"I can't get her to relax enough to tell her my first name," Mac muttered.

Zee shrugged, then placed a gnarled hand on Mac's shoulder, a gesture he'd done so often through the years. "Maybe you haven't tried hard enough. If you want something, go after it. If you don't, you really don't want it that bad."

Mac mulled over that piece of advice while he tossed her shirt into the bar and rejoined Zee on the porch.

"You clean up from last night?" the older man asked.

"Not yet."

"Well, get outta here. I got Hardy and Earl coming by. They've got nothing to do, anyway, and they'll be more than happy to help."

"I can't let you do my work for me."

"You don't, and I'll tell Bear you're leaving ladies' lingerie all over the damn bar. If I had a sexy woman waiting for me, I wouldn't be down here soaking up sunshine. I'd be upstairs soaking up something else." The old man choked on laughter at his own joke.

"Okay, but I owe you one."

"Introduce me to the next lady you meet at The R-"

"So tell me, where's he picking up women, Zee."

At the sound of Samantha's sexy voice, Mac turned. She stood in the doorway, hugging the frame.

"Well, hello, Sammy Jo." After his greeting the older man grew silent. Unusually silent. For the first time, Mac witnessed Zee at a loss for words and realized the older man was protecting his secret.

"Details," Samantha said. A spark settled in her eyes that Mac strove to comprehend. "I want to know where and when." One part determination, he decided, the other part jealousy. He hoped.

"About what?" Zee asked.

It wasn't like Zee to play dumb, and Mac felt bad putting the old man in the middle. "He wants me to introduce him to the first good-looking lady I meet on our trip today," Mac answered for him.

"Trip?" She swung herself out the door, excitement tingeing her voice, a renewed bounce to her step. The yellow tank-top dress she wore clung to her curves in a way that had him drooling. It'd be a long day watching her without touching, but that was exactly what he planned to do.

Once again, for both their sakes, he had no choice.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Someplace relaxing, where we can get away from the bar and you can enjoy the weather." He knew just where to take her. Sometime after Zee made his offer, Mac decided Samantha needed space from the intensity they'd shared.

She was on vacation and needed to feel like it, not to mention the fad that he could use a breather himself.


* * *

Sam hadn't realized how much she needed to get away for a while until Mac suggested they do just that. She'd woken up alone, and a whole host of insecurities had greeted her. They came back to haunt her now. So what if it had been good for her? Maybe it had been lousy for him. She bit down on her lower lip, recalling the times and ways they'd made love. Three condoms' worth plus some other imaginative maneuvers. Who'd have thought they came in packages of a dozen? Mac, that's who. No, it had definitely been good for him, too.

But maybe he'd had enough. That was possible. How many men wanted to wake up with a woman once they'd… consummated their relationship, let alone spend another few days with them? Perhaps this trip was more about getting away so he wouldn't have to…

She shook her head to dislodge that horrible prospect. "What do I need to bring?" she asked.

"Yourself."

She glanced at his serious expression. No sexual innuendo danced in his eyes or sounded in his voice. In that moment she knew something had changed between them. "Okay." Her throat grew suddenly dry. "When are we leaving? After we clean up the bar? Because I started while you were outside talking to Zee, and I got as far as-"

"Zee's taking care of things around here today." Zee was awfully quiet, too, she realized. No banter, no jokes from either man. Why did she feel like she'd walked into an episode of The Twilight Zone.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she asked the two men.

"Not a thing. Just too much partying yesterday," Mac said. This time his eyes met hers, and hot passion shimmered in their depths. Last night hovered between them. Warm bodies, hot sex, a release and a sharing she'd never forget.

Apparently he hadn't put it behind him, either. Which meant whatever was bothering him had nothing to do with regret. She hadn't realized how much she feared his turning away from her until she thought he had.

Relief swamped her, and she let out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. Blood began to flow back to her fingertips because she'd unclenched her tight fists. She shouldn't be bouncing off his emotions, but she was. And until she heard how he felt, she wouldn't be truly at ease.

Zee cleared his throat. "You go get yourself ready. Me, Earl and Hardy'll finish up around here." The older man gestured to the pickup truck bouncing into The Hungry Bear parking lot.

