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“Oh! My kind of man.”
All three adults froze. Hazel looked from Bennett to Hunter—both of whom suffered pink-stained cheeks, Hunter’s standing out boldly against his beard.
Gemma turned to look at the trio standing in weird silence. “What?”
Bennett cleared his throat.
Hazel burst out laughing. “You’re eleven, Gem. You don’t have akind of man.”
Rather than looking embarrassed or put out, Gemma tossed him a sassy smirk. “You don’t know many eleven-year-old girls, do you?” She waltzed up to Hunter, dusted a paintbrush across his chest, and then danced her way to the stairs.
Hunter stood wide eyed, the paintbrush Gemma had pushed into his chest still held there with his own hand. “What on earth?”
“Heaven help me,” Bennett muttered. “I thought she was going to be the easier one.”
“Oh, Benji.” Hazel shook her head. “I told you. Putty. That’s what you are. Anyway, I’m pretty sure she was teasing. It’s fun to watch grown men blush.”
“Eleven-year-old girls should not know that.” Bennett scowled at her. “Did you at that age?”
“I was gutting small animals at eleven, Bennett.”
Hunter chuckled. “She also had a crush on Slater Hopkins, a senior at our school, when she was eleven.”
“What?”
Hazel ignored Bennett’s false outrage and shook her head at Hunter. “Every girl at any age in Elk County had a crush on Slater Hopkins when he was in high school.”
“I think I need to meet this Slater Hopkins.”
“Good luck. He’s out in California working as a stunt double.” Hunter shifted his attention to Hazel and smirked. “Last I heard, he was living with his boyfriend.”
Hazel shrugged. “He was pretty to look at.”
“Am I pretty to look at?” Bennett’s blue eyes danced.
“Must be. Hazel stares at you more than anyone I’ve ever seen.” Hunter walked toward the stairs and patted Bennett’s back. “Including pretty-boy Hopkins.” Then he turned and bounded up the stairs.
Bennett’s laughing gaze stayed pinned on Hazel. “Is he right?”
“I don’t stare.”
“Do you think I’m pretty to look at?”
Hazel huffed, grabbed the canvass bag of paintbrushes, and moved to head up the stairs.
Bennett caught her by the arm before she could charge by him. He leaned down and whispered, “I think you’re pretty to look at.”
There was no beating back the flash of heat that flooded her cheeks.
“And you’re right. It is fun to watch someone blush.”
“I didn’t say someone. I said grown men.”
“It’s fun to watch a mountain woman blush.”
Hazel tried with all of her might to frown. “I think flirting is a family trait.”
“Maybe so.” Bennett pressed a kiss to her cheek. “But just so you know, I reserve all of my talent in that department for you.”
