The Hometown Hoax (The Hoax Series)

by Heather Thurmeier

  He dropped to the ground and did one hundred pushups before standing and shaking out his arms. That would have to be good enough for today. Otherwise, he’d run the risk of missing out on other activities with the Cutters and he didn’t want that to happen. It was nice of them to invite him out for a family trip. Having the town’s founding family on his side would make it slightly easier for the other town’s people to accept him too, since he’d heard from Travis that some of them could be hesitant to welcome newcomers.

  Finding the cabin empty, he quickly showered and changed and was ready for the rest of the day in less than fifteen minutes. On his way back to the main cabin, he saw Travis headed toward one of the pickup trucks.

  “Where are you off to?” he asked, walking up to the driver’s side door.

  “Martha wants a bonfire tonight and there’s barely enough wood for the fireplace, so she’s sending me out to get some. Want to come for the ride?”

  “Sure. I’ve got nowhere else to be.”

  Logan hopped into the passenger seat and bounced around as Travis drove over the rough ground that made up the driveway. “How come we’re not chopping down a tree outside of the cabin?”

  Travis laughed. “You serious?”

  Logan sighed. Apparently he’d said something stupid. If he wasn’t such a city boy, maybe he’d have an inkling of an idea about what he’d said wrong. “I guess not.”

  “Sorry, man. Sometimes I forget how different it is to grow up in the city instead of somewhere rural.”

  “Wish I could forget,” he muttered under his breath. He didn’t want to be an outsider anymore. The whole time he lived in Manhattan he’d yearned for open spaces, the big outdoors, and a place where someone might actually care about him enough to learn his name and say hi. Now that he had a shot at getting that life, he couldn’t figure out how to fit in. Who knew it would be so damn hard?

  “I didn’t mean anything by it. I forgot you don’t know this stuff yet. No worries. We can’t cut down the trees around the cabin because if everyone did that, then we’d be camping in a pasture and not in a forest.”

  Logical. I’m a moron.

  “Even if we could cut down one of our trees, we’d have to season the wood, meaning we’d have to leave it out to dry for a long time. If you try to burn wood right after you cut it, you end up with a lot of smoke.”

  “Good to know. I guess I have a lot to learn about living here.”

  “You don’t have to know everything. People here are used to doing things the right way without asking. Pay attention and you’ll catch on quick.”

  “And if I don’t? What if I’m destined to be a city boy forever?” Logan asked. His voice held the tone of a joke, but he was serious.

  “Then we’ll have to run you out of town with pitchforks, of course.” Travis laughed before reaching over and punching him in the shoulder. “Relax. No one is that high-strung here. I managed to weasel my way in and you will too.”

  “Yeah, but were already used to small-town life, and you married a Cutter. That automatically makes you a member of the founding family of Cutter’s Creek. You got a ticket on the easy train. Somehow, I don’t think it’ll go quite so well for me.”

  “You never know.”

  “Yeah, how do you figure that?” he asked.

  “There’s still a couple of Cutter daughters who are unattached, and at least one of them thinks you’re hot stuff.”

  There was no doubt Travis was referring to Tessa since Mary had barely given him a once over since he met her. She definitely wasn’t interested in anything more than being friendly with her brother-in-law’s friend.

  Tessa on the other hand… At times she’d looked at him as if she were imagining touching every square inch of his body. With her tongue. The thought of her touching him, licking him, made his cargo shorts tight. Other times, she seemed surprised by something he’d said as if she thought he was another meathead without a decent thought in his brain. He was used to that stereotype and it was especially amusing when he got to crush it by showing his strength in smarts as well as muscle.

  Then there were all those times she looked like she was one second away from tearing a strip off him with her words, her anger spiking hot and fast. He might actually enjoy those moments the most. When she got fired up about something, her eyes sparkled and her body quivered slightly as if she were holding back a ton of pent up energy. Every time he’d seen that happen, he’d wondered what it would be like if she directed that energy at something else, like his body. Maybe she’d rip his clothes to shreds as she tore them off, then mounted him like he was a prize-winning stallion.

