The Hometown Hoax (The Hoax Series) by Heather Thurmeier Page A

apparently the meddling apple didn’t fall far from the busy-bodied tree.
    “Deal?” He inched forward slightly and her breath caught in her throat at his nearness. He was even hotter up close. There was something so sexy about his confident ability to take charge of the situation.
    She licked her lips while finding her voice, never taking her gaze from his. “Deal.” The word was barely out of her mouth before his lips were on hers again. Heat rocketed through her body making her toes tingle with desire. His kiss was deeper, needier than the first, and she wanted more.
    A few seconds later, Logan broke the kiss, his chest rising and falling with quick breaths that matched hers. He looked at her for another few moments then stepped away and went to lay on his bed as if nothing had happened.
    Her head spun as if she’d drunk an entire bottle of wine. Walking back to her bed, she felt in a fog. Not wanting to show him or admit to herself how much she’d been affected by his kiss, she picked up her book from the nightstand as casually as she could and mindlessly stared at the pages, flipping once in a while to look as if she were actually reading.
    Somehow, in an odd twist of fate she hadn’t seen coming, she no longer had a fake boyfriend but instead now had a very real crush on the sexy man lying a few feet away. A man who recently moved to the town she couldn’t wait to leave.
    This couldn’t be good.
    But that kiss had been anything but bad.

Chapter Nine
    L ogan poured a coffee to take with him back to his cabin. Being in nature was amazing, but he could do with a few comforts from home. His smoothies were something he rarely went more than a few days without. Coffee was great quick energy, but after a good workout like the one he’d had this morning, he could use the sustained energy his protein-enriched smoothies would’ve offered.
    “Anything on the schedule for today?” he asked Martha.
    She paused her organizing of the pantry momentarily to answer him. “Joe and I might head out on the lake for a bit. James mentioned running into town to check on Tessa’s car.”
    “Tessa and I have plans to hike up to the lookout,” Mary said from the adjoining room. “You’re welcome to join us. Of course, you already got a workout by the looks of it, so maybe you don’t want to hike up a mountain too.”
    “Sounds like fun. When are we leaving?”
    “Half an hour. Tessa was packing a backpack and then meeting me here.”
    “Great. I’ll rinse off quickly and grab my stuff.”
    He left with his coffee, walking as fast as he could without spilling it. A hike up the mountain with Tessa sounded great. Although it would be better if they were alone, he’d take what he could get.
    Last night had been a good moment between them. Finally, he knew that she was single and when they were in private she wouldn’t pretend that she wasn’t. She’d be real with him, and he couldn’t wait. Their kiss was the tip of something more, something amazing.
    He wished she didn’t have to pretend to be in a relationship around her family either. All that made him want to do was hang out in their cabin constantly. But he also wanted to explore the area, hang out with Travis and the rest of the family, and enjoy everything that camping had to offer.
    Like Tessa in a bikini on the paddleboard.
    If only they’d had their conversation about her fake boyfriend before that moment. He definitely wouldn’t have let her off his board so quickly. He would’ve kept her there, between his legs and in his arms, asked her more questions about her life, and gotten to know everything about her.
    As the door to the cabin swung open, he glanced around the room, but Tessa was nowhere to be seen. Setting his cup down on his bedside table, he stripped off his clothes and walked naked to the shower. As the water warmed, he shaved his morning scruff. He might be in the mountains, but he had no desire to look like a mountain man. Stubble he could