“Not particularly,” I said honestly.

Silas ignored my comment. “She’s a keeper. She single?”

“Yeah,” I answered reluctantly.

“She’s the kind of woman you regret if you let her get away,” he advised.

I let out an exasperated breath. “We’re business colleagues and friends,” I reminded him.

“I’m not a fool, Kaleb,” he answered. “I see the way you look at her. You can’t take your eyes off her, and she looks at you the same way. If you don’t have anything more than a business relationship or a friendship with that girl, you’re a nincompoop.”

Silas left abruptly to serve a new customer, but his words made me wonder how obvious it was that I was really attracted to Anna.

My eyes were still glued to her, even though I’d just been talking to Silas, but I couldn’t help myself.

Number one…I was here to protect her.

And number two…if she was in the same room that I was, my gaze couldn’t seem to land on anyone else but her.

Not only was she gorgeous, but she fascinated the hell out of me.

I was honestly amazed at how well she could convince people that she was just a normal person.

Hell, maybe that was because she didn’t feel like anyone special.

She was laughing at something someone had said when our eyes met.

For a split second, she made me feel like I was the only person in the room before her attention returned to the woman who was speaking.

And I liked the way that felt.

It wasn’t just lust between Anna and me, although I’d had a very difficult time not taking exactly what I’d wanted the night before.

The two of us were inexplicably connected in a way I’d never experienced before.

It had occurred to me once or twice that maybe there was a reason I’d been compelled to go to the cabin.

It was a strange thought for me since I was a man who didn’t believe in anything that couldn’t be proved by real facts or science.

But occasionally, I wondered if the reason I’d gone to that cabin when I did was to meet the woman who was sitting a few feet away from me.

The problem was, now that we’d met, I wasn’t sure how in the hell I was ever going to watch her leave.

Anna

“This must have been painted at the cabin,” I said, completely awed as I looked at the painting Millie Remington had donated for the auction.

Kaleb and I had been working at this site since early this morning. The fundraiser was being held in the park right outside of Crystal Fork. Probably because it was the only space large enough to hold most of the town.

The weather was perfect. Warm, without a cloud in the sky.

The work hadn’t been all that laborious for me. There had been plenty of muscle to set up tables, and I’d ended up helping Millie organize boxes of items so they got to the right tables.

Kaleb’s mother had finally waved the two of us away this afternoon and told us to take a break and check out the food and items for sale.

We’d walked around the event, sampling the baked goods and food, and looking at the booths with handicrafts and other items for sale.

Although people stared at the two of us, I knew they weren’t staring because they knew I was Annelise. They were checking us out because they wondered what my relationship was with Kaleb. He and his brothers were probably the most eligible bachelors in Montana.