Page 122 of Worthy

“You are utterly ridiculous,” she scolds, but I just wave her off as I head back into the kitchen, like I should have done in the first place.

No point in teasing myself.

Mason is off-limits. No matter how insanely hot he is.

Chapter four

Mason

That may be the hottest guy I’ve ever seen up close, and I don’t know what to do about it. I feel like a mindless zombie, just watching him walk away.

“Jeez, Mace. You’re drooling.”

I look over at Sarah and huff like a child. “I am not.”

“Are too. I told you, you should get laid.”

I can feel the blush creep up my cheeks and glare at her. “Shh.” I look around and see Owen is busy grabbing our drinks and not paying any attention to us before I eye my best friend. “And yeah, right. That guy is insanely hot. He’d never look twice at me.”

He looks a little older than me, probably mid- to late-twenties with dark-blond hair and green eyes. The guy is huge. I mean, I have defined muscles from working out on the farm and playing football, but I’ve always been on the skinny side. This guy—goddamn, he’s built. With those firm strong muscles, he could, no doubt, toss me around.

“Jesus, you’re seriously leaving a puddle of drool on the table,” Sarah observes, and I huff again, trying to shake it off.

“Look, I’m eighteen and haven’t kissed anyone. Let me fantasize.”

She points at herself. “Hello? Same boat. And I’m the one who told you to go for it.”

Before I can throw another argument out there, our drinks are placed on the table but not by the owner. Instead, it’s a nice brunette waitress with a high ponytail and bright smile. “Here you go. Have you decided what you’ll be having?”

Disappointment courses through me as I order from our waitress. Owen clearly has more important things to do than take our order. Damn it. I wanted to stare a little bit more. Get some more fantasy material for later.

We eat the delicious barbecue, and I’m once again disappointed when I don’t see Owen one more time before we leave. But oh well. I’m still in a good mood when we leave the restaurant and instead of going straight to the car, we walk around a little, taking in the small shops in town.

We grab some homemade ice cream and then head back to the cabin. Sarah found a shop she wouldn’t mind working at—a cute store that has made-from-scratch candy and soaps and stuff like that. She even had to fill out a paper application because they don’t have a website, but I think she may have found a great place to work.

When we get back to the cabin, we’re both beat from the long drive and minuscule exploring. We sit on the couch together and find out my grandpa actually still had cable.

We find something to zone out to, and I put my feet up on the coffee table. “I saw a sign for some cool caverns on the way home. We should check them out tomorrow.”

Sarah laughs. “Yeah. No way in hell am I going under the earth. You’re on your own there.”

“Chicken.”

Peer pressure doesn’t remotely work with Sarah. She just settles into her spot on the couch even more and scrolls on her phone as the TV plays in the background. I look around the cabin—our first night in our new home, and I feel more settled than I ever have.

What an odd feeling.

Chapter five

Owen

I’ve lived here for a while now, and I’ve pretty much been everywhere in the surrounding area. So it probably seems a little weird that I’d spend one of my days off going on a cavern tour I’ve been on many times. But what the hell, I kind of love it here.

It’s dark but sparkly at the same time when light bounces off the rocks in the cavern. Plus, I like the tour guide, Kevin. He gives it his all as he goes through the same tour every day of the damn week. But I am 100 percent shocked when I see the guy from last night join the line to go down into the caverns.

Mason.

That’s his name.

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