Page 13 of The Grouchy Lumberjack’s Bride

ME: No. It was that she tried to distract me. The night before he ended up moving, everything was still up in the air. So much uncertainty. I was considering selling my cabin and moving in with him.

ME: Jade and I were hanging out, and she was helping me brainstorm ideas. She never said a word about the fact that she’d already paid for everything.

ME: Instead, she kissed me.

ME: Rocked my fucking world, and I thought we were finally—FINALLY—on the same page.

ME: Turns out it was just a way to distract me from the truth.

CALEB: Negative, Ghost Rider. That is incorrect.

I stare at my phone and frown. Since when does Caleb talk like that?

CALEB: That was Madison, btw. She grabbed my phone right out of my hands.

ME: Give it back to her. I have questions.

CALEB: ‘Sup?

ME: You’re ridiculous.

ME: But what do I have incorrect about that night? Tell me she didn’t pay for my dad’s care and the move and everything else.

CALEB: Can’t do that. It’s the truth. It’s her love language, dumbass.

CALEB: It’s why she bought me my store. When the previous owners jacked the rent up, Jade bought it. Now, she’s my silent partner.

ME: I did not know that.

CALEB: Of course, you didn’t. Because you’ve been a dumbass and ignored her the last several years.

ME: Madison! Get to the point. What am I incorrect about?

CALEB: Why she kissed you. Sheesh. Men are dumb.

ME: You’ve mentioned that. A few times.

ME: Spell it out for me, Mad.

CALEB: She kissed you because she figured you’d get pissed about her paying for your dad, so she wanted to take her shot while she still had a chance.

ME: Are you saying she kissed me because she had feelings for me?

CALEB: Duh!

I stare at my phone and will those words to make sense. She wanted me too? That can’t be right. Why didn’t she say something?

I cut her off like a severed limb the next day as I stood beside the moving van that took my dad and his few belongings to the memory care facility, Fuck if that’s not what it felt like—the phantom pain of removing her so harshly from my life.

Fuck!

A car door slams outside. My gut tightens, and I stand to go to the door. She’ll likely need help carrying things inside.

When I open the screen door and step barefoot out onto the porch, she’s bent over the front trunk of her Tesla—the Frunk, to be exact—and that ripe, round peach of an ass is right fucking there. She’s wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt and dressed down like this, she looks hot as fuck.

It immediately reminds me of how she felt in my arms in the diner the other day. That plump bottom was nestled on top of my dick, and I had to think of all kinds of things—mostly Courtney—to keep my chub from going fully erect. She wouldn’t have missed that.

“Need help?” I ask.