4

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G

ideon woke up early. Early even for his granddad, who was an up-at-four-forty-five-every-day sort of guy.

He had too much energy. His dreams had been filled with her. With Jules Lamprey looking blonde and pretty. Of Jules Lamprey naked and sweaty as she rose above him, his cock deep inside her.

Before he’d seen her approach the porch just a few days before he’d been fine. Relaxed. Happy and busy with his choice to move back.

But now that he’d seen her, now that he’d spoken to her at Tart and flirted? Now he was restless. He wanted her. Wanted to put his hands all over her body, wanted to kiss her. Christ, he wanted to fuck her and wake up next to her.

Need for Jules was hot like a fever and the novelty of how much she’d remained on his mind surprised him.

He wasn’t a virgin. He’d had crushes and hot sexual flings here and there. But this thing he felt with Jules was . . . unusual. He’d known her for most of his life, though certainly he’d not been close to her as he had been with Cal. But he wanted to know her. There wasn’t the same sort of urge to court, but a hot, physical punch every time he thought of her.

And her familiarity? It made this need he had greater. This wasn’t someone he’d bumped into at a party or met on an airplane. She’d been there all this time and for whatever reason, it made her appeal to him all the more.

He headed out to milk the goats, grateful for the physical exertion. The opportunity to do some planning helped keep his focus. The year before he’d taken some cheese-making classes and it was something he was considering trying at Carter Farms.

It would take some doing, some equipment updating and new construction so it was a long-term idea. Until then, they sold the milk to a nearby dairy and the goats kept the hillside to the north of the farm clear of the berry vines that were the bane of many in the area. He’d even been asked just the week before to rent the goats out to help clear some public land that had been overrun with blackberry bushes.

They weren’t a big, giant agribusiness. They had to make their way in a world far different than the one his granddad had grown up in. He needed to be more than a farmer, he needed to be a businessman to take the farm into the next generation. Things like a farm stand and seasonal cheese making could very well make a difference.

It excited him even as he hoped like hell he could make it work and not let his granddad down. The farm stretched out ahead of him. Neat rows of trees in the orchard to the north. Seasonal crops to the west. He loved working the land. And this land was his. Carter land where Carters had worked for three generations now.

He could see the difference in the landscape each day. If they planted, there’d be a growing cycle. If they harvested, the farm changed then too. There was something intensely satisfying about it. About seeing the results of your work every single day.

He’d taken a break from life after he’d sold the Bar M. Traveled. Done whatever he wanted whenever he’d wanted to. But now he was back, fully in his life, and he felt better than he had in a very, very long time.

• • •

Gideon worked all day, showered, masturbated, showered again and by the time he got free of the place, Tart would be near closing and he had to hope she’d still be around.

As he came up the block, he saw her inside, that pale fall of hair around her gorgeous face. He raised his hand in greeting and caught her eye as she stood at the door.

The smile she gave him as he caught her eye while she locked the door and then unlocked it to admit him was enough to soothe nerves frayed from rushing.

“Why hello. What brings you here?”

He drew his knuckles over her cheek. “Don’t you know by now?”

She blushed and he wanted her so much it was like white noise in his head.

“I . . . yes, I guess I do.” She’d never been one for playing at being coy. She went after things she wanted. And as it happened, she wanted Gideon. But this sort of attention, this courtly, mannered wooing was dizzying. She really liked it.

“Have you got plans for dinner?”

“Why, Gideon Carter. Are you asking me on a date?”

That sexy smile curved his mouth. “I am.”

She licked her lips and his pupils seemed to swallow all the color in his eyes. Her heart pounded as her skin warmed. Oh, good gracious, he did all the right stuff to all her best parts.

This . . . this moment when things were about to happen but hadn’t yet was one of her favorite things in the world. All that possibility laid out before her.

“Good. I’ve been waiting. I’d decided earlier that if you didn’t call me by the end of the week I was calling you.”

“I do like a woman who knows what she wants. I’ll pick you up at six. I know you have to be up as early as I do.”

“Yes.” She licked her suddenly dry lips again. “Though some things are worth losing sleep over.”

The way he paused, sharpened his focus, sent a shiver through her.

“Yes, they are, Juliet. Are you going to make me lose more sleep than I have already?”

He stood so very close that each time he took a breath he very nearly touched her, the heat of his skin brushed against hers.

It was broad daylight in the middle of town and yet it felt intimate between them just then.

