My jaw hit the floor as he strode past me, oblivious, and bent toward an old-fashioned water pump that I hadn’t even noticed situated by the side of the house. He ducked his head under it, yanking on the pump handle, the movement making his muscles known.

When he stood, he flicked his head, water flying off the ends of his unruly thick hair.

I think I might have moaned.

It was like watching Darcy coming out of that pond or Poldark cutting the fields with his scythe.

Was I drooling? I felt like I might be drooling.

Roane bent down under the metal channel beneath the pump, pulled out a water bowl, and began to fill it. Shadow was already at his side, waiting for the offering, and eagerly bent to the bowl when Roane put it down for him.

When Roane straightened, he looked toward the hoop house, his brow furrowed as if he was contemplating something.

And I ogled.

He wasn’t roped and ripped the way a man who had time for visits to the gym might have been. No, he was something better. Although broad shouldered, Roane was lean and muscular from daily physical activity on the farm. Plus, he wasn’t waxed to an inch of his life. There was a fine sprinkling of hair over his chest, and he had a happy trail.

I hummed under my breath.

He was sexy and strong without making me feel bad about my own lack of gym visits.

Roane was what Greer called “naturally manlicious.”

A deep tug low in my belly made me bite my lip to stop a moan, and despite the heat, I felt a familiar tightening in my breasts.

Then he looked at me.

Roane’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared at whatever he saw in my expression. His face darkened with heat, and I hungrily watched a droplet of water take a path down the center of his chest, stomach, and then disappear beneath the waistband of his jeans.

“Oh, screw it.” I ran.

Actually ran.

I threw myself into his arms with the intention of locking our lips together.

Unfortunately, Roane wasn’t expecting my assault, and the water from the pump had turned the dirt under his feet soft and slippery.

As his arms closed around me, the impact of my body forced his back and his feet out from under him.

Roane landed on the ground with a pained groan, the impact made all the worse because the weight of my body flattened him.

“Oh my God.” I scrambled on top of him, my hands moving off his chest to brace on either side of his head. His handsome face was strained as he blinked up at me, apparently disoriented. “Are you okay?”