11. Marnie

I literally just saw him five minutes ago. I can still feel the impression of him moving inside me.

And yet, my memory already dimmed his vicious good looks.

Damn. Just beautiful.

But also a little creepy. I told him I wasn’t interested, and he followed me, anyway. I like hot men as much as the next girl, but stalkers? I’ll pass.

Wariness tightens my shoulders and then a giant blur of fur and paws comes rocketing out of nowhere. It’s a chocolate lab.

A giant chocolate lab.

I don’t like labs.

I’m not a fan of big dogs, in general. I don’t like having a dog that size anywhere near me, and as though he senses it, the dog turns and stares at me.

Pulling my arms tight against my body, I turn away.

It wasn’t a lab that attacked my friend when I was a kid, taking the tip of her pinky clean off her hand, but it was a big dog kind of like this. In an instant, I’m eight years old again. Weak and vulnerable.

“Get it away.”

I manage to croak.

Dusty whistles. “Ed. Get away from her. Get over here, you big idiot.”

Dusty closes the distance quickly. “He’s a teddy bear, I swear.”

That’s what they all say. I swear to God, dog owners have the biggest blind spots when it comes to their animals. Yeah, he’s a big sweetie until he takes a bite out of you.

‘Ed’ seems determined to prove that he is, in fact, just a big teddy bear. He’s bowling into my legs and with every step I take back, he follows me. We do a strange little tango, him wagging his tail, me fearing for my wellbeing. Good fun.

Then Dusty’s striding between the two of us. He grabs me around my waist and lifts me up to the back of his pickup. “Ed, come! She doesn’t like dogs. Get on back.”

He grabs Ed by the collar, whose tail is still wagging merrily, and drags him over to the front of the truck. Swinging the door open, he points at the bench. “Inside.”

Ed plops his butt down on the gravel, looking balefully at me. Scooping him up, Dusty holds him like a baby, plunking him down on the seat before swinging the door shut.

“Sorry about that.”

Dusty circles around the truck, rubbing the back of his neck. “He gets excited around new people. Terrible guard dog. Friendly as hell, though.”

I slip off the back of his truck, feeling embarrassed and thoroughly harassed. “What are you and Ed doing on my property?”

“Your property?”

Dusty asks, his expression going flat. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, oh shit, Dusty. What made you think it was okay to follow me home?”

He frowns, cheeks heating up despite the dim lighting. “Well, probably, because this is where I live.”

I splutter for a few seconds, realization dawning on me. Gus’s lawyer mentioned that the farm manager lived on the property. He never said the guy’s name, though. Or that he was six and a half feet of smoking hotness. “Oh. Shit.”

Well, now I’ve gone and done it. This was the guy that was supposed to walk me through selling the estate. I needed his expertise. I don’t know the first thing about auctioning off farm ground.

And I went and fucked him.

That’s perfect. Just perfect.

“You must be Marnie.”

I drag my hand over my face, feeling a headache coming on. “Unfortunately, yes. Marnie Black.”

“I’m Dusty Larson.”

We stare at each other for a few heartbeats. My brain is supplying me with a very visceral memory of what his lips felt like pressed against my hip. The scratch of his scruffy jaw on my skin.

I still have an ache between my legs that would be pleasant if I wasn’t so damn mortified.

This, right here, is why I hate small towns.

You can take a single step without crossing a cousin or fucking a neighbor.

Ed is watching us over his shoulder, his head cocked clownishly. He’s admittedly a smidge lovable. Just as long as there’s solid steel and glass between me and him. “I think your dog wants out.”

“He probably thought we were going for a drive. Not the brightest boy.”

I turn my gaze back to Dusty, trying to figure him out. “You lived with Uncle Gus?”

“When we were younger,”

Dusty admits. “But now Sienna and I live in the barn.”

I tilt my head, confused. First of all, who the fuck is Sienna? Second of all… “You live in a barn?”

A smile tugs at his lips. “Gus and I renovated. It’s an apartment, now.”

“Oh. Gotcha.”

I’m relieved that I won’t be cohabitating with Dusty tonight, but still a little miffed that he already has a ‘roommate’.

That would have been nice to know before I let him fuck me.