A tall guy with a beer belly, black T-shirt, and cowboy hat, smelling of stale cigarettes, with dark gunk under his fingernails. He grasps my arms, to keep me from bouncing back like a pinball after colliding with the gelatinous mass of his midsection. A lifetime of city living has me automatically uttering an insincere “Sorry.”

But as I go to step around him, he matches my move, blocking my way.

“Slow down there, honey. What’s your hurry?” he drawls, looking me up and down before his gaze gets too well acquainted with my chest.

“Hey—cowboy,” I snap. “Lose something? My eyes are up here.”

He licks his lips slowly. “Yeah, I know where your eyes are.”

But he doesn’t look at them.

“Nice. So much for southern hospitality.”

He tips his hat back, finally looking up. “You passin’ through? Need a ride? My backseat is mighty hospitable.”

“No . . . and ew.”

Using my shoulder, I force my way past the randy cowboy and walk back out onto the sidewalk. I find Stanton by the car, chatting with a diminutive older woman with poofy gray hair. Well . . . listening may be more accurate, as Stanton’s just nodding—seemingly unable to get a word in edgewise.

He looks relieved when I step up, but his face has a pink tinge that wasn’t there before and the tips of his ears are glowing red. “Miss Bea,” he introduces, “this is Sofia Santos.”

“Hello.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Sofia. Aren’t you pretty!”

I smile. “Thank you.”

“And so tall. It must be nice to stand out in a crowd—I’ve never known that feelin’ myself.”

“Haven’t thought about it like that but, yes, I guess it is.”

Stanton clears his throat. “Well, we should get going.”

“Oh yes,” Miss Bea agrees. But then keeps talking. “Your momma is goin’ to be so happy to see you. I have to be on my way also, stoppin’ by the pharmacy to get Mr. Ellington the laxative. He’s constipatin’ somethin’ fierce. Hasn’t moved his bowels in four days, the poor dear. He’s grumpy as an ole bear.”

Stanton nods. “I bet.”

“It was nice meetin’ you, Sofia.”

“You too, Miss Bea—hope to see you again.”

She gets about three paces away, then turns back around, calling out, “And Stanton, don’t forget to tell your momma I’m bringin’ roast chicken to the card came on Wednesday.”

“Yes, ma’am, I’ll tell her.”

Once we’re both in the car, I ask, “What’s with your face? Are you . . . are you blushing?”

I didn’t know a guy who used his dirty mouth as well as Stanton was capable of blushing.

He nods his head, confessing, “Miss Bea was my schoolteacher, in ninth grade.”

“Okay.”

“One day, someone pulled the fire alarm and she went into the boy’s bathroom to make sure it was clear—looking under all the stall doors to be sure.”

I think I know where this is going. But I’m hilariously wrong.

“And I was in one of those stalls . . . jerkin’ off.”

My jaw drops. “No!”

He groans. “I haven’t been able to look at her since without turning red as a baboon’s ass.”

I cover my mouth, laughing. “That’s hysterical!”

He chuckles, scratching his eyebrow. “Glad I amuse you. My momma thought it was hysterical too—when Miss Bea called that afternoon to tell her all about it.”

And I laugh louder. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

“Oh no!” I laugh, running my hand down the back of his head, rubbing his neck in sympathy. “You poor thing. You must be so scarred.”

He smirks my favorite smirk. “Welcome to Sunshine, Soph—the place where privacy comes to die.”

Stanton backs out and as we resume our journey to his parents’ farm, I see the skeevy cowboy strutting down the sidewalk. “Who’s that?”

Stanton’s eyes harden and his jaw clenches.

It’s pretty hot.

“Dallas Henry,” he growls before looking me over from head to toe. “Did he bother you?”

“He groped me with his eyes—nothing I couldn’t handle.”

With a curse he tells me, “He comes near you again, just tell him you’re with me. He won’t look at you again after that.”

“Friend of yours?”

Shrugging, he tells me, “I broke his jaw a couple years ago.”

“Why’d you do that?”

Stanton’s jade eyes look into mine. “He tried taken somethin’ that didn’t belong to him.”

• • •

When Stanton told me he grew up on a farm, I had a certain picture in my head. A big farmhouse, a red barn, trees. But that mental image pales in comparison to the real thing—to the sheer size and grandeur of the Shaw family ranch. The Porsche kicks up dirt as we cruise up the tree-lined driveway that’s so long, you can’t see the house from the road. The white house is large, with a pointed roof, a welcoming porch, green shutters, and huge windows. Ten red outbuildings are scattered out behind it, interspersed with large pens of brown wood fencing. Up the gentle slope from the house, farther than I can see, are pastures covered with a blanket of lush, emerald grass.

I stand next to the car, turning in a slow circle. “Stanton . . . it’s beautiful here.”

There’s a breathless pride in his voice when he answers. “Yeah, it is.”