Free Shelter Me Home by T. S. Joyce Page A

the sink behind him and leaned back on locked elbows. “Good God,” he groaned. How was he supposed to dip back into the friend zone with such an erotic image of her in his mind? Something about the way she moved. She was so damned sexy, and she didn’t even know it. Even the tiny swell of her stomach made him want to bury himself inside her.
    Monster. Farrah would be embarrassed if she knew he had seen her. And there was Erin. Squatting down on the tile, he locked his fingers behind his head. He had to make things with Erin work, or he would lose everything that was important to him.
    Maybe it would be best if Farrah started dating Ben.
    He wanted to throw the shovel against the barn wall all over again. Ben was a nice guy, but he was a lady killer. He’d chew Farrah up and spit her out like nothing. He wouldn’t care that she was hurt by what that a-hole Miles had done to her. Hell, Ben would probably do the same thing in Miles’s place. He wouldn’t care that by hurting Farrah, he’d hurt her baby. Hurt their chance at a real family. She’d hate men even more after Ben was done with her.
    But…
    If she dated him, she’d be off limits, and maybe he could get control of his emotions again. He could stop comparing the life he could have with Farrah against the life he’d had with Erin. He could quit feeling sorry for the choices he’d made and man up. Take care of his business. Keep his head down and earn the money he needed to dig himself out of the hole he’d fallen face first into three years ago. That was still the most important thing.
    Going insane over a woman wasn’t in the plan to get his life back.
    ****
    Farrah went into town to get her blood retested by Doctor Jansen, and when she returned, the cattleman’s cabin had been tampered with.
    Unless thieves were interested in installing curtains and blinds, Aanon had been doing some home improvements. Astonished, she lifted the forest green curtains away from the blinds. When she opened those, she frowned at the thick poster board he’d taped to the window panes. “What on earth?”
    The door still stood open, and she stood near the frame, studying the big house. The kitchen windows faced her place. She’d nailed up cotton sheets to shield her activities inside. So why would he care about plastering three layers onto the windows?
    Unless—
    What had she done last night? Yep, she’d totally bathed in front of the window, thinking she’d taken the right measures to shield herself. Heat that could rival flame shot up her neck and landed in her cheeks. He’d seen her naked. Or if he hadn’t seen her skin, he’d at least seen her silhouette.
    “Oh, my gosh,” she whispered, slumping onto a crude bench on the front porch. How was this not going to be awkward next time she saw him? Dropping her chin to her chest, she searched for the tiny baby bump that she’d noticed in the mirror the day before. Another round of nausea worked its way from her stomach to her throat. He was probably grossed out and never wanted to see her like that again.
    “Stop it,” Aanon called from the porch of the big house.
    How long had he been standing there, leaned up against a wooden column like he hadn’t a care in the world?
    Swallowing the queasiness down, she asked, “Stop what?”
    “Overthinking it. You looked hot. I can take the curtains down if you want.”
    “Har har. They’re fine where they are. Sorry about the eyeful.”
    He took a drag of coffee from his steaming mug and gave her a wicked smile over the rim. “I’m not.”
    She couldn’t tell whether she wanted to kiss him for the compliment or throw a snowball in his coffee, but he’d succeeded in easing the tension of what could’ve been a really embarrassing situation.
    Without his toboggan, his chin length blond hair lifted in the breeze. The black thermal shirt that clung to his chest like a second skin did wonders for his shape, and the divot between his defined pecs peeked out through two