I crossed the yard and calmed myself during the course of the long walk. I was being ridiculous. Ryan was just being helpful and friendly, and my years-long movie-star crush was clouding my brain and making me believe there was something more to it. It had been months since I’d dated, and longer since I’d actually done anything more than kiss someone—if that ridiculous desperate kiss I’d let Tony get one night at the local bar counted.
As far as I was concerned, it didn’t.
And kissing Tony, a guy I’d known as long as I’d known myself basically, was not anything that should be put in the same realm as kissing Ryan. Not that I’d kissed Ryan.
My sister’s new boyfriend.
Oh God.
My body was clearly just going haywire after abstaining from sex for so long. I took some deep cleansing breaths as I pushed open the barn door and pulled the utility cart from where it leaned against the wall. As I attached it to the back of the small John Deere tractor, I was feeling better.
Work. I just needed to do some work.
This was my life. Work and home, me and Gran. There was nothing else—
“What can I do?” Ryan’s deep voice rolled through the dusky interior of the old barn, and my stomach tightened again, my blood heating immediately. So much for my newfound calm. He’d changed into loose-fitting shorts and a T-shirt, and had running shoes on and a cap on his head. He looked sporty and athletic, and I had an irrational urge to climb him and wrap myself around those broad strong shoulders.
I cleared my throat and stood, “Hi.”
He grinned and my heart shot off in a crazy double-time rhythm as my palms slicked with sweat suddenly.
Fucking chemistry.
“Um. Yeah. So.” Since words were not working for me, I pointed across the space to where the tables and chairs were all stacked and hung on pegs against the wall. We’d once rented the property’s grounds out for weddings, and we still had all the tables and chairs in here, so I’d planned to use them for Gran’s party. But maybe I should have let the catering company get this all set up, as Juliet suggested. It was going to be a big job.
Ryan crossed the space and pulled a half-round table from the front of the stack. His muscles bulged and strained with the effort, and I was having a tough time breathing, even though I was only watching.
“Crap,” I muttered under my breath, angry at my traitorous brain, which wouldn’t stop suggesting ways I might get just a bit closer, maybe run my hand along one of those muscly muscles.
Juliet’s, I reminded myself. He is Juliet’s.
“Here,” Ryan dropped the table into the cart attached to the tractor and grinned at me. I could watch this all day, I thought, my breath shallow and all the blood rushing through me heading directly for the places I wished I could rub up against this man.
“Good, thanks.” I swallowed hard and forced my feet to move toward him while I kept my inappropriate impulses under control. I’d agreed Ryan could help me; he hadn’t volunteered to move all the furniture himself while I stood nearby drooling and panting. I went to help, and together we hoisted six tables into the cart, filling it completely.
“You drive this thing?” Ryan asked, running a hand over the tractor’s steering wheel.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s the easiest way to move things around the property.”
“I’ve always wanted to drive a tractor,” he said, looking impressed.
“You can drive if you want. It’s not hard.” I showed him how to get the engine going with his foot on the brake, and which pedal would move him forward.
He gunned it toward the door of the barn and hooted. “You coming?” He called over the noise of the engine. Ryan McDonnell was full of surprises. I’d never seen anyone excited over driving a tractor, but the guy looked like he was getting to take the best rollercoaster at the amusement park.
“I’ll walk and meet you over there.” I shot him a questioning look. There was only room for one on the seat.
“Get in back!”
It wasn’t a good idea—the tables could shift around and there was barely anything to hold on to, but his smile had me making questionable decisions. I climbed on top of the tables in the cart and grabbed the sides as Ryan gunned the tractor again, pulling us out of the barn and across the wide expanse of lawn to the huge white tent the catering company had erected the day before. A silly smile covered my face as we bumped across the yard, and giggles flew from me as Ryan swerved around, clearly enjoying the drive. I felt like a little kid again, holding on for dear life.
He was hollering and laughing, and I was reminded of the way I’d felt suddenly when he’d asked for milk the night before. Like he was a guy who didn’t feel he had to be a grownup all the time. Like he knew how to have fun. When he switched off the engine in front of the tent, I was still laughing, and it helped ease some of the strange tension I’d been feeling around this man.
This movie star.
This hot new boyfriend of my sister’s.
We unloaded the tables and popped them up, not worrying too much about where they got placed. The caterers would arrange things. I headed back to the door of the tent when we were done. Ryan had gone out a second before, and I shot a final glance over my shoulder at the space to make sure it was all still intact after sitting out here all night. I
