“Okay.”
Damn my smile for showing up when we enter my kitchen. “Is PB&J alright with you? Wait… shit. You’re on a quesadilla kick. I don’t have the ingredients for those.” I make a mental note to get to the grocery store asap.
“Peanut butter is fine. No jelly.”
“You sure?”
“Dean. Stop re-verifying everything with me.” Grace starts opening my cabinets. “Where’s the…” She snatches a jar of peanut butter. “Got it.”
I snag the bread. She hunts down my silverware drawer and pulls out a butter knife. Brandishing it at me, she waggles her eyebrows. “This is going to be fun, you know.”
“If you say so.”
“Iknowso.” She slathers an ungodly amount of peanut butter onto her bread and folds it in half. “Then tonight we can make more content for your Mountain Wood account. Speaking of which, I’m super sad you didn’t post a new one for me this morning.”
“Oh yeah?” I dump grape jelly onto my two sandwiches. “And what makes you think I’ve posted any of them for you?”
“That last one wasn’t directed at me?” She’s got one hand on her hip, the other holding the peanut butter coated knife.
“Maybe.” I narrow my eyes. “Maybe not.”
She licks the blade clean.
My dick twitches like he’s already down for another round.
“Come on,” I say, staying on track. “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can get home and havemore fun.” I pack our sandwiches into a cooler while she picks out drinks from my fridge.
After Grace buckles up in my truck, she says, “Ready to get dirty, baby?”
I’m ready for anything with this woman by my side.
Drywall. Bears…
Even the inevitable heartache.
Chapter 16
Grace
This morning, I got up before the sun and found Dean already awake and in the kitchen. We had coffee together before heading to the cabins for another project. Turns out, putting up drywall wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Apparently, the pain in the ass part comes in a few days when the seams are dry enough to sand down. After that, we moved to grouting the bathroom. Dean insisted it was a one-man-job, so I spent time working on editing his beard oil video and making a couple of my own for another brand I endorse. After a long day of work, work, work, we went food shopping in town to prepare for his friends to come over and play poker tonight.
Now, here we are, gathered around Dean’s kitchen table with snacks, beer, and poker chips.
“Full house.” Bennet lays his cards down. “Read ‘em and weep.”
“Motherfucker.” Dean throws his cards on the table.
Nick and Taylor folded already.
“Cute, real cute, but...” Conner lays his hand down, displaying four threes. He laughs like an evil villain, reaching gleefully for the pot in the center.
“Whoa there, buddy.” I lay my cards on the table, one-by-one, building the tension and excitement of his ultimate defeat.
Everyone gawks at my straight flush.
Taylor whoops and claps before slapping Conner on the arm. “She totally got you!”
“Bro, that had to hurt,” chimes Nick.