"Are you sure we shouldn't stick around and help out? We could get started a little later on."

"Positive. Zee and I have an agreement. Anyway, let 'em earn their keep," Mac said with a grin. He gestured inside the bar and she turned, assuming he'd follow.

She took two steps and trod on the shirt she hadn't noticed in her earlier haste to meet up with him outside. She scooped it into her hands.

"Can't have you making a habit of leaving your clothes around this bar, Sammy Jo." His warm breath caressed her ear, and the teasing note had returned to his voice.

"No, we can't," she agreed. She turned around, grasping the shirt in her hand and wringing it like a wet towel. "Listen, Mac. If you're feeling obligated, like you have to shuttle me around until I leave, don't. I can take care of myself and find plenty to do. I can even check into the hotel a couple of days early… assuming there's a room, and if not I can find a motel…" His firm hand clapped gently over her still-moving mouth. She tasted warm, salty skin.

"Everything is fine. You hear me? Fine. And you're not leaving for that conference until the last possible minute."

Relief made her overstressed muscles turn to mush. "It's just that you…" Spit it out, Sammy Jo. There was little-enough truth between them, on her part, anyway. She didn't need to hedge now. "It's just that you seemed so distant when I got out here, so I thought… well you know what I thought."

He removed his hand from her mouth and braced his palms on her shoulders. "I didn't know how you'd be reacting to the morning after, so I was giving you space."

"What if I don't want any?" There would be plenty of distance between her and Mac soon enough, she thought, trying to swallow the painful lump in her throat.

"Then I won't give you any." He dipped his head for a leisurely kiss, warm enough, wet enough, special enough to reassure her. "Now, are you ready to head a little further west?" He eased the shirt, which now looked like a wrinkled rag, out of her hands.

She stared into the dark depths of his eyes and smiled. "Yes." Anything he suggested sounded good to her. "I don't know what you had planned, but when I was straightening out back by the storage room, I found an old picnic basket. I could throw in a few of the things we picked up at the store and we could eat on the road."

"You sure you'd like that better than a restaurant?"

"Hmm. Wide-open spaces versus a crowded room. Hordes of people rather than just you and me? Come to think of it, a restaurant sounds much better."

He laughed and took her hand. "Come on. Let's pull some things together before we're eating under the midday sun."

Sam followed him inside to pack and get ready, determined to make the most of their time. Time that was already ticking away much too fast.


* * *

After finding a spot beneath a tree, Mac unloaded their packages while Samantha spread a large blanket across the grass. A warm breeze floated on the dry air. Turkey sandwiches, chips and cola went down quietly, the silence telling him she had finally relaxed. In the ensuing stillness of the desert, Mac enjoyed something that until now had been foreign to him. Comfortable silence with a woman by his side. He hadn't realized such a phenomenon could exist for him.

She bit into her chips with gusto and crunched loud enough to wake the wildlife, then glanced at him and shrugged. "What can I tell you? They crunch when you munch."

He burst out laughing. Damn but she made him feel good. Crumbs had fallen over her yellow top and he reached over to help her clean up. His hand brushed her breasts, and her nipples turned to rigid peaks.

She sucked in a startled breath and he shrugged.

"Sorry."

"No you're not."

He grinned. "You're right. I'm not." He reached into the basket for another cola. "Drink?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, thank you. But it is hot." Despite the wide leaves overhead, the Arizona sun beat down on them, and she plopped a wide-brimmed straw hat she'd bought in Cave Cove onto her head.

Resting her chin on her knees, she looked into the sky and sighed. "Who said you don't see heaven on earth?"

He eased himself closer. "I guess you like it here?"

"What's not to like?" She lay down on her back, letting the hat fall behind her head, and stared up at the sky. Wanting to see her perspective, he joined her. Their arms aligned and touched. Neither pulled away.

"It's enough to make me want to consider a geographical change," she murmured.

"Seriously?"

"No." She answered quickly. "But a person can dream, can't they?"

"Nothing wrong with that." As long as he could convince her to make those dreams a reality. To do that he had to understand what made her so skittish.