Falling for the City Boy

Claire never expected to like her brother's college roommate. Kai was so out of place on their family's farm. So obviously a city boy, unprepared for the hard work expected of him during his summer visit. But his willingness to learn as well as his gorgeous looks soon win her over, and he's become the star of her heated late-night fantasies. She never imagines that he might return her feelings, however, until an early morning encounter in the hay loft changes everything...

Excerpt:
Growing up on a farm, I was used to waking up early. But this was something else.
It was still dark outside. More than dark. I knew it was barely past midnight, hours before the roosters would begin to crow.

But there was no way for me to go back to sleep now. I had far too much energy, even though I rarely got a good night’s sleep anymore.

Because of him.

Kai. He was my brother Jesse’s roommate at college. Because he apparently had no family that he wanted to see this summer, he had decided to spend it helping out his friend on the farm.

I’ll admit, I had laughed at him a lot when he first arrived.

As gorgeous as he was, he had been so obviously a city boy. Wearing khakis and pretty button-down shirts. Not real fancy, but definitely not suited for the kind of work that had to be done around here. Hell, he hadn’t even owned a pair of boots, and had to borrow an old pair of my father’s, once it was made clear to him that his regular running shoes wouldn’t do him a damned bit of good while mucking out stalls.

Of course, a lot of the laughter had ended once I had seen him work.

He might not have known what he was doing, but he was a quick learner. Seemed almost eager to learn, without showing any signs of looking down on the work, like I’d heard that so many city boys would have.

And then there was the time I’d almost run into him, after he and Jesse had been out fixing fences all day. He hadn’t been wearing a shirt, his muscular chest gleaming under a fine sheen of sweat.

I’d been hit by a surge of lust so strong, it had nearly taken my legs out from under me.

I couldn’t say why I had reacted like that.

He certainly wasn’t the first guy I’d seen without his shirt on. And he wasn’t necessarily the most muscular of them—especially when compared with some of the transient laborers who came to the farm every summer, who made their living with their strength.

And yet there had been something about him…

Something that had made me feel this need. Made him the star of far too many restless, heated fantasies. Keeping me up at night, even after I’d found some shallow satisfaction for my desires by using my fingers.

I grabbed a shovel and started cleaning out the nearest stall. Needing something to burn off this excess energy. I kept hoping that these early starts and hard work would wear me out enough that I would be too exhausted to want him at night.

It hadn’t worked yet.

If only… “Need a hand?”