  A guy could dream.

  Regardless, she’d made it clear that she had a boyfriend and that’s all there was to it.

  “If you’re talking about Mary, I think you’re delusional. She couldn’t be less interested in me. And if you’re talking about Tessa, well then, you’re forgetting her ‘super serious’ boyfriend in the city.”

  “That didn’t sound jealous at all,” Travis said. He pulled the vehicle into a parking lot at the campground store and hopped out before Logan could defend himself. He wasn’t jealous of Richard “the Dick” stroker.

  He hopped out of the truck and leaned against it while he waited for Travis to pay, then they loaded up the truck with bundles of wood and jumped back inside.

  “I am not,” Logan said, hating that his tone made him sound defensive and thereby guilty.

  “You aren’t what? Hot for my sister-in-law? Yeah, sure, right.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I’ve known you long enough to recognize that look in your eyes.”

  “What look? There’s no look in my eyes. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That glint you get when you see something you like, someone you like. That gleam that always precedes you putting all of your energy into getting what you want.” Travis sounded so matter of fact it pissed Logan off.

  He did not get a look in his eye over a girl, any girl. Not a gleam and certainly not a fucking glint. And he most certainly didn’t get that way over Tessa, Tessa who had a boyfriend and an attitude the size of Canada.

  “Have you forgotten she hates me since I ‘almost killed her and ran her off a mountain’ the other day?”

  “She was grouchy, wasn’t she?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Well, I don’t think she still feels that way. I can tell. She’s over it. But…”

  “But what?” Logan gazed out the window at the passing trees so that hopefully his friend wouldn’t know how much this conversation was getting to him.

  “She might be over the accident, but I’m not so sure she’s over you.”

  What did that mean? Did he see something in Tessa that Logan didn’t? Something that would lead him to believe she might be into him. Did he want her to be into him?

  He stayed quiet the rest of the ride back to the cabin. As they pulled in, Tessa and Mary walked across the yard to a supply shed and grabbed a couple of long oars. The fact that she was currently in a bikini—skimpier than he would have thought was her taste, bright blue like the sky on a clear summer day, and so sexy he imagined taking it off with his teeth—was of little concern.

  He hopped out of the truck and began unloading wood. Pain shot through his foot as he unsuccessfully dropped a heavy bundle, missing the pile completely. He barely held back a string of profanities, not wanting the other Cutters to overhear him in case they weren’t the kind to do that sort of thing.

  “Smooth, bro. Real smooth.” Travis laughed and grabbed another couple of bundles out of the truck, tossing them to the side of the cabin with ease. “Just because you’re trying to avoid looking at Tessa doesn’t mean she’s avoiding you.”

  Logan glanced around in what he hoped was a casual way only to find Tessa eyeing him as he tossed firewood alongside Travis. He flexed more than he needed to while grabbing another bundle of wood, and h
e didn’t miss when she bit her bottom lip as if she were holding back a sigh. Now he saw what Travis was talking about. She did an awful lot of looking for a girl who was happily involved with the man of her dreams already.

  Suddenly her gaze met his and her expression turned startled, like a peeping Tom caught peering in a bedroom window. Whipping her head away from him, she bolted toward the lake.

  Interesting.

  Tessa shook her head then ran to catch up to Mary at the water’s edge. She hadn’t noticed Mary wasn’t at her side anymore when she’d stopped at the sight of Travis and Logan unloading firewood. His thick arms flexed with the weight of the wood as he tossed the bundles with ease, like coins into a fountain. Then his gaze had locked with hers and she’d suddenly realized not only was she alone, but also staring at Logan in a way that was all too suggestive. Damn it, she’d even been biting her lip to hold back a groan of pleasure. Men as hot as Logan should not exist outside of movies and romance novels.

