Page 1 of A Little Thankful

Sage 1

About a year and a half ago…

Granted, we were a little drunk, and maybe a little too randy for our own good, but after being trapped inside a cabin down by the river, during one of Cricket’s relentless rainfalls, with no roads available to drive out for two solid days, the entertainment took on an entirely new level of wickedly sinful.

Not that I was against what they were proposing, but a girl had to guard herself against being overtaken, especially when the guys were as tempting as these three ridiculously ripped, excessively hot, and deliciously edible examples of pure heroic masculinity.

But I was getting ahead of myself.

It all started when I signed up to participate in an impossible event at the fairgrounds just outside of Sweet Whiskey, the next town over.

Normally, I would never have agreed to enter a pie eating contest, but I’d had a little too much hard cider, and when Hunter Maplewood and Forrest Oakridge, two childhood rivals, told me not to bother, that one of them would certainly win, I couldn’t let it go. I had to show them I could hold my own, no matter what.

Plus, once I knew that Sweetie Pies had provided all the pies for the contest… my absolute favorite pies in the entire world… I knew I had to participate.

And besides, Mace Cedarstone was one of the judges, and I’d had a crush on Mace ever since we took that baking class together in fifth grade and he’d made a double chocolate birthday cupcake just for me.

My parents had been traveling for business that year, and couldn’t throw their usual birthday extravaganza. Instead, Mace convinced our teacher, Ms. Rutherford, to make birthday cupcakes just for me, which we did, and everyone celebrated during class. It was possibly the best birthday party of my entire young life.

True love had blossomed from that moment on… at least until my parents fixed me up with Arty Wilson, their supposed perfect match for me. Yes, I fell for Arty’s charm, and yes, I believed all his bullshit, and even accepted his phony engagement ring. We would have been celebrating our third month of marriage right about now if everything had gone the way my intrusive but well-meaning parents had wanted.

Fortunately, I never truly loved Arty Wilson. I simply went along with it in order to placate my parents, who I felt had given up so much for me. After all, my mom had nearly died in childbirth. Something she had reminded me about all during my childhood. Marrying Arty was the least I could do to repay her.

Still, I’d learned rather quickly that he was a liar and a cheat who eventually not only cheated on me, but swindled my parents out of a couple million dollars and did it so cleverly that when they finally found the fraud, Arty had already disappeared, never to be heard of again.

Since his disappearance a little less than four months ago, I’d taken over Arty’s position at my parents’ company in SanFrancisco, a city I had a love/hate relationship with, leaving little time to breathe, much less date or have any real fun.

So, when my maternal grandparents, who I was closer to than my own parents, reminded me of the fun Fourth of July events at the local fair, I packed up my car, prepared my office staff, and took a much-needed vacation in Cricket, California, my hometown.

As luck would have it, I’d spent several of my fair days participating in most of the games and events and enjoying the various rides. On the fifth and final day, despite the threatening weather, the pie-eating contest was still on the schedule as the last event. No way could I pass it up. Plus, the grand prize was a lovely blue ribbon, something I wanted to hang on my office wall to remind me of Cricket, the town I missed like crazy.

I planned on heading home before the rains came, but when Hunter taunted me, exactly like he had when we were kids, I couldn’t let it go.

“You won’t even come close,” he said, smirking. “Just admit it. That tiny stomach of yours won’t hold one pie, much less two or three.”

“I haven’t eaten all day getting ready for this thing. I’m starving, so don’t underestimate me,” I told him, holding my ground.

Why they didn’t break this thing out so men competed against men and women against other women was beyond me, but it had always been this way, and the good people of Cricket hated to change their traditions. They were open minded when it came to everything else, just not their holiday traditions.

Hunter and I didn’t hate each other anymore. Truth be told, I was attracted to this guy. Always had been since I was a kid, but would never admit it. His ego didn’t need another woman drooling over him. His reputation as a heartbreaker followed him around like a foul stench, and I could smell it a mile away.

He chuckled. “As if that means anything. You’re going down, sweetheart, and I mean that in the cleanest way possible.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I wouldn’t… I mean, there’s no way on earth I would ever…”

I hated when I’d get so flustered I couldn’t speak, which only seemed to happen around men I was attracted to.

“Too late. The vision is already swirling around in my mind.”

“You’re disgusting.”

I tried my best to make my words sound as if I meant them, but in truth he was turning me on.

“Me? I’m completely innocent in all of this. I’m talking about eating pies. What are you talking about eating?”

“Pies,” I shot back, but damn, he was way too adorable and the attraction kept getting stronger the more we spoke.

“Then why are you blushing?”

---