Page 3 of Inappropriately Matched

I credit the blood in my cheeks from attempting a pretzel fold turning me into peeping Clementine, but as soon as I straighten my spine, my thoughts do a quick rewind, and I’m reminded why I’m here in the first place.

My father wants me to marry a man of his choosing immediately. I’m so damn angry about the whole thing. And these suckers over here are waking up the entire street with their clattering metal orchestra.

All my anger rises back to its normal levels, and I’m once again steaming mad at my dad and ready to teach these guys a thing or two about noise etiquette.

Honeypot purrs, yes,purrsin my arms, before she ducks her head against my chest as if she’s shy.Shy? Really?

Well, I’m not.

“This is unacceptable,” I shout, competing with the thunderous drone of what now sounds like multiple jackhammers, cement mixer things, bulldozers, and everything else to do with noisy construction.

“Hell, woman. You can’t go around walking in a place like this without some headgear. Are you looking to get yourself killed?” Stormy Amber says loud enough for me to hear every word.

Before I can reply, he rips his hat off, then, without any ceremony, drags it onto my head. For a minute, I’m blind and disoriented. It’s too big, and I have to raise my head upward to lay eyes on what’s in front of me.

I’m not sure, except that maybe they used some sort of hand sign, but silence descends all around me.

“Excuse me,sir, you can’t go around putting things on people’s heads without their permission.”

“Do you want to die? Or are you planning on injuring yourself so you can sue us?” he continues.

“First of all, you should really check on what’s living up your ass because it’s disagreeing with your temperament, and I’ll have you know, I don’t want to do either.”

My weirdly beating heart, thanks to a flood of anger-adrenaline, of course—takes an even funnier turn when Alluring Emerald and Mysterious Gray enter the chat with a chuckle each.

“That’s quite a mouth you got there, Princess,” Alluring Emerald says. “You pick on my friend’s ass over here—he’s going to pick on yours.”

“What? I don’t even know what that means,” I say. I don’t like this. They’re messing with the game plan for my noise-canceling crusade.

“What can we do for you, ma’am?” Mysterious Gray asks. Finally someone with manners, but my thoughts momentarily stall when my gaze of its own volition follows as they fold their arms across their chests.

The sight of the trio set of forearms gives me a funny feeling in my stomach now. Tattooed, veiny, huge. Also, what is wrong with Honeypot? She wriggles in my arms as if she wants to be released. No way I’m letting her out of my grip. She’s safest with me.

“I’m here to tell you it’s criminal, absolutely criminal, that you’re here on aSunday, disturbing the peace atsixin the morning. There are people trying to sleep, and all they can hear is that drilling thing and that banging thing over there.” I point to two huge pieces of machinery.

“Umm... It’s Monday, ma’am,” Mysterious Gray says, grinning.

“And it’s fifteen after ten,” Alluring Emerald adds, looking at his watch.

“It is not,” I say, boldly taking his wrist so I can see the time for myself. His watch with the cracked face not only tells me the time but the day as well.

It’s Monday.

Did my fury session send me into a time warp? How did I miss an entire day? It was Sunday yesterday, apparently, and I was still living in the past. I blow out my breath at the same moment that Honeypot breaks free from my arms and does a sniff test on the three men before me.

She then rises on her hind legs, does a little dance, and taps Stormy Amber's legs with her paws. The little pom-pom tuft of fur at the end of her tail wags excitedly. She then comes to me and does the same, but I don’t pay her much attention as I’m counting hours in my head to see where I misplaced an entire day.

She does the same to Alluring Emerald and then me again, and the Mysterious Gray and back to me. This time, I pick her up, ready to make my exit. I should just apologize, but I don’t want to.

“Carry on,” I say as if I’m the queen of the west and turn around. Crap, I forgot to give them their hard hat back. Well, too late. I’m not interrupting my exit now.

But as I take my leave, I’m acutely aware of the dampness in my panties and that my nipples are rioting under my t-shirt. I’m also breathless, weak-kneed, incredibly hot, flustered, restless, and edgy.

Wait, what? I stop mid-step. No, it can’t be. Of all the men in the world? Them? Seriously?Them?

I hadn’t been paying much attention to Honeypot, but she did the thing she does when she thinks people have chemistry. Sexual chemistry. It’s literally Honeypot’s calling atLeashed to Love.Honeypot just confirmed I have chemistry with each one ofthem.

My brain works at a pace. All my thoughts collide and explode until one thought rises from the ashes like a phoenix.

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