“I couldn’t stand him being stuck,” she said.

When her eyes caught his shamefully, her throat started to close. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she didn’t know what had her feeling so emotional. She wasn’t normally like this. But there was something about the tender fury in his gaze that struck her deep.

“Come here,” he said, hauling her to her feet, bringing himself with her. “You’re going to have to make sure you get medicine on these. And Band-Aids.”

“I know,” she said, feeling stubborn and grumpy. Like a little kid getting scolded in the too-hot sun, and the worst thing was she sort of felt like a petulant kid.

Plus, her hands hurt.

But Ryder’s hold on her was firm and masculine, and the feelings he created under her skin made her feel like a woman and not a child at all.

The contrast of the two warring sensations made her want to sit down on the ground and cry. And why on earth she should feel so emotional over her best friend touching her arm she didn’t know.

It had been sex.

Just sex.

Sex didn’t have to matter.

It could just be nice.

It didn’t have to change you.

As she looked into those whiskey-brown eyes she wondered though if you didn’t get a choice on when it might change you.

“Sammy...”

“Hey,” Rose said. “Break it up.”

And Sammy knew that Rose thought she was being funny. Because Rose had no idea what had happened between her and Ryder last night. But Logan did. And he was giving her a hard, appraising glance.

She scowled in return.

She would not be accepting the judgment of Logan Heath, thanks so much.

“Let’s see what we’ve got,” Logan said, hunkering down by the animal. Ryder joined him, and Sammy stood back, pressing her thumb against one of the particularly deep gouges on her palm. Now it hurt. When before she had been able to ignore it a bit.

“Fool,” Rose said.

“I just wanted to help.”

It didn’t sound any better the more she repeated it. And standing there she couldn’t quite articulate why she had to.

It was just... It was all part and parcel to this weird feeling of uselessness inside her. That sense that she was adrift in some way.

There was something incomplete about her. Something that needed filling and fulfilling. Which was how she’d arrived at the baby.

At Ryder. At everything.

Using tools, Logan and Ryder got the little calf free much more quickly than the progress that she had been making. They got the calf loaded up into the back of the truck, and Logan got into the driver’s seat, Ryder getting into the bed. Rose got into the cab with Logan, and that left Sammy with the decision to make. Squeeze into the cab, or climb in with her friend.

She got into the back with him, because if she didn’t, it would be weird. And the fact she was thinking about it all was weird, but there was really nothing to be done for it.