Page 59 of Mountain Boss

Or maybe when he took the mattress out, it hadn’t occurred to him that it would expose the edge.

I shake my head.

He didn’t know it wasme—a woman—arriving.

Sterling had planned formale meto sleep in the Bunk House. And after I blackmailed him into letting me stay, he brought me right here. No time to remove a mattress as a punishment or test.

He just knew there wasn’t one.

I run my hand over the newly protected edge again.

Hope he felt like a jerk while he was stapling the blanket in place.

Then I remember my clothes.

They aren’t under the mattress.

I don’t see them on the floor.

I turn in a slow circle.

No piles in the corner or on the dresser.

No…

I drag my eyes back to the dresser.

“He wouldn’t…”

I dig my teeth into my lip as I take the few steps over to the dresser.

He seriously wouldn’t…

I open the top drawer.

My socks, bras, and underwear look the same as I left them.

“Okay.”

I push the drawer shut, then pull open the next one, which should only be half full with tank tops.

I bite my lip harder.

It’s all the way full.

The tank tops are there… and so are the T-shirts I’d been sleeping on.

All folded.

My heart rate picks up a step.

I shut the drawer and open the next.

It’s filled with perfectly folded long sleeves and cardigans.

More items I’d been sleeping on.

The next drawer is the same, filled with folded sweatshirts and sweaters.