Page 24 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies (Men of Medford #4)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Asher

I couldn’t stop looking at Riley.

There she was, standing behind that ridiculous Matchmaker Hot Cocoa Booth like some kind of holiday fever dream. Fairy lights dripping from the trees, the twinkling catching the ends of her hair, wrapping her up as a damn present nobody deserved but everyone wanted to unwrap.

She looked flustered. Pink-cheeked, maybe from the cold… or the fact that three custom hot chocolates sat in front of her like a sugar-drenched bachelor lineup.

Mine was a glitter bomb. Beckett’s was some dark and broody spice thing. Garrett’s probably tasted like existential dread in a mug.

Subtlety? We’d never met her.

Watching Riley try to play it cool? That was the best part.

Her fingers curled around a cup—mine, hopefully—and she took a sip. Paused. Tilted her head. Then laughed.

And I felt it. Like a hit of whiskey to the chest. Warm, sharp, way too easy to get drunk on.

I was halfway to her when a hand clamped down on my arm.

Lucy. Great.

She had that look in her eye.

“Hey, Lulu,” I said, loading my voice with charm. “You good?”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” I asked, hands up, acting all innocent.

I wasn’t. I never was.

She stepped in close, voice knife sharp. “Don’t play with her, Asher.”

That hit me square in the gut.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She gave me a look like she could see straight through the bullshit. “Yeah, you do. I saw how you looked at her. You are not to mess with Riley.”

I actually took a second.

Lucy wasn’t dramatic. She didn’t do warnings unless she had to. And right now, she looked ready to drag me across the town square by my ears.

“I’m not playing,” I said.

No smirk. No wink.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen you with girls before.”

“I’ve never been with her before.”

“She’s still learning how to breathe again,” Lucy warned. “She’s been to hell and back. I won’t let her get hurt again. Not by anyone. Especially not by you.”

That one stung. Because yeah, I’d earned the reputation.

The charming one. The safe bet. The guy you had fun with but didn’t get serious about because he never stuck around long enough to make it real.

I looked back at Riley. She was laughing with Sadie, marshmallows in perfectly chaotic piles, whipped cream smudged on her nose.

“I’m not the guy you think I am,” I said, maybe too quickly. “Not anymore.”

Lucy folded her arms. “You are that guy. But I think you don’t want to be.”

I let out a dry laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. “Shit, you sound like a therapist.”

“I’m Riley’s best friend. I know when she’s faking okay. And I know how she looks when someone’s getting under her skin. She doesn’t blush that way for just anyone. And I know that glittered-up hot chocolate disaster was yours. Come on, Asher. I’m your sister. I know your flavor of chaos.”

She didn’t even clock Beckett’s or Garrett’s efforts. Small miracles.

I looked back at Riley again. Now she was mock-arguing with Sadie about marshmallow symmetry as if it was life or death.

And somehow, it was the most beautiful damn thing I’d seen in months.

“I’m not screwing with her,” I said again, quieter. “Didn’t exactly plan this.”

“No one ever does,” Lucy said. “But you need to figure it out. Fast. Because the way you look at her? That’s not casual, Asher.”

I opened my mouth. Closed it again. Nothing came out. Because, hell. She wasn’t wrong.

Something had shifted.

The cabin. The storm. That night.

The look in Riley’s eyes when she’d let the walls drop. The silence between us that never felt empty. It had all done something to me. Opened a door I hadn’t even known was locked.

But I wasn’t the only one feeling this, and I definitely wasn’t the only Wolfe throwing cocoa at her like bait.

Still, I scoffed. Reflex. “It’s only hot chocolate.”

Lucy gave me a look so long and so unimpressed I almost felt bad for her.

Then she leaned in and said, “If it’s just hot chocolate, why does your whole damn face light up when she smiles?”

I had no answer for that.

Didn’t matter. She didn’t wait for one. She patted my shoulder and said, “Figure your shit out, Wolfe. Before someone else does. Or before she runs straight back to LA.”

Then she was gone, vanishing into the crowd like she hadn’t just handed me a ticking emotional bomb.

