She whimpered against his lips and he thrust deeper, feeling her squeeze tight around his cock.

Neither of them were going to last long, and that suited him just fine. He wanted her, needed her, and had done nothing but think about this moment the entire day. So when she shattered, he pressed his body against hers, needing to feel her body quiver. She wrapped her legs around him and he dug in deep, thrusting over and over as he released. Now he was the one shuddering against her as he poured out everything he had.

He pressed his body against hers, feeling both their hearts beat fast against each other, then slow to normal rhythms again.

“I’m not sure I can move,” she finally said.

He fixed that by scooping her up and carrying her into the bedroom.

“Let’s try out this awesome shower,” she suggested.

They took a quick shower, dried off, then unpacked and crawled into bed.

Katrina laid her head on his shoulder and flung her leg over his hip.

“Feel better?” he asked.

“I feel perfect now that we’re in bed together.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that statement. He was content to listen to the sound of her breathing. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Katrina was right. Damned perfect. He closed his eyes.

TWENTY-SEVEN

THE BASEBALL GAME IN THE MORNING WAS PRETTY epic. True to what he stated, Tucker cleaned up the field with his brothers.

Then they all complained that of course Tucker would toss that nasty curveball at his brothers.

“What? You wanted me to throw easy pitches at you?”

“Well … yeah,” Flynn said, letting out multiple curses as he swung on three pitches and missed.

They all got tired of missing pitches, and finally, Barrett arrived, who, Katrina realized with a surprise, looked nothing like his twin brother, Tucker.

“Oh, they’re fraternal twins, not identical,” Lydia said. “I guess Grant didn’t mention that.”

“No, he didn’t.”

Barrett was tall and dark and oh so handsome, like Tucker. But he didn’t wear glasses, and he was a lot more muscular. And where Tucker’s eyes were green, Barrett’s were blue.

But Barrett had the same Cassidy sense of humor, standing on the sidelines during the baseball game and calling them all pussies.

“I’m happy to toss a few balls your way, Barrett.” Tucker stared down his twin brother.

“No. I’m good. Besides, I already know I can hit you, and I don’t wanna embarrass you in front of the ladies.”

That caused Mia to laugh so hard she started coughing.

“Enough of this,” Grant said after striking out—again. “How about some football, where we wipe the floor with our brother?”

“Now we’re talking,” Barrett said.

“You can all cool down and get drinks, then you can pick corn for me first,” Lydia said. “After that you can play football. Besides, I’m sure Leo and your father would like to get in on a football game.”

“Aww, man. You’re gonna make us play with Dad?” Grant asked. “He’ll get to play quarterback, which means I’m gonna have to run.”

“Wimp,” Barrett said. “I’ll run you down and intercept you.”

“Care to put some money on that?” Grant asked.

“I’ve got a hundred that says I take one away from you.”

“You’re on.”

“And so it begins,” Lydia said to her, heading toward the cornfields.

Katrina had to admit she was more excited about picking corn. They dove into the fields.

“Check the end of the corn husk with your hands as you go along,” Lydia told Katrina and Anya after she handed them baskets. “If it’s rounded or blunt, it’s ready to be picked. If it feels pointy, it’s not ready yet.”

She demonstrated by going down the row with them, and feeling a few of the ears, then having them run their hands over the ears after she had. “These are ready. This one’s not.”

It didn’t take long for Katrina to get the feel for an ear that was ripe. After that, she and Anya were on their own, and Anya disappeared down a different row. Grant and his brothers had been assigned different rows, and wow, were they fast. They had obviously done this before because they moved at a much more rapid pace than she did.

Before long, she had filled her basket and walked to the end of the row, where they dumped the corn into a bin. She went back to refill.

All in all, it took about an hour.

“That’s good enough for now,” Lydia said.

“What do you do with all the corn?” Katrina asked as they headed toward the house.

“Some we’ll put on the grill for dinner tonight. Some I’ll blanch and freeze for the rest of the summer.”

“That sounds fun,” Anya said. “I hope we’re around to help with that.”

Lydia put her arm around Anya. “I could keep you for the entire summer, you know.”

“I’d enjoy that as well. Too bad school’s starting up in a couple of weeks.”

Anya gave her a wishful look. Katrina laughed. “No. Sorry. You don’t get to forgo your senior year to stay here on the ranch.”

“See how she ruins all my fun, Lydia?”

Lydia laughed. “I ruined a lot of the kids’ fun over the years.”

Katrina caught sight of Easton and Leo returning in the truck, so she stopped and waited for them.