Page 30 of Smokin’ Situation (Masked Men of Sage Springs #3)

Annie

“You know, I feel like your chauffeur with you sitting back there,” Tripp chuckled, eyeing me in the rearview mirror as his truck idled on the street in front of Ice My Cakes, the bakery Baker’s family ironically owned.

I knew his parents hadn’t started the small business until well after he was born, but he had been made fun of relentlessly when we were all younger for being the town baker’s son.

“It’s not my fault you offered to drive,” I teased, shifting into the center seat to refasten my seatbelt.

“I didn’t know that meant you wouldn’t be in the seat next to me. How am I ever going to survive if I can’t caress the smooth skin of your thigh on our drive?”

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” I chuckled, shaking my head at his playful banter. Boy, had things changed in our interactions in the last forty-eight hours. He’d gone from barely speaking to me to an insatiable flirt in what felt like no time at all.

Tripp and I spent a few hours this afternoon at the fairgrounds, walking the horses who’d stayed there overnight and then feeding them before we left.

Seraphina seemed relieved to see him, and he showered her with attention, brushing out her beautiful brownish gray speckled coat in the time it’d taken me to brush out three other horses.

The big softie had even hidden apple slices in his pocket when we left the cabin that she had gone feral over.

We’d almost needed another shower after we were done since the barn was hot in the early July weather, but we’d settled for wiping off in the bathroom before we went into town to find me something to wear.

He’d been a good sport, dutifully sitting in a chair outside the dressing room of the lone dress shop in downtown Sage Springs.

The small mountain town had been half deserted, the typical bustling tourist presence missing, but at least there was still a town standing.

It was going to take months for a lot of these businesses to recover from the loss of tourist income, and with having limited hours, I knew the bar would be no exception.

I only hoped that Hudson could keep on the new bartender, because with him gone more often, I was dangerously close to burning myself out.

I wondered how things were over in Butterfly Ridge, but since there wasn’t an easy way to get there until the roads reopened, it wasn’t like I could check.

Jayden’s impending return had been weighing on me, but I was almost relieved he wasn’t due home for a few more days because I wasn’t sure how to talk to him about the changes that’d happened in his absence.

It wasn’t like he had a way to contact me at this point because the phone store had been closed when we got into town and wouldn’t reopen until after the holiday in a few days.

Even if I had his number memorized, there was no way I was using Tripp’s phone to contact him, because that would be crossing way too many lines.

My new beau may have been understanding that I was casually involved with someone else when we met, but I doubted he’d be so understanding of me texting him on his phone.

“You better keep those legs crossed, sweetheart, because otherwise Baker is going to get an eyeful of those luscious thighs and I’m going to have to murder my new friend.”

Giggling, I wiggled my eyebrows, crossing my legs at my ankles as my hands slid over the fresh fabric covering my thighs.

The dress was long and dark blue with a large floral print.

Tripp had urged me, once again, to ditch my panties because of the sexy slit that went halfway up one thigh.

I’d quietly protested, but he spun me around the dress shop until we were both laughing to show that our secret would be safe .

The salesclerk—someone I’d recognized as a regular at the bar—had looked on, amused by our antics.

While she’d smiled at our interaction, I was sure the gossip would run wild.

The new in town, sexy and brooding firefighter who’d taken up residence at a local horse ranch shopping for a sexy dress with the elusive bartender was bound to be in text message threads across town before the week was over.

Though I still had my purse and generous tips from the festival, Tripp had insisted on paying. He wouldn’t guarantee the condition of my new dress would be intact by the end of the night.

Such a gentleman.

“You realize he won’t be looking at me, right?”

He eyed me again, shaking his head. “He’s gonna have to look past you to see Reese, so I’m not taking any chances.”

And I suddenly regretted telling my sister I’d try to be her buffer from Baker tonight.

The truck door opened to my left, my sister’s scowling face meeting mine before she huffed and reached for the handle above the doorway to hoist herself into the large pickup truck.

Climbing into the ranch truck earlier, I’d been a little melancholy, knowing my truck was totaled where we’d left it, and probably a burned out husk of what it had once been.

