nothing about this was great. But he lost control somewhere back there. Back where, he didn’t know. Maybe he’d lost it longer ago than he realized. Maybe he hadn’t been doing as good of a job pushing his attraction for her back as he’d imagined.
Because he had the feeling that his agreement now wasn’t so much to placate her, but was allowing him to edge closer to dangerous territory.
Rose smiled at him. She had no idea what the hell was going on in his mind right now. Then it was for the best.
If he hadn’t felt like a big enough bastard already, now it was even worse.
It was too bad she hadn’t left him out here alone with the cows.
CHAPTER FIVE
BY THE TIME Rose came in for dinner, she was cold and sticky with sweat. It was one of the worst things about working outside in the winter. She could still manage to fire herself up into a clammy sweat, then she ended up shivering.
She could smell stew and fresh made bread, and she gave thanks for Iris and her amazing skills in the kitchen yet again.
Stomach growling, she took her hat off and threw it on the couch, and the three farm dogs rushed into the room. Their Australian shepherd jumped up onto the couch and immediately pounced on the hat.
“Hey,” Rose scolded. “Don’t do that.”
Iris came into the room, making a shooing motion with her hands. The dogs ignored her. “I never wanted them to be in the house,” she groused as they ran rings around the couch.
“Yeah, but there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Because now they are in the house. And they think it’s their house.”
“I blame Sammy,” Iris said darkly. “That little hippie is too permissive.”
Of course, Iris loved Sammy as much as Rose did, and she knew she wasn’t really mad at her. Well, maybe she was a little bit annoyed. But not seriously.
“Well, we let her in, too. So it’s far too late to do anything about the dogs or Sammy and her permissiveness.”
As if on cue, Sammy came down the stairs, her gait slightly unsteady, considering that she was currently six months pregnant. “I’m permissive of nothing right now,” she said.
Ryder was close behind her. “She’s not kidding,” he said.
“You did this to me,” she said, affecting a scowl. “I don’t have to be permissive to you.”
“I don’t care. I like you stubborn,” he said. “I liked you stubborn when we were just friends, why would I not like you stubborn when you were my wife?”
“True love,” Sammy said, making her way into the kitchen. “I’m starving. This stew smells like true love to me.”
“If
