Page 2 of The Trouble With Attraction (Rock Canyon, Idaho 6)

Until he’d called her a child and kicked her out.

Was it immature to still be holding a grudge? Absolutely, but Gracie had never been accused of being reasonable. People didn’t call her a “drama queen” for nothing.

Yet despite her deep seeded loathing for the man, it didn’t prevent her from admiring how damn good he looked in a gray V-necked t-shirt that formed over his pecs like someone had painted it on him, only to loosen up around what she was sure hid some killer abs.

“Who brought Wayne?” Eric shouted, his deep voice booming through the silence of the bar.

Walt Coulter, Wayne’s little weasel of a brother, stepped forward. “We came together, Eric.”

“Get him up and out of my bar. And when he wakes up, let him know that this is the last time. He causes anymore problems and he’ll have to get shit-faced somewhere else.” Eric stepped into Walt, and everyone held their breath, waiting for whatever Eric would do next on pins and needles. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to throw him out. If your brother can’t handle his liquor, then he should stop drinking.”

Walt’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, nodding his head like a big chicken. “Sure, Eric.”

Mike pushed past Gracie to help Walt get Wayne up off the ground, but the drama wasn’t over yet as Eric squared off with Gregg. “I’m assuming you had a reason to lay out Wayne?”

“He was getting grabby with Ryan,” Gregg said. His hazel eyes hooked on Ryan, and Gracie heard her little sigh. Gracie grinned, totally getting her friend’s reaction. Having a guy fight for you was freaking hot.

And then Eric’s penetrating eyes swung her way, silently accusing her of something, and her smile slipped away.

“I’m surprised you didn’t start this. It seems like anytime there’s trouble in my bar, you’re behind it.”

What the hell? That wasn’t even true, but before she could open her mouth, he’d already disappeared back towards the bar, the crowd blocking him from her view except for those shoulders and his closely shaved head.

Who did he think he was, talking to her like that? With her mouth pinched in a grim line, she said, “I really hate that guy.”

* * *

Eric Henderson was getting a little sick and tired of avoiding Gracie McAllister, that was for damn sure. Especially when she was everywhere. In his bar, at church…he had to drive five miles to Buhl to get his coffee just so he didn’t have to go into The Local Bean, the coffee shop she owned in the heart of Rock Canyon, Idaho.

It was just getting to be too much. Especially when she looked so fucking sexy he just wanted to get his fingers tangled up in her short blond hair and shove his tongue down her throat.

Fine, so it wasn’t the most romantic image, but he was at his wits’ end. The girl had been tempting him for ten years and he’d tried to put her off, especially because he knew the stories about her. She was a boy crazy flirt who switched boyfriends on a weekly basis. Eric wasn’t interested in being a casualty in her dating warpath.

He wanted Gracie like he’d never wanted another woman, but he had his pride.

Well, you’re definitely safe, asshole. If she found you bleeding on the side of the road, I doubt she’d stop and save you with the way you treat her.

Suddenly, someone pushed him in the back, sending him stumbling against the bar. He looked over his shoulder, ready to tear the bastard apart but found Gracie standing there, her hands on her hips and her pixie sweet face screwed up in anger.

“What the hell was that about?” he asked.

“That’s for being a douche nozzle.”

Eric saw that several people were watching them, interested in their conversation and the last thing he wanted was an audience when he pulled her over his knee and smacked her little hot-tempered ass.

He took her arm and hauled her struggling towards the cooler, ignoring her squa

wks of protest.

Pulling her in behind him, he slammed the door and put his back to it, blocking her escape.

“Now, you wanna say that again without a room full of witnesses?”

“Oh, please, you can pull that intimidation act on everybody but me. You wouldn’t hurt a woman, and you and I both know it, because if you did, your mother would kill you.”

Of course she was right, not that he really wanted to hurt her. No, the things he wanted to do to Gracie had a lot more to do with pleasure than pain.

“Fine, I won’t hurt you. But I also will not take you assaulting me in my fucking bar.”

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