She nodded. “I know you guys are busy right now. It was the least I could do. The laundry’s handled, but I think there’s still a load in the dryer.” She pointed at the kitchen. “You also had some bananas that were about to go bad so I made some banana bread. I thought it might be easy to grab on break. It’s sliced up and in the fridge.”

He ran a hand over his beard, a touch uncomfortable. They were busy, yeah, but he didn’t like to think of how much work she’d done that night, all without a word of thanks. “Appreciated,” he finally said. “You didn’t have to stay so late.”

Her smile was tired. “It is late, isn’t it? But Libby didn’t want to go to sleep until she knew you were coming in, and Doc’s foot was hurting him so I made him take his pain meds and go to sleep early. I just fed the puppies, so he should sleep for another two hours at least. Besides, I don’t mind.” She fought back a yawn. “My first appointment tomorrow isn’t until eleven, and walk-ins are slow this time of year.”

“Appreciated,” he said again, and then felt like a big dummy because he couldn’t think of anything else to say to her. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“What a gentleman.” Becca chuckled, the sound gentle and just a little bit raspy, and it made him think of far too many things that didn’t have anything to do with being gentlemanly. But he took her outside, opened the car door for her, and watched her drive off into the quiet night.

He didn’t know what to think of her.

He couldn’t stop thinking of her.

He might have eaten all the banana bread in one sitting. He wasn’t entirely sure. All he knew was that he pulled it out, poured a glass of milk, and ate slice after slice as he thought about Becca. By the time the bread was gone, he still had no answers . . . but he did have a raging hard-on. His thoughts had taken a distinctly dirty route, helped along by her mouth, her chuckle, the toss of her thick dark hair . . .

It took him a few minutes of pacing before the erection subsided. He wanted to crawl back into bed, but the knowledge that both Caleb and Jack were out there working made him check in on them first. He headed out to the barn again and found both of them sitting on hay bales near a pregnant cow, and they both smirked at the sight of him.

“That was her?” Jack asked. “The one that asked you out?”

Hank scowled. “Does it matter?”