What I needed was something to do—a way to take my mind off how I had just spent the last twenty-odd hours with a woman who could very well mess with every plan I had for living in this small town.
None of them included sleeping with my neighbor or thinking about what she looked like naked.
Yet, here I was, already plotting how I would get back to her house and spend another night watching movies on the couch with her.
My phone buzzed with an incoming call. “Yeah?”
“You want a job?”
“Out of town?” I asked hopefully.
“Nah. Plowing.”
“I’ve never driven a snow plow in my life,” I muttered.
“Well, then you can drive the truck with the attachment. It’s not that hard.”
Sighing, I considered my options. Stay around here and think about my neighbor, or get out and think of anything that would keep my mind from wandering to her.
Or worse, walking over there and kissing her again.
“I’m in.”
I slammedthe door to my truck, cranking the engine and getting the heat going. I was supposed to head out to Murky Falls Ranch to get my assignment. Plowing snow all day didn’t seem like the most exciting option, but going back inside my house would only land me in a dangerous situation.
One in which I headed over to my neighbor’s house again.
Shifting in reverse, I laid my arm across the back of the seat and turned, nearly having a heart attack when the damn dog jumped up and licked my face.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered. Flinging the door open, I pointed at the ground. “Out!”
But the dog didn’t listen. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he yipped with excitement, but he didn’t move an inch.
“I’m serious, dog. Get the fuck out.”
Two barks later, he was excited for our adventure, even though he wasn’t going anywhere with me.
“I swear to God, if you don’t get out, I’ll cut you up and eat you for dinner.”
That got him moving. He jumped over the seat and out the door, then spun and stared up at me with what I could only imagine was a grin. Did dogs actually smile, because it sure as hell looked like this dog could express emotions.
“Fuck, I really need to move on,” I muttered, climbing back into my truck. “Talking to myself about dogs’ emotions and imagining them grinning…”
I slammed the door and backed down the drive. I had some serious problems, and none of them would be solved if I stayedhere. What I needed was a job out of town, one where I could really dig in and get back to who I was at the core.
This small town was way too pure for a guy like me. Everyone was nice and they helped each other out…I wasn’t used to that shit. I’d moved around my whole life. Hell, I hadn’t spent more than two weeks in any one place.
And as I pulled down the freshly plowed drive twenty minutes later, I remembered why I hated staying anywhere too long.
At least twenty guys were standing outside the main house, all of them holding mugs of coffee that some lady was passing out. It was like something out of a Hallmark movie or something.
And right in the middle of it was Archer.
Fuck, they got to him. The man who got me my first job was becoming one of them, acting just like them. Hell, he was even smiling.
“Shit,” I hissed, flinging my door open. Everyone turned and stared at me as I got out of my truck. Then their eyes dropped to the white mutt that flew past me, jumping all around them as if he knew them all.
“Where the fuck did he come from?” I had kicked him out of my truck. He got out, and I got in. Then I shut the door, so how the hell was this damn dog with me now?
