Page 33 of Mountain Grump

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So close.

Closer than he’s ever been.

If I turned, our faces would be inches away.

If I turned, I might brush his chest with my shoulder.

Ethan lifts a big, booted foot, and he presses it down on the middle strand of barbed wire, creating a bigger opening than I could ever do on my own.

Taking the kindness, I duck through the fence, my dress not catching at all.

With my back to him, I let go of my skirt.

“Did you remove the rest of the ribbon?” I ask quietly.

But I know he hears me.

“Put some ointment on your knees, Starlight.”

Chapter 18

Tilda

I twistthe vase on the dining table.

I twist it again.

“He’s not even that hot.”

I turn away from the collection of flowers.

“He’s not,” I tell Deerdra. Because it feels slightly more sane to talk to a dead deer over dying flowers. “Honestly, he’s not my type.”

Deerdra stares back, sensing my lie from across the room.

I throw my hands up. “Fine, he’s everybody’s type.”

Then I try to picture him at some snooty brunch with royalty, a princess at his side. And… yep, he’d look smokin’ in a suit and tie too.

And if the tie was a little bit loose. Circling his neck, with room for me to wrap my hand around the silk and drag him closer.

He could call me Bad Girl again…

“Nope.” I shake my head.

I’m not going to fantasize about a man who cut up my ribbon.

The same man who removed the rest of the ribbon after telling me to do it.

After grabbing the keys for the truck—my truck—I snag my silver clutch off the top of one of the boxes and open the front door.

Something quacks. Loudly. And I shriek.

Taking a quick step back into the house, I swing the door shut and slap a palm to my chest.

My heart is thudding so hard you’d think Bigfoot shouted at me.

I really have to work on my startle response.

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