  “Sorry about that. I, uh, tripped over a log and had to stop for a second.” Her excuse was lame but all she could think of with her cloudy brain.

  “Tripped over Logan’s big arms is more like it.”

  “That’s not even possible. He was unloading the firewood with Travis. Not that I noticed what he was doing or anything.” She snapped her mouth shut. A woman with a serious boyfriend did not ogle other men.

  “Sure. Whatever you say.” Mary took a squirt of sunscreen from the bottle then handed it to Tessa. “Better cover up good before we go out. The sun will be hot reflecting off the water.”

  “True. It’s beautiful out there. I can’t wait to be in the middle of the lake surrounded by nothing but peace and quiet.”

  “Sounds like heaven to me,” Logan said, walking up behind the girls. “Want me to get that spot between your shoulder blades. I can tell you missed it with the lotion.”

  Why did he have to come over here? Couldn’t she have two minutes without him in her space?

  “I got it, thanks.”

  “Actually, you don’t got it, but if you want to burn, that’s cool too. Your call,” he said, nonchalantly, spreading lotion up his arm to his shoulder. He worked the sunscreen in quickly then pulled off his shirt and started applying it to his chest.

  Hot. Damn. His chest was even better when a spider wasn’t threatening her life. She turned away. “Mary, can you get that spot on my back for me?”

  “I’m in the middle of doing my legs. Give me a few minutes, okay?”

  The sound of lotion squirting out of the bottle behind her made her turn back to face Logan. He smiled. “I promise I’ll be gentle. Besides, if I do yours, then you can do mine.”

  “I don’t think that’s appropriate since I have a boyfriend and all.”

  “You didn’t think it was inappropriate when there was a spider crawling down your back.” He winked as if remembering the moment in detail.

  He probably was. She was. Every single moment of being almost naked with him was burned into her memory, and she couldn’t count the number of times she’d already replayed the scene in her head.

  “He probably wouldn’t like you touching me,” she said. That sounded legit.

  “So he’d prefer you get a sunburn?”

  At least she had bottoms on this time, and she didn’t want to get sunburnt, which she was likely to on the best days. Being on the water for an hour would make it even more probable. “Fine. Thank you for offering.”

  Pulling her hair over her shoulder, she turned away. The second his hands touched her, her eyelids fluttered closed and she sighed. Damn, his hands felt good on her body. Firm and strong, yet his caress was so gentle it almost tickled. When his fingers slipped underneath the bow tied against her spine, her knees weakened.

  “That should do it. Can you do me now?” He chuckled. “I mean, can you put lotion on my back?”

  Why don’t we buy spray lotion? She put a dollop of lotion in her hand and rubbed her palms together, then paused before placing them on his back. You can do it. It’s only lotion. Simply one human helping another human so they don’t crisp in the sun. Heaven help me. She sighed and bit her lip.

  His skin was already warmed from the sun. Smooth and supple. As she massaged in the creamy lotion, there was no ignoring the tingles of electricity sparking in her fingertips and running straight to her girly bits. She did not want to feel this way. Not now. Not here. Not with Logan.

  Pushing the feeling aside, she quickly rubbed in the remainder of the sunscreen hoping she did it evenly. The last thing she needed was to do a shoddy job and end up having to slather his naked torso with cooling aloe gel tonight.

  “You’re all done!” she said with a chipper tone as she smacked him on the shoulder playfully.

  “Thanks. So what are we doing on the lake today? This is quite the oversized oar you’ve got here.” He handled the wood as if it were a thing of beauty, caressing the smooth surface with his fingertips.

  “Jealous?” she asked, smirking.

  He arched an eyebrow and she cursed her blunt remark. “Oh, no, sugar. I’ve got more than enough on my own.”

  Tessa’s pulse pounded and her breath quickened. “I didn’t mean…”

  Logan shrugged. “You did, but it’s okay. I don’t mind you questioning as long as you believe my answer. Of course, if you need physical evidence, you let me know, okay?”

