by Lori Wilde
What he wouldn’t give to slip off to the lake with Sophia and make love on the beach, their bodies sinking into the sand, the sun warming their skin, the water lapping rhythmically against the shore as they loved each other in harmony with nature.
Mike forgot they were at his father’s ranch with a hundred coworkers and Sophia’s mother. He forgot everything, even his own name. It didn’t matter if he was Mike the handyman or Rex Barrington, oil executive. All that mattered was Sophia.
Sophia.
In his arms, in his mind, in his heart.
Always in his heart.
She tasted like summer. Sultry, tempting, dangerous. Her kisses were an exotic blend of innocence and desire.
Since that night two weeks ago when they’d lost their heads in her office, Mike could think of little else. And now here they were, spinning out of control again, wrapped in each other’s arms.
His need for so much more than kisses finally broke through his fog. No matter how much he might wish it, he couldn’t have her. Not here. Not now. This was a public place, but much more than that, he could not take Sophia to bed until she knew the truth about him and forgave him for his deception.
Purposefully, he grasped her shoulders in both his hands and broke their kiss.
He cupped her chin in his palm and raised her face to meet his. Her blue eyes were misty with desire, and it took every ounce of strength he possessed not to kiss her again.
She wanted him. He had no doubts about that. But physical lust was one thing, love was another. Could Sophia admit she loved him as Mike? Could she let her heart lead her into his arms forever?
“Sophia,” he murmured. Ask me to stay in Rascal. Tell me you don’t want me to leave. He stared into her eyes and prayed she could read his longing for her on his face. “Sophia.”
Sophia smiled into his mesmerizing green eyes. She loved the sound of her name on Mike’s tongue. The way he said it made her feel special.
Be careful, Sophia. Sienna’s words popped into her head. Don’t fall for the bad boys. They can’t change.
That sobered her quickly.
Oh, gosh, why had she asked him to kiss her? Had she been out of her mind? What if Rex had shown up? What if he were here now, searching the dude ranch for her?
She dropped her gaze and moved away from Mike. “I’ve got to get back to my mother. She’ll worry.”
“Okay.” His eyes clouded. “But first there’s something else I have to tell you. Something very important.”
The seriousness in his voice caught her attention and loosened her knees. “What is it, Mike?”
“Sophia! There you are.”
They looked over to see Heath Hunter coming toward them.
“Hi, Heath.” Sophia was a bit relieved to see him. “What’s up?”
“Mr. Barrington’s looking for you.”
“Me?” Sophia pressed a hand to herself. A chill zipped through her veins. Her mouth felt dry, chalky. “Wh-which Mr. Barrington?” she stammered. “Rex or Thurgood?”
Heath gave her a funny look. “Why, Thurgood, of course. I wouldn’t know Rex if he came up and tapped me on the shoulder.”
What was this about?
On shaky legs, Sophia left the two men behind and walked to the front entrance. People gathered in clumps. Some stood in line at the drink stand; others were at the barbecue grill loading up their plates. A group of kids rode Shetland ponies in the corral.
She spotted her friend Polly and her fiancé Liam lounging around the guitar-shaped swimming pool. She lifted a hand in greeting, and they waved back.
Squinting against the sun and wishing she hadn’t left her sunglasses on the picnic table beside her mother, Sophia scanned the crowd for a man in a white T-shirt and blue shorts.
No one fit the description.
Her spirits stumbled. Rex, where are you?
“Sophia, my dear.”
She turned and saw Thurgood Barrington making his way through the crowd. “Hello, sir.”
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “It’s a lovely party.”
“I’m saddened to think it will be my last time hosting the annual end of summer get-together.”
“It won’t be the same without you,” she said, even though it was her first time at the event.
“Maybe not. Maybe it’ll be better. It’s time for me to retire and turn the reins fully over to my sons.”
“Heath said you were asking to speak to me?”
“I was.” Thurgood nodded. “I need your help.”
“My help?”
“Organizing the three-legged race.”
“Oh.” She thought Thurgood might have news of Rex’s current whereabouts. She hadn’t expected him to draft her as an event coordinator.
“I’m on board. What do you need?”
Thurgood grinned so widely that Sophia wondered if he had an ulterior motive for this race, though for the life of her she couldn’t say why she’d gotten that impression.
He handed her several pieces of rope measuring three feet long. “Tie the contestants’ ankles and knees together.”
Curious, she accepted the rope and watched as he stepped up to a karaoke machine to use it as a loudspeaker system.
“May I have your attention?” Thurgood announced.
All heads turned in his direction.
“We’re about to begin the three-legged race. Your partners will be selected through a random draw from names Mildred has put into a hat.”
Mildred trotted over with his upturned Stetson for him to draw from.
“As I call out your names, please assemble at the starting line on top of the hill.” Mr. Barrington pointed to a rolling bluff several hundred yards away. “Sophia Shepherd will wait there to help you get ready. The finish line is directly behind the concession stand. The winners each get a hundred-dollar gift card to La Pomme Juteuse.”
La Pomme Juteuse was a surprising French bistro that had recently opened in Rascal. Sophia had been dying to try it, but the restaurant was out of her budget.
