Page 71 of I Knew He Was Trouble
No muscles or hearts allowed.
I double down on my angry face, hoping I don’t look absolutely ridiculous.
He places his hand around mine, and my breath catches as the warmth of his strong, masculine hand warms my own. Tyler turns my hand around, and I’m wondering if he’s about to interlock our fingers or pull me closer. Nope. He only takes the sound device from my palm.
His lips tilt up in a cocky grin when my eyes shoot up to his. “Do you like what you see?”
“No, I just destroyed my car looking for a nonexistent cricket.”
“You say it’s destroyed; I say it’s the cleanest it’s ever been.”
I roll my eyes. “I hope you’re happy now. Because you won’t be when I get you back.”
He steps closer, forcing me to look up at him, my chest nearly touching his abs. “I’d like to see you try, Anderson.”
I stalk back to my car, shutting the doors and my trunk.
“What? You’re not going to wish me a wonderful day?” he yells from his porch.
“I would, but my mom told me it’s not nice to lie.”
His laughter is the last thing I hear before his door clicks shut.
“You know what this calls for?” I whisper to myself. “Double or nothing.”
I walk back into my house, smiling like a fool.
Pullinguptomyhouse after work, I have to do a double take that I’m in the right place. I rub my eyes after putting the car in park, making sure I’m seeing clearly. Yep, my eyes still work.
Covering my entire front yard aredozensof flamingo lawn ornaments. I don’t even have to wonder how they got here. It brings me back to our text conversation when she mentioned the names of different groups of birds. There’s only one possible explanation for theflamboyancein my yard—Kelsey Anderson.
I hear giggles as I near the house and spot Kelsey and Evie staring out the front window at me. Before I can step inside, Evie runs onto the covered porch, pointing at me and laughing. “We got you.”
“You sure did.” My gaze moves to Kelsey. “I hope you didn’t spend too much on this prank.” With how much she works, it’s obvious she’s saving for something. A part of me hopes she’ll open up to me about it soon, and another part realizes how unlikely that is. Either way, I’d hate for her to have spent a small fortune on our prank war.
Kelsey crosses her arms, wearing a satisfied smile. “I got them from an estate sale for free. The family was more than happy to get them off their hands.”
“I can’t imagine why,” I deadpan.
“It’s one of life’s greatest mysteries.”
“They’re so cute.” Evie tugs on my arm. “Can I name them all?”
I press my lips together to hide my amusement. “Sure, Eves.”
When she’s outside, Kelsey turns to me with an incredulous expression. “Does literallynothingbother you?”
“What? That?” I gesture with my thumb toward the yard. “It’s hilarious. I only wish I’d thought of the idea first.”
She smirks. “My doom scrolling on social media finally came in handy.” Her smile softens as she looks at Evie running through the yard, tapping each flamingo and dubbing them with a name. “Did you have a good day at work?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. I’m just seeing a lot of flu patients. It’s really going around this year.”
Kelsey wrinkles her nose. “The flu is the worst. You must have an immune system of steel.”
“I got sick often during residency, but my body is much better at fighting everything off now. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was sick.”
“That’s not a bad thing.” She playfully nudges my arm, a soft smile on her lips.
