Page 15 of The One With The Secret Crushes

"What do you think?" Scott asked, watching me examine his home.

"It's lovely. I didn't peg you as a lover of gray though." A staircase tucked into the corner led up to a loft and what I assumed was at least one bedroom. It was all so very grownup, another reminder we weren't kids anymore and a lot had changed.

Scott shoved his hands in his pockets. "Digger is all about modernizing the mountain aesthetic." Digger earned his nickname because as soon as he was allowed to, he started working the bulldozer for his father's construction company.

"You should see his place!" Jasper called out as his thumbs worked the controller.

Scott shrugged. "Digger went completely modern for his place. If you ask me, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I like this blend better. This doesn't feel like my parents' house or like I'm stuck in a time loop, but it still has that warm feeling you get from wood beams and roaring fires."

"I agree." Although I wanted to add a little more color and some softness.

Not that it was my place to do so.

"You're living back home, right?"

My gut twisted. "Yeah, for now." Some people wanted the memories, wanted nothing to change, but that wasn't me. I felt like I was stuck. Dad's room was just that. I slept in my old room and avoided the wall of pictures. I barely used the kitchen and ignored everything else.

"You should move into that fancy cabin," Jasper called over his shoulder. "What do they call it? Golden Hour?"

I'd thought about it for a hot minute before renting it out. But it was just toosomething. Too posh? Too isolated? Yeah, that was it. That fancy cabin up on that mountain all by itself. That was the last thing I needed. "I actually rented out that property for the summer. I think I might sell it after that."

Scott's eyebrows jumped. "I thought Digger was on board for developing it?"

I started unloading my basket, laying out my ingredients in the approximate order I'd use them. Without missing a beat Scott produced cookie sheets and mixing bowls.

"The plan is solid and it's a good property for something like that." Dad and Digger planned to add five cabins to the property. It would still give each one privacy and it would make it less isolated, but it would also mean ongoing construction for a couple of years. It was hard to sell a private luxury vacation in the peaceful mountains if there were chainsaws and nail guns running all the time.

"But?" Scott prompted.

I shrugged. "There are a few reasons. One of which being I don't have the bandwidth right now. Part of me just wants to focus on our current inventory of cabins. I could keep renting out Golden Hour and leave the rest of the property untouched, or I could sell it and take the injection of cash to balance our books better."

Scott hummed. "That makes sense. Joanne says you've been working nonstop to get to this point."

I welcomed the work. It was good to be busy, otherwise I might have crawled into bed and not gotten out. But at some point I would burn out.

"Andit would be easier to take you out if you weren't working all the time." Scott covered my hand with his and squeezed before letting me go again. "Plus Digger would be all up in our business and no one wants that."

Yeah no, absolutely not. I liked the guy well enough to hang out with him, but Digger hadopinionson sex and didn't feel the need to hold back.

The front door swung open and the man himself walked in with Logan Finn. Digger held up a six-pack. "Hey Mack!" He gave me a quick hug. "You remember Huk's brother?"

I only recognized him because of the family resemblance. He was a spitting image of Huk from his brown hair to his light-changing eyes, only a little leaner and shorter. "Of course, Logan right?"

He blushed as he nodded. "I've been working with Digger."

"Mack is baking us cookies." Scott said with a pointed glare at poor, young, blushing Logan.

I almost felt bad for him, but I liked that glare far too much to care. "May I use your microwave to soften up this butter?"

"What's mine is yours, Mackenzie." He said it quietly with a low rumble that told me he meant it exactly the way he said it.

Which had the precise effect of turning my insides into butterflies and had my thighs squeezing together. If he said that while between said thighs would that rumble sink into my skin? For the last few hours I'd allowed my thoughts to stray more and more towards our potential chemistry, something I'd never done with much detail because wanting something I couldn't have was too painful.

But now...now I might just be able to have it and it was nearly impossible to think of anything else. If a gentle touch evoked such a strong physical reaction what would a kiss do?

While Logan and Digger joined Jasper in front of the television, Scott stayed with me, watching as I mixed together the simple ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies.

"It's not often someone cooks for me these days. This feels...new." He grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge, twisted off the caps, and set one in front of me while he settled onto the stool nearby. "But I think I like it."

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