Page 2 of Screwing With The Scrooge

Then I met the Baker sisters, and I’m positive that isn’t the case.

All of them seem to love sexual innuendos and making dirty jokes. They’re open and free in a way that is impossible not to be drawn to, no matter how hard I try, and trust me, I try.

She makes it hard though. Not only is she taking over my town, but she also just so happens to be my new next-door neighbor. She moved in across the street from me and has been trying to drive me crazy ever since.

At first, it was just her leaving baked goods on my front porch, but that quickly changed to romance books with half-naked men on the cover. I thought that was bad, but then the sex toys started to arrive.

Since Christmas is right around the corner, I’m guessing that she’s decided to move on to leaving inappropriate decorations in my front yard.

“What’s her end game?” I mumble to myself, and Townes snorts.

“Uh, you,” he says, but I ignore him.

That can’t be true. We’re polar opposites. No way a spunky ray of sunshine like that goes for a brooding grump like me.

“Why don’t you just ask her out already?” Townes asks as he takes a bite of his breakfast.

I stare at his bacon longingly, and he scoots his plate away from me. I glare at him, and he laughs.

“I can’t have Ford or Ruby refusing to take my order too, man. One of us should be able to eat,” he tells me, and I roll my eyes.

“I’m not asking her out,” I say.

“Why not? She’s pretty.”

My stomach cramps and I try to ignore the jealousy and anger that comes with Townes’ words. I don’t stop to analyze why I feel that way about Townes noticing Olive.

He’s right anyway. Olive is pretty. She’s gorgeous, actually. She reminds me of one of the woodland faeries that my mom used to tell me lived in the forests around our house when I was a kid. With her red hair and bright blue eyes, she looks angelic. She’s tiny enough to be a fairy too, at only five and a half feet tall.

“Someone else will then,” Townes tells me.

“Who?” I blurt out.

I clear my throat, trying to school my features, but we both know that he sees through me.

“Literally anyone with eyes,” he informs me, and I glare at him.

“She’ll say no.”

“How can you be so sure?” He asks me.

“She’s a hellion. She won’t settle for anyone.”

“You think that you’re the only one she’ll settle for?” He asks me, and I grab my pie.

“She’s not into me. She just likes screwing with me,” I tell him as I stand. “Now, since I wasn’t allowed to order anything,” I say, raising my voice as Ruby walks by. She grins at me, and I grumble as I turn back to Townes, “And since you’ve upset me, you’re paying for my coffee.”

Townes laughs as I head for the door and scowl as I cross the parking lot and climb into my truck. I set the pie on the passenger seat and sigh. My stomach growls, but I don’t dare take a bite of the baked goods. Not when I’m so close to MasterBeaters. With my luck, Olive would pop up and see me devouring it. God knows what she’d do then.

I start the truck, and my heart lodges in my throat when I see a familiar flash of red hair heading down the street. I relax when I see that it’s not Olive but her sister, Maple, heading towards their row of shops.

I pull out of the parking lot and head towards home. Traffic is light, like always. Wolf Valley is a small town, nestled between the mountains in Oregon. Like most people who live here, I was born and raised here. I left as soon as I turned eighteen and joined the Army.

That was where I met Townes. We went through boot camp together and then through Army Ranger school after that. When I was shot, we both decided not to re-enlist and instead got out and moved here.

I pass along the road that leads to my childhood home and tense as I see the dark windows of the house that I grew up in. Even from the outside, it looks like a nightmare.

I hit the gas, hurrying past, and a few miles later, I’m pulling onto my street. I can’t help it; even though I know that she’s probably at the bakery, my eyes still go across the street to Olive’s house.

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