Page 129 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

She caught it, of course she did, and smirked. “Smooth.”

I shrugged. “You knew what you were getting into.”

“Hmm. Not always,” she said, tilting her head in that way that made it very,veryhard to think straight.

I grinned. “Wanna see me be really unsmooth?”

Her brows arched, all challenge. “NowthatI’m intrigued by.”

“Come with me.”

I didn’t wait for her to second-guess it. I took her hand and pulled her away from the crowd.

Past the cider stand, through a mess of parked cars, down the alley behind the bakery until we hit the clearing behind the church.

The snow back here hadn’t been touched yet. Pristine. Quiet.

She looked around, breath visible in the cold. “Asher.”

I dropped her hand, crouched down, and scooped a perfect handful of snow.

Her eyes went wide. “Don’t you dare.”

“Too late.”

I lobbed it—gentle, I swear—and it nailed her right on the shoulder.

The gasp she let out was dramatic enough to win an award. Like I’d slapped her with a bag of frozen peas.

“Oh, it’son.”

Next thing I knew, she was coming at me like a tiny, furious snow ninja. I tried to duck, slipped, and nearly ate it on the ice.

We were a full-blown snowstorm of chaos, laughing, yelling, and snow flying everywhere. My fingers were frozen, my coat was soaked, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had this much fun.

She hit me square in the chest with a snowball, and I doubled over, laughing like an idiot.

“You little menace,” I gasped. “That was,oh, weirdly accurate.”

“I used to do CrossFit,” she said, breathless. “I know how to dodge an ego.”

I wheezed out a laugh. “Shit, that’s hot.”

She dove for more snow as Beckett’s voice cut through the clearing like a disapproving dad.

“What in the actual hell is happening back here?”

Riley didn’t even flinch. She turned, still mid-windup, and let the snowball fly.

Smack. Right to his thigh.

Beckett froze. Looked down at the wet blotch on his jeans like he couldn’t believe what just happened.

Then Garrett showed up, arms crossed, deadpan as hell. “Did you just pelt Beckett with a snowball?”

Riley blinked. “It was reflexive! I panicked!”

Silence.

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