Page 23 of All Because I Found You

“Growly? I’m not growly.”

“Okay then, gruff. Grumpy. Crotchety. Take your pick.”

“I should have let you suffer outside.”

She smiled and gave his chest a few pats. “See, I don’t think you would have. Because despite being Grumpy McGrumpster, I see the nice guy beneath that layer.”

“Don’t,” he said.

“Don’t what?”

“Try and see me for anything else other than what I am. You will be disappointed.”

“That feels like a challenge.”

“Not a challenge, just a heads up.”

“Do you come with an instruction label, listing all the warnings, or are we good with the one?”

“I would just hate to tell you told you so.”

“You’re assuming I’ll be around long enough for that to happen.”

“From the moment I met you, I knew without a doubt that you, Raelyn Shaw”—her heart stopped as he leaned toward her, his masculine scent engulfing her senses and sending her heart into a pitter pattering frenzy—“are a cockroach.”

She gasped, mouth dropping open at the insult. “A cockroach, huh?”

“Showing up unexpectedly, impossible to get rid of… Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty accurate.”

She tilted her head and swished her lips. “You look at that as a bad thing, and I look at it as being resilient and determined.”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“And for the record, you keep showing up on me. Not the other way around.”

“You’re on my property.”

He made a good point, but still she doubted he frequented the barn much before she showed up in his life. “Wait a minute. You wanted to show me the barrels after you overheard me speaking with Nicole, so why were you at the barn in the first place?”

He shrugged.

“You know what I think?” she asked.

“You’re going to tell me regardless.”

“I think you wanted to see me, and you were hoping I’d be there.”

“You think very highly of yourself.”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

He pushed off the wall. “You’re crazy is what you are.”

“Maybe so, but I’m also right.”

“If that’s what you want to think.”

He left the hallway, and she followed him to the kitchen. The subtle hint of barbeque sauce she had detected grew stronger the closer they got to the kitchen. The smell reminded her that while she’d satisfied her caffeine fix, she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.

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