I stood there a long beat, Lucy’s words louder than the carolers warming up by the tree.

Damn it. Lucy was right.

Something in me lit up when Riley smiled. Like someone had opened a window in a stuffy room. As if I’d been walking around half alive and didn’t realize it until she laughed and pulled the air back into my lungs.

It wasn’t supposed to happen.

We’d talked. It seemed clear.

But that was weeks ago. Weeks of silence. That should’ve been enough of an answer.

And yet…

Shit, I needed a distraction. Maybe it was time for a little chaos.

That , at least, I was good at.

There was a particular kind of joy that only came from watching Riley Brooks get dragged into small-town nonsense against her will. Especially knowing where she’d come from.

Right now, she looked like she’d been ambushed by a cupcake mafia.

“Riley!” two of Aurora’s book club kids shrieked as they zipped past the cocoa booth. “They need you for the pie-eating contest!”

I casually leaned against the booth and took a long sip of cocoa and smirked. I’d bribed those kids and Harriet Cooper to make sure Riley’s name made it onto that contestant list.

“Oh no,” Riley said flatly.

“Oh yes.” Sadie Collins laughed, already filming her reaction. “I think you might win it!”

I caught Riley’s eye across the clearing and gave her my best innocent shrug.

She mouthed, “ You didn’t.”

I mouthed back, “Maybe.”

Her glare could’ve melted snow. This was exactly the sort of mischief I needed to take my mind off everything.

“I swear to God, this town needs cable,” Riley muttered as she was ushered into place.

The contestants were the usual suspects: Todd Rivers, bartender at Lucky’s , who was still undefeated; Morgan Hayes with fire in her eyes; Colt Marsh, grinning as if he was on a dating show; and Garrett, already rolling up his sleeves, preparing for war.

Beside me, Lila sidled up with Jace strapped to her chest. “ You put her in this, huh?”

“Technically, I just suggested it to the right person,” I said, sipping smugly.

“You’re evil,” she said, clearly delighted. “And she’s going to destroy you.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s hot.”

“You’re worse than Colt.”

“Rude,” Colt called from the stage, face already buried in his second pie.

Riley, to her credit, gave it her all.

By pie three, she was cherry-stained and wild-eyed, muttering curses.

Aurora Bennett and baby Evie were in the front row, cheering. Ethan, Owen, and Mason Grady stood behind her like a security detail. Mason held up a glitter sign that read “Cherry or Bust.”

“She’s gonna puke,” Ryan noted calmly beside Lila, arms crossed.

“She’s gonna win,” Jaxon said at the same time.

“Should we place bets?” Adam asked, handing Kai a cider. “I’ve got twenty on Morgan, but Riley’s got that vengeance glow.”

“That’s the pie rage,” Kai grunted. “Don’t mess with pie rage.”

Meanwhile, Beckett walked past the stage, held up a sign written on the back of a napkin, and deadpanned, “You got this, cupcake.”

I nearly lost it.

That was not like Beckett at all. What had happened to him? To all of us?

Riley saw the sign and choked on a cherry, which let Morgan take the win by half a crust.

Riley dropped back into a hay bale, cheeks flushed, eyes wide, lips stained red, looking like she’d barely survived an ambush by the Fruit of the Loom mascots.

I snagged a towel from George Cooper and made my way to her as she wiped cherry goop off her cheek.

“You were magnificent,” I said, crouching beside her. “Sticky, but magnificent.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You bribed children.”

“Only slightly.”

“You’re the worst.”

“And yet,” I leaned in, just a little, “you’re still here.”

She didn’t say anything. Just stared at me like I was some puzzle she hadn’t quite decided whether to solve or smash.

That look? It did something to me.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she said softly.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re seeing something that scares you.”

I swallowed hard. “Maybe I am.”

She blinked. Her breath caught. And for a second, I thought maybe she’d lean in.

Instead, she threw the towel at my chest and marched off.

Everyone laughed. I stayed kneeling, towel in hand, stupid grin on my face.

