Black Hills

gave him a squeeze, something trickled inside her, a little like heat. He felt different. Harder, tougher, in a way that made her think of man instead of boy.
    “Might turned into did.” He dropped her on her feet, and still grinning, looked at her. “You got taller.”
    “Some. I think I’m done now. So did you.”
    Taller, and harder—and the scruff he hadn’t shaven off in a day or two, she judged, added sexy. His hair, longer than the last time she’d seen him, curled and waved around his face so his chilled blue eyes seemed even clearer, sharper.
    The trickle inside her went warm.
    He took her hand as he turned to study the house. “It looks the same. New paint on the shutters, but it looks the same.”
    He didn’t, she thought. Not exactly. “How long have you been back? Nobody said you were here.”
    “I’ve been back about ten seconds. I called my grandparents when I hit Sioux Falls, but I told them not to say.” He released her hand, but only to wrap his arm around her shoulders. “I wanted to surprise you.”
    “You did. You really did.”
    “I stopped by here before I went there.”
    And now, she realized, everything she wanted and loved most was here for the summer. “Come inside. There’s sun tea. When did you get that thing?”
    He glanced back at the motorcycle. “Nearly a year ago. I figured if I could make it back this summer, it’d be fun to bike cross-country.”
    He stopped at the base of the stairs, cocking his head as he scanned her face.
    “What?”
    “You look . . . good.”
    “I do not.” She shoved at her hair, gone to tangles under her flat-brimmed hat. “I just got back from the trail. I smell. If you’d gotten here a half hour later, I’d be cleaned up.”
    He just kept staring at her face. “You look good. I missed you, Lil.”
    “I knew you’d come back.” Giving in, she went into his arms again, closed her eyes. “I should’ve known it would be today, when I saw the cougar.”
    “What?”
    “I’ll tell you all about it. Come inside, Coop. Welcome home.”
    Once her parents had come in, greeted Coop, settled down with him, Lil dashed upstairs. The long hot shower of her dreams became the fastest shower in history. Moving at light speed, she pulled out her small supply of makeup. Nothing too obvious, she ordered herself, and used a light hand with blush, added mascara and just a hint of lip gloss. Since it would take forever to dry her hair, she pulled it all back, still damp, into a tail.
    She thought about earrings, told herself it was too obvious. Clean jeans, she decided, a fresh shirt. Natural, casual.
    Her heart was beating like a marching band.
    It was weird, it was strange, it was unexpected. But she had the hots for her best friend.
    He looked so different—the same, but different. The hollows in his cheeks were new and fascinating. His hair was shaggy and sexy with the dark brown just starting to go streaky from the sun. He’d already started to tan a little—she remembered how he’d go brown in the sun. And his eyes, that glacier ice blue, just pierced some unexplored land inside her.
    She wished she’d kissed him. Just a friendly hi-Coop sort of thing. Then she’d know what it was like, know what it felt like to have his mouth meet hers.
    Calm down, she ordered herself. He’d probably laugh his head off if he knew what she was thinking. She took several deep breaths, then walked slowly downstairs.
    She could hear them in the kitchen: her mother’s laugh, her father’s joking tones—and Coop’s voice. Deeper, wasn’t it deeper than it had been?
    She had to stop and breathe again. Then fixing an easy smile on her face, she strolled back into the kitchen.
    He stopped, in the middle of a sentence, and stared. Blinked. Just that instant, that surprise that flickered in his eyes, had her skin humming.
    “So are you staying for supper?” Lil asked him.
    “We were just trying to talk him into it. But Lucy and Sam are expecting him. Sunday,” Jenna said with a finger wag. “Everybody here for a picnic on Sunday.”
    “Absolutely. I remember the first one. We can fit in some batting practice.”
    “Bet I can still outhit you.” She leaned back against the counter and smiled in a way that had him blinking again.
    “We’ll see about that.”
    “I was hoping for a ride on that toy you’ve got out there.”
    “A Harley,” he said in sober tones, “is nobody’s toy.”
    “Why don’t you show me what it can do?”
    “Sure.