Worth the Weight by Mara Jacobs Page A

not when she was naked), made her feel better about the whole thing.
    “I thought I was always what made you hot.” He started to walk toward her, covering the distance of half the barn in only a few, lengthy strides.
    “That’s what I let you believe, to salvage your fragile ego, but it was always the hay, Finn ... always the hay.”
    He was now only a step away from her , and just when she was about to put her arms out for the coming embrace, he stopped. “Well, I guess there’s one good thing about being a hayseed, you get all the best women. Did I tell you how sexy long hair is on you, Liz?”
    Lord, how this man could get to her. She could have been a schoolgirl as she twirled the ends of her hair that she had worn pulled back into a low ponytail.
    Sure, she had played business games with adults. There, she was on sure footing. But here, playing flirting games…it seemed like a lifetime ago when she’d last done this. It was a lifetime ago. This was a new life. And this was why she was here…to practice.
    Her hand rose and followed her hairline from her scalp all the way down. She swung her ponytail over her shoulder to land on her breast; where she began to smooth it down, almost stroke it. She watched as his eyes never left her hands, saw the corners of his mouth turn up in approval. Maybe this flirting stuff is like muscle memory. Even if you think you’ve forgotten it, your body recalls the motions.
    “Thanks, it’s relatively new to me.”
    “What is?” He was jarred out of his hair-watching reverie.
    “My hair. Having long hair. I only started growing it out three years ago. I’d had short hair all my adult life.”
    “What made you decide to grow it long?” His gaze now moved to her face.
    She hesitated, searched for words. “I just decided it was time to try some things in life that I hadn’t tried yet.”
    “A little young to be having a mid-life crisis, aren’t you?”
    She chuckled, “Yeah, but growing my hair was so much cheaper than buying a red sports car.” She remembered Stevie. “Oh, by the way, the man who picked up Stevie said he’d drop him off tomorrow at ten.”
    His body seemed to tense, but he just nodded acknowledgement of her message. “So, he was still here when you got here? Did you talk to him?”
    “Of course I talked to him.” What she really wanted to ask was who’s Annie ?
    “What did he say to you?”
    He mentioned Annie if that’s what you’re afraid of. And what’s worse for you, Finn , it sounds like he’ll mention me to Annie if he gets a chance . “Not much, it wasn’t long before his ride showed up.”
    She paused, waiting for him to speak. When he didn’t, she said, “Why didn’t you tell me you had a son?”
    It looked like he was going to deny that he’d kept Stevie from her, but then he shrugged. He went to the side of the barn where there were piles of empty quart containers and began to stack them. “I don’t know. It just didn’t come up at first, and then...”
    She walked over to where he worked and began to stack some of the containers herself. He seemed to be putting them in piles of ten, so she followed suit. When he noticed what she was doing, he took her hands and led her away from the piles. “Don’t Liz, these quarts are all stained up, you’ll get yourself dirty.” His eyes swept her body, but this time it was no sexual perusal, but almost a paternal look. “You look so nice and clean. Don’t get that pretty blouse stained with strawberry. Believe me, it’s hell to get out of clothes.”
    She wanted to protest, but was pleased at his thoughtfulness. He returned to the pile and kept stacking while she watched. Enjoyed watching. He was squatting, balancing on his haunches and once again she watched the muscles in his back ripple as he reached for a discarded container.
    “The kids I hire to pick in the mornings do this. They show up with lots of energy, but four or five hours bent over in the field gets them pretty