So-fine. He’d come and brought her ice cream and they’d made each other laugh. Everything was great. Time to pack it up. Hell, he’d lost a couple hours of the real work he did at night as it was.

Yet they both stood up at the same time. He reached for the container at the same time she extended a hand to offer it. She was still smiling at him, friendly fashion. She’d absolved him of any responsibility. She was tough, she’d implied. Prepared for trouble, she’d implied. No one needed to worry about her, she’d implied.

This close, for that millisecond, he saw a pearl of perspiration on her neck. Saw the tilt of her head, proud, stubborn. Saw the sunset in her hair.

He had to bend down almost a foot to kiss her. Didn’t know he was going to do it. He didn’t plan it, and didn’t intend to. He was holding the sticky spoons and container, so it was a no-hands kind of kiss, couldn’t be any more, couldn’t turn into more.

Yet her face tilted to accommodate the landing of his mouth, not as if she was inviting him, but as if she just instinctively moved to make a meeting of lips more natural, more easy. He tasted ice cream. He tasted the vulnerable satin of her lips.

He lifted his head almost immediately, saw the startled flush on her cheeks, thought…oh yeah, she’s tough, all right.

Tough as a rose petal.

“I’ll give you a discount on ice cream if you show up regular while you’re here.”

“As if that was an offer I could refuse.” But her eyes shied from his now. The sass was still there, the ready teasing…but she didn’t know what to make of that kiss.

As he ambled down the walk, headed home, he thought, hell times ten, neither did he.

Chapter 3

Lily had serious things to think about-why fires had started up in Pecan Valley since she’d shown up, the facts surrounding that long-ago fire, whether there was a chance of finding more information that might clear her dad’s name…and, oh yeah, that extraordinary kiss from Griff the night before.