And then she’d been too busy trying not to keep seeing the muscles in Chase’s shoulders, the curve of her breast as she leaned over, the sweep of her flank, and the power in her backside and thighs. She’d felt some of that body against hers when she had her arms around Chase, when they’d been kissing. She’d imagined it in her mind more than once since, but she’d been far from the mark. Chase was young and strong and beautiful. Looking at her made Lily ache to run her hands down the smooth length of her arms, over the muscles in her chest, and over the fullness of her breasts. Okay—deflection was clearly off the table now—Chase was too hard to ignore and just as impossible to deflect. Especially, Lily admitted ruefully, when she wasn’t working very hard to ignore or deflect her. But engage? That way lay danger—and she’d have to be very careful not to be pulled in by the charm and the grin and the outrageously sexy that streamed off Chase like the clear, cool lake water on a sweltering day.

She had to stop thinking about that right now, or anything else that had to do with Chase Fielder, because she was about to walk into the kitchen, and undoubtedly Sarah would be somewhere nearby.

Sarah had always been good at reading her mind, and today everything about her was probably an open book. She’d rather not start the day having Sarah know she was lusting after her sister.

Chapter Eight

Chase noticed she and Lily earned a hard stare from Sarah when they walked into the dining room together, and she pretended to ignore her sister’s scrutiny on her way through the breakfast line. Usually she laughed off Sarah’s not-too-subtle commentary about her less-than-serious approach to relationships, but this time a surge of protectiveness mixed with annoyance had her directing Lily to a table by the windows out of Sarah’s sight line.

“Okay over here?” Chase asked.

“It’s great.” Lily off-loaded her plate of eggs and waffles and cup of coffee onto the table and sank down with a sigh. “Every time I look out the window, I’m a little astonished to realize I’m here.”

“Miss the city?”

“Not yet.” Lily smiled. “Other than the shopping, of course.”

Chase winced. “Sorry about the change of plans—I promise we’ll get into town as soon as there’s a free couple of hours.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. I know—at least I’m coming to understand—what a demanding job you have. Trust me, I get not being able to make plans with any certainty.”

“Thanks,” Chase said as she took her first blessed sip of decent coffee in two days. “But I really do want to make it into town with you. And I don’t make a habit of standing women up.”

Lily regarded her over the top of the coffee cup she held in both hands as if it was a precious object. “I wasn’t thinking of a trip to buy boots as a date.”