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

same level of friendship they’d had before, never to explore what might be?
    Should he try to take it to the next level? If he did, he’d risk losing her forever and hadn’t Gramps said a true friendship was better than the love of a good woman anyway?
    He didn’t want to end up an old man with a sea of regrets like his grandpa. Better for him to stop thinking about that searing kiss. For him to stop remembering how his heart had flipped inside out at the touch of her. How she’d awakened a passion in him that he didn’t know he had. Better to just start getting on with the business of being friends, because that’s all they could ever be.
    Cash looked up from his bowl. “Henrietta’s eggs are ready to go to the school tomorrow. Do you want to come with me? I have to be there at eight, so we’d need to get up early to pack up the eggs and the box.”
    He knew Tessa had the morning off. She loved animals as much as he did and it would be a fun thing they could do together. As friends.
    Her genuine smile fluttered his heart. “I’d love to. I always loved having the chicks in when we were in Kindergarten. Do you remember?”
    Cash remembered. His grandpa used to bring them right from his farm. Memories of simpler times when he and Tessa were just kids flooded his heart. Back then, they’d just enjoyed each other’s company without any pesky romance or physical attraction to crop up between them. What he would give to have those days back.
    He probably could have them back, too. If he would just stop thinking about that damn kiss.
    They finished the meal and took their plates into the kitchen, cleaning up and doing the dishes in the synchronized rhythm that they’d worked out over the past two days.
    When they were done, Tessa stretched and looked at the clock. “I should head off to bed now if we’re going to get up early. We probably need to leave around seven, right?”
    “Yep. Maybe a little earlier, just to be sure.”
    They stood in the hallway, Cash’s room to the right and hers to the left. She hesitated for a second and then turned to walk away. Cash did the same—resisting the urge to run and lock himself in the room away from the temptation of her.
    When he was halfway to the living room, he heard her small voice behind him.
    “Cash?”
    He turned, his heart stuttering in his chest. She looked so sweet, standing there with a mixture of hope and uncertainty on her face. “Yeah?”
    “I just wanted to say thanks for being such a good friend,” she said.
    Right. Friends. That’s what they were just friends. “I’ll always be your friend. You can count on that.”
    She smiled. “I really mean it. It’s great to have friends you can trust and count on. Best friends, right?”
    “Of course. We shook on it, remember?”
    She nodded. “Right. Best friends. Forever.”
    Her face broke into a smile and then she turned and disappeared into her room, leaving Cash standing in the hallway. A stab of longing for something he could never have swept through him. Their childhood pact and the handshake might have been silly, but his word meant everything to him. Even if it meant they would never be anything more than best friends.

10
    T he next morning , Tessa woke to discover that Cash had breakfast ready as usual. They were settling into a nice, comfortable routine that was a lot better than living alone. The morning breakfast sure beat eating corn flakes. But the fluttery feeling she got when she was around Cash now set her on edge. She didn't know how to interpret it.
    Did the flutter have something to do with the kiss?
    Cash had made it clear that the kiss was a mistake. Not in just his words, but with his actions, too. The fluttery feeling was probably just due to the comfort of having someone around to share things with. It felt good. Familiar.
    Once the floors are refinished, I'll move back to my place and be all alone again.
    Unless she was able to get past her hang-ups and find a guy she could