Page 8 of Temptress

But that was not the case just then. I was too busy staring at my massacred roses.

“Excuse me?”

At his question, I blinked and dragged my attention away from the carnage, an unexpected surge of rage flooding my veins, a feeling that was totally out of character for me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I shrieked, stabbing my fingers at the mangled bushes. “Have you lost your mind, or are you really that big of an asshole?”

He blinked slowly, staring at me in befuddlement like I was speaking a different language. “What?”

“You’re ruining my rose bushes, you insufferable bag of dicks!”

It almost looked like humor flashing in his eyes just then, but that couldn’t have been right, because this man clearly didn’t have a sense of humor. Or a soul, apparently.

“No, I’m not,” he stated plainly. “I’m cutting downmyrose bushes. They’re on my property, after all.”

I slapped my hands down on my hips, infuriated. “No, they’re not.”

“Yeah. They are.”

“Says who?”

The way the corner of his mouth trembled, it almost looked like he was fighting back a smile, but again, no sense of humor for the plant murderer. “Says the survey I had done before buying the place.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I have the paperwork inside if you want proof. But I can assure you, these shrubs are well over the property line.”

My shoulders deflated a tad as some of that righteous anger seeped away. I had a sneaking suspicion he was right, even without seeing the survey. After all, when Lucille had lived here, it wasn’t like either one of us paid much mind to such things as property lines. It wouldn’t have surprised me at all I’d crossed that invisible barrier when I planted the roses.

But still...

“Okay, fine,” I relented, but maintained a snarky tone. “Say you’re right.”

“Which I am.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, deepening my glower. “Say you’re right,” I repeated, stressing each word, “and my roses are on your property, what the hell do you have against pretty flowers, huh? Are you just that big of a jerk you have to destroy something beautiful for shits and giggles?”

His brows rose high on his forehead. “Shits and giggles?” he repeated with a bewildered laugh.

“It’s a saying,” I snapped. “Now stop avoiding the question. Why are you ruining these beautiful bushes?”

He mimicked my stance, his lips curving up in a grin that,damn it, looked really freaking good on him. “I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.”

With an air of impatience, I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in annoyance as if to say,ask your damn question already.

“You look your fill when you were staring through that hole in the fence the other day?”

Oh shit.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. “I wasn’t—that’s not—I didn’t—”

“You’re not as stealthy as you think you are, sassy.”

Sassy? What was that? And why did I like it so damn much?

Also, son of a bitch at being caught!

“I—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—” My face felt like it was burning from the inside, and I justknewmy cheeks and neck had to have been beet red. I cleared my throat, guilt making it feel tighter than usual. “Sorry,” I murmured. “It won’t happen again.”

He arched a brow like he wasn’t sure he believed me, and if I were being honest, that was a promise I wasn’t quite sure I’d be able to keep. He made for such good people watching, no woman in her right mind would have been able to resist.

Fortunately, he put me out of my misery by changing the subject before I could do anything else, like melt into a puddle of shame and embarrassment. “As for the roses, I’m cutting them down because my daughter’s allergic.”

Well, damn it. I hadn’t been expecting that.

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