Page 8 of Mountain Man's Mail Order Temptress
Warmth bloomed in my chest. “Me either.”
“But,” he said, nudging his nose against mine, “since I’m being yanked back to innkeeper duty, how about a rain check? Same time, same place—except next time, we actually watch the movie?”
I laughed, tension easing from my shoulders. “Deal.”
He grinned, and that boyish, lopsided smile of his wrapped around something inside me and squeezed tight.
Blade slid his shorts back on and reached for my clothes, helping me dress with the same gentle care he’d shown me all night. Once we were both decent and back in the cab, he reachedacross the bench seat, laced our fingers together, and kissed the back of my hand.
Whatever that shadow had been on his face—whatever shift I’d seen—I pushed it aside for now. We were engaged. We’d made love. And even if something had flickered through his eyes just before his phone went off, I believed him when he said it was okay.
It had to be. Because after tonight, there was no going back. And I didn’t want to.
5
TREY
Motherfucker.
That was my thought as I pulled into the Wildwood Valley Inn and found it packed with familiar vehicles. Trucks I saw on the job site every single day. I would soon be leaving behind that logging crew to head up the remodeling project at this inn, but these guys were my buddies, and now they were at my family inn for some sort of emergency.
I instantly knew what this was.
“Lauryn—” I began, ready to spill everything.
But she’d already opened the door and, before I knew it, she was standing in front of the truck, waiting for me. I took a deep breath and hopped out just in time to see Blade’s truck pulling in, sliding into a spot two over from mine.
“Motherfucker.” I said the word out loud this time. Then to Lauryn, I said, “Let’s go.”
I led the way across the parking lot toward the entrance. I needed to get inside before Blade could say anything that would give me away.
“Listen, Lauryn,” I said as we walked. “I really have to tell you something. I’m not who you thought?—”
The door burst open before I could get the remaining words out. I spotted the all-too-familiar pair of bright green eyeglasses and that silver bob. It was my aunt.
My goose was cooked.
“Trey Lessing, did you steal Blade’s girl?”
Her arms were crossed over her chest as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. The door behind her swung hard, nearly slapping her in the butt. Out stepped Logan, Collin, and Jareth—three of my closest friends. They didn’t look mad. If anything, they looked like they were ready to grab a bucket of popcorn and watch the show.
“She ain’t my girl.”
That came from Blade, who was behind us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lauryn turn and look. I hoped with everything in me that she wouldn’t decide that was the face of the man she’d fallen in love with. Not my face, but Blade’s. Blade was supposed to be her happily ever after. ‘Till death do them part.
Over my dead body.
“It was your idea,” I said to my aunt. “Don’t be throwing me under the bus.”
Then I looked over at Lauryn. She was the only one I cared about. Maybe I owed the others an explanation, but first, I had to make sure things were right with my girl.
“It was fun at first,” I told her. “A prank I was playing on my coworkers. I was helping my aunt. She was setting these guys up without them knowing it, and I was pretending to be them while chatting with the mail order brides.”
Yes, it was wrong, but I was honest. I gave all the information I knew about each of them. If they were falling in love with someone, it was the guy I was pretending to be, not me. But all that changed when I started chatting with Lauryn.
“Which explains why you’d occasionally ask weird questions,” Jareth said. “Like where we grew up.”
“Or what my mother did for a living,” Logan added.
