Free Hers for the Holidays by Samantha Hunter

the wrong way. By avoiding sex, they were making it a bigger deal than it was. The sexual tension was driving them crazy. Lydia was friends with several of her former lovers, and she knew that desire always seemed to burn out naturally after a while, leaving friendship in its wake. Why wouldn’t it be the same with Ely?
    Lydia was no Chloe Roberts, and she wasn’t thirteen anymore, either. But Ely wanted her, and why did it have to be so complicated? She had the things she wanted in life: her business, her friends. Those were the things that counted, and she was lucky to have them. There was a time in her life when she didn’t think she deserved even that much.
    Making her way to her room, she took a breath and toweled off, trying to warm up as she dressed and checked out the window, finding Ely with Smitty, moving hay to the barn. Though he was bundled in the thick, wool coat of her father’s, she could see how strong he was just by the easy way he lifted the block of hay and the grace of his movements. As if the heavy bundles of hay weighed nothing.
    He was like that in bed, too. Even when he was pushed to the limit, every muscle tensed in high relief as she brought him to the edge over and over, he was the most perfect man she’d ever seen. Certainly the most perfect man she’d ever been with.
    It had been such a thrill to have such a powerful man give himself over that way and to watch the intense pleasure he experienced. With her.
    Or had he been thinking of Chloe all along? Was Lydia that foolish? Frowning, she supposed it was possible. He had just broken up with the woman less than a day before. He admitted that he hadn’t been thinking straight at the time.
    She shook her head in disgust, walking away from the window. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours and she was already trying to find ways to renege on their agreement. She recited to herself, again, all of the reasons this couldn’t happen. But in her heart, she would be amazed if either of them lasted the week.

5
    L ATER THAT AFTERNOON , when they had finally finished clearing the snow, Lydia couldn’t help but notice that Ely looked like he was having the best time of his life.
    “I think I have time to get into town. Still mind if I borrow your keys?” he asked.
    “Actually, would it be okay if I go into town with you? I need to pick up some supplies.”
    “No problem. I’ll heat up the car.”
    She handed him her keys and their fingers touched without them bursting into spontaneous flames. See, they could be friends, right? They just had to get through this awkward stage. The moment in the shower had just been...well, a moment.
    It didn’t mean anything she didn’t want it to mean.
    Once they got to town, they went their separate ways. And Lydia tried to focus on what she needed to buy for the ranch.
    She walked to the small grocery store, figuring she would start there. But as she made her way down the aisles, feeling again like she was out of place, worried that she would bump into someone who would know her, she forgot the list in her hand and found herself staring at a display, lost in another one of the time warps she seemed to be suffering since she’d returned to Clear River. She even heard someone saying her name.
    “Lydia Hamilton,” the guy said again, and she turned around slowly, grabbing one package of paper towels from the shelf and tossing them in the basket. She didn’t look up, facing him, though the second time he’d spoken, she recognized his voice.
    “Loyal,” she said with a quick stretch of her mouth that didn’t quite approach a smile. “Long time.”
    Loyal Slater. Football star, high-school hunk, and her first kiss in their freshman year of high school. His parents owned the ranch bordering her family’s land. That kiss had been the beginning and end of their relationship, since Loyal was anything but.
    “We heard you went off and became a big-city girl,” he said. “Sorry about your mom, by the