Page 11 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

“Hi.” He reached out his hand. “I’m Miles Ford.”

“Zoe James.” My arm felt heavy as I lifted my hand.

The second we touched, a bolt of awareness spread through my entire body, electrifying every cell and awakening every atom that I was comprised of.

I jerked my hand away as if I’d touched a hot stove.

What sort of voodoo magic did this man possess? I’d heard of charisma and sex appeal, but this was at the next level.

“Isaidhe should stay for dinner,right?” AJ repeated himself. Apparently…I couldn’t say for sure because I hadn’theard him the first time. “We’re having dinner, so he should stay, right, Mom?”

Dinner. How in the world was I supposed to have a meal with this man when I couldn’t even greet him at my door without nearly passing out and becoming mute? I must be having a breakdown. It had to be from working all the hours. Everyone said it would catch up with me, and it finally had. I was having a lust-induced mental breakdown. My timing could not have been better…

6

MILES

If someone had askedwhat I expected to find when I met Zoe James, I have no idea what my answer would have been. But I did know the woman standing in front of me was not it. This woman was mesmerizing, intoxicating, and captivating. I spent my life around the most beautiful women in the world, and not one of them held a candle to the one I was looking at.

Her natural beauty was part of it. Sure. She had large, emerald green eyes with flecks of gold swimming in them, flawless sun-kissed skin, full lips, and long, thick chestnut brown hair, which combined, gave her a rare girl-next-door with exotic flair appeal. Her thin, worn Atlanta Braves T-shirt and sweatpants did not hide her petite curves; that would tempt a saint to sin.

But there was more to her than just her physical appearance. When we’d briefly shook hands, it had knocked the wind out of me. The contact sent a surge rushing through me like the waters of the rapids, and I’d had to lock my knees to withstand them. I knew she felt it too because she snatched her hand away so fast that I’d barely even registered we’d touched before thehandshake was over. My body knew we had, though. My palm still tingled where we’d been skin to skin.

I knew for certain that I’d never met Zoe before or even seen her picture, but there was something so familiar about her. Familiar and exciting. I couldn’t explain why I was so drawn to her.

The feelings coursing through me as I waited for Zoe to come back with a verdict of whether or not I could stay for dinner, however, were foreign. It took me a second to recognize them as nerves because it had been so long since I’d felt them. I was nervous. Anxious. Out of my depth.

“Mom,” AJ mumbled under his breath as I scratched Daisy behind the ears to try and ground myself in the moment, so I didn’t make a complete ass of myself. She was the dog I’d seen in the profile pic.

“What?”

“Can Mr. Ford stay for dinner?”

“Please, call me Miles,” I said to both AJ and Zoe.

I knew that it was a sign of respect and formality, but it made me uncomfortable. Especially since the only Mr. Ford I knew was my grandfather, and he was an abusive alcoholic.

“Oh, um, fine, yes.”

“Are you sure?” I tilted my head to the side. “I don’t want to impose.”

Zoe’s stare leveled me. She didn’t say a word, but I read between the lines of her silence. She was making it clear that my showing up on her doorstep was, in and of itself, an imposition.

Although she may have felt the same physical reaction I’d had to her, my reception otherwise was less than friendly. I’d describe it as downright icy. She hadn’t spoken to me for the first thirty seconds she’d opened the door. Not until AJ pushed the issue to make her say hi and even acknowledge my presence.

It had been a long time since I’d shown up anywhere, and people hadn’t been happy, or at the very least, neutral about me being there. I’d always considered myself fairly likable, but it was clear Zoe James did not share that opinion. It was oddly refreshing.

“It’s fine.” She inhaled as a forced smile appeared on her face. “Come on in.”

“This is so dope!” AJ whisper-shouted as he ran back into the house. “I’ll get a plate!”

Zoe took a step back and stood to the side holding the door. As I passed her, a faint scent of lavender and fresh laundry drifted through the air. It was barely there, but I leaned forward, wanting to inhale the clean, floral aroma that was, in a word, feminine. It was pure.

When she shut the door and brushed past me to follow in the direction her son had just gone, a few soft strands of her long hair brushed against my arm, and it was there again. This time, the flowery scent was even stronger. I had the very inappropriate urge to run my fingers through her hair and bury my face in her neck.

“Papa, look who’s here!” AJ called out as we all walked through the kitchen into the dining area, Daisy trotting along happily beside us.

“Huh, what?” A man with a full head of white hair seated at a table with a half-eaten chicken breast in his hand asked.

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