Author: Robyn Carr

“I do mean it. No.”

“But you kiss me like you’re ready. Why not?”

She pushed herself up on the couch just slightly so she could look at his eyes. “We’ve only known each other three weeks, for starters.”

“I’ve kind of known you my whole life, even if I haven’t known you since you got your braces off. But I’ve known you intensely for three weeks.”

“We knew each other superficially for one week and intensely for the next two weeks. I might require a little more than that.”

“Why?”

“Because I just broke up with Ed. Six months ago. It isn’t that long.”

“It’s forever,” he said. “I should have made you forget he ever existed by now.”

“I think in another couple of weeks, I will have forgotten. And I’d kind of like to know how you feel after you’ve had your chance to lie on the beach surrounded by beautiful bodies in very small bathing suits.”

“Oh, that. Listen, that’s not even part of the equation,” he said. “Really. That trip has nothing to do with how I feel.”

“It has to do with how I feel,” she said.

“Annie, if I hadn’t made arrangements for this vacation long before I met you, I sure wouldn’t plan it now. And it was a lot more than wanting to be lost in bikinis, believe me. It was a very convenient, very convincing plan, so I wouldn’t find myself held hostage on a cruise ship with all my sisters and their kids. I explained—my brothers-in-law are great, but when their wives are around…”

“They have to act like husbands and fathers?”

“As opposed to regular guys,” he clarified with a nod. “We’ve been on a couple of fishing trips together and I’m telling you, these guys are the best. They are my brothers. But when my sisters and the kids are around…”

“Husbands and fathers,” she said helpfully again.

“But I’m not,” he said. “I’m bored out of my mind. The only reprieve I get is a brandy and cigar with my dad and a conversation about veterinary medicine. Come on, don’t you feel sorry for me? It’s murder.”

“So, you’re not looking forward to seeing all your old buds?” she asked.

“That? Sure, that’ll be great. We used to study together several nights a week. And then after graduation, we went off in all directions. This was a great idea Jerry had, but I can think of things I’d rather do.” He lifted one eyebrow and grinned lasciviously.

She laughed at him. “Still, I’m not ready. Not till after your Club Med vacation.”

“It’s not Club Med, I told you. Are you waiting for me to say I love you, because if you’re waiting for that, I—”

She put a finger to his lips and shushed him. “Don’t go out on a limb here, Nathaniel.”

“I’ll call the travel agent in the morning and get you a ticket,” he said. “Come with me.”

She laughed, actually pleased by the offer. “My goodness, you’ll go to a lot of trouble and expense for sex.”

“For you,” he clarified. “Not just for sex, for you.”

“I am kind of impressed, but no thank you.”

“Why not?”

“Ordinarily, if it were another time of year, I would, but not this time. Plus, I don’t get to be with the whole family that often. The boys have it worked out that they do either Thanksgiving or Christmas with our side, the other holiday with their wives’ side. So it’s been a couple of years since we’ve all done Christmas together and I love that. My mom and I knock ourselves out to make it great.”

He kissed her deeply. He pressed her down into the sofa with his body and held her hands at her sides, entwining his fingers with hers. “How about if I decide not to go on that vacation?”

“That you’ve paid for? To see your old best friends from school? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then come with me.”

“No.”

“Then I won’t go,” he said.

“You have to go. This is important, Nathaniel. You should get away, broaden your horizons. You’ve probably forgotten how much you miss your friends, how much you’d like to see a hundred tiny bikinis on perfect women. You have to go. I’m kind of interested in what you’ll be like when you come back.”

He thought about this for a few seconds. “Okay, then,” he whispered. “A compromise.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll go to the stupid beach without you, my virtuous girlfriend, you’ll have Christmas with your family, and tonight you come to my bed.”

She laughed. “No. Not till you’ve passed your time with the bikinis. And the women vets you used to date. Are they pretty?”

“Tina and Cindy? Oh, yeah, very pretty, but like I said, we were better as study partners. Honey, I’ve completely lost interest in bikinis. Unless you want to put one on for me just for fun.”

“I don’t know that that will ever happen.”

“Annie, I’m not interested in bikinis. Not now. I’m only interested in you. Hey! This doesn’t have anything to do with skinny Susanna, does it? Because I’m not all weirded out by Ed, who’s really much stranger than Susanna.”

She shook her head. “The only thing about Susanna that I still have to get over is that she was beautiful, feminine, small—except for her apparently exceptional boobs—and fancy, while I’m flat-footed and can cut the head off a chicken. But I’m working on that.”

“They weren’t real,” he said. “She bought herself a pair for her twenty-first birthday. I’d much rather touch smaller real ones.”

She kissed him, a short one on the lips. “Well, Nathaniel, if this works out, I like your chances.” Then she grinned at him.

