Page 11 of Mountain Man's Corn Maze Cutie
Luca stood there, arms crossed, scowling. “You two got a death wish? Trespassing after hours—and this?”
Cecelia’s grip on my hand tightened.
We were so busted.
5
CECELIA
Itugged the brim of my wide-brimmed straw hat as low as it would go, and it still wasn’t enough. Even with my sunglasses, I wanted to cover my entire face. My entire body. I wanted to just disappear.
“Good morning!” Calliope, who ran the Halloween-themed jewelry booth next to mine, said with a big, cheery smile.
I’d always thought of myself as a pretty perky person, but Calliope made me look like Debbie Downer. She wore gigantic spider-web earrings and a matching necklace with a bright orange sweater to liven it all up a little. Her Halloween music got on my nerves after a while, but I appreciated her vibe.
“Good morning,” I said, forcing a smile. Then I lifted my disposable coffee cup to my face to block part of it.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
It was obvious. Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe word had already spread that I was busted in the corn maze with one of the local mountain men.
The rumor mill would have a field day with that. Yes, this might be a small town, but the vendor circuit was even smaller.All it would take was one person finding out, and I’d have the reputation of being loose and unprofessional.
“Great,” I said. “Just didn’t get much sleep.”
Oh crap, had I given myself away? If she’d heard the rumors—rumors I didn’t even know existed yet—that comment would reinforce them.
Luckily, a customer walked up and I had to shift my attention. From there, the morning was so busy, I didn’t have time to worry about what people were thinking.
But every now and then, I’d get a flash of last night. The sounds Marc made. The way he touched me. And the way we’d laughed all the way to his truck, where we’d climbed in and he’d driven me back to my car in the still empty parking lot.
“Do you think Luca will get lost in there?” he’d asked as he dropped me off.
I smiled as I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes. “It’s pretty easy to get lost in there, as we learned today.”
He’d left me with a sweet kiss—one that promised many more kisses to come. As I climbed in and drove to the inn, I’d been overwhelmed with thoughts of him. And then it hit me that I’d lost my virginity tonight, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
Only when I got to my room and took a good look at myself in the mirror did I fully process what had happened. I’d been busted having sex with a local in the corn maze. Yeah, I didn’t see it that way, but that was how it would look when the gossips got hold of it.
“Lunch?”
I was still catching my breath from the morning rush when the one-word question stopped my heart, then sped it up again, triple time. That was Marc’s voice. I’d know it anywhere.
He was approaching, two boxes in hand. I knew what was inside—the same lunch they brought every day, just varying upthe type of sandwich. One day it was a turkey wrap, the next a chicken salad sandwich.
At the sight of him walking toward me, my resolve to be professional and distant crumbled like a house of cards. He was gorgeous in the daylight—all broad shoulders and confident stride, those storm-gray eyes focused entirely on me. My pulse quickened, and I felt that familiar flutter low in my belly.
But then I noticed the way conversations seemed to pause as he passed other booths. The subtle glances. The way vendors turned to whisper to each other after he walked by.
They knew. They all knew.
“Thanks,” I said, not quite meeting his eyes. “You can just set it down.”
He frowned, clearly picking up on my cool tone. Instead of leaving the boxes and walking away like most guys would, he came around to the side of my booth.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing’s wrong.” I forced a bright smile. “Just busy, you know?”
