Summer Love in the Country (Summer Instalove)

her way.

I could do that for her. I could trade responsibilities with Dusty for the next week. He was a good man, and I knew that he would keep her safe. There was no chance of him hitting on

her.

Setting down the hoe and moving on to the axe, I tried to breathe calmly as I slid the stone

across the steel. I should only be focused on work, anyway. Risking my job was not a

smart move. Although I wasn’t sure how strict Miriam and Mike were, it certainly wouldn’t

endear me to them if I were to hook up with a guest.

It felt like a gear tightening in my guts as I wondered if I would be nothing but a hook up to Joanna. On some level, I knew she wasn’t like those frivolous girls. But on the other hand, I

didn’t know her very well yet. There was a decent chance I was misreading everything.

The wave of disappointment felt like a cloud of soot around me. Maybe I’d wanted to

believe that those few stolen kisses meant more than they did, simply because I was

getting lonely. That wasn’t fair to Joanna, to try to think of her as something she wasn’t. I’d stay away from her and keep my hands off her for the next eight days.

I was just about to dig out my phone and text Dusty, asking if he was okay to be Joanna’s

helper in the morning, when I heard the barn door open. “Hello?”

Joanna’s light voice rang through the echoey space as she stepped inside, closing the door

carefully behind her. The second her eyes met mine, the warmth of her smile shot straight

through me. It was just as sweet as it had been earlier today when we almost went too far

right there in the field.

She came over to where I was sitting on the small leather-topped stool, the only furniture in the barn beyond the worktables. “You were quiet at dinner,” she said. “Is anything wrong?”

Setting the axe blade on the ground, I held the handle in one hand and the stone in the other

so that I couldn’t reach for her. “Everything’s fine,” I said. “The crops were watered, then

the sun came out. It’s a good day.”

“Are you mad at me?” she asked softly. “I’m really sorry if I did anything wrong.”

Goddammit, she looked so precious in that little summer dress. “Everything’s fine, Joanna,”

I said, my voice sounding tight. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just a normal twenty-

one-year-old girl, who should be out meeting all sorts of men to find out what she likes.”

She stared at me again, unblinking. I wished that I could read her mind, but as her eyes

narrowed, maybe it was better than I didn’t.

CHAPTER NINE

* Joanna *