Free Too Close For Comfort (Sweetrock Cowboy Romance Book 2) by Leighann Dobbs

and that’s what they told me. You need to finally have it out with Derek before you can move on and get the guy you deserve.”
    Tessa tapped her finger on the table as she considered Rena’s words. Have it out with Derek? When he’d texted the breakup to her, she’d been pretty mad. She’d gone through a stage of throwing things. Then a stage of crying. Then she’d lost herself in drinking. Sam had helped pull her out.
    She’d been away at college and Derek had been here in Sweetrock. She’d been furious not to have someone to vent her anger at. But now it was years later. She wasn’t that angry anymore.
    But she’d always had that nagging feeling of unfinished business when it came to Derek. Maybe that really was what was holding her back. Would it help to talk to Derek in person after all these years?
    “I don’t know. That may be, but how could I even talk to Derek? He moved away four years ago, and I don’t even know where he lives.”
    “See that, Missy?” Beulah waggled her finger in Tessa’s face. “That there is just an excuse. I say you get up the gumption, you find out where he lives, and then you go and talk to him and put that nasty business behind you so you can look to the future.”
    The restaurant door opened and an older couple stepped inside. Beulah pinned Tessa with a look that made her squirm in her seat and then she rushed to the podium to charm the couple.
    Tessa took that as her cue to leave. She picked up the chili, bid Sam and Rena good-bye and headed out the door with Beulah’s words echoing in the back of her mind.

    * * *
    W hen Cash got to the Riley ranch that night, Tessa had already set the table—the one in the dining room this time, not the breakfast bar. Apparently, she’d also picked up cornbread and had little squares set out in a basket next to a serving bowl loaded with chili and just waiting to heat in the microwave.
    “That looks delicious.” Cash leaned over her shoulder to sniff at the bowl, the zing of hot peppers tickling his nose. Just the right amount of spiciness. His chest brushed her shoulder and he felt her stiffen.
    Shoot. To close for comfort.
    The nearness of her set off alarms in his body and he backed up quickly. He didn’t need a repeat of last night.
    “I’ll help set the table,” he stuttered, grabbing some napkins and retreating to the dining room.
    Tessa brought in the steaming chili and ladled it out into their bowls. They set about eating quietly, Cash focusing on buttering up his cornbread, the smooth sweet taste of the bread made a perfect complement to the spicy chili. In between bites he snuck glances at Tessa, catching her eye a few times.
    Was she looking at him, too? Probably sizing him up and wondering if he was going to force a kiss on her again. He hoped she wasn’t worried about that. He would hate their friendship to be ruined by her having to be constantly on her guard.
    He marveled at how easy their companionable silence was. Living at the Riley house hadn’t been as hard as he thought it would be and it had shown him something. It had shown him what it was like to wake up with someone every morning, to eat breakfast with them and have someone at home at night. He liked that feeling.
    He wondered what it would be like to eat supper with Tessa every night. To kiss her every night.
    Don’t go there.
    But he’d already gone there, and now he was worried that he might not be able to get that same feeling with anyone else. And last night when they’d kissed, he’d felt the way she’d responded. Cash was no angel, and he knew how to interpret a woman’s signals. Heck, she’d been the one that had initiated it. Was there a chance that she wanted to be more than friends, too?
    They only had a few more days before the wood floor refinishing would be done. Then they’d go back to their own separate homes. No more waking up to breakfast together. No more suppers at night. Then what would happen? Would they just go back to the