Page 33 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

As if that wasn’t obvious.

Foster held out a giant hand to shake. For a split second, I wondered if I could get away with pretending I hadn’t seen it,but I didn’t want to cause trouble for Dev with his friends, so I shook the man’s hand. And nearly felt my bones pop in his grip.

I gritted my teeth before pulling my injured hand back.

Dev sensed the tension. “And this is Lellie,” he said, gesturing to where she was still denuding the general area of all things that came close to being classified as flowers.

Foster moved closer and crouched down near her. “Hi, baby. Are you picking flowers for your da?—”

Dev and I both squawked out a sound to keep him from finishing that sentence. Foster glanced at us in surprise. “Ix-nay on the ad-day,” I said without thinking.

Dev bit his lip and shifted from foot to foot. “It’s just that I’m not… I don’t know if I’m… We’re not doing that right now.”

Foster looked between me and Dev. “Oh-kay…?”

I walked over and picked Lellie up. “Why don’t I take her and the food inside so the two of you can talk?”

Dev’s forehead crinkled. “There’s no need?—”

“That’d be great,” Foster said with a shallow smile, taking the paper bag from Dev and shoving it at me. “Thanks, man.”

Lellie chattered unintelligibly while I carried her and the food inside the barn. I mentally mapped the apartment to determine which window might give me a view of their private conversation, but when I arrived in the apartment, I forced myself to stay away fromallthe windows lest I be tempted to turn into someone I could hardly respect.

But it galled me knowing Foster was out there asking Dev about Lellie. About Katie.

About me.

I sat Lellie and the food on the kitchen counter before pulling the flowers from her fists and collecting them in a little pile I promised to preserve. Then, I moved her to the sink to wash her hands.

I was so surprised by the sound of Dev entering the apartment a minute later I nearly sprayed water everywhere.

He seemed to be alone.

I cleared my throat. “Did yourfriendleave already?”

Dev shook his head and moved around the kitchen island to wash his hands, too. “I invited him to join us for dinner. He’s just running up to the big house first to talk to Way about work stuff.”

“Oh. Well. I guess I could head into town and grab dinner myself to give you two a chance to…”

Dev glanced up with a frown. “There’s plenty of food. Why would you leave? Unless you don’t want to be here?”

“No, I… I just assumed that you and the sheriff would want some privacy.”

The divot between his eyebrows deepened. “Why?” Suddenly, his forehead smoothed. “Ahh, you think there’s something there. Between me and Foster.”

“I don’t think it, I know it,” I said without thinking. “Which is fine. Obviously. I’ll make myself scarce.”

Dev stepped closer until our hips brushed together. “I’d rather you stayed.” His voice was low and made my muscles feel warm and loose. “I told you, Foster and I are just friends.”

“I think you’re being naive.”

He laughed softly under his breath. “I didn’t say we didn’t give it a try. His mother keeps trying to push us together. But?—”

“What do you mean by give it a try?” I blurted before snapping my mouth closed and wishing I could cut out my own tongue.

Dev turned and studied me. “We ended up out late together. Drinking. I asked him back to the ranch. He asked if it would be better than the last guy I was with. And the answer to that was an unequivocal no. Nothing could possibly be better than the lastguy I was with. So Foster and I decided we were better off as friends.”

My heartbeat could have rivaled a wild stallion’s. Who’d he hook up with last? “Oh,” I said, doing my best not to look interested. The heat of his stare stood all of my body hair on end. “Must have really been something.”

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