"I'm not interested—"
"You texted her last night, didn’t you?" Boone asks. "I saw your phone light up at dinner."
"About Butterscotch—"
"And then you smiled at your phone. Really smiled. Tucker Hayes, who hasn't smiled at his phone in years."
I'm about to tell them both exactly where they can shove their observations when Marley's truck appears at the end of the driveway. Boone sees my face and laughs. He fucking laughs.
"Oh, you're in trouble," he says.
"I'm not—"
"Deep trouble," Colt agrees.
"Both of you, get the hell out of here before she—"
But it's too late. Marley's truck is pulling up, and Boone and Colt are both standing there grinning like idiots, and I'm probably turning red because that's what happens when you're forty years old and your best friends are acting like you're sixteen.
Marley climbs out of her truck wearing jeans and boots and that same canvas jacket, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, herglasses catching the morning light. She's got her bag in one hand and a coffee cup in the other, and when she sees all three of us standing there she stops.
"Morning," she says cautiously, like she's not sure what she's walked into.
"Morning, Dr. Williams," Boone says before I can speak. "Tucker's been waiting for you. Showered and everything."
I'm going to kill him. I'm going to actually kill him and bury his body somewhere on the south forty where no one will ever find it.
"I shower every day," I say, my voice coming out more defensive than I intended. "It's not—this isn't—"
Marley's mouth quirks up at one corner, and I realize she's trying not to laugh.
"Well, that's good hygiene," she says, her brown eyes sparkling behind those glasses. "Very responsible."
Colt snorts, and I shoot him a look that could melt steel.
"We were just leaving," Boone says, already backing away. "Got fence work on the south pasture. Tucker, you good here?"
"I'm fine."
"Great. Nice to see you again, Dr. Williams."
"Marley," she says. "Just Marley is fine."
"Marley." Boone grins at her, then at me, and then he and Colt are walking away, and I can hear them laughing before they're even out of earshot.
I'm going to kill them both.
"Sorry about that," I say, turning back to Marley. "They're... they think they're funny."
"They seem nice." She's definitely trying not to laugh now, and there are dimples appearing in her cheeks that I definitely shouldn't be noticing. "How's Butterscotch this morning?"
Right. Butterscotch. The actual reason she's here.
Chapter 4 - Marley
I'm trying very hard not to laugh at the expression on Tucker's face. Somewhere between mortified and annoyed, but it's difficult because his friends just ambushed him about showering for me, and he looks like he wants to disappear into the ground.
And okay, yes, I noticed that he showered. And shaved. And is wearing clean clothes that actually fit him properly instead of the worn, slightly-too-big flannel from yesterday. I noticed all of it the second I got out of my truck, and I hate that I noticed, and I especially hate that his friends are already teasing him about me.
