“A house? I would have thought you’d want to forget about this place. About us. After the way you ended it.” Katie raised her hand to her mouth as if she couldn’t believe she’d said those words out loud.
Liam stopped beside her, losing his grip on the goat’s lead and allowing the animal to graze. “I messed up, Katie. I think we both know that. But I panicked when I realized how young you were, and how—”
“I was eighteen,” she snapped.
“By a few weeks. You were so innocent. And I felt all kinds of guilt for not realizing it sooner.”
“Not anymore,” she said, her voice firm. Defiant. “I’m not innocent anymore.”
“No.” Liam knew every line, every angle of her face. There were days he woke up dreaming about the soft feel of her skin. But it was the way Katie had looked at him after he’d gone too far, taken too much, that haunted his nightmares. In that moment, her green eyes had shone with hope and love.
Back then, when he was fresh out of college, returning home to build the life he’d dreamed about, that one look had sent him running scared. He wasn’t ready for the weight of her emotions.
And he sure as hell wasn’t ready now. Eric had given Liam one job since handing over part of the company—buy Summers Family Trucking. Liam couldn’t let his best friend, now his business partner, down. Whatever lingering feelings he had for Katie needed to wait on the sidelines until after Liam finished negotiating with her brothers. There was too much at stake—including his vision of a secure future—to blow this deal over the girl who haunted his fantasies.
He drew the goat away from the overgrown grass and started toward the wooded area on the other side of the clearing. “We should go. Get you home before too late.”
But Katie didn’t follow. She marched down to the fir trees. “I’m twenty-five, Liam. I don’t have a curfew. My brothers don’t sit around waiting for me to come home.”
“I know.”
Brody, Chad, and Josh were waiting for him. Liam had been on his way to see her brothers when he’d spotted her car on the side of the road. They’d reluctantly agreed to an informal meeting to discuss selling to Moore Timber.
She spun to face him, hands on her hips. “I think you wanted to take a walk down memory lane.”
“Katie—”
“Back then, you never held back.” She closed the gap between them, the toes of her sandal-clad feet touching his boots. “So tell me, Liam, what are we doing here?”
He fought the urge to reach for her. He had no right. Not to mention bringing her here had confirmed one thing: After seven years, Katie Summers still held his mistakes against him.
She raised one hand, pressing her index finger to his chest. Damn, he wished he’d kept his leather jacket on. Her touch ignited years of flat-out need. No, he hadn’t lived like a saint for seven years, but no one else turned him on like Katie Summers.
“Back then,” she continued, “you asked for what you wanted.”
No, he’d issued commands. He’d held nothing back—except his heart.
“Honey, if I want something,” he said slowly, “you’ll know.”
Her eyes sparked with desire. That flash—it was unexpected, like the moment when a chainsaw blade ran up against a rock. He felt the danger, knew the warning signs. If she looked at him like that for any longer, with her full lips parted, he’d kiss her.
The baby goat pushed between them and the tension shattered. Katie stepped back, scooped up the young animal, and thrust it into his arms.
“I need you to carry the little one,” she said, her tone once again hard and unforgiving. The desire he’d witnessed seconds earlier had seemingly vanished without a trace. “Her legs are tired.”
He’d gone from almost kissing her to carrying her rescued goat in the blink of an eye. Whatever happened next, Katie Summers was not going to make this easy.
“Lead the way, Katie. This time, I’ll follow you.”
Chapter 3
KATIE TOSSED A bale of hay into the stall, watching as the goats pulled it apart. She’d placed the four-legged family in the far corner of the barn, away from her horses. She wanted them to feel safe here.
“Later, I’ll bring you a bucket of grain,” she told the animals. “Not that you need it. There is plenty to eat out in the fields. But I’m going to spoil you today. Tomorrow, I’ll let you loose in the pasture.”
Only the youngest, the little girl goat Liam had dutifully carried back to the barn, looked up from the feast.
Liam. She shook her head as she headed for the exit