Page 58 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

“Wouldn’t have done me much good. Everyone knows he’s a dick, and I have someone much prettier than his ugly mug willing to kiss my ass, thank you very much.”

BJ chuckled. “You do realize you just essentially called me ugly, right?”

“Naw, you’re way better looking. Take after me.”

“Since I was born before you, and Alfa and I are identical, I’d say you take after us. But in all seriousness,” BJ continued, brow pulling down with concern, “are you and Cassie doing okay?”

Were they? He’d thought so, right up until she’d had her mini freak out and kicked him out of her place this morning. He still had no clue what he did to set her off. Couldn’t have been the sex. She’d enjoyed the hell out of that, and he had the scratch marks on his back to prove it. Maybe she was upset he stayed over? The adorably confused wrinkle she got in the middle of her forehead when she’d asked if he’d moved in still stuck in his mind.

You moved in without asking, dumbass.

That had to be it. Cassie was just pissed because he basically started living at her place without talking to her about it. Women liked to talk about shit like that before it happened. He knew. He had a sister who needed to discuss things endlessly until every detail was plotted out in stone. Moving some of his stuff in without talking it over with her first had to be the reason for her outburst.

Right?

Something still felt off. She’d been surprised by his stuff at her place, but it hadn’t angered her. What the hell was it?

“Yeah, we’re great.” They were great. Or had been that morning when he was inside her.

His brother gave him a skeptical glance but shrugged and went back to his clipboard.

Truthfully, he was better than great whenever he was with Cassie. Being with her made him feel fan-freaking-tastic. Things felt right when they were together, in a way they’d never been for him before. The thought should scare the hell out of him, but oddly it did the opposite. Thinking of spending time with Cassie, sharing a home, a life, didn’t send him running for the hills. A small part of him wondered if being married to her, for real, wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

He shook off the fantastical idea with a laugh.

Cassie didn’t want to marry him for real. The woman was way too smart to chain herself to a guy like him for the rest of her life.

Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t act like the dutiful fiancé. And when your future wife got pissed, what could a guy do? Simple answer: grovel with gifts.

Once he finished with work, Del headed over to the Lollypop Shoppe to grab a box of Cassie’s favorite chocolate truffles. Fannie Tanner, the sweet old woman who’d run the store since it opened decades ago, handed him the box of heavenly smelling treats with a smile.

“I hear you’re marrying Cassandra Brown.”

“You heard right.” Kismet was filled with dozens of tourists every day, but the locals were a tight-knit community, and the gossip mill ran as smoothly as the Platte cutting through the mountains.

He started to hand over the cash for his purchase when the elderly woman uttered two words that made him freeze in shock.

“’Bout time.”

Hand suspended in the air, he tilted his head. “What?”

Ms. Tanner chuckled, grabbing the cash from his hand. “You can’t fool me, child. I’ve been around far too long. The whole town’s seen the way you two snipe at each other. That much friction can only mean one thing.”

“It can?” He raised a brow when her wrinkled finger waved in front of his face.

“Yes. When people bicker and poke at each other the way you two have been doing for years, it means they’re denying what they really want to do.” Bushy gray eyebrows bobbed suggestively.

He didn’t know if he was impressed by her observation or slightly nauseated that a woman who reminded him of his grandmother stood there talking about his sex life.

“I always knew you two would fall in love someday.”

“Yup. We sure did.” He swallowed the lump of guilt the words brought on. He thought this would be easy, but as the days went on, he found it harder and harder to lie to everyone. Perhaps the hardest person to lie to was himself, because he was beginning to fear Ms. Tanner could be right, and he’d been harboring some deep feelings for Cassie for a long time.

“I expect to get an invitation to the nuptials,” she added.

Pasting on a charming smile he didn’t feel, he tipped his head. “Of course, we could never leave you out, Fannie.”

Tucking the box of chocolates under his arm, Del headed out of the shop and down the street to Cassie’s house. His mind whirled with the knowledge that when they ended this thing, it wouldn’t only affect them and his family, but possibly the entire town. He wasn’t self-absorbed enough to think their marriage and eventual divorce would create chaos in Kismet, but it might divide people. In a town as small as theirs, not much went on. When something big happened—like a quicky marriage and subsequent divorce—people loved to gossip, speculate, and take sides.

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