It’d been my first big purchase as an adult, and even though it was used when I got it, and over a decade old, I’d still loved it.

“Hurry and go before he gets down here,” Reese growled, yanking her seatbelt over her chest. She looked much different than she had the last time I’d seen her a few days ago.

“Nice to see you too, sis,” I teased, grasping her hand. She was wearing a skin-tight white dress with a neckline much lower than I was used to seeing on her. It wasn’t a dress I recognized, but that made sense since all her belongings would have been in the house we just lost.

“I’m sorry, Annie,” she huffed, squeezing my hand back, but leaning her head against my shoulder. “I’m just…overwhelmed.”

Tell me about it.

Tripp quietly watched our interaction, shooting me a wink when I met his eyes in the mirror.

A loud thump on the hood of the truck startled all of us and I laughed, watching Baker smack his hands on the metal and then flip us off with both hands when we were looking in his direction.

“I hate him,” Reese hissed, glaring at her savior out the windshield.

“Dude,” Tripp scolded when Baker opened the rear passenger door on my other side. “What the fuck? This isn’t even my truck, and I’d prefer to not have to explain to my boss how the town dumbass scratched the hood because he can’t behave himself.”

Baker laughed, tipping his head at me and flashing me a wink before he removed his cowboy hat and slid into the seat beside me. “Ann, beautiful as always.”

“Don’t hit on my girlfr—” Tripp’s voice broke off and Baker made a loud whoop noise.

“Woo, cowboy has got himself a girlfriend,” he teased, reaching past me to smack Tripp on the shoulder.

He winced, and I wanted to scold Baker for not being considerate of the fact Tripp still had lingering pain from his burns, but I also knew he wouldn’t want me to bring unnecessary attention to him.

I wasn’t sure if Tripp even knew he flinched when someone touched the shoulder where his skin grafts were.

“Whatever will all the single ladies do when they find out you’re off the market so soon? ”

“I’m sure Slutty McSlutterson over there would be happy to console them,” Reese grumbled under her breath, and I turned in her direction.

Even though she was quiet, Baker knew she was talking about him. “What was that Reese’s pieces?”

“Don’t call me that,” she hissed, clearly still hating the childish nickname that’d once followed her around.

“We’re going to have fun tonight, thundercloud,” he responded, leaning forward to look past me at my scowling sister. “Because you need a night out to shake that stick out of your ass. Unclench already. ”

Maybe I shouldn’t have volunteered to be their buffer for the evening. The tension between the two of them was a lot.

My sister leaned forward, aiming a glare so cold I felt a draft at Baker. “I’m about to shove something up your ass.” Her hissed growl had me biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

“Let’s not scar the kids with what you like to do to me in the bedroom,” he quipped, and my eyes widened as I shot my sister a concerned look.

She leaned back into her seat with pink cheeks, and I wondered if Tripp might have been correct earlier about the tension between Reese and Baker being sexual in nature. The real question was whether it was unresolved or if something had happened already.

“On that lovely note, where am I picking up Rhodes?” Tripp asked, shifting the truck into gear. I shouldn’t have found the fact he knew how to drive a stick attractive, but I shamelessly ogled the way his forearm flexed when he shifted the oversized pickup into first.

“He dropped Emi off at his moms for a sleepover after his shift, so he should be back at his apartment. Just head to the station, it’s only a few blocks away,” Baker replied, typing a text message out on his phone. Probably telling Rhodes to head to the fire station for us to pick him up.

Elias Rhodes had been a few years ahead of me in school, but he was the quintessential golden boy. Honor society, a three-sport athlete, volunteered at the senior center and had been wildly in love with his high school sweetheart.

I’d only seen him in the bar a handful of times over the last few years since he’d returned to Sage Springs, but the death of his wife, Jasmine, had changed him.

His five-year-old Emilia was the spitting image of her mother, and while I’d had a few classes with her in high school, we never ran in the same circles.

I couldn’t even imagine what his life was like. Thirty-three and back in his hometown, raising a kid by himself. Both his parents and Jasmine’s were still living in town, and I knew they helped him out a lot, but raising a kid alone had to be hard .