She stepped onto the treadmill and started it off on a low speed. She wasn’t exactly a fitness enthusiast even back home, but she felt the need to burn off some excess tension. Besides, she’d been eating a little too much peach cobbler this week at the B&B. If nothing else, she had to give it to her mother for being an amazing recipe writer.

Popping in her wireless earbuds, she turned on her favorite playlist, turned up the treadmill speed and tried to escape the world for awhile. After fifteen minutes, she’d had enough and slowed down her pace to a more reasonable level. Something about pushing herself hard helped shake off her anxiety about all of the things going on in her life.

She worried about Evie, of course. But she also thought about how awful it was that her daughter had no relationship with her father and how much that would affect her in the future. She thought about how Brandon was missing out on knowing a wonderful girl too.

There were so many times that she felt lonely, and maybe that was why she was open to this crazy experience at the B&B. She missed having someone around other than her daughter. There was little support back home, and she longed for that.

Although she’d never admit it to anyone, she watched those gushy chick flicks that came on around Christmas time and wished she had a man like that. Someone who could fix things around the house, cook her dinner on a lazy Sunday afternoon and walk the imaginary dog with her in the evenings. Someone who would rub her feet, listen to her complain about her day and cheer her on to new adventures.

Did a man like that even exist?

Lost in thought, she pressed the button to stop the treadmill, but instead of stopping it she somehow hit a super speed button or something because it took off at a pace she wasn’t expecting. The next thing she knew, she was flying straight off the back of the machine. As if the world was in slow motion, she just knew she was going to smack right into the wall a few feet behind her and leave the outline of her butt for all to see. Instead, she landed on something soft, her feet dangling in mid air, two strong around around her waist.

As she struggled to catch her breath, the stranger put her down and she turned around to thank him.

“Cooper?”

He smiled. “Well, hello again.”

Oh, this wasn’t good.

Chapter Eight

"You can put me down now," Kate said, craning her head back to look at Cooper.

That lazy smile he had on his face, the one with the deep dimples that she wanted to stick her finger in, was really irritating. How could he be so handsome and infuriating at the same time?