Tessa and Gloria were sitting on the sofa, drinking wine with the remnants of pizza scattered on the coffee table. They had been discussing William's wife, whom they both barely tolerated, when there was a knock on the door. 

Tessa frowned, wondering who it could be, then she recalled the kitchen faucet. 

She and Gloria had just about finished the wine—Gloria had anyway—and Tessa watched as Gloria poured the last of it into her glass while Tessa went to open the door.

"She's the worst, and what makes it even more intolerable is that Father loves her!" Gloria groaned as she fell back onto the couch. She was still talking about William's wife, and was unaware or didn't care that someone had knocked on the door.

Tessa peeked through the door and saw a cowboy on the porch with a toolbox and a box. His cowboy hat-clad head was bowed as he waited for her to open the door.

"Hi," Tessa said in a chipper voice as she threw open the door. "You must be here to fix the faucet." The wine had put her in a happy mood, and she greeted the stranger in a more friendly manner than she would have normally. 

Only, he wasn't a stranger.

When the cowboy lifted his head, Tessa recognized Josiah staring back at her.

She couldn't help it as her cheeks turned red and her eyes widened at the sight of him. He was handsome in a suit, but he was downright gorgeous in jeans and a button-down work shirt with a cowboy hat shielding his eyes in a mysterious way. 

"Tessa," his warm, amused voice greeted her.

Gloria must have agreed with Tessa's assessment of cowboy Josiah because she purred the word hello when she saw him.

"I'm Gloria." Tessa watched as her sister held out her hand to Josiah while her eyes devoured him.

Tessa was still at a loss for words.

Josiah looked from her to Gloria, waiting for Tessa to finish the introduction, and when she didn't, he shook the offered hand. "I'm Joey."

"Come in, Joey. "I'll show you what needs to be fixed." Gloria pulled Tessa to the side, which jolted her back into reality. "You'll have to forgive my sister, Tessa. She has no head for wine."

Sure, that's what she would blame it on, the wine. Not the fact that a man who was already a ten in hotness was now a twenty.

"Your sister?" Josiah asked, looking at Tessa for an answer to the question of what Gloria was doing there.

"Yes," Gloria laughed huskily. "She's the youngest, so we joke that she got all the leftover genes. She looks nothing like the rest of us."

Tessa cringed at Gloria's words as she watched her lead Josiah into the kitchen.

Josiah seemed to know what he was about as he set down his stuff, took off his hat and button-down shirt, revealing the well fitted t-shirt that was under it, then examined the faucet.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here. I was out with the herd and had to ride back to the ranch and get cleaned up before I came," Joey explained as he opened the cabinet under the sink. 

"No, problem-"

"Hold on, I don't want to miss anything," Gloria said, cutting of Tessa mid-sentence as she ran out of the room.

"Why are you here?" Tessa whispered nervously as she licked her lips.

"You said you had a broken faucet," he whispered back with a grin. The situation totally amused him, and Tessa realized she was indeed a little drunk because his grin was making her weak-kneed.

"No," Tessa hissed, looking over her shoulder where she saw her sister picking up Tessa's wine glass and pouring it into her own, "why are you here?" she stressed the word you.

"This is my house," Josiah threw out as he lay on the floor to turn off the water. The valve was in a hard-to-reach location, so he had to lie on his back and reach in with his arm, which caused his t-shirt to ride up and the muscles in his arm to flex beautifully.

Tessa took a shaky breath as she noted it all and the fact that this adorable little house belonged to him. She felt a little twinge when she thought about who might have helped him decorate it.

Trinity maybe?

"Mmm-hmm, that's the perfect position for what I have in mind," Gloria purred as she entered the kitchen with a full wine glass in hand and saw Josiah flat on his back.

"Gloria!" Tessa hissed, mortified by her sister's bluntness, her face turning bright red.

Tessa noted that Josiah stilled, probably worried for his safety, and then went back to work after a moment when nothing else was said.

"Are you sure he's really a repairman and you didn't hire me a stripper for my birthday?" Gloria's eyes were raking over every inch of Josiah. He would probably fire her for sexual harassment on Monday.

"It's not your birthday for two more months, Gloria! Go!" Tessa said firmly, physically turning her sister from the room.

