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When he does it, his shirt rises, and I get a glimpse of the lines of muscle in his stomach. Hot.

“I see.” He looks at me again, and my eyes snap to the soapy water. “On the farm, work is divided by who can carry the most weight?”

“I don’t know about farms.” I pass him another plate, sliding my eyes to the side for another peek at his abs. “But at LaGrange Orchard, we put everybody where they can be the most useful. Like, you’re pretty good at drying dishes, and you claim you can make hoecakes—”

“I make damn good hoecakes. You’ll see.”

Leaning closer, I catch a whiff of his scent, masculine and cle

an. “Still, I wouldn’t waste your back in the kitchen when you’re needed on the loading dock.”

I flip the switch for the garbage disposal and help the food scraps down the drain. Akela trots into the room as if on cue, and I toss her the last piece of bacon, then I squat down to rub her fluffy white neck while she chews.

Taron crosses his arms watching us. “She knocked me on my ass this morning.”

“Akela!” Laughter tickles in my stomach, and I shake my face at her. She only licks my nose. “Did you knock Taron down?”

He squats beside me to pet her head. “Huskey?”

“Yeah.” I give her one more neck scrub and stand. “Somebody dumped her out in the field when she was a puppy. Sawyer said I couldn’t keep her, but he’s not my dad.”

His eyes sober at my words. “Sawyer told me what happened to your parents. That must’ve been rough.”

“It was a long time ago.” I don’t know why I always say that. No matter how many years pass, losing both our parents the way we did is a pain that never leaves.

Now my brother’s leaving home, putting himself in harm’s way.

With a sigh, I push those feelings away like I always do. Feeling bad doesn’t change a damn thing.

“Sorry all the women around here are throwing themselves at you.”

“I’m glad I was here to catch you.”

“Me too.” I blink up and try to smile.

We share a moment… until the back door opens, and Sawyer sticks his head in. “You planning to stay in the house all day or you coming to help?”

“He helped me with the dishes.”

“Hoecake, dishes… Get out here where I need you.”

“You’ll take that back in the morning.” Taron jogs down the steps after my brother.

I walk out to the porch watching his tight end as he walks away. Exhaling a little sigh, I step into my cowboy boots. The teenagers are milling around in the sorting shed, and if Sawyer’s prepping for the crew, I need to teach these kids how to sort peaches.

They’ll be coming in fast tomorrow, and we won’t have time for them to get behind. The next two weeks are going to be insane around here.

3

Taron

The foreman’s cottage is about thirty yards up the hill from the house. The door sticks a bit, but Sawyer pushes it open and crosses to switch on a small window unit.

“It’s stuffy, but it’ll cool off fast.” He opens a narrow door at the back corner. “Full bathroom here. Closet there.”

I drop my oversized duffel on a chair, looking around the small space. “Not bad.”

“You’re welcome at the house anytime, and you’ll eat with us.” He walks to the door, his boots thumping on the pine floors. “But here you’ll have some privacy… if you meet somebody or whatever.”