Page 19

Harley faced him, crossing her arms. “I’m a big, strong girl. I can handle it.”

“Doggone it. Just get in the truck, will you?” He was already striding toward his truck, not waiting for her to agree. “Besides, you’re still wearing my jacket and I want it back.

She glanced down. Oh yeah. Quickly, she shrugged out of it and draped it over her arm as she hurried after him. Mason climbed in behind the wheel and put the pickup in drive. The radio wasn’t turned up enough to hear the music, so the two of them sat in silence.

That wasn’t going to do at all.

Harley leaned forward and turned the knob, but nothing happened. She frowned and searched for the button that would turn on the radio, but when she couldn’t find even that, Mason finally piped up.

“The radio doesn’t work in this truck.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “The truck is over twenty years old. It gets me from A to B. That’s all I need it for. I’d rather spend my money on something that matters.”

“Like what? Books?”

Mason gave her a side-eyed stare. “Something like that.”

She settled against her seat as they turned out onto the main road. “Well, if I were you, I’d look into fixing it. Music is just as important as books.”

He chuckled.

The sound was warm like fresh honey and it made her insides feel just as gooey. She hadn’t heard his laugh before. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.”

“Sure there is. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have laughed. So, is it something I said? Or are you making fun of me?”

“I wouldn’t dare make fun of you.”

“But you’d judge me.”

Mason’s expression darkened, and she immediately regretted her statement. “Didn’t you do the same on the day we met?”

She flinched. That was true. She’d made several judgmental statements, but that was before she’d realized a few things about him that made Mason someone she wouldn’t mind getting to know a little better. Her eyes shifted to the road. They were coming up on their turn, but he wasn’t slowing down.

Harley sat up a little straighter, her eyes glued to the drive that would take them to her uncle’s property. Then she turned her head over her shoulder as they passed it. “That was our turn.”

“I know,” he muttered.

“Shouldn’t we… turn around?”

“We will.”

Her heart fluttered. For the first time since she’d met Mason, she started wondering if she had been too trusting. She twisted fully in her seat to look behind them again. “I really think I should go home. My uncle is going to have a cow.”

“I think only heifers can do that.”

Harley’s head snapped around so she could stare at him. “What?”

“A heifer. That’s a female cow.”

“I know what a heifer is.”

He glanced at her once more, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Then I don’t understand why we’re having this conversation.”

“Because—” She snapped her mouth shut, realizing once again that he was teasing her. How had she allowed herself to walk into that one? Harley scowled at him. “Turn around.”