Page 50 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

Part of me wanted to stay home since Smoot joined this week’s guys’ night. His overuse of climbing slang made me want to shove cotton balls in my ears.

The layout of the model home was already familiar to me. I felt more at home in the three weeks I’d been here than I ever had at the big house in Dallas. I pushed the door wide to my cluttered room. For me, it was a luxury to be messy. Efficient maids invisible to me since they cleaned during work hours, did my laundry and made my bed everyday.

A luxury, yes, but it got old.

Turning on the light, I retrieved my wallet and phone and then turned to leave.

Wait a second.

A tennis shoe stuck out the end of my bed. One far too petite and feminine to be mine, and it was still laced onto a foot. In a couple of quiet strides, I stood over … Angie?

She lay on her back, clutching my briefcase to her chest, and Lili was curled onto her side next to her. They both had their eyes closed like two naughty children.If I can’t see you, you can’t see me.

The moment she read any of those documents stored inside my case, my charade would be over. I placed my hands on my hips and glared down at them, madder than a snake in a hornet’s nest. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Angie’s eyes shot open, and she screamed. Lili joined in, piggybacking off Angie’s reaction.

Myles ran into the room, wielding a frying pan above his head. Long strands of his hair had escaped the elastic he’d used to tie it back. “What’s going on?”

“I caught these two burglarizing our place.” I shoved my thumb toward the women.

Myles relaxed his stance and let the frying pan swing to his side. Really, a pan? Why hadn’t he thought to grab a knife out of the block?

Angie scrambled to her feet and helped Lili up. “We weren’t planning on taking anything.” The handle to my case was still gripped in her fist.

“Is that right?” I inclined my head to my bag and tightened my lips into a flat line. I was going to jerk a knot into her tail!

I held my hand in front of me, waiting for her to slide the handle into my palm. She motioned like she’d do exactly that but then dug her shoulder into my stomach, knocking me off balance. My Stetson tumbled from my head to the floor. She sprinted past me and Myles.

Lili’s mouth gaped open.

She stared at the spot her friend had vacated. As soon as I steadied myself, I tore after Angie.

She stood in the living room, the couch between us, wrestling with the clasp on my briefcase.

“Give it back!” I yelled.

“Not until you tell me what you’re hiding!”

I lunged in one direction, only to pivot and roll over the top of the couch. Her reaction was a millisecond too slow. I snagged the briefcase. She didn’t let go. We yanked the case back and forth between us like a tug of rope.

“You’re so immature.” I pulled her and the briefcase close to me.

She fought back, succeeding in jerking me toward the end table. My shin clipped the corner, and I clenched my teeth. With determination burning under her skirts, she was strong enough to make Samson look sensitive.

“Oh, I’m immature?” Her breaths came out in strained puffs. “This coming from a farmhand who can’t even drive atractor.”

She braced her feet against the edge of the couch and heaved. My case slipped out of my sweaty palm. Angie fell backward onto the floor. I landed on my chest, half on the couch, half off. But my focus lasered onto the black, Italian leather briefcase given to me by my father. It hit the wall and flew open, spilling its contents everywhere.

Papers scattered onto the wood floor. Each one with a logo on it, condemning me. Not bothering to stand, Angie army crawled toward the papers. I dove and caught her foot, preventing her from going any further.

She kicked at my hands, but I hauled her, hand over hand, to me until I looped one arm around her midsection.

“Let me go!” She squirmed, hitting and kicking any part of me within range.

I managed to get to my feet, taking the irate woman with me. “Not a chance.”

Myles and Lili stood next to the island in almost the exact same pose: hands over their mouths, heads tilted, and eyebrows raised.

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