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J enny rushed around her house, making sure everything was as perfect as possible. This was a day she’d been waiting for so many years. Her parents were coming to visit for the first time in her life.

Every year she’d been in school, she’d prayed they would come and visit her as all the other parents did, but she should have known better. Most of the time, she guessed they forgot all about her.

She pulled back the curtain when she heard a car drive up in front of her house. Oh, yes, it was her parents. She didn’t know if they had a driver everywhere they went because of their egos, or if they just didn’t know how to drive.

Her teeth snapped together when she caught her parents’ expressions of disgust and disappointment. She drew in a deep breath and smiled as she opened the door.

“Hello, Mother and Father. I’m so glad you came to visit.”

Her father walked up to her and scowled. “We were at a convention nearby and thought we could take time to see you.”

Her cheeks hurt already from trying to keep the smile on her face. “I’m glad you did. Come in.”

Both her parents walked in, and she could tell they wanted to make a hasty exit already. If her mother's lip curled up anymore, she’d block the air from getting in her nose. She started mentally counting down because she knew what was coming.

“Why do you insist on living in this hovel when you have just about as much money as your father and I do?”

She sighed. “For one thing, I’m hardly ever home, two, I’d have to hire someone to take care of it, and three, there is nothing built around here except a few ranches I’ve worked on.”

“You could always have something built,” her father suggested.

She opened her mouth but froze when a fist pounded against the door.

“Oh, my word,” her mother exclaimed. “What is that?”

“I’m guessing it’s one of the ranch owners I was just telling you about. If you’ll excuse me.”

She opened the door to see an angry Mac scowling down at her. “What did I do now?”

“Whose car is that?”

She raised her brow. “I could say it’s none of your business...”

“But you won’t if you know what’s good for you,” he advised.

“Well...” She growled when he pushed by her to walk into her house. She rolled her eyes. “Please, won’t you come in?” she said sarcastically.

He smirked. “I don’t mind if I do.”

She knew when he got his first look at her parents because he stiffened. She just didn’t understand why.

“Mac, let me introduce you to my parents, Dr. Terrance and Dr. Rosalyn Newman. Mother and Father, this is a...” She stopped short because she didn’t know what to say.

“Kaden McKenzie. I’m a friend of your daughter.” He took a few steps forward and held out his hand.

Jenny tried not to cringe at the expressions of distaste on her parents’ faces when they looked at his hand before shaking it.

“Nice to meet you folks. I’m sorry to say, I haven't heard a lot about you.”

Jenny choked and hid her smile.

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve heard of us through other avenues,” her father said.

Mac shook his head. “No, sorry. Are you two also vets?”

Jenny had to bite the inside of her mouth at the horrified looks on her parents’ faces.

“I have never touched an animal in my life,” her mother burst out.

Mac looked shocked. “Like ever?”

“No.”

“Not even a cute kitten or a puppy?”

Her mother hissed and curled her lips. “Not ever.”

“Oh, well, you’re missing out. So, what kind of doctors are you?”

“I’m a heart surgeon,” her father said stiffly. “And my wife is a brain specialist. We’ve both been written about in medical journals...”

Mac shrugged. “Sorry. Not my type of reading.”

“I can see that,” her mother said.

Jenny gasped and turned to her mother. “I want to remind you that you are in my home. I won’t have you disrespecting my friends.”

“Well, I think we’ve outstayed our visit, Terrance.”

He nodded. “I agree.”

Jenny’s shoulders straightened as she led them to the door and opened it. “I’d like to thank you for coming, and I hope your convention goes well and you have a safe trip home,” she tried to sound as sincere as she could. At the moment, she was too embarrassed to care.

Her mother air-kissed her from a foot away, and her father awkwardly patted her shoulder.

“We would be pleased if you were ready to come home and act like an adult.”

Jenny sighed. “Thank you, Father.”

Jenny wrapped her arms around her waist and watched them get into their car and drive away, knowing it would be the last time she would see them unless she flew home, and even then, it was iffy, whether they would give her the time.

“Are you going to stand there all day?”

She sighed, gritted her teeth to keep the tears at bay, stepped back, and held the door open for him. “Thank you for stopping.”

His eyebrows went up. “You think you can get rid of me?”

“Could you please leave? I have to get to the clinic, and I don’t want to fight anymore.”

****

H e studied her closed expression and sighed. He fucked up. Again. For some crazy reason, he’d thought she had a man in her house, and it threw him.

It was that old saying— he didn’t want her, but he didn’t want anyone else to want her either. He had to be honest, at least to himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her. Instead, he was afraid to take a chance with her.

Now she stood in front of him with a sturdy wall she’d built around herself, not only from him but her parents, too. He didn’t want to guess what was going through her head right then. She didn’t exactly look upset, but he couldn’t be sure because her expression was blank.

“I’m sorry if I made them leave.”

She shrugged. “I knew it would happen sooner rather than later. Now, if you don’t mind.”

He could tell she was desperate to get him out of the house, but wasn’t sure why. He took the steps he needed to stand before her and stared down at her. He studied her for a moment, slapped his hat on his head, and walked out.

“Wait,” she called out, making him stop and turn. “Why did you stop by?”

No way in hell he’d tell her the truth. “I was in the neighborhood.” He turned and walked to his truck.

He caught a look on her face when she closed the door. He might be mistaken, but it looked a lot like despair, and it wrenched his heart, knowing he was partly to blame for it.

He decided to drive, park down the street, and see if she left.

If she wasn’t out of the house in ten minutes, he was going back to check on her.

His breath caught in his throat when she walked out the door with thirty seconds to spare.

But it was the swollen red eyes and blotchy face that told him all he needed to know.

She wasn’t as tough as she wanted everyone to think she was, and it deepened his feelings for her.

He followed her when she got into her SUV and drove off.

He wanted to know if she had been telling him the truth about going to the clinic.

He gritted his teeth when she drove by it and out of town.

He put space between them so he had a better chance of not being seen, but not too much that he’d lose her.

Mac stiffened when she was coming up on a ranch a competitor owned that was doing about as well as his.

He exhaled when she drove by. The thought of her going to Patrick when she was upset made him furious.

“Where the hell are you going, Baby?” he whispered to himself.

Another ten minutes passed before she started to slow down.

“Oh, damn. The bluffs.”

The bluffs were a deep canyon with a shallow river at the bottom. It was about a half mile deep in some areas. A lot of people came to the site to rock climb or hike.

He pulled over farther back, behind the bathroom facilities, and watched.

She had parked her car facing the ravine, but didn’t get out.

He couldn’t see what she was doing and thought he’d best stay away and give her space because he’d caused at least part of her upset, and he didn’t want to make it worse.

Less than an hour later, she pulled out and drove back toward town. He didn’t think she’d seen him because her concentration had been on the road, but from what he could see, her face had looked ravaged and red from crying. He wondered for a brief moment why she came out here.

Then it dawned on him as he was following her back to town. Fuck, she came out here to be alone because she probably had people stopping by her house occasionally, so she had to drive somewhere and hide and give in to the pain.

Damn. He just wished he hadn’t been a part of it. He banged his head against the steering wheel after she’d gone into her house.

He needed to stay the hell away from her if he didn’t want to acknowledge his feelings for her because all he was doing was hurting her, and she didn’t deserve it. The more he got to know about her, the more he knew she’d been through enough without his input.

He’d leave her in peace. At least for the moment.