He was quiet for a moment and his eyes were serious, burning into hers. “You know, if I hadn’t already paid for the whole damn thing, I’d cancel that trip. It’s not what I want right now.”

“Hey, I want you to go, and you’ll have a good time. I’m not really worried about the bikinis. Not that much.”

He pressed himself against her, proof that he was still all turned on. “It turns out three weeks is enough time for me,” he said. “I’d rather just not go.”

She put a hand against his cheek and smiled at him. “Even a grand gesture like that wouldn’t get you lucky tonight.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to be away from you for ten days. I barely found you. What if stupid Ed comes around and somehow proves to you that he’s worth another chance?”

“Can’t happen,” she said. “I hardly remember what he looks like. I’ll be right here when you get back.”

“What if I get so lonely and distraught I make love to some big-breasted nymphomaniac while I’m down there and come back to you all innocent, lying about it, just to teach you a terrible lesson?”

“I’d know.”

“You didn’t know with Ed,” he reminded her.

“I know. I’ve been thinking about that a lot because it’s been a real issue with me, that somehow I didn’t know. I think Ed wasn’t that important to me, or I would have been upset we had so little time together, and I wasn’t. Wouldn’t I have known something was off if he’d meant more to me? I don’t think I cared as much as I wanted to. Lord, I think I would have married him even knowing he’d only spend two nights a week with me.” She took a breath. “Maybe I would’ve married him because he’d only spend two nights a week with me.” She ran her fingernails through the hair at Nate’s temple. “But much as I fight it, Nathaniel, it’s different with you.” Then she smiled.

“In only three weeks?” he asked softly.

She was shaking her head. “It didn’t take three whole weeks.”

He took a breath, then groaned deeply just before he covered her mouth in a deep, hot, wet kiss that went on and on and on. When he finally lifted his lips from hers, he said, “Okay. We’ll do this your way. We’ll wait until you’re ready. And when it’s over and we’re together forever, don’t think you can boss me around like this.”

“You’ve got a deal,” she said, laughing.

Nathaniel called Annie twice before noon on Monday. First he wanted to know if there was anything he could bring to the farm. “I think we’re throwing a couple of big pans of lasagna in the oven for dinner, and Mom is busy making bread. How about bringing some good red wine?”

The next time he called, he said, “I know you work on Tuesday. I’m leaving Tuesday afternoon. So tonight, if I pass the brother test, will you come home with me for just a little while?”

“For just a little while. And don’t try that ‘I’m going into battle and you have to show your love before I leave’ trick. Okay?”

And he laughed.

That was the best part about Annie—her sense of humor. No, he thought—it was her beauty. Her dark red hair, her creamy, freckled complexion, her deep brown eyes. But then a smile came to his lips as he recalled how good she was on a horse. An accomplished equestrienne. And while she would not find the term sturdy at all complimentary, he admired that about her. Fortitude had always appealed to him. Sometimes when he was holding her, he felt like he was clinging to her as if she anchored him to the ground. She had no idea how unattractive flighty, timid, weak women were to him. Did such women make some men feel strong and capable? Because for Nathaniel, to be chosen by a woman of strength and confidence met needs he didn’t even know he had.

He had calls to make, ranches to visit, patients to see, inoculations to administer, a couple of cows who had a fungus to look in on, breeding animals who would deliver early in the year to check. He phoned the vet from Eureka who would cover for him while he was away, paid a visit to a local winery to select a few bottles of good red and finally made his way to the McKenzie farm.

When he pulled in, the place almost resembled a fair in progress. Not one but two RVs were parked near the back of the house, which probably eliminated the need to borrow Annie’s house for the family. There were also trucks and snowmobiles on trailers. A bunch of cross-country skis leaned up against the back porch. The McKenzies were here to play. Kids ran around while several sat on the top rail of the corral. Inside the corral, Annie had a couple of young children mounted on her horses. She held the reins and led them around the corral while they held the saddle pommels. Four men—her brothers and father—leaned on the rail, watching.

Nate wandered up to the fence and leaned his forearms on the top rail with the rest of them. “So,” he said. “I’m here for the inspection.”

The man next to him turned and his mouth split into a huge grin. “Hey, man,” Beau McKenzie said. “I heard a rumor you were dating my sister. Good to see you, buddy.” He stuck out his hand. “This true? You and Annie? Because I can tell you things that will give you ultimate control over her!”

“Nathaniel Jensen,” the next man said. Brad McKenzie stuck out his hand. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in twenty years! You finally made it over five foot six, good for you.”

“Yeah, and beat the acne.” Nate laughed. “How you doing, pal?”

“Jim, any chance you remember this clown?” Beau asked his oldest brother.

“I just remember this squirt from football,” Jim McKenzie said, sticking out a hand. “Couldn’t tackle worth shit, but you sure could run.”

“I had to run,” Nate said. “If anyone had caught me, I’d be dead. I was the smallest kid on the team.”