Page 6 of Truck You

I chuckle and roll my eyes. “You think you’re that good, huh?”

He gives me a wink, and my belly does a cartwheel. “I know I am.”

He tosses ring after ring, completely relaxed, like he does this every day. Every single ring lands exactly where he wants. Right around a bottleneck. He doesn’t miss a shot.

“Daddy! Why can’t you do that?” The little girl beside us frowns up at her dad, who’s only made two out of the six rings he’s tossed.

“Sweetie, it’s harder than it looks,” the man says.

“He made it look easy.” The girl points at Mac.

“It’s not. Trust me.” Mac smiles and kneels down next to her. “Don’t get upset with your dad. He’s trying. It took me a long time before I got this good.”

“But I want the doggy.” I don’t know how it’s possible, but her frown deepens.

Mac looks up at me and shrugs. “How about you take the doggy I just won? I bet my girl won’t mind. Will you, Red?”

I swallow hard at how he called mehis girl. I just met him, but I like the sound of that. “Of course not. I bet you’ll take better care of him than me anyway.”

The smile that covers the little girl’s face is totally worth it. She bounces on her toes and looks up at her dad. “Daddy, did you hear that? He’s giving me the doggy he won.”

“I did, sweetie.” The man smiles at his daughter before looking at Mac. “I appreciate the offer, but you don’t have to do that.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Mac takes the doggy from the carny and passes it over to the little girl. “I know she’ll love this doggy more than either of us.”

The girl squeals and hugs the doggy close. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Mac beams at her, and I swoon. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

He takes my hand as we say our goodbyes and leads me down the street, past the other game booths. His strides are long, and I find I have to walk double time to keep up.

I also don’t miss how good his hand feels wrapped around mine. His skin is rough to my soft. His fingers are long and thick, swallowing my hand as if it’s a tiny delicate flower.

My body is alight with anticipation and heat and something I’ve never felt before.

I see a food truck with the wordsCARAMEL APPLESpainted in big bold red letters across the side, but he doesn’t lead me to it. Instead, he veers off down a side street away from all the food trucks and toward a ticket booth.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask, a little breathless from walking so fast.

He grins at me again and winks.God, that wink.I swallow a moan at how sexy he looks when he does that.

This man needs a warning label.

“We’re going to hit some rides first,” he says, like that’s the most logical thing in the world two strangers would do when they meet at a small-town festival at random on a Wednesday night.

“Okay,” I say. Because what else can I say? I want to spend more time with him. I want to see if there’s more to this man than his good looks, racing abilities, and sense of humor. Plus, he makes my belly do weird things no guy has ever done to me before.

We hit the ticket stand line and have to wait because it’s at least ten people deep. There’s a family at the front with four kids who are all crying that they want to ride different rides. Their dad looks equal parts stressed and irritated that they can’t seem to agree on anything. It makes me smile.

But that smile is short-lived when my phone buzzes in my back pocket. There’s only one person I can think of that would call me tonight. I debate on ignoring it, but Mac raises his brow as if silently asking me if I’m going to answer it.

I pull it out and fight to hide my frown when I see it is indeed my mother.

Swiping to answer, I say in the sweetest tone I can muster, “Hey, Mom. How are you?”

“Don’thow are youme. Why didn’t you call me?”

“Didn’t you get my text?” I say with an innocent air I know she’ll hate.

---