Fuck, I was in trouble.

Then came the dancing.

The string quartet kicked in near the gazebo. Slow, sweeping, romantic enough to give a guy cavities, and the cobblestones were full within minutes with couples swaying like they’d been dropped into a snow globe.

I hung back. Hands shoved in my pockets. Watching, as always.

Because if I got too close, I’d do something stupid. Like cut through the crowd and pull Riley into my arms with the whole damn town watching.

She looked unreal. Hair a little wild from the wind, cheeks flushed from laughter and sugar and whatever the hell she was feeling tonight.

There was a softness to her, the kind that snuck up on you. The kind that made it hard to breathe.

Garrett danced with her first. Of course he did. Smirking like he wasn’t completely into it. Except he was. His hand rested a little too comfortably on her lower back, like he didn’t plan to give her up anytime soon.

Then Beckett stepped in. Said something that made her blush deep enough, I felt it like a slap.

I turned away, jaw tight. Pretended not to see Lucy watching me from across the square, arms folded, daring me to make a move. Or a mistake.

Then Mason Grady cut in, spinning Riley as if he was auditioning for Dancing with the Stars . She laughed loudly, and Evie clapped from Aurora’s arms.

Ethan and Owen grinned from the sidelines like they’d seen this movie before and knew how it ended.

Ryan. Colt. One after another. Colt dipped her low enough that Lila almost chucked a marshmallow at his head. Riley came back up breathless, hand on her chest like she couldn’t decide if she was dizzy from the spin or the way he smiled at her.

Still, she hadn’t seen me .

Not until Jaxon stepped aside and, with a look that said he knew exactly what he was doing, nudged her straight toward me.

And just like that, she was standing in front of me.

Everything else? Gone. Muffled. Distant. As if someone hit mute on the rest of the world.

“You gonna make me ask?” she said, breathless, teasing, holding out her hand.

I didn’t answer. Just took it.

The music shifted into something achingly slower.

Her hand slid into mine. Her other hand landed gently on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her waist like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It wasn’t. It was terrifying.

Her eyes lifted to meet mine. A little unsure. A little steady. It seemed she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if now was the time. Or if she even should .

And honestly, in that moment, time suspended.

I never wanted it to end.

But of course, I couldn’t hold onto her forever. By the time the music sped up, Samantha was ready, spinning between us, grinning wildly and stealing Riley away with a dramatic twirl.

And just like that, she was gone.

Out of my arms. Back in motion.

I stood there with my hand half-outstretched, caught in a song that didn’t belong to me anymore.

Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. I watched as Riley laughed, spinning into the crowd. Like she belonged here . This could have been just another scene in some picture-perfect romcom.

And I was the one watching from the sidelines.

Again.

But there was someone else who caught my attention, too.

Lucy .

She was dancing. My sister, dancing. And not just with anyone.

Nate Harper.

I nearly choked on my own spit.

They weren’t doing the awkward shuffle, either. No, they were close. Real close. Her hand was on his chest. His mouth was near her ear.

She laughed at something he said and tilted her head back, eyes sparkling.

What the hell.

My brain did a hard reboot trying to process it. Lucy wasn’t a flirty dancer. She was a glare-at-you-until-you-left-the-floor type.

But here she was, grinning widely, while Nate, Lila’s terrifyingly serious older brother, looked like he was ready to take a bullet for her.

I narrowed my eyes as they started drifting to the edge of the square. They paused near the food stalls, said a few polite goodbyes to whoever was watching, and then…

Yep.

They slipped away. Together.

I blinked.

“Did Lucy sneak off with Nate Harper?” I muttered out loud.

Harriet Cooper, standing beside her husband with a candy cane in hand, gave a knowing little hum. “Told George weeks ago those two were circling like hawks. Finally snapped.”

George sipped his cider and muttered, “About damn time.”

Well, that was great. Fantastic, really. My sister was off doing who knew what with a Harper, and I was here alone, watching the girl I couldn’t stop thinking about get twirled around by half the town like some kind of fairytale princess.

Tonight just got really interesting.