Page 72 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

I looked away. “It’s strange, that’s all."

“In Medford, no one cares how many people you love. Only that you’re happy and kind, and you bring your neighbor soup when they’re sick.” Lucy reached for one of the abandoned cocoas and took a sip.

I didn’t say anything. But it hit me somewhere deep and soft.

BecauseIhad been judged. Scrutinized. Torn apart by a million strangers with WiFi and opinions. Because of a mistake. A misstep.

And to be perfectly honest, everything I did before that.

“There’s Aurora, as well.” Lucy smirked. “With the Grady brothers. And obviously, Sadie has her harem of men, too. Medford is just… built different.”

That it was.

And I was starting to find myself liking the way it was built.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Asher

I couldn’t stop lookingat Riley.

There she was, standing behind that ridiculous Matchmaker Hot Cocoa Booth like some kind of holiday fever dream. Fairy lights dripping from the trees, the twinkling catching the ends of her hair, wrapping her up as a damn present nobody deserved but everyone wanted to unwrap.

She looked flustered. Pink-cheeked, maybe from the cold… or the fact that three custom hot chocolates sat in front of her like a sugar-drenched bachelor lineup.

Mine was a glitter bomb. Beckett’s was some dark and broody spice thing. Garrett’s probably tasted like existential dread in a mug.

Subtlety? We’d never met her.

Watching Riley try to play it cool? That was the best part.

Her fingers curled around a cup—mine, hopefully—and she took a sip. Paused. Tilted her head. Then laughed.

And I felt it. Like a hit of whiskey to the chest. Warm, sharp, way too easy to get drunk on.

I was halfway to her when a hand clamped down on my arm.

Lucy. Great.

She hadthatlook in her eye.

“Hey, Lulu,” I said, loading my voice with charm. “You good?”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” I asked, hands up, acting all innocent.

I wasn’t. I never was.

She stepped in close, voice knife sharp. “Don’t play with her, Asher.”

That hit me square in the gut.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She gave me a look like she could see straight through the bullshit. “Yeah, you do. I saw how you looked at her. You arenotto mess with Riley.”

I actually took a second.

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