While Thurgood drew names and called out the contestants and their pairings, Sophia went up the hill with the ropes in her hand. Before everyone arrived, she had a brief opportunity to check the crowd again, but still no Rex.
She did, however, catch sight of Mike. He was sitting and talking to Amber, her mother, and Mr. Whitcomb. She waved, but none of them saw her.
“We’re here!” Liam and Polly topped the hill beside her.
Sophia crouched and tied Polly’s slender ankle to Liam’s. Then she bound them with a second rope just above their knees. She tested the bindings to make sure it was secure but not too tight.
“Hey,” Polly asked. “I haven’t had the chance to ask you how you worked things out with you know who.”
“I haven’t,” Sophia admitted.
“Did you listen to your heart?”
“It wasn’t speaking to me.”
“Come now, Sophia, of course it was. You’re just not listening.”
“That’s not too tight, is it?” Sophia asked, anxious to get Polly off the topic of her love life.
“It’s perfect,” Liam said. “The closer I am to Polly, the better.” He draped an arm around his fiancée’s shoulders and drew his bride-to-be into the circle of his arm.
They gazed into each other’s eyes and grinned. Sophia felt an ugly jolt of jealousy. She wanted what those two had. Love, honesty, open communication. She wanted a committed relationship with a man she could trust. Like Polly and Liam. Like Sienna and Jeff. Like Heath and Amber.
A lump blocked her throat. Maybe she’d have no one.
Polly and Liam hobbled off to the side, giggling and holding on to each other while another couple waited for her to harness them together.
In the distance, she could still hear Mr. Barrington calling out the names of the contestants.
“And last, but not least, Mike Barr from maintenance.”
A cheer went u
p from the crowd. Sophia cast a glance down the hill and watched as Mike got to his feet. Grinning boyishly, he bowed to the audience. He was very popular with the Barrington employees. She wouldn’t be the only one saddened to see him leave.
“Mike is paired with Sophia Shepherd,” Thurgood said.
The cheering intensified.
Why did it have to be him? Sophia blushed. Great. Just what she needed. With her luck, Rex would show up at the same time she and Mike came hopping down the hill tied together.
Better than having him catching you kissing Mike.
“We’ll have some accompanying music,” Thurgood said.
Mildred fiddled with her phone, cueing up a music streaming service, playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” from the karaoke machine’s speakers.
Mike came toward her. Sophia held two pieces of rope in her hand. He took them from her. Bending over, he clinched their ankles and just above their knees, uniting them.
Straightening, he grinned at her.
“Places, everyone,” Thurgood said.
Laughing along with the other contestants, Sophia and Mike hobbled over to the starting line with the rest.
Their legs rubbed like two pieces of flint sparking a fire. Bare skin against bare skin. Sophia had never thought of ankles and knees as sexy body parts, but she was quickly altering that perception.
“You know the only way we will sew up this race is through teamwork,” Mike whispered, his breath tickling her ear.
Sophia suppressed a shudder of delight. “Who says I want to win?”
“Come on, you want to win as much as I do.” His grin widened. “Let’s blow everyone out of the water.”
11
This competitive side of Mike stunned and delighted her.
In the four and a half months she’d worked at Barrington Oil and Gas, he’d shown no signs of ambition. He was usually so laid-back and devil-may-care. Why suddenly was he so interested in winning? Especially on something that didn’t matter? If he could be so intense about a three-legged race, why didn’t he have the same enthusiasm toward financial success?
You can’t change people, Sophia. Accept Mike for who he is. Only Mike can change Mike.
But what if he wanted to change? Not for her but for himself? What if he decided being a rolling stone wasn’t all it was cracked up to be? What if he came to realize that home and family were the most important things in life?
Yeah? And what if raindrops were chocolate?
The crowd had moved away from the picnic area and formed a line along the edges of the race path. Sophia saw Stanley Whitcomb pushing her mother’s wheelchair through the field. Amber walked beside them with her hand on her extended belly. Heath was a contestant, paired with a new guy from accounting. Jannette waved jauntily.
“Ready,” Thurgood called out over the loudspeaker.
Mike took Sophia’s hand in his. “Bend slightly at the knees.”
She copied his stance.
“On your mark…”
The contestants tensed and leaned forward, ready to take off.
“Get set…”
Excitement streamed through Sophia’s blood.
“Go!”
Boom! Everyone rushed down the hill in a wild melee to the finish line.
Right away, Sienna and Jeff pulled into the lead, but then Jeff stumbled, and they went down together. Another couple tripped over them, creating a pileup.
Mike deftly steered Sophia clear.
They moved as a unit, surprisingly graceful together. Mike led, but Sophia matched his pace, neither too fast nor too slow. Not getting ahead or falling behind, their hands intertwined.
It was a strange ballet. And oddly enough, quite sexy.
Acutely aware of his knee bobbing against hers, Sophia struggled to concentrate on the race. Wow, they were so good at this. If they were this bound in a foot race, what would they be like in bed?
Flesh to flesh, bodies meshed.
