Page 36 of Wild As Her

I get to my coffee trailer and someone spray painted on the side: Dumb Bitch.

How original, I think, rolling my eyes as I get out of my truck. This is irritating as hell, and I’m so pissed at the harassment.

"Good morning," I say to dubious-looking customers and open the trailer. I glance around and nothing appears to be out of order inside the truck, at least. The outside is nothing a pressure washer can’t take off.

"What happened?" Violet asks, looking worried as she walks up and examines the trailer with me.

"Not sure, but we're going to keep making coffee, and I'll figure it out later."

And when I say figure it out, I mean handle it.

I have a good idea who did this. And I have a plan to take care of it.

I washed all the paint off earlier, parked my truck a block away, and waited in my trailer in the dark for them to come back. And they didn't disappoint.

They pull in and park, right in front of the new trail cam facing the trailer Poppy and I set up earlier that afternoon. I watch as Granger and Jace get out of the truck, this time with bats in their hands. I listen as Granger grunts, "Gonna teach this dumb bitch a lesson."

Yeah, we'll see about that. As Granger raises his bat to smash one of my trailer windows, I push open the door and hose down his face with bear spray. He squeals and jumps, dropping the bat. Jace rears back in surprise in the dark, cowering.

That’s when I turn and hit him square in the face with the spray as well. I’m not even sorry when it gets in his mouth. Actually? I’m thrilled. Serves them right. These windows on my trailer are vintage and hard to find, impossible to replace, and too pretty for idiots like Jace and Granger to go smashing.

“You stupid bitch!” Jace screams, clutching his face.

“Oh, I thought it was ‘dumb bitch.’ You want seconds?” I snap, holding the canister up again.

He jumps back like I just threatened him with a chainsaw, and honestly, it makes my night. Good. Serves him right for trying to destroy my business.

Granger takes off down the street like his pants are on fire, Jace stumbling after him, both using their shirts to wipe their eyes and gagging like I sprayed them with acid instead of glorified pepper mist. They left their truck behind. Idiots.

I roll my eyes, lock up the trailer, and stroll over like I’ve got all the time in the world. Even better? They left the keys in the ignition. I yank the keys out and tuck them into my back pocket. A little souvenir. Hope he has a spare.

Granger’s truck still reeks of skunk, so strong I have to turn my head to keep from gagging.

“How anyone drives that thing without permanently losing brain cells is beyond me,” I mutter.Glad to see that Granger is driving around in the consequences of his actions.

I lock up the trailer and head home to get a few hours of sleep, pleased with my results. I can't wait to show Poppy how that went down. The trail cam was her idea. She's not going to even believe it.

I might even take it to Sheriff Matthews. I haven’t decided yet. I haven’t found them to be much help. When people started stealing and poking around my ranch, he said there wasn’t much he could do. The law hasn’t been on my side, and I’m tired of asking for help and not getting it.

I pull into my driveway at the Wilder Ranch, and Jack is standing in front of the barn, waiting, his arms crossed. He's shirtless, in jeans, barefoot, and his hair is tousled. And damn if he doesn't look so sexy right now. I squint at him and realize he looks really mad right now. But that just so happens to be sexy, too.

"Good evening, Jack," I call cheerfully as I exit the truck, locking the door. Can never be too sure these days. Skunks appear out of thin air.

"Where have you been?" he asks, arms crossed, looking pissed.

"Jack, we are not at the point where we know each other's comings and goings." I yawn and stroll past him, and he reaches out and catches my arm, spinning me to face him.

He leans down and says in my ear in his sexy rough voice, "Where. Have. You. Been?"

The air whooshes out of my chest, and heat pools through my body at his touch.

"Okay, okay. Granger and Jace tried to break the windows out in my trailer, and I taught them a lesson."

He opens his mouth and then closes it. He stares at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. "And just how did you teach them a lesson?"

"Bear spray," I add cheerfully.

He looks up at the sky like he’s looking for patience, and I'm not sure what's happening right now, but he's still holding my arm, and it feels hot under his touch. In fact, I wonder what it would feel like to have those hands all over my body and not just holding my arm firmly. My dreams were full of Jack last night and the night before, and having him under the same roof isn't helping.

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