Free Misty Lake: Book One in the Misty Lake Series by Margaret Standafer

at Christmas waiting for her reply. Because she couldn’t stand to see him suffer, she agreed.
    “Okay, a break Saturday afternoon. I can do that.” The look of relief on his face had her heart softening even more. “But a swim suit? Really?”
    “Trust me, you won’t be sorry,” he grinned as he rocked back on his heels. “Now, where’s that broom?”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    7
     
     
    They swept, sorted, organized, and repaired. Jake had done his best to clean up the stain spills on the floor and had been helpful with the lifting needed to right an overturned cabinet. He had watched as Sam carefully went over the panel saw inch by inch and shared in her joy as she announced that, other than some dents and cosmetic damage, it looked as though the machine was undamaged.
    Jake decided it was time to get back to the office and to leave Sam to start some of the repair work that was ahead of her. As he was washing his hands in the bathroom that had remained, for some reason, mostly untouched by the vandal, he noticed a crumpled up piece of paper behind the wastebasket. He headed back to the main workshop as he opened it, trying to decipher what it was he was looking at.
    “Sam, I found this in the bathroom,” he began as he headed to where she was working on assessing the damage to Jackson’s jewelry box.
    “Hmmm?” she answered, her attention on the jewelry box.
    Jake laid the paper on the workbench and smoothed it out. Sam’s hands stilled as she realized what Jake had lain in front of her. “The hutch!” she shrieked, grabbing the paper and throwing her arms around Jake before she realized what she was doing.
    Caught off guard, it took Jake a moment to realize he was holding Sam in his arms. Deciding not to let the moment pass, he held her tighter and felt his pulse quicken as he inhaled her scent—the hint of coconut from her shampoo mixed with the soft floral scent of her perfume.
    Dammit, Sam thought, what was she thinking? That was the problem, she rationalized, she hadn’t thought. When Jake laid the sketch in front of her she’d over-reacted to the first bit of good news she’d had all day. Nothing more, just a knee-jerk reaction. Then why did it feel so right? She stiffened, telling herself she needed to back away, that this was a mistake she wasn’t willing to make. As she started to shift, Jake tightened his arms around her and she felt her knees threaten to give out. She held on and allowed herself, just for a moment, not to think, just to feel.
    When Jake felt her give in and melt against him he stopped the celebratory cheer that was threatening to escape by pressing his lips to hers. He felt her shock when their lips first met and then her slow warming and response to him. Maybe there was some truth to the whole stars and fireworks thing, he thought. If someone told him the town’s Fourth of July celebration was happening right now in Sam’s yard, he wouldn’t doubt it for a moment.
    Warning bells sounded in Sam’s head as Jake pulled her closer and kissed her. She needed to stop this before it went any further. Then why was she kissing him back? She needed to concentrate on the fact that this was a really bad idea. Then why did it feel like the most natural thing in the world?
    Like a bucket of cold water over his head, the realization suddenly hit that this wasn’t the way he wanted things to happen with Sam. He was taking advantage of her when she’d just been through something traumatic and needed a friend. Slowly, he drew away, taking a deep breath and using one hand to steady himself on the workbench.  He was shakier than he cared to admit.
    Sam kept her eyes closed for a long moment, then looked up at him with a combination of desire and confusion. It took all of Jake’s willpower not to grab her again.
    She found it took more brainpower than she was currently capable of harnessing to form a rational thought. Later, when she was alone, she would try to