AllFreeNovel
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“Might as well plan to live here. Kentucky is going to steal your heart.”
She had a terrible feeling a part of Kentucky already had. Each time she looked into Matthew’s eyes, she felt as if he was stealing another part of her soul.
“It wouldn’t be hard to do. I’ve only been here three days, and I feel more at home than I ever felt in Ohio and Indiana.”
“Must be me.” He grinned.
Alanna laughed at his shameless flirting. “No, it’s the fishing.” Alanna picked up her fishing pole as if it was the most important thing in the world that she caught a fish.
“You suck at fishing.”
She lifted her eyebrows at him. “Excuse me? Where are the whoppers you caught? I’m not the only one fishless.”
“Fishless?”
She shrugged. “You know what I mean.”
“The fish aren’t biting because the water is cold. The fish are going to the bottom of the pond, where it’s warmer.”
“Then, why have we been wasting our time?”
“I couldn’t think of another way to get you to go on a picnic date with me.”
Alanna met his eyes. “This is a date?”
“Yes, for Kentucky, it’s a normal first date.”
“Really?”
“Well”—he grinned—“it is when your date has to wear an ankle monitor.”
Alanna embarrassedly looked away from him. He had only been joking with her, like he did with the rest of his family. During the two dinners she had spent with him and his family, he had been constantly joking with them.
Matthew tugged on a lock of her hair, making her return her eyes to him. “I even took a picture of our first date.”
She wasn’t going to fall for his joking a second time. Reaching for a plastic baggie of marshmallows, she popped one into her mouth with a disbelieving look.
“I did,” he insisted.
“Show me,” she called him out.
“All right.” Matthew picked up his cell phone. Swiping his finger across the screen, he turned the phone to show her.
She burst out laughing. He must have taken a picture of her when she had tried to put her first worm on. She had thought he was putting his on, too. Instead, he had taken a picture of her.
“That’s not fair. Delete it.”
“Heck no. When we’re fishing buddies at the ripe old age of one hundred, I can show you this picture and remind you that your fishing hasn’t gotten any better.”
“That’s cruel.”
“No crueler than the torture you inflicted on that poor worm.”
“I pretended it was Greer,” she shamefully confessed.
“You’re bloodthirsty, woman.” His grin widened. “I like it.”
Alanna giggled then wanted to smack herself for sounding like a teenager. Embarrassed, she reached for another marshmallow, only for Matthew to take it out of her hand.
