“Okay. I’ll finish up with Martha here, then I guess we’ll head out.” She paused, looked at Logan, and when he didn’t say anything, she shrugged and headed back to the house.

“What is it with the two of you?” Colt asked.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Obviously, but she likes you. And sometimes it seems as if you like her back. Other times you don’t give her the time of day and you act like a dick to her.”

“Again. None of your business.”

“It is my business when it affects Des’s feelings.”

Logan leaned against one of the picnic tables and took another drink of his beer. “Why’s that? Because you have a thing for her?”

Colt laughed. “You’re way off base there, Logan.”

“Am I? Or do you have feelings for her, and she just sees you as a friend? You must really hate that, seeing her with other guys when you’re the one who wants to be with her.”

Logan waited to see the rise in Colt’s anger. But all he got was another laugh. “You don’t know me. Or, for that matter, Des. Maybe you should spend time getting to know more about her. She’s loyal and faithful, especially to the people she cares about. But if you screw with her, she’ll cut you out of her life completely like you never existed.”

“And you think that matters to me.”

Colt laid his empty beer on the table. “I don’t know if it does or not. I hope it does, because she matters to me, but not in the way you think.”

Colt walked toward the house, leaving Logan standing there contemplating what Colt had just said. Whatever the hell Colt had said.

He ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair, trying to figure out what was wrong with his attitude today. Maybe it was walking in the house and finding Des leaning against Colt, laughing with him, seeing the ease the two of them had together.

He didn’t believe there was nothing going on between them. There had to be something, and Logan didn’t like being in the middle of that.

Then again, he and Des had made no promises to each other. They weren’t exclusive. If she wanted to screw ten other guys, she could, couldn’t she?

Though the thought of it stabbed him in the gut, and he didn’t like feeling that way, didn’t like the hold she already had on him.

But was that hold in his mind? She’d never put a claim on him, never asked him for any kind of guarantees. She’d never asked for . . . anything.

And why was that? Most women, if he was with them more than a couple of times, started hinting about relationships and promises and wanting to take things a step further.

Not Des. She’d just showed up and they’d been having fun and then she disappeared just as fast.

Maybe, just maybe, Colt might be right, and he should find out a little bit more about the woman who kept him lying awake at night.

AFTER SAYING GOOD-BYE to Martha, Colt and Des climbed into the SUV to head back to the set.

It had been an exhausting day, but Des had had a good time. She wished she could have spent more time with Logan, but she knew he’d been busy. He had a ranch to run, plus getting things ready for tomorrow had kept him doubly occupied.

“How was your time with Logan?” she asked as Colt drove along the gravel road leading them back to the set.

“Oh . . . fine,” Colt said, his expression revealing nothing.

Sometimes it was a pain in the ass to be friends with actors. They could mask their emotions so easily if they wanted to.

“Colt. Really. Did something happen?”

“Oh, you could say something happened.”

But he didn’t say anything, and she refused to press him like an emotionally needy woman. Because she wasn’t. Emotional or needy, that was, especially as it related to Logan.

They returned to the set and headed back to their trailers. Des stopped at Colt’s.

“Are you going to talk to me?”

Colt turned to her and grinned. “He really does like you, Des. A lot.”

Her heart drummed up a fast rhythm. “How can you tell?”

“Because he thinks there’s something going on between you and me, and he’s really pissed about it.”

“He does? He is? Why? Did he say something to you?” She hated even asking these questions, but she couldn’t help herself.

“He did, and yes, he is, and yes, he most definitely said something to me. I thought for a minute there he was going to knock me on my ass.”

She climbed up the stairs so she could be eye level with Colt. “You aren’t serious.”

“I’m deadly serious. I could feel the testosterone radiating off him. If I didn’t already have the love of my life, I would have been swooning. Hell, I was swooning. On your behalf, of course.”

She laughed. “Stop it. What did he say exactly?”

“First he asked if the two of us had something going on, then he intimated that I was pining away for you because you saw me as just a friend.”

She crossed her arms. “He did not say that to you.”

“Yeah, he did.”

She leaned against the railing and contemplated for a few seconds, before looking at Colt. “What a dick.”

Colt laughed. “Nah, just guy talk.”

“Yeah, guy talk about me. He thinks I’d use you that way? Seriously, what a douchebag. What kind of a bitch does he think I am?”

Colt held up his hands. “Whoa. Calm down, Des. I think he meant to insult me, not you.”

“I don’t care. I’m insulted. I would never hurt you that way.”

“Honey, if I was straight and we were friends and I had the hots for you, but you didn’t feel the same way, the conversation Logan and I had today would have been an honest one. Because you don’t feel that way about me, do you?”

“Well, no. But I would be honest with you and tell you that. I’d never string you along or make you my sidekick. Jesus, what do you men think we women do?”

“Be honest. Some women do that to guys.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. “I guess.”

“So don’t be too hard on Logan. He doesn’t know the truth about me.”

“And he won’t be hearing it from me, so don’t worry.”

He gave her a short kiss. “I know that. Listen, I’m going to go make a phone call. All this talk about romance and relationships has made me miss my guy. And I want to find out when his plane lands.”