Page 14 of Wildest Dreams

She raises an eyebrow and I breathe out a laugh, dropping my chin so that she hopefully can’t see how fucking red I’m turning. I mean, where the hell was I going with that? Myintentions? Who talks like that?

I do, apparently. Because I’m a fucking idiot.

“Sorry,” I rasp, gripping a hand around the back of my neck. I give her a sheepish grin. “I’ll just…” I place my wallet tentatively on the floor by her bedroom door and she laughs out loud, shaking her head as if I’m downright hopeless.

But she is still smiling.

“Wow, I thought that I was the crazy one,” she says, stepping around me while I’m still crouched by her door. My pulse hammers up to triple-time as she looks back at me from over her shoulder.

She crooks her finger at me to follow.

She doesn’t need to ask me twice.

I instantly rise to my full height and we’re out of the door in under six seconds, her petite frame barely an inch in front ofmine, sashaying lazily down the corridor like she owns the joint. I can’t help but smirk down at her when she glances back at me again because she’s so effortlessly confident that it’s sexy as hell.

When we’re back inside the elevator, watching each other from our respective walls, she asks me, “So you’re going to help me bring all of the pieces up to my room? Is that what’s happening here?”

“That’s right.” I think for a moment and an even better idea comes to mind. “If you’ve got the tools on hand, I’ll build it for you.”

Her jaw drops open and she blinks up at me. “You’ll what?”

“I’ll build it for you. It’s heavy and it’ll need repositioning while it’s getting screwed, so I can take care of that for you.” I shake my head, my ears turning crimson. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

It’ll need repositioning while it’s getting screwed? What the hell is wrong with me?

I definitely need tonotsay shit like thatwhen I’m standing face to face with the prettiest girl that I’ve ever seen.

“That would be amazing,” she whispers, looking at me like I’m some sort of hero. The elevator drops to the first floor and the doors slide open. “If you really don’t mind… then yes, I would love you to help me build it.”

I jerk my chin at her and step out, grabbing the next piece of thick wooden panelling.

She watches me from the doors and a feeling that I haven’t felt before spreads through my chest.

She smiles up at me, biting her lip as I haul in the next piece.

Then I trudge back inside the elevator, wait for the doors to close, and give her a wink.

“Don’t mention it.”

Chapter 4

Aisling

Present day

It turns out that the reason why there was no signage on our drive toward the lake? That would be because I was driving on the wrong road – as in, I wasn’t even drivingona road.

So when Fallon and I decide to take our first trip into town, we have to drive over to the guys’ side of the lake before we can make our way onto the main road.

Not wanting to do a big haul during our first hour of arriving at Larch Peak, we decide to grab renovation essentials from the hardware store and ice slushies from the diner before heading back toward our summer hideaway.

“Shoot,” I say quickly, the second that we pull through into the golden clearing.

Fallon gives me an inquisitive expression, quietly sipping on her slushie.

“I forgot to grab pyjamas,” I say quietly, glancing toward the burly hockey players on our right. Then I pull up to an abrupt stop, because all of the men are now shirtless.

My eyes, the damn traitors, are immediately searching for a certain set of large lumberjack shoulders but, to both my relief and irritation, Tanner is nowhere to be seen.

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