Page 14 of Wild Bliss

“She obviously got lost,” Not Asshole replied, sendingAsshole a stare before flashing a movie-star-worthy smile her way.

Now he wanted to make her sound like an idiot. “I came up tofind someone.”

Asshole crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “No onelives up here except me. You’re on the wrong mountain. You probably want theone closer to Creede. Lots of folks live there.”

Not Asshole shook his head. “I live here, too. And if shegot confused, it’s understandable. All the mountains kind of look alike. Maybewe should all introduce ourselves since we’re going to be stuck here for acouple of days.”

“Days?” This was worse than she’d imagined. She was going tobe stuck here with two of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen, and one ofthem obviously hated her on sight. Asshole, despite his assholiness, was astunning man. He was at least six and a half feet of gorgeous man, with darkhair and eyes. And Not Asshole was his counterpoint. Sandy hair that curledslightly and angelic blue eyes. His strength was lean where Asshole was bigmuscles. Both of them made her feel petite and dainty, and she was absolutelyneither of those things. Well, she was short and knew damn well her curvesweren’t exactly fashionable these days. “I need to get back to the valley. Ihave school tomorrow.”

“No one’s going to school tomorrow. Maybe Monday, but we’llstill be here. You’re almost three thousand feet up from town. The weather hitsdifferent this high up,” Asshole said with a dour look. “We’ll be about twodays behind the town. Maybe I can stay in the shop.”

“You are not staying in the shop. It’s not heated,” NotAsshole shot back.

Were they a couple? They argued like one. “I can stay outthere. All I need is a sleeping bag. I don’t want to disrupt whatever the twoof you have going.” She needed to be an adult about this. “I’m Sabrina Leal.I’m new in town. I already know his name. It’s Mr. Nope.”

A young adult.

Not Asshole’s smile notched up. “Well, I guess that makes meMr. Hell Yeah.” He held out a hand. “Seriously, though, I’m Wyatt Kemp, andthis is my friend Sawyer Hathaway, and the dancing girl is named Bella.”

The dog was dancing. She seemed to be a black and tan ballof pure motion.

She took his hand despite the sinking feeling taking overher whole being. She’d been hoping Not Asshole was her landlord, but naturallyher luck was running true. Warmth immediately flashed through her as shetouched Wyatt’s big hand. The dog sat back on her haunches, tongue lolling outas she watched the human interactions. When Wyatt let go of her hand, she feltthe cold again. “Bella seems sweet. And I’m sorry for the trouble. I thoughtthe storm wasn’t coming in until later tonight. I needed to talk to my landlordabout how he’s been ignoring my reasonable requests.”

Sawyer’s frown went from what-are-you-doing-here disdain towhat-the-fuck. He seemed to have an endless repertoire of frowns. “Requests?You’re a tenant?”

So he was an attentive businessman. “Yes. I signed a leasemonths ago for the cabin on Aspen Street. I’ve been complaining about theelectricity for a couple of weeks.”

Sawyer shrugged. “Electricity’s fine. It’s haunted. Marieleft out the haunted part in her description, didn’t she? See, I thought weshould disclose the whole haunted thing, but Marie is a tricky one. The valleycabin hadn’t been occupied for a while, so Marie didn’t tell you. Also, Ihaven’t gotten any complaints.” He turned to Wyatt, his eyes narrowing. “Haveyou gotten complaints?”

Wyatt simply smiled. “I bet they’re on my desk at the bar.I’m so sorry. I’ve been swamped lately. I will absolutely get someone on it.”

Was he lying to her? Why would he lie to her?

“Sure,” Sawyer said under his breath. “But it won’t work’cause there’s nothing wrong with the electricity. It’s the ghost. Happens alot around here. Nothing to worry about. My grandpa told me it’s a friendlyspirit. It likes to play around. That’s all.”

Was he freaking kidding? “You’re saying my cabin ishaunted?”

Sawyer nodded. “Yeah.” He seemed to think of something, andhis expression brightened for a moment. “You want to move? Because I’ve heardthere are some nice places up in Creede.”

She felt her eyes narrow. Now he was pushing all herbuttons. If he thought he could scare her off, he was in for an awakening.Normally she was polite and tried to be charming, but she knew how to deal witha bully. Every teacher did. “Or I could sue you for nondisclosure of alienlife-forms.”

“What?” Wyatt asked, his angelic eyes widening.

She wasn’t about to get lost in those eyes. No way. Shefocused all her mad-teacher energy on Sawyer. “Check it. It’s on the books. Inthe town of Bliss, Colorado, it is illegal to sell or rent property without afull alien life-form disclosure. They have a form and everything. Did you filewith the city?”

In this case the “city” was Cassidy Meyer, who keptimpeccable records.

He stared at her for a moment. Yes, he was definitely givingher a you’re-a-moron frown. “It’s a ghost not an alien. Granddad thinks it’sprobably the guy who originally built the place back in the eighties.Definitely a ghost.”

He needed to understand she was not playing this game withhim. “Oh, it’ll be an alien by the time I’m done. Blinking lights? Alieninterference. The crackling sound I keep hearing? The alien ship must not haveall its sound dampeners on. The fact that the lights go out for precisely twominutes every day at 7:02 p.m.? Aliens keep a tidy schedule, my friend. I willtype up a report, and I assure you my new dad will take you down. I’m notjoking. I’ll tell my dad you sold me an alien stronghold and he will neverstop.”

Sawyer actually took a step back. “Mel? Are you talkingabout Mel Hughes? He doesn’t have any kids.”

Wyatt sent him a what-the-hell look. “Do you listen toanyone? The new deputy is his bio kid, and Mel’s adopting this one. I mean intheory. I don’t think he’s legally adopting her. You need to get on Nextdoorsometime.”

“What is Nextdoor?” Sawyer seemed deeply confused. “I don’thave a next-door neighbor. The closest I had was Michael, and now he lives inthe valley. Hey, we could probably get to his cabin.”

“We are not taking her to that ramshackle piece of crap. Itdoesn’t have heat, and I’m pretty sure it’s got a nest of possums livingthere,” Wyatt countered.

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