Page 6 of The Rancher's Heart

She refused to compare Flinn Isak with the OMG! handsome rancher following her to his souped-up Mustang.

The short stubble of his beard and mustache made him handsome in a way that had most women taking a second look. She didn’t want to be one of his groupies anymore. Unfortunately, she couldn’t ignore how well his jeans fit. His cowboy hat and boots...Well...

No drooling was allowed since she was moving on.

There was a reason she was looking for someone else to have a forever-after relationship with.BFF, remember?

“It was fine,” she said, getting in the car.

He started the engine and asked, one brow raised, “Only fine?”

She didn’t want to talk about it. Not with Jonas, anyway. “Where are we going for breakfast?”

“I was thinking about the Country Breakfast House. It’s relatively new. Have you been there?”

Sloane shrugged, then straightened. She was hungry and it had been a while since a good-looking man had bought her breakfast. The last time—yup, it’d been Jonas before he moved back to town. “I read about them in theStrawberry Ridge Journal, but I haven’t eaten there.”

When the silence stretched out, she asked, “How’s business going? Have you gotten many clients since you opened?”

He was a good lawyer. Folks who needed his kind of expertise—which was a little bit of this and a little bit of that—would be lucky if he took them on.

“It’s slowly picking up,” he said, not very enthusiastically.

Sloane twisted in her seatbelt to face her friend. “What’s wrong?”

“Strawberry Ridge is a small town. It’s going to take time to build up a firm here. I knew that when I decided to come home. I was hoping I could leave the Denver office sooner than I think I’ll be able to.”

He parked on River Street, one block past the restaurant. Sloane unbuckled her seatbelt and assured him, “You’ll get there.”

“I know.” He finally grinned, amping up her pulse. “I just wasn’t planning on working remotely part of the week.”

“What a cute place,” she said as a diversion, heading for the covered porch. She was supposed to be the one in charge of her heart, not the man escorting her to breakfast.

From the outside, the gold-colored building looked like an old-fashioned western restaurant and hotel. Flowering bushes and colorful plants bordered the boardwalk to the porch. Jonas held open the door so she could precede him into the restaurant.

“A table for two?” the hostess asked Jonas.

“Thank you. In the back overlooking the river if you have one open,” he requested, his charm on full display.

Sloane shook her head when Betsy, according to her name tag, smiled and led the way. Jonas certainly had a way about him.

“We have one left. The river and park are everyone’s favorite views.”

“Thanks.” Jonas pulled out a chair for Sloane, waiting while she got settled where she could see the walking path along the river.

Sloane barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Was there any woman in all of Colorado who didn’t go gaga over herbest friend?

“I’ll take your order after you get a chance to look at the menu. Our breakfast special today is biscuits and gravy with thick sliced bacon.”

Jonas settled across from Sloane while she took in the wood ceilings and blue-patterned wallpaper on the walls. Lights reminiscent of an old west saloon added a touch of classical magic.

“What do you think? The place has character, don’t you think?” Jonas unrolled his silverware from the cloth napkin and flipped it onto his lap.

“Un-huh.” Sloane opened the menu, quickly deciding to go with the special, rather than spend time exploring all the breakfast options, which looked good too. “Something’s bothering you. What is it?”

Her patience with the good-looking lawyer sitting across from her was wearing a little thin these days. She’d known him so long and had a crush on him for far longer than she should have, and still, he made her heart flutter.

Maybe she should see a cardiologist, just to be sure there was nothing mechanically wrong with her primary organ. A girl couldn’t be too careful with her health, could she?

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