The snake wriggles away, but he’s still standing there, hands up.
“Did you just…” Cough. Cough. “Did you justsqueal?”
His face falls with his hands. “No.”
“Uh, yeah, youdid.”
He shrugs a shoulder, looking away. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yeah, you did, and…” I grab a breath. “You did jazz hands.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He won’t look at me.
“You’re a big forest ranger…” Cough. “Who’s afraid of—” Cough. Giggle. Giggle. “Of littlesnakes?”
He shrugs, blushing. “Could’ve been a rattler.”
“Yeah, and it would’ve rattled.” I grab my stomach, giggles cramping into laughter. “Though yousure broke glass and auditioned forChicago.”
I double over, howling, wishing I had been phones-up for that. It’d be a meme. Loch—all six feet six inches and at least two hundred and fifty pounds of pure manly muscle—dancing like a screaming Roxie Hart over a tiny snake, and… oh shit…
I grab my crotch.
His eyes get big. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you gonna pee?”
“No.”
“Yeah, you are.” He grins. “You’re laughing so hard at me, you’re gonna piss your pants.”
“No, I’m not.”
Yes, I am. I rush into the woods, following the snake. He’s the least of my concerns. I make it twelve feet before dropping trou behind a giant hemlock tree.
“It’s our little secret, Allen!” Loch drowns out the sound of my splatter. “My squeal for your pee. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Does this mean we’re best friends now?”
No.
This means I’m starting to fall for you.
When I parkin front of my cabin after the best worst day of my life, I bang my head on the steering wheel.
Loch was perfect about the whole piddle-in-my-pants thing. In fact, he was perfect all day. Professional and funny, never a perv or a dick.
Nope, that’d be me.
“Because I really want his dick,” I whine to no one but his truck, parking beside mine. “Great, God,” I mutter, “just pile it on.”
I make it to my cabin door before, “Hey, Alena?”
My heart pounds, loving the sound of my name in Loch’s husky voice way too much.
