Page 52 of Love You Truly

The thoughts bring me back to Autumn Lake which has nothing but potential ahead and the freedom to unfold. I wonder if my grandfather felt that sense of potential when he started Buttercup Hill. I imagine so. It makes me all the more motivated to help Mallory’s vision come to life.

It makes me more motivated to go back to her house. But not just for biscuits.

CHAPTER 20

Mallory

“Oh, I’m going to kill him, I really am,” I mutter, marching to my front door. I can’t believe Felix has the gall to show up here again after I told him to leave me alone the other night.

The guy is persistent, I’ll give him that, but that’s all I’m willing to give him.

I shouldn’t even open the door, but that will all but guarantee he comes back again with some new plan to get me to let him back into my life and into my plans for Buttercup Hill.

“Not happening,” I say, whipping open the door.

I’ve been meaning to install a peephole or get a camera or whatever, but it’s pretty safe here, and we have a full staff of strapping men working the farm a hundred yards away. I always feel comfortable opening my door.

Dash’s brow creases in confusion, and the corners of his mouth tug down into a frown. “Sorry?”

Oh. It’s not Felix. I need to calm down.

Now I have Taylor Swift lyrics running through my head as I size Dash up. Judging from his navy blue track pants and the beads of sweat on his brow, he jogged here. He wears a tight workout tee that rolls over the contours of his chest and abs like it’s enjoying committing the shape of his body to memory.

Oh wait, that’s me.

Rufus saunters past me, gives Dash a cursory sniff, and disappears around the corner of the house.

“I thought you were someone else.” I cross my arms over my chest defensively out of habit. The last few times someone came to my door haven’t gone well.

He quirks an eyebrow, and a smirk forms on his lips. “I can only imagine.”

If he’s insinuating that I may have a long line of ex-husbands or even suitors calling on me, I want to set him straight. I haven’t spent the past several years busting my hide to take business classes for people to continue seeing me as a tease who’ll do anything to get what I want.

“I was referring to my ex.”

“I assumed as much.” He crosses his arms, but it doesn’t look menacing when he does it. It looks hot. His backward baseball cap makes him look younger than his thirty years, and his muscles all look pumped from whatever he just did. He smells like a mixture of clean sweat and a foresty body wash or deodorant.

No one smells good after a workout. No one except this man, apparently.

I wish I hadn’t noticed, but he’s making it nearly impossible at this distance.

Some people go to the gym or go for a run and look like a sweaty mess. Hair askew, clothes wet in awkward places, faces too flushed. Not Dash.

His biceps flex under the short sleeves of his shirt, roped forearms folded across his chest. The sun kisses his cheekbones and highlights the sharp line of his clean-shaven jaw. Blue eyes dance mischievously. He’s dangerously handsome, and I can’t get a full inhale of air into my lungs without my pounding heart tripping me up.

He should always walk around like this. I almost tell him as much, but then I regain some shred of my senses.

But man…was he this smoking hot when helping me up from a puddle of pickle juice?

Or is it just that damn baseball cap and the rippling chest muscles?

I need to regain control of the situation, so I lean against my doorjamb and pin him with a stare. He glances down at the cutoffs I’m wearing, and from the way he swallows hard, I think he likes what he sees.

I shift my weight into one hip, leaving the other leg extended out in front of me. I watch Dash’s eyes scan the length of my leg slowly before raking up the rest of my body. He doesn’t stop until his eyes reach my face and land on my lips.

I pull my bottom lip through my teeth, and he stares, swallowing hard once more.

Balance of power restored.

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