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“Mudding?” she asks, her voice a little breathless and her cheeks flushing with the barest hint of pink.

“Mudding. You game?”

“You’d like to take me to spray mud all over your truck?”

“All over everything,” I tell her, not overthinking everything.

She has an almost-inaudible gasp. “Okay.”

“Okay.” I try to keep a smirk off my face and am sure I’m failing as I turn at the intersection because I’m loving how she’s relaxing more. “So what do city-slickers do to pass the time?”

“Go to the movies or hang out in people’s basements.”

“And…” I say, gesturing with my hand for her to elaborate.

“And I don’t know, play truth or dare? That’s about all we did,” she says.

“What about the evenings at the country club, the cotillions, and the daily tea service?”

A real laugh escapes her. “We had no such things!”

“There weren’t country clubs?”

“I mean, sure, those exist, but we didn’t go there.”

It’s my turn to give her a skeptical look. “Then did you wear your formal gowns to the movies?”

“What formal gowns?” she says, still giggling.

“I was under the impression that everyone in the city is required to have several formal gowns for regular events, especially cotillions.” I manage to keep a straight face, earning a snort from her.

“Where do you think I grew up?” Her laugh is contagious and I have to fight to keep my mock-serious demeanor.

“I know where you grew up,” I reply. “Now, where did you wear these gowns?”

“I don’t know, prom?”

“That’s it?” My exasperation pulls another round of giggles from her.

“That’s it.”

I sigh dramatically, pulling up to the building.

“What?”

I put the truck into park and turn my head so I can see the flush on her face, the sparkle in her eyes, and the smile on her face. God, she’s gorgeous. “I’m so disappointed.”

I finally crack when she belly laughs at the expression on my face. Nodding at her water bottle, with the Landen Acres sticker that I never fail to notice, I ask, “What’s your fuel of choice tonight?”

She smiles. “Just water.”

“Brave woman.”

“What about you?”

“Water.”

“Brave man.”