Page 20 of The Trouble With Attraction (Rock Canyon, Idaho 6)

“Now, now, I didn’t mean any offense. I’ll go get those drinks for you.”

Eric walked away, whistling under his breath. If Gracie thought showing off her latest conquest was going to get him down, she had another think coming.

* * *

Gracie’s hackles rose as the son of a bitch walked away with a swagger in his step.

“Is he an ex of yours or something?” Quinn asked.

“God, not even. I loathe the bastard.”

“Well, then, maybe we should take off and go somewhere else. No point in having such a great date ruined, right?”

The date had been fun. She had only been looking for a distraction with Quinn, but he was actually charming, and a decent conversationalist. She’d almost debated on skipping Bucks and going somewhere closer to Twin, but The Long Necks were playing tonight and she actually liked that band.

“No, it’s fine, Eric just likes to get on my nerves. We’re good. You were telling me about why you moved here?”

As Quinn started talking again, Gracie could feel her attention shifting…to Eric behind the bar, pulling on the tap, his bare forearm flexing with the motion. She really needed to get over her fascination with him, especially since he thought he had the upper hand with her. Which he so did not. She was the puppeteer pulling his strings. Putting him exactly where she wanted him.

“What about you? Is Rock Canyon where you want to be for the rest of your life?” Quinn asked.

Gracie blinked at him, and stumbled over her reply. “Well, I…yes, I guess so. I’ve never thought about living anywhere else.”

“Here you go. You drinks. Now Gracie, I figured you didn’t want to scare the guy off so I made yours on the weak side—”

“Oh, you know what,” she said, standing until she was almost chest to chest with him. “Bite me, Eric. Your whole passive aggressive shit is immature and obvious.”

“And how’s that, princess? Is that like bringing your date in here after I told you that I couldn’t be manipulated.”

“I’m not trying to manipulate or control you. I barely thought about you when we decided to come to Bucks. I just knew that a band I liked was playing. That’s it. My world does not revolve around Eric Henderson and his giant, flaming ego!”

“Yeah, I’m sure it doesn’t. Otherwise, it might be a bit desperate, right? Coming in here just to get my attention.”

Unable to come up with anything more clever to say, she just screamed, “You are such an asshole!”

Stomping past him toward the front door, she brushed at her tears of humiliation, hating that he could get her to behave like such an idiot. She’d almost made it to the car before she felt a jacket fall over her shoulders and realized she’d forgotten all about Quinn in her rage.

“I’ll take you home,” he said, quietly.

She wanted to apologize, to tell him that she didn’t normally behave like a toddler having a tantrum, but what was the point? She’d blown it.

Even if she had been interested.

Chapter Ten

Sexual Tension Mounts Between a Certain Brooding Bartender and Our Favorite Barista…Again.

Just when you thought it was safe to venture out to Buck’s Shot Bar for a little fun and libation, these two are at it again. Rumors have been circulating for months about whether Eric Henderson and Gracie Lou McAllister have something going on under the radar, and after Saturday night, folks, I think we know the answer. When Miss McAllister showed up with the town’s very H-O-T new law enforcement agent, Officer Morgan, Eric looked like he’d swallowed a gallon of curdled milk and was about to blow. It only took about ten minutes before he’d pressed all of Miss McAllister’s buttons and these two were standing toe to toe. I have to say, the sexual tension was so thick, I could have grabbed a spoon and made a meal out of it. Gracie ended up leaving in a huff…

Gracie growled as she flipped the page in her scrap book, studying the little columns she’d been collecting the past several months, ever since she became a permanent fixture in Miss Know It All’s Small Town Scandals.

It’s a Royal Wedding in Rock Canyon!

The article MKIA had written the day after Gemma and Travis’s wedding, in which she’d told them “she’d be watching them.” Well, they’d managed to stay far away from each other; Eric had brought Annabelle Denton as his date and she’d actually managed to convince Quinn to be her plus one. Just as friends, of course. She’d proved she was way too much drama for him, but she wasn’t that eaten up about it.

Five months had passed since Gemma’s wedding and they had actually managed to avoid each other. Well, as much as two people in a small town could. It was like they’d established a silent truce and the gossip had slowly started to die around them.

And still, her romantic life was just as chaotic without the speculation from MKIA about whether or not her and Eric had something on the down low.

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