Page 14 of Choosing You

“Are you sure you’re comfortable with that?” Hot Firefighter Number One asked. “Will’s a good guy and all, but…he’s easily distracted.”

All three guys chuckled.

“Still…he’s a brilliant mechanic. I’ve seen some of the work he’s done on his own cars. He’s had several classic cars over the years. If you can get him to focus on work and not the next festival, you really can’t go wrong,” Number Three chimed in.

But before she could eavesdrop a little more, the men were walking out.

Well, damn.

Sighing, Sloane went back to finishing her breakfast, quickly cleaned up, and then simply stood and looked out the window at the town. Where was she supposed to start? Was she supposed to just drive around or walk around or…?

“Have fun exploring the town!” Cora called out. “And tell Hailey I said hello!”

“Will do! And thanks!” That was clearly her cue to get moving, and, fingers crossed, she’d find exactly what she was looking for.

Out on the sidewalk, Sloane noticed a truck drive by and then stop, but she wasn’t paying close attention—she was still lost in her own indecision about how to go about trying to find Will. She shook out her hair—hating the tightness of the ponytail—and sighed. “Clearly I should have thought this through a little more,” she murmured just as the pickup truck backed up and pulled into the parking spot beside her.

It took all of three seconds for recognition to hit.

Holy. Shit.

Will slid out of the truck and simply stared at her. The intensity of his gaze had her feeling a mixture of apprehension and arousal. Every time she had seen him, it was at a kissing booth and he was joking and laughing and smiling.

He wasn’t doing any of those things right now.

“It’s you,” he said.

Sloane nodded, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “It’s me.”

Will stood next to his truck facing Sloane while she stood next to her rental car. Part of her wished he’d just come around the truck and…what? Touch her? Shake her? Kiss her? At the thought of kissing Will, she subconsciously licked her lips. His gaze homed in on her lips before looking her in the eyes again.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “There’s no festival this weekend.” And yeah, okay, there was an edge to his voice. Clearly finding her here wasn’t as pleasant of a surprise as she’d been hoping for.

“Um…I was…I wanted to…”

And then he moved. Slowly, Will stepped away from his truck and came around the hood of her car and didn’t stop until he was merely a foot away. “You wanted to what?” he snapped. “See if you could play another round of kiss and run?”

Okay, she deserved that.

“Is that what you’re doing? Driving through town hoping to find another way to run away from the next festival? Mapping out your escape route?Is that how you get your kicks?”

Okay, not quite sure she deserved that one.

“Or maybe—just maybe—were you driving around thinking of new ways to mess with my head?”

Mess with his head? Wait a minute…

“Okay, hold on,” Sloane said, holding up a hand to cut him off. “How about you actually let me answer a question or two before you steamroll along any further? How about that?”

Will seemed taken aback by her response, and then he literally took a step back and motioned for her to continue.

Unfortunately, she had no idea what to say. They stared at each other for a minute and when Will quirked a brow at her, she actually blushed. How had she never noticed how dark his eyes were? They were so blue they were almost black. He had a strong jaw that right now had a bit of stubble on it, and she knew it would feel just a bit scratchy if she grabbed his face and kissed him.

No!Bad Sloane! No kissing right now.

“You were saying,” Will prompted.

Oh. Right. She was supposed to be explaining herself. Clearing her throat, she met his gaze and said, “I was hoping…I was looking for you.”

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