His heart caught, because he was feeling the same way. “When terrain is dangerous, smart people tread cautiously.”

She didn’t pull away as he walked her home. Instead she snuggled closer within the circle of his arm.

And that felt so perfectly right that it scared him half to death.

Chapter Nine

Kennedy was having a serious problem with his cravings for hamburgers, not the kind he could make at home, but the ones he could buy only at the Mystical Burger Shack. He couldn’t seem to let an evening go by without going to the burger joint to be served by a pretty blonde on roller skates. Had he gone crazy? But even when she was super busy, Jen found time to stand beside his truck and visit with him, and he enjoyed her company. She was witty and liked to laugh, but she was also serious about her plans for college. She vowed that she would never do anything stupid to screw up her future, and he really liked that about her.

Unlike so many kids at the university who seemed hell-bent on partying, Jen understood why Kennedy walked the straight and narrow. It was kind of weird, actually, that she had such a firm grasp of the situation Kennedy was in when she was still only in high school. But she’d been thinking about college ever since her freshman year, and she knew no money was likely to fall off a tree in her backyard. She said she would be in school for a long time in order to become a vet, and once she graduated, she’d have to work really long hours to pay off her student loans and make ends meet. That meant she’d have to wait to have a baby in her thirties.

Jen’s dad had talked to her boss about his daughter working different hours. Because of what had happened with Jen’s ex-boyfriend, he didn’t want her to work until closing for a while. The new owner of the burger joint hadn’t done a very good job of watching the camera monitor, which was in the kitchen. And, hello, the jock was still at large. Because Jen hadn’t been seriously hurt, the kid had spent only one night in jail and then had gotten released into his father’s custody. He was in big trouble, of course, and would have to go before a judge, but chances were good that he’d get only some probation and a slap on the wrist. That meant he was still a threat, and Jen’s dad worried that he might come back to the burger shack to harass her. As a result, Jen got off before dark now, and Kennedy was glad of that. He doubted her jerk of an ex-boyfriend would dare to cause her any more grief, but he liked that her dad was being proactive.

The change in Jen’s hours disrupted Kennedy’s study times. He had to go in for a burger earlier in the evening, before it got dark. On the three days a week he had classes, he drove back to Mystic Creek to get his work done on the ranch, grabbed a quick shower, and then went back into town for dinner. He thought of his visits with Jen as his dessert. When he got back to the ranch, he still had KP duty in the bunkhouse, so he helped put away food and then did his part to clean up the kitchen. Wyatt said the rules remained the same even when Kennedy didn’t eat with all the guys. Dining out was Kennedy’s choice, but not being present for a meal didn’t mean he was off the hook. On Kennedy’s nights to cook, which only happened about one night a week with five guys on the payroll, Kennedy would have to stay home and throw a meal together. Kennedy didn’t mind that, and he sure didn’t mind doing his chores on the ranch. Slade had given him a sweet deal, free room and board, plus a little in wages. Kennedy knew he was way better off than a lot of college students who had to work to help pay their way.