  She cleared her throat and tried to ignore his comments and how they made her hotter than the sun beating down on her back. “Mary and I were heading out onto the lake.”

  “Sounds like fun. What do I need?”

  He didn’t think he was joining them today, did he? “We’re going paddle boarding. I don’t know what you’re doing so I don’t know what you need.”

  “You apparently lost your manners in the move.” Mary slipped off her sandals and stepped to the water’s edge. “We have plenty of gear. Go grab yourself a board and an oar from the shed.”

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” Logan strode off to the supply shed.

  Tessa instantly felt guilt wash over her again at being rude to him, but she couldn’t help it. She needed a break. “I thought it was just us today?” Tessa said, her voice bordering on whining. She wanted peace and quiet out on the lake, not Logan and his distracting body.

  “It was, but now it’s Logan too. And by the look of it” —she motioned to the cabin where the front door was clanking shut behind swimsuit clad Travis and Sally—“they’re coming too. This is a family camping trip, Tessa, not a girls weekend. And you shouldn’t be so rude to Logan all the time. He’s a nice guy who’s trying to fit in with the rest of us. How would you feel being on a trip where you only knew one person and someone there refused to accept you?”

  Tessa bit her lip and kept her mouth shut. Well, if the tables were turned and she was in Logan’s position, she wouldn’t like it, that’s for sure. “I’ll try to be nicer. I didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable.”

  “Besides, if you give him half a chance, you might actually find you like him.” Mary stepped onto her paddleboard, found her balance, and shoved off with her oar, drifting out a few feet into the lake.

  That’s what I’m afraid of.

  Chapter Six

  Tessa sighed. “Any day, big guy. It’s only a little paddleboard.”

  “I’m coming.”

  “So is Christmas.” She rolled her eyes at herself. Totally something Dad would say.

  He ignored her and gingerly climbed onto his board, separating his feet in a way that looked uncomfortable and ineffective for balancing on the water.

  “If you move your feet so they’re parallel under your hips and not forward and back, you’ll feel more stable.” She offered the suggestion then glanced around the lake. The rest of their group had already paddled off and somehow she’d been left to tend to the newbie. Lucky me. “Or you can start out on your knees. That’s how they teach kids at the beach.”

  “I’m not a kid and I’ll do it s
tanding up.” He shifted his feet cautiously as if he was worried about going in. He should be worried. It was common for beginners to end up in the water at least a couple of times on their first try. “If you can manage it, so can I.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  And Mary said Tessa was the one being rude.

  “Well, you don’t strike me as the most athletic person in the world.” He got his feet into position and slowly stood, arms out to the sides like he was walking a tight rope.

  “If you’re referring to the extra five pounds on my ass and boobs, you’re a dead man. I’ll drown you in the lake and claim it was a paddle boarding accident. Think long and hard before you answer.”

  He gripped his paddle in both hands as his gaze examined her areas in question. “Now I’m only making an educated guess here, since I haven’t had any hands-on experience, but as far as I can tell, your ass and boobs are perfect.”

  By the time he looked her in the eyes again, her entire body felt heated by his gaze. She should’ve known better than to say something like that. “I have a boyfriend,” she blurted out, as much a reminder for herself as for him.

  “So you’ve said. And does he think you have a little extra weight on your ass and boobs? Is that why you’re self-conscious about it? ‘Cause if that’s that case, I’d be happy to tell him what an asshole he is. I’m something of an expert on the human body, at least as far as healthy body weight and exercise is concerned, and I don’t see anything wrong with yours.”

  “No. Rich is fine with it. Me. My boobs.” Was she sunburned already because her face felt hot?

  “I thought he went by Richard.”

  Damn it. What difference did it make and why did he remember that? “I call him Rich.”

  He nodded, looking not at all satisfied with her answer. Too bad. That was the only answer she was giving him. The less she talked about her fake boyfriend, the more likely she’d be able to keep her story straight.