She didn’t expect to ever hear from him again.

He obviously wasn’t missing her the way she missed him when she allowed herself to think about him.

So she did what she’d been doing for days, wiped that image of him out of her head, and went back to her boys and the 120-plus emails waiting for her. Because he wasn’t.

Chapter Fifteen

Luke spent every waking moment of the last week and a half since he’d seen Sarah sweating out his frustration about the state of his life and analyzing every interaction he’d had with her.

He’d spent a good portion of every day since he met her wanting her and not knowing how to go about getting her. New for him. While he hadn’t laid on the charm—at all—he knew that would only work to a point.

Sarah wanted real, because she was herself around everyone. She didn’t put on a show or pretend to be anything other than herself.

Refreshing and sexy as hell in his book.

She certainly didn’t put up with his BS.

And he liked that she called him out on it instead of just going along to keep him happy.

He’d just scratched the surface with her and he wanted to get to know her better, because the more he learned, the farther away she got from being the woman Margaret described and became more of the woman he wanted but didn’t think existed for him.

Everything in him said she was the one he wanted.

The kiss they shared started a fire in him.

Every interaction they shared held the promise of something great building between them, but then he’d ask about her past, Sean, and ruin it.

It wasn’t just that he’d been investigating her. The two times she and the kids came to the ranch, he hadn’t done what he promised and showed them around or picked vegetables in the garden. Simple things.

He’d blown it with Sarah and the boys.

And that’s why Sarah didn’t date. Because she didn’t want some guy making promises to her kids and not keeping them. She didn’t want to let the boys get close to someone, only to have them disappointed when that person left because they weren’t committed.

He cussed himself out for disappointing the boys and called himself ten kinds of stupid for giving Sarah a reason to believe he wasn’t the honest, reliable guy she and the boys deserved.

As he had that epiphany, Jerry found him in the stables and saw everything written all over his face. Luke could still hear the laughter in his voice from this morning.

“So, you finally figured it out. You let her get away. She didn’t go far. She’s here singing to Ace every morning at the crack of dawn. She thinks she’s alone most of the time. I stay out of her way and let her enjoy the horses. She looks terrible. Can’t be getting more than two, three hours sleep a night. Makes a person wonder what’s so important that she has to stay up all night to get it done.” After that disturbing news, he added something Luke desperately hoped was true: “Maybe she’s missing you as much as you’re missing her.”