Chapter 10

Surprise ricocheted through her and all Mattie could muster in response was "Huh?" followed by a long pause and then an equally ineloquent "Well, no."

Sure, she'd fantasized endlessly about him asking her out, but she'd never wondered why he hadn't. "I was the scrawny best friend of your kid sister. I figured I was too young and you simply weren't interested."

"When you first moved to Palo Verde, when you were ten? Yeah, you were too much young."

He put his glass down and pushed away from the counter to step nearer to her.

"When you were thirteen? Yeah, you were just the scrawny best friend of my kid sister."

With two more steps, he closed the distance between them. He stopped, with his feet planted on either side of her own. Mattie's heart began to pound at his closeness. She inhaled sharply, trying to catch her breath, but that just pulled Bard's warm, masculine scent into her lungs and did nothing to clear her head.

"By the time you were fifteen? You weren't scrawny." His focu