Hooked on You by Kathleen Fuller (hot novels to read .txt) 📕

theway to the trail Hayden had mentioned and remembered it was more of a hiking trail than a running one, although Riley hadjogged on it when she was younger. When she pulled into the vacant lot by the woods, Hayden was already there, dressed inred shorts and a plain white T-shirt.

Riley’s nerves kicked up as she got out of the car, but then she reminded herself of what Mimi had said. Enjoy yourself. Still, she wanted to give Hayden another warning.

“Remember, I’m slow.”

“You keep saying that, and I’m going to keep telling you that I don’t care.” He grinned and walked over to her. “Nice eveningfor a run. What do you think?”

I think you’re sexy. Yikes, she almost said that out loud. It was bad enough she was trying not to be obvious about checking him out. She didn’tneed to enjoy herself that much.

“It’s very nice,” she managed to say, tucking her thoughts back in her brain.

They started to jog at a slow pace, neither saying anything. The canopy of trees provided good shade as they jogged. She couldfeel herself getting breathless, but it felt good. She missed running in beautiful places like this.

Soon Hayden spoke. “Aren’t you interested in what I wanted to talk to you about?”

She nodded, ducking under a low tree branch. “I am, but I was waiting for you to start.”

“You really aren’t pushy, are you?”

“Nope.” She glanced at him. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“Hardly. That’s one of the things I like about you. You give me space. Lately I think I’m the one who’s been kinda smothering.”Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he said, “This morning I told my parents I want to buy the store.”

Riley halted, her chest heaving slightly. “You really went through with it. What did they say?”

“At first they were surprised, of course. Then they told me about their other buyer, which I already knew about. Dad saidhe and Mom would talk it over.” He frowned. “It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. How about we walk the rest of the way?”

Riley smirked. “Don’t tell me you’re wimping out now. We’re only halfway through the trail.”

He flashed a grin and dashed off. She laughed and headed after him. It didn’t take long to catch up to him, mostly becausehe wasn’t running that fast, and she was running at close to her top speed. Then they were even and started to match paceagain.

“I’m surprised your parents even have to think about it,” Riley said as they fell into a rhythm.

“See it from their side. All three of their sons had established careers. No one expected me to come back to Maple Falls,much less want to buy the store. They had been making plans for a couple of years now, working slowly toward retiring. Oncemy brothers and I had decided on our own paths, they knew the store would eventually have to be sold. I’m still not crazyabout them not telling me, but I understand.”

A thought occurred to her. “I know you said last night that you want to buy the store, but are you sure it’s not because you’refeeling pressured to?”

“Because of the other buyer?” She nodded, and he said, “Not even a smidge. I’m fully committed to doing this.”

The woods led to a small meadow, and the trail wound around the edge of it. When they hit the clearing, Riley looked at thehorizon and halted. Some of the clouds that covered the sky earlier in the day were spread around the sunset, and the viewwas stunning, the warm rays lighting up the wild, green meadow grass. Tiny wildflowers carpeted the field, and the beautyof the scene reached into her soul.

Hayden stood beside her and didn’t say anything for a moment. “What are you thinking about?”

“My grandparents. Wildflowers. The sunset.” She sighed and whispered to herself, “Good things.”

He took her hand, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. They both remained silent, taking in the sunsettogether.

“We’d probably better head back,” he said after a few minutes. “I ran on this trail in the dark once and nearly broke an anklewhen I tripped over a tree root.” He let go of her hand and moved away.

That was a first. Usually she was the one leaving him. But she didn’t mind. She glanced at the meadow one more time beforefollowing him.

They finished their run, and when they reached their cars, Hayden opened the back passenger-side door and pulled two waterbottles out of a small insulated cooler. Riley had her own water bottle, but she accepted his. After they took a long drink,she said, “I’m not sure why you wanted to tell me about the hardware store tonight and not when I saw you this afternoon.It didn’t take you that long to explain what happened.”

He tugged on his collar. “I, uh, wanted to see you again.”

Riley huffed, then moved closer to him. “Sneaky, Hayden Price.”

“A little. You have to admit we both had a good run and a nice talk.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, we did. But . . .”

“But what?”

“There has to be a consequence for your action.”

He started to back away, half grinning. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

Before he could get out of reach, she stood on her tiptoes and dumped the rest of her water on top of his head.

“Whoa!” His eyes grew wide. “That’s cold!” Then he grinned and took a step toward her. “And refreshing.”

The teasing glint in his eyes told her she was next. “No, you don’t,” she said, turning to dash off.

But he grabbed her around the waist, holding the water bottle above her head. Then he stilled. Droplets dripped from his hair,running down the side of his face and cheeks. One landed on the top of his lip, and she couldn’t resist wiping it away.

He held her close to him, water poised above her head, for what seemed like forever. At any moment he would dump the wateron her. Her heart slammed in her chest. Why didn’t he? She was