“No one likes a complainer, Blaze. God, those biscuits smell amazing,” I said, to change the subject.
He kneaded my muscles for a few moments longer and then patted my back gently before he sat across from me. He was still too close, though. His maleness was too overpowering. His eyes were still assessing me, and the chocolate color they had darkened to was deep and hungry. His eyes told me he had loved having his hands all over me. I’d probably love having his hands massaging and kneading all of me every night, but that wasn’t going to happen. He was Blaze McAwley—a cowboy with a body worthy of a magazine—and I was Heaven Lane, a damaged woman who had caused his wife’s death. There would never be anything between us other than tolerance underscored by hate.
While I understood all of that, that didn’t mean his body didn’t make me want to know the emotion that was the exact opposite of hate. I wanted to run my hands over his defined chest and through the smattering of hair there before they meandered their way lower to another thatch of hair that was thicker, curlier, and ached for a woman’s touch. I moaned at the thought of the magnificent body he kept hidden under thoseWranglersand work shirts. Embarrassed, I jumped up and hurried to the counter, just to put some distance between us.
“Coffee. We should have coffee.”
“I’d have a cup if you’re making it, but don’t go to any trouble,” he drawled.
I rolled my eyes to myself. Blaze had been in Wisconsin for years, and he still sounded like he’d just ridden in on his horse that morning.
No, he just rode in on his horse to your ranch this morning. Aren’t you going to ask him why he’s here, or are you too lost in his warm hands and soft biscuits?
I finished setting the coffee to brew, sat back down, and stuffed a bite of biscuit into my mouth. I moaned against my will at how wonderful they were, even hours after Beau made them. Blaze sat there, chewing like he was eating a canary and not a biscuit. He always knew when he got to me, and he always enjoyed it. I blamed it on the accident and the head injury.
“Tex, Dawn, and Beau are riding the fences,” he said. “They’re doing all the ridges just to make sure there aren’t any new holes.”
“Which you’ve already said. It’s more likely you’re making them ride all the ridges so you can have two hours to bug me about selling my land to you.”
He put his hands up before he went back to his breakfast. “That’s not true. I wanted an hour to make sure you didn’t need a doctor. I also needed an hour of peace this morning to call my father and discuss some business.”
“As you can see, no doctor is necessary. Feel free to run home and call Daddy.”
I stood and grabbed a mug out of the cupboard, pouring myself a cup of coffee and standing at the counter with it, sipping the hot, strong brew without letting it cool. The heat stole my breath and the skin from my tongue, but I didn’t care. The burn reminded me that I was alive.
Blaze stared at me from his seat. “I don’t get one?”
“You just said you were leaving to make a call.”
He stood and got a mug down, then stepped around me to pour himself a cup. “No, you said that. I said I had to call my father, which I did before I came down here. I’m all yours for the next,” he checked his watch, “thirty-three minutes.”
“Lucky me.”
“Always so much sass. We don’t have to be enemies, you know.”
I raised a brow at him over my coffee cup. “I’m crushed, Blaze. I thought we were frenemies.” My words were dripping with sarcasm.
“I just want to know why you ditched me when I needed you most. Once I have the answer to that question, we can drop the enemy part.”
“I ditchedyouwhenyouneededmemost?” I repeated to be sure I heard him right.
“You left me in a real bind, Heaven.”
My arm arced toward the door, flinging the porcelain mug and hot coffee through the air. The mug and coffee detonated against it, just below the window glass. “Get out! Get out of my house, Blaze McAwley! I don’t need your poor pitiful me routine right now. Not when you’re standing in front of me with full use of your body and a support system I’ll never have!”
I didn’t wait around to clean up the mess I had made or to see if he left. I just stomped away to my room and slammed the door with all I had. Once I heard the back door slam shut with the same fervor, I sank to the bed and buried my head in the pillow.
Four
I tossed a forkful of hay and narrowly missed Beau’s head in the process.
“Watch yourself, Blaze!” he yelled, throwing a handful of pellets at me.
“Watchyourself, Beau! I’m working here!”
“Cripes, what’s got you in such a horn-tossing mood? Or maybe I should say who?”
I tossed more hay. “Just shut up and work. You’re getting on my last nerve.”