“I’m sure willing,” Luke said.

“If we move in March, then we could plan a Nashville trip in May,” Joanie said.

“And we can do coffee together every morning like always, only on FaceTime.” Carmen still didn’t look happy, but she was trying. Bless her heart, she’d been through so much the past couple of weeks.

“We’re so lucky to have been able to raise our girls on the same block all these years,” Diana said. “Most army wives would have moved half a dozen times in thirteen years. We’re just lucky that the team got to stay at Camp Bullis all this time.”

“And that the government wanted to keep it together.” Joanie paid her phony money to get out of jail. “I wonder what will happen to the team now that Eli and Brett are both retiring. Will they just start a new one, or will they get replacements and maybe let Gerald be team leader?”

“Who knows? It’s the government. But on driving y’all, I’m glad to do that anytime you want,” Luke offered.

Diana had forgotten that Luke was in the room. She whipped around to find him standing so close to her that she could see the small crow’s-feet around his eyes. The scruff on his face was a little longer than usual, but then he couldn’t really keep it well groomed without his electric razor.

“That’s so sweet of you, and we may take you up on that more often than you realize,” Tootsie said.

“Thank you.” Diana held her hands behind her back to keep from reaching up and touching his face to see if the light-brown hair was as soft as it looked. “Now that we have power, I’m going to go upstairs and get to work. See y’all at suppertime. Whose turn is it to cook? We’ve gotten off schedule with the funeral and no electricity.”

Luke raised his hand. “I’ll take care of it tonight, and we can start all over tomorrow with Carmen, then Joanie on Monday, since we have the reunion on Sunday, and you on Tuesday, Diana. How’s that?”

“Great,” Diana muttered as she escaped to her bedroom and picked up an old magazine to fan her face. Lord have mercy! She had to get over this infatuation with Luke.

A rap on her door startled her so badly that she threw the magazine halfway across the floor. “Come in,” she said, expecting it to be Carmen.

Luke slung open the door and held his Wi-Fi device. “Thought you might need this.”

“Thank you,” she muttered as she took it from him. Warmth spread from her fingertips through her body when her fingers brushed across his palm. She took a step backward and laid the device on the bedside table. She figured she’d see his back as he left the room when she looked up, but he’d taken a couple of steps closer.

He traced the edge of her face with his forefinger, sending heat waves all the way to her toes. “You were named right, Diana. She was the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and nature in Roman mythology. She even had the power to talk to animals.”

It was downright geeky and nerdy but yet still the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. Before she could say a word, his lips closed over hers in a searing-hot kiss that weakened her knees. Age, time, place—the universe stood still, and the only people occupying the whole world were Luke and Diana. She felt like a goddess when his arms went around her and drew her even closer.

One kiss led to another and still another. They were both panting when they heard someone coming up the stairs, and they stepped back from each other. “How long are we going to deny this thing between us? Something stirred in my heart when we shook hands the first time.” Luke locked eyes with her.

Diana heard Carmen’s door open across the hallway, so she took another step back. Then Carmen rapped on the door and stuck her head inside. “Hey, can I come in, or are you busy?”

“Let’s talk about it later,” Diana whispered to Luke.

Luke nodded. “I’ll come back and get the device in a couple of hours. I’ve got a couple of things to do before I need to see what’s going on in the cyber world today.”

“You really like him, don’t you?” Carmen cocked her head to one side once he was gone.

“No. Yes. Maybe it’s just lust, but right now, no matter what it is or isn’t, we have too much on our friendship platter to deal with this. You’re going through a divorce. Tootsie’s still in mourning, and now Joanie is probably moving away from us. That’s enough drama for now. I don’t need to add romance to it.” Diana flipped on the light. “I’ll never take being able to do that for granted again.”

Carmen sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’re changing the subject.”

“Yes, I am, and now I’m doing it again. How are you with Joanie moving?”

“Horrible. I can’t imagine life without her there every day,” Carmen admitted. “But I’m not telling her that, not when it means that she can be with Brett every day and there’ll be no more deployments or missions.”

“Me, too.” Diana sat down beside her.

But her mind wasn’t on Joanie—it was on the way her lips still felt hot after that steamy little make-out session and how she had wanted to walk backward to the bed and pull Luke down on it with her.

Chapter Twelve

Luke awoke the next morning in the motor home but didn’t jump out of bed like usual. He pulled up the covers around his neck and thought about the kisses he and Diana had shared. He’d always heard that in order to really know a person, you should live with them for a little while or at least walk a mile in their shoes. He’d never be able to put his big size 12 foot in Diana’s shoes, but he had lived with her for eleven days now, and he liked her a lot. She was strong, independent, and beautiful, and if the little bit of age difference was the only thing between them, he’d convince her that it was nothing by the time he drove them all home to Sugar Run.

He threw off the covers and padded naked to the bathroom. Sleeping in the raw was one of the benefits of living in the motor home alone. The downside was that he missed making breakfast over the open fire and listening to the ladies all brag on him about how good it was.

For years, he’d worked alone, and when he hired a small staff to help with his business, he’d still spent most of his time in his office—alone. He’d thought that was what he liked, where he felt comfortable, but this trip had proved he’d been wrong. He liked being around people and didn’t even mind the drama.