“Let go, you Neanderthal.”

Jewel yanked back.

Shocked, Heath opened his hand, and the sudden release sent her sprawling backward into the dirt. He rushed over and gripped her shoulders. “Jewel! Are you all right? Jewel!”

Without warning, she grabbed his shirt collar and twined her leg in his, flinging him away as she rolled. He landed on his back. Hard.

The thick air, now hazy with smoke, muffled her laughter. She bounded to her knees and pressed her palms to his shoulders. “Pinned you!” An enormous grin broke out over her face, and she whooped like a cowboy.

“Wrong!” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, maneuvered her beneath him and braced his weight on his palms.

The cockiness faded from Jewel’s eyes. In its place, the yearning he’d glimpsed the night of his last gig returned. No one ever looked at him the way Jewel did…