“I make you lose sleep?” It had been a long time since she’d flirted with so much intent.

He nodded. “And even when I finally get to sleep I dream of you.”

She smiled, flattered and breathless. And then she wondered if there were other things he did thinking of her. Hot, masturbatory things. A flush went through her, leaving her sweaty at the thought of him, fist around his cock, her name on his lips as he jerked off.

“I’ll see you tonight.” He bent and slid his lips over hers. Just a breath of a touch and she arched to keep contact as he began to straighten.

Then his arm was around her waist, pulling her close to him and his mouth owned hers.

Her heart pounded as he flicked his tongue against her bottom lip, she gasped when he nipped it, pulling it slowly and then releasing it only to lave the sting.

“You’re a temptation, Juliet Lamprey.” He stood back, sliding his tongue along his lips as if to taste her one last time. She nearly leapt at him.

Instead she took a deep breath and got herself back under control.

She pulled a pad from the pocket of her apron and wrote her address down. “See you at six.”

• • •

“I think you should wear the navy-blue dress. It’s such a pretty color on you.” Gillian sat on Jules’s bed as Jules tried to figure out what to wear on her date. It wasn’t like she’d never dated, for goodness sake. But after that kiss earlier that day, Gideon made her nervous. In a good way.

She held the blue dress up against herself as she looked in the mirror. “You think? I don’t even know where he’s taking me. I should have asked, I guess. What if this is too formal?”

Jules pulled the dress on and zipped it at the side. The blue was good. Didn’t wash her out and make her look like she’d been without sun for months.

“Then he clearly has no idea where to take a beautiful woman on the first date and so we won’t like him at all.” Gillian said it so primly it made Jules laugh. Which was most likely Gillian’s intent anyway. “It’s a nice evening. Not too cold. A light cardigan should be good.”

Jules knew which one she needed and pulled out a bright red sweater. Soft as a breath.

“Perfect.”

“One of Daisy’s presents. If she ever decided to be a personal shopper she’d make a killing.” Jules secured it with a pretty white belt. “Shoes. Hm.” She scanned her shoe racks and smiled when she found the perfect pair.

She turned to the mirror and stepped into the navy pumps with the little white bow tied on the front. Gillian had been right, Jules thought as she looked at her reflection in the nearby mirror. The dress was flattering. Fit her just right and accentuated all her best parts. Her boobs in particular looked freaking awesome.

“My girls look like beauty queens in this dress.” She waggled her brows at Gillian’s reflection.

“They really do. You look beautiful and one hundred percent Juliet Lamprey in that outfit. I really don’t know how you can look as if you just walked out of a milk advertisement or a magazine ad at any and all times. In the morning you look like a cereal commercial. I’d be quite cross about that if you weren’t also so wonderful at baking things and being my friend.”

Gillian grinned at her.

“Thanks for the pep talk.”

“You don’t even need one. You know him already. That takes away a big part of the anxiety. And you’re gorgeous so that will work in your favor, I hear.”

Jules laughed. “I know him, yes. In a way. But that’s kid stuff. He’s a man now. I don’t know him as a man. Not yet. But Patrick is such a wonderful person it’s hard to believe he grew up badly.”

Gillian’s features were sad a moment. “He’s a lovely gentleman. I was sorry to hear about the loss of his wife.”

“Yeah, they were very good together.”

“What’s the story about the ex-wife? Gideon’s, I mean. You said he’d been married.”

“I don’t know much more than that. I heard it from Mary, who’d heard it from Cal. I haven’t spoken to him in several years. Well, other than at his house and at Tart. Not enough to really get any details. At the funeral and wake I never got a chance to speak with him and then he left. I guess I’ll find out.”

“So you were quite circumspect last night in front of Adrian. What does this Gideon really look like? Spare no lascivious detail.”

Gillian could be so prim and buttoned up on the outside but just underneath she had a lovely sense of humor that could be just as bawdy as Jules’s.

“He’s gorgeous. He’s long and lean. Blond with a beard and mustache. Not like a weirdo beard, he’s not starting a doomsday cult or anything.”

She decided to add a few bangle bracelets and a pair of earrings her mother had sent her from Bali, where she and Jules’s aunt were spending a few months just hanging out. Some lipstick—red, she decided, to match the sweater. She smoothed her hair back to catch a few flyaways.