"What, maybe he's attending the local college and needs the money. Why are you judging him, Tessa?" Gloria broke away from her and walked toward Josiah. "I'm sure the local college is great. It's obviously taught him a lot." The innuendo in Gloria's words couldn't be missed.

The drink must have made her sight fuzzy, because there was no way Josiah looked like he was in college.

"Gloria! Give him some space!" Tessa said, physically pulling her sister away from Josiah.

"Fine, I'm going to go find something else to break, so he can stay longer," Gloria said, sipping her wine she wandered out of the kitchen to answer her phone that had started ringing.

"Don't you dare!" Tessa called. "And tell William or Pamela, or Father, that I'm fine!" Tessa knew it was one of them calling her.

Tessa was mortified at what her sister had just done and was building up the courage to turn around and face Josiah.

"It was Harvard, by the way," Josiah said from his spot by the sink where he was messing with the faucet.

Great, Ivy League smart, now he was a thirty, not a twenty. "Oh," Tessa mumbled weakly, forcing herself to turn around. "I'm sorry about Gloria."

"Don't worry, she's obviously too drunk to know what she's saying." Josiah smiled.

"No, I don't think she's that drunk. I think she's just lost her filter. I think she knows exactly what she's saying." Which was what most women probably thought, but didn't say aloud when they saw Josiah. Well, most of it anyway, maybe not the part about him being a stripper.

"I take it by her presence here that you told your family you're staying?" he asked as he opened the box and pulled out a new faucet.

"Do you just happen to carry a new faucet with you at all times?" Tessa asked, amazed that he was so prepared.

"No, not always, only when I know that one needs to be replaced, but don't have the chance to do it before a new tenant moves into my house," he teased.

"You didn't move out because of me, did you?" Tessa was horrified at the thought.

"No, I moved back to the ranch when my mother got sick to help Levi care for her, then somehow, I ended up staying in the guest house. It's less lonely." He paused as if he hadn't meant to say as much as he did.

"This is going to take about half an hour. Why don't you go check on your sister and make sure she's not really breaking stuff," he suggested. When Tessa looked unsure, he gave her a soothing smile. "I know my way around."

Tessa nodded and joined her sister in the living room.

Tessa sat next to Gloria and listened to her end of the phone conversation. She was doing her best to assure whomever it was that she was fine, but they weren't buying it. It was probably her father.

Eventually, Gloria hung up with a dramatic sigh and reached for her wine glass.

"Was that father?" Tessa asked, picking a throw pillow and hugging it.

"No, that was Ted." Gloria frowned.

Tessa did too. Since when did Ted and Gloria talk on the phone?

"He's obviously upset." Gloria looked over her shoulder. "But I get now why you want to stay. Are there more like him?"

"Stop it, Gloria. I don't find what you're doing amusing." Tessa shook her head.

"Fine, Tessa. Do your slumming, have your little spring-summer romance, spread your wings, sow your wild oats, then come home. That's where you belong." Gloria stood and stretched. "I'm going to bed."

Tessa felt herself sinking into the depressive state she had been in before she left Texas. Hopefully, her sister wouldn't stay long. Tessa sat thinking about the repercussions of going home, and that despite them, it would be easier to just give up and go, when Josiah walked out of the kitchen.

"I'm done, Tessa," he said gently, but he startled her anyway. She had been so deep in thought that she had forgotten he was there.

Tessa looked at him, feeling tears prick her eyes as she contemplated why life had to be so hard.

"Thanks, Josiah." She stood to walk him to the door.

"Tessa," Josiah placed his hand on her arm and waited for her to look at him.

"It's fine, Josiah. Again, I'm sorry for my sister's poor behavior. I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable." Tessa gave him a forced smile, wanting him to leave her in peace so she could figure it all out.

He studied her for a moment, taking in her face as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

"It did, but not in the way you're thinking. I hope she doesn't stay long, and I hope she doesn't persuade you to leave. We really do need you here. You fit."

Tessa smiled half-heartedly. It was a nice thing to hear.

Josiah reached out and tucked a piece of hair that had fallen from her bun behind her ear, and his finger left a trail of heat behind it.

"For the record, I don't think you got all the leftover stuff. I think that they saved the best for last." He ran his finger down her nose affectionately before he said good night and let himself out.