Sophia groaned inwardly and pushed away her fantasies. She glanced over at Mike, and her heart stuttered.
His green-eyed gaze fixed intently on the finish line. He wanted to win.
She could see it in the set of his jaw, in the determined expression on his face. Where
had this competitive spirit come from, and why hadn’t she seen it before? Had he purposely kept it under wraps? Why?
Mesmerized, Sophia stumbled.
Mike grabbed her elbow.
She flailed backward and grasped at his shirt, struggling to keep herself upright. She hated being the reason they lost.
Unable to correct herself, she fell.
Mike toppled over her.
They rolled together, grass and dirt hitching a ride on their clothes, in their hair.
Oh, no! She’d messed up.
Then came the sound that surprised her. Mike’s husky laughter.
They spun to a stop. Sophia’s back against the ground, Mike atop her. The other contestants hopped past them. Sophia caught glimpses of many tanned knees and scuffed sneakers. The sun shone brightly in the pristine blue sky. The air smelled of grass and Mike’s cologne.
She hitched in her breath and stared up into his face.
His green eyes filled with mirth. Smile lines bracketed his mouth. Bits of straw hung in his mahogany hair, and a cowlick flopped over his forehead.
Gently Sophia reached up to rake the errant lock away.
He chuckled again, and she could feel the vibrations bubble from deep within his chest.
They were breathing hard.
In tandem.
“So much for that swanky dinner,” he said.
“Disappointed?”
“Are you?”
“I could eat a hot dog at a kiosk outside Home Depot with you,” Sophia said, startling herself. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say.
“Could you, Sophia?” He spoke lightly, but the look in his eyes was deadly serious. “Could you really be happy with that?”
Yes! All she wanted was someone to share her life with. Someone she could trust. Someone who would be there for her. But was Mike that someone?
“I would.”
“Not me,” he joked. “I’m terrified of hot dog stands. Do you know how much bacteria—”
“Heath!” someone shouted.
Suddenly, commotion rippled through the bystanders on the sidelines.
“What’s going on?” Sophia asked, raising up on her elbows.
Mike rolled off her and followed her gaze.
A crowd had formed a circle around someone.
Her mother?
Sophia’s heart leapt into her throat. She’d been so wrapped up with Mike, she’d forgotten her mother was at the picnic. If something had happened to her while she’d been fooling around in a footrace, Sophia would never forgive herself.
“Untie us!” She grappled for the rope above their knees.
“Calm down.” Quickly, Mike undid the knots in the rope.
“It’s my mother, I know it.” Sophia’s pulse pounded and once freed from him, she scrambled to her feet. “Something bad has happened to her.”
“Go to her,” Mike said. “I’m right behind you.”
And he was.
She felt him there, and a sense of calm peace settled over her. For years she’d dreamed of finding a man who would stand beside her no matter what, and now he was here.
“Heath!” Jack Cavanaugh shouted. “Heath, where are you?”
Sophia turned her head, searching for Heath, and spotted him just as he and his race partner passed the finish line. They had won the race.
“Heath! Amber is in labor,” Jack shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.
Amber? In labor. Not Jannette.
Relieved, Sophia blew out her breath and slowed her sprint to a trot as she joined the crowd circling Amber at the top of the bluff where the race had started.
Her friend was sitting in a folding chair holding her abdomen, wincing and doing some weird breathing.
“I can walk, Heath!” Amber insisted.
“The hell you say,” Heath growled.
“Put. Me. Down. If you throw your back out, you won’t be able to help me with the baby.”
“I’ll be fine.” Heath did not put his wife down.
Mike took Sophia’s arm. “I’m betting you’ll be just as stubborn as Amber when you’re in labor.”
“And you’d be as opinionated as Heath.”
He grinned at her. “Yup.”
“Sophia.” Her mother waved to her from the other side of the gawking crowd.
She let go of Mike’s hand and went to her mother, who was being wheeled along by
Stanley Whitcomb.
Stanley stopped, the group streaming by on their way back to the picnic grounds.
“Hi, Mom.” Sophia leaned over to kiss her mother’s cheek. “Are you having a good time?”
“Yes.” Jannette smiled shyly.
She was pleased to see her mother looking so happy.
“Sophia,” Stanley said. “If you’d like to go on to the hospital with Amber and Heath, I’d be happy to give your mother a ride home. I have an SUV and I can pop her wheelchair right into the back.”
“That’s so nice of you to offer, Mr. Whitcomb,” Sophia said, “but I couldn’t impose.”
“No imposition at all,” Stanley said.
Sophia turned to her mother. “Mom?”
“Go with your friends to the hospital.” Jannette made shooing motions with her hands. “I know you’re dying to be there when Amber has her baby.”
“You don’t mind?” It seemed so odd, seeing her mother in the company of a man. Sophia couldn’t ever remember her mother dating, even before she ended up in the wheelchair.
Jannette shook her head. “Go.”
“All right, then.” Feeling uncertain, Sophia followed Mike to the field where they’d parked.
“Do you want to ride with me to the hospital?” she asked. “Or do you have other plans?”
Mike’s grin melted her. “I thought you’d never ask.”