“Blond like honey. His hair I mean. A little too long, which looks sexy of course. Curls. I bet they’re soft. I can’t believe I didn’t get a good feel earlier when he kissed me.”

“You can be forgiven. Some men have the power to kiss the sense right out of you, and before you know it you’re getting married.”

Jules let herself be calmed by Gillian’s way. That funny, matter-of-fact teasing she did to put people at ease was one of her finest qualities.

“Yes, I believe he’s one of those. He’s got slow, sexy green eyes. Oh! Really nice arms. The kind of man who works with his body. I bet the rest of him is just as hard and defined.” She transferred a lipstick, her phone, some money and a credit card into her bag.

“He’s . . . well, for want of a better phrase, he’s a cowboy, complete with boots and worn jeans.”

“Well now. I can most certainly understand the appeal of that.” They headed out to the living room where Gillian leaned against the couch. “I’ve been arguing with myself as to whether or not I should say anything.”

Jules knew. Cal.

“I’ve watched you watch Cal. And watched Cal watch you for years now. This Gideon is not the same as the others you’ve dated. I’ve never seen you like this with anyone before. Just . . . what about Cal?”

“Yeah, Gillian, what about Cal? Huh? All he’s done is look. He’s never made a move. I’m thirty-three years old and he’s never made a move. Am I supposed to wait around and pine forever? I want what you have with Adrian. I want a man in my life. Gideon is different. Or, well, he feels different anyway. Who knows? He may not be. He might be a jerk who never makes me come. But I won’t know if I don’t give this a try. I can’t wait for Cal. I have to move on and I will. Cal has moved on, for god’s sake. He’s had how many girlfriends and boyfriends?”

She’d waited so long and he’d never stepped up. As much as she’d wanted Cal, it was time to let go of something that would never happen.

“You’re right of course. I just love you. Him too. I want you to be happy. And you should move on.”

“I bet no one ever says, What about Jules? to him. It’s stupid. And while I know everyone is just trying to be nice, it’s not going to happen. There is no Jules and Cal, no matter how much I might have wished it, or you all wanted it. I’ve wanted Cal for a long time. I can’t lie about that. But he doesn’t want me back. Not the same way. It’s long past time I move on. And so I am.”

Gillian sighed. “I know. I know. For what it’s worth, I absolutely believe with all my heart that he does want you. But you’re right to say he’s never moved on it and you have to let it go. I don’t even know Gideon; he could be far better for you and you should make that choice yourself. I’m sorry.”

She hugged Gillian. “Don’t be sorry. You all have brought him up in one way or another. I think for a long time it was expected. People just assumed it would happen. Anyway, it’s not going to, and I have this other thing and it’s just a date, but it feels like more. Gideon is different from those other dates I’ve had.” She shrugged. “This is a good time in all our lives.”

It was. She needed to keep that first and foremost in her mind. Gideon came with all sorts of possibilities. Which was pretty cool.

• • •

Gideon drove up the street slowly; it was dark and he hadn’t been to her house before. But he knew which one was hers without having to glance at the address. Just a simple white house with dark blue shutters and window boxes. He parked and walked up to her door, pausing to smile at the wind chimes she’d hung from a nearby tree and all the birdhouses she had. Pretty and classic. A lot like the woman who lived there.

This was the first date he’d taken seriously since his divorce. Juliet Lamprey was far more than some woman he wanted to get naked with. He’d been accused of being too laid back, but it wasn’t that. He fought for things he wanted. He’d failed once and it was a pretty big failure. But some things weren’t meant to be. Some things can’t be fixed by only one person trying.

That instant sort of zing and attraction he’d experienced with Jules on his granddad’s porch had woken him up from a long nap of sorts. He was awake now and hungry. For her.

He’d been looking forward to this more than he’d wanted to admit, and when she opened her door looking absolutely gorgeous, he couldn’t help but smile and take her hands. “You look beautiful.”

She smiled back with shiny red lips. “Thank you. I was just about to say you clean up well, but I realized you’re just as alluring in jeans as you are in dress pants.”

Pausing just a moment, she tipped her chin to look up at him. He leaned in to kiss her cheek but she smelled so good he ended up with his face at her nape, breathing her in.

“Um, yeah, sorry about that.” He stepped back but she didn’t look upset. She looked . . . interested. A good sign. “You smell good.”

Her smile tipped up a thousand watts. “You’re full of compliments tonight. A girl could get used to that.”

He led her down the walk to his car. “That’s the point.”