Page 25 of The Trouble with Sexy (Rock Canyon, Idaho 0.50)

“I love a romantic gesture as much as the next guy, but maybe you folks could move it off the stage?”

Ryan buried her face in Gregg’s chest in embarrassment. He grinned at Buck apologetically, swept her up into his arms and carried her off the stage. She lifted her face up and cleared her throat. “You can put me down now.”

He stopped at

the back door and looked down at her with a grin. “Maybe I want to keep holding you.”

He turned to bump the door open with his hip and she protested. “Wait! Where are we going?”

He looked down at her like she was crazy. “I’m taking you back to my place so I can see that pretty little white corset you taunted the masses with.”

She struggled out of his arms until he set her back on her feet. “Don’t you have something you might like to say to me?”

He cocked his head thoughtfully. Her happy face popped into a scowl and she turned away from him, only to be caught back against his hard chest. He leaned his face into her hair and whispered, “Can you contain that crazy temper of yours for a minute? We’ve already caused enough gossip to last our lifetime. I’d like to have some special moments between just you and me.”

But there were some moments that couldn’t wait, and to hell with the gossip. She whispered back, “Tough. I want to hear it now.”

He leaned down to take her lips again. “I love you.”

She sighed. “Say it again.”

He laughed softly and complied. “I love you.”

She sank into him. “I love you too.”

“How did I get so lucky?”

She smiled against his mouth and whispered, “Beats the hell out of me.”

He pulled back and watched her smile teasingly up at him. His mouth twitched. “You’ll pay for that.”

She laughed. “We should go get some food and head over to the dance. Gracie and Gemma are expecting me.”

“Really? Because I was thinking instead of spending the night with a bunch of sweaty dancers listening to bad love songs, we could go back to my place, where I could do a private photo session of you.” His eyebrows wiggled up and down rapidly.

She pulled away, shaking her head with a smile. “No way! You are not taking naughty photos of me.”

He chuckled wickedly. “All right, no naughty photos. But if we skip the dance, I promise I’ll make it worth it for you.”

She really had no interest in attending the dance, but there was no sense in letting him know that. “Prove it.”

And he did. Thoroughly.

Chapter Seven

Valentine’s Day

RYAN WALKED THROUGH the door of her house with a smile. She was slowly wearing Gracie down about what happened with Eric after he carried her out of the auction. Gracie still protested that nothing happened except a good ear blistering from her to him, but Ryan and Gemma had their doubts. However, it was a lot more fun making Gracie uncomfortable for a change.

Ryan stopped just inside the door. Little red arrows were taped on the floor about a foot apart, leading into the kitchen. A smile tugged at her mouth as she followed them to the fridge. Red cut-out letters on the freezer door commanded, OPEN ME. She pulled the handle, and inside sat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked. She laughed out loud, seeing the scrap of paper next to the ice cream, pulled it open and read:

Hello Sweetheart,

Go to the DVD player and press Play.

She kept the note in her hand as she walked to the living room and saw the TV was on DVD mode. She bent down to press Play and already had a feeling about what he’d put inside.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams stood drenched on the wooden dock, yelling at each other. It was her favorite scene. Suddenly the screen went black and words were streaming across the blackness.

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