Page 8 of Inked By the Mountain Man

Liv

Keanu likes me. The realization should make me feel smug. Instead, it makes me nervous in a way I haven't felt since I was sixteen. Flirting is easy when the stakes are imaginary. It gets a lot harder when the quiet, tattooed man you've been teasing starts looking at you like he might actually want something real.

This is both thrilling and inconvenient. Because now I can't stop thinking about him.

At the winery, Lex catches me smiling at my phone. "Who?"

I immediately stop smiling. "What?"

"Who's the guy?"

"No guy."

"You're smiling."

"People smile."

"You don't smile at spreadsheets."

"Maybe I've developed a passion for accounting."

Lex looks horrified. "Are you sick?"

"Go away."

Lyra walks in. "Why's she smiling?"

"Guy," Lex says.

Lyra's eyes light up. “Who?"

"No one."

Lana looks up from the tasting counter. “Keanu."

I nearly drop my phone. Three heads turn toward me.

"What?" Lex says.

I glare at Lana, and she shrugs. “You've mentioned him six times."

"I have not."

"You said his name in your sleep last night."

Lyra gasps.

"You shared a room?" Lex asks.

"No! Lana stayed over because she didn't want to be alone." Lana grimaces at my words. "Sorry."

."It's okay." Lana gives me a soft smile.

Lex folds his arms. “Keanu Reed?"

"Don't."

"He's thirty-three."