His thumb brushed over the back of her hand in a caress that sent goose bumps all through her body. “Missed seeing you this morning. I know it’s not realistic to have you dragging yourself up to the ranch at the crack of dawn, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss you.”

“You just miss breakfast,” she teased, her heart racing. This man knew how to make her feel wanted; that was for sure.

“Did I mention breakfast? All I mentioned was you. I’d be just as happy if you were there and the fridge was empty.” He shrugged. “The others, not so much.”

Becca laughed, because Caleb and Jack only spoke to her when there was food involved. They were definitely stomach-led men. “Any time you need me to come by and help out, you know I’ll be there.”

“But what if I just need you?”

There he was, making her all breathless again. “That, too,” she whispered.

He glanced at the bar at the end of the street and sighed heavily. “At this rate I’m not going to be interested in dinner at all.”

Heck, at this rate, neither was she. Becca turned her face up to him hopefully, imagining for a moment that he’d take her by the hand and drag her back to her place and to the couch for a heavy make-out session and some petting. Gosh, she’d been thinking about the petting constantly in the last few days. She loved having Libby over, but when they watched a movie with her sitting in front of them on the floor, all they did was kiss and furtively touch hands. She still thought about that first night they went out, though, and how he’d made her come so hard.

She was dying for a repeat. Dying.

But he only squeezed her hand. “Come on.”

Becca bit back her whimper of protest and followed his lead.

Once inside the bar, she felt the intense scrutiny of what felt like all of Painted Barrel, population 200 and some change. It wasn’t the entire town, of course; it just felt like it. She’d been in Wade’s bar plenty of times; it was the only real food joint in their small town other than the bakery, so it tended to be crowded even with people who had no interest in drinking. She pointed at one of the round tables toward the back of the crowded bar, and Hank put a hand on her back and steered her toward it, then pulled her chair out for her.