Nada. Zilch. Zip.

It had simply been easier to remain single.

Being in a relationship where a partner took over and planned everything without input from the other party, had permanently crossed a bunch of men who’d subsequently approached her, off the list. She’d worked hard to get over her childhood insecurities and lack of control over her life, and as difficult as it had been to reinvent herself, she’d learned to speak up and advocate for what she wanted and needed. No relationship was worth going backward regarding her self-esteem.

So now what?

She tossed back the covers and swung her legs out of bed. Leaning down to give Nel, who was still sleeping, a distracted pat.

Seriously? She was thinking of putting herself out there with Cisco? A man she assumed was a big player? Maybe that wasn’t fair. Hilly didn’t have a clue as to what kind of man he’d grown into—except for a gorgeous well-built one—but starting something with him where she’d most likely be a single notch on his bedpost, could have the consequences of setting her back years.

But still…

What would it be like, just once, to have sex with a man like Cisco?

Padding to the bathroom to get ready for her day, she imagined him naked, all hard muscles and sinewy strength. His dark, velvety skin would be adorned with a smattering of soft hair, including his happy trail which would lead to⁠—

No. Just no.

She wasn’t going to think about Cisco’s cock. It was bad enough she was letting herself have fantasies about him, she didn’t need the complication of…was it purple? Was it pink? And how many inches…?

Shit. There she went again.

Hilly shook herself out of her daydreaming, and checked the time, noting it was still early. Buffy had said she’d be arriving around ten-thirty from Boston, which meant Hilly had a good three hours to putter around, but no more than that. Knowing Buffy, the woman would be right on time. Which was good. Hilly couldn’t leave camp unless there was another adult on premise to watch over the impressionable teenagers she’d hired as counselors.

Not that she wouldn’t trust them with the campers when the youngsters arrived in the morning. She would. The bunch were trained for that. But she wasn’t about to trust them with each other, young hormones being what they were.

Hilly wasn’t stupid. She knew that eventually some of them would hook up, but she was hoping that once the property teemed with campers, it would be more difficult for wanna-be-pairs to slip away and get themselves into any kind of serious trouble.

Hilly ate a small breakfast, did some inventory while Nel played with a new squeaky toy, then… Her ears perked up as she came out of the interior storeroom in the barn. Was that a car?

A smile broke out over her face as she, along with Nel, practically danced to the outer door with anticipation. She hadn’t seen Buffy in over a year, and was pumped not only to hug the stuffing out of the woman, but to share the entire summer hanging with her.

Pulling open the wooden door, Hilly took off with her pup at her heels, and ran to the parking area where she saw the familiar, silver Toyota.

“Buffy,” she squealed, sprinting toward the vehicle whose door was just opening.

“Hilly-billy,” Buffy returned on a shriek as she stepped out.

Hilly full-on laughed as their bodies collided in a huge, jumping-up-and-down kind of hug with Nel barking and whining, doing circles around them to join in. “Listen Buff-stuff. You may not call me that nickname in front of anybody here,” Hilly admonished her bestie with a snort.

“Or?” Buffy, a gorgeous brunette, always well-put together, returned impishly, giving both Hilly, then Nel, some more love.

“Or I’ll feed you to the sharks.”

“Right.” Buffy pulled back out of Hilly’s arms, although not letting go altogether while she bent down and buried her nose in soft fur. She finally stood upright again and rolled her eyes. “I may be from Massachusetts, but even I know your Maine lakes don’t have sharks.”

“Okay then,” Hilly teased. “How about big-ass sturgeon? They’ll ugly you to death.”

Buffy gave a raised, dark brow. “You have those here?”

Hilly couldn’t keep it up. Her joy was too great. “Nope. Just kidding. Feel free to immerse yourself in our beautiful lake any time you want without fear of losing any digits.”

“Thanks for that,” Buffy groaned hilariously. “Now, on a serious note, I know you have errands to run, but is there time for you to give me the tour before you take off? And I reeeeally have to pee!”

“I think we should take care of your emergency first, then give you the look-around.”

“Deal,” Buffy agreed easily. “Then you can be on your way.”

Hilly had let Buffy know about the things she needed to do in town, but had promised she’d accomplish her errands quickly so they could spend the afternoon together. Hilly was going to have to ‘fess up to her friend that something else had come up; that she’d possibly be back later than expected. Just a smidge later. Of course, once Hilly disclosed the reason for her tardiness, Buffy would be all over it, squealing that Hilly was taking time out of her busy schedule to feed a wounded SWAT guy.

“Let’s get you and your bags into my cabin,” Hilly offered, putting off the moment.

The two of them—three if you counted Nel—would be sharing a space since there were no free bunks anywhere else to place Buffy, but it wouldn’t be the first time they’d lived together in close quarters, and killed it with how well they got along.

They schlepped two big suitcases, a stuffed backpack, and a small duffel into the cabin, placing them on the neat, twin bed that Hilly had made up in her tiny spare room. Then Hilly pointed to the bathroom they’d be sharing.

“Have at it,” she grinned.

“You’re a lifesaver.” Buffy sped off into the small room, coming out a few minutes later looking far more relaxed. “Now that I can think again,” she giggled, “I’ll take another look at my room.”

“It’s pretty small, and I’m sorry your bed’s not a queen,” she apologized, shooing Nel off the comforter and back onto the floor. “But anything larger than that mattress wouldn’t fit.”

“It’ll do just fine,” Buffy assured her. “I’m imagining there’ll be so much going on, I won’t be aware of anything but z’s when my head hits the pillow each night. I expect the fresh air to knock me out, cold.”

“It does have that effect,” Hilly agreed, looping her arm through Buffy’s. “Now let’s do the ten-cent tour, then will you watch Nel so I can get into town?”

“Of course. Nel and I will have a great time catching up. Or playing catch,” she teased. “But Hill, you seem pretty excited about heading into your little burg for supplies,” Buffy returned astutely.

Hilly should have remembered how well her ex-roommate could read her. Dare she…?

Hilly took in a deep breath. “I’ll be picking up some stuff for camp, but I’m also delivering lunch to…a friend.”

“A friend, or a friend-friend?” Buffy prodded, knocking Hilly’s ribs playfully with her elbow.

“No. It’s not like that…,” she responded a little wistfully. “I mean, maybe it is. In my own mind it might be. But… I’m actually visiting our self-defense expert who ran into a bit of trouble while he was out on a call yesterday with his SWAT team, and needs my delivery services.”

“Oooh.” Buffy’s brown eyes grew wide. “SWAT as in a smoking hot guy decked out in sexy gear who runs around saying hut, hut, hut?”

Hilly laughed, thoroughly amused, and shook her head. “Seriously? You watch way too much TV, Buff.”

“Oh really?” She postured. “Tell me then. What part do I have wrong?”

“Uh… The hut, hut, hut part?” Hilly gave back weakly.

“Aha! So the smoking hot description and the sexy gear is correct?”

“Uh, yeah. Cisco is pretty attractive,” she admitted.