Page 12 of Second Chance for the Grump

Being in love with Rowan after everything that happened would be dangerous.

For my heart.

And I’d already put her in enough danger. Look where it got me.

Minutes flickered by, and the sky deepened into streaks of purple and pink as we walked through the carnival. A group of people stood in the middle of the walkway, and no one moving as we approached.

Rowan went left, and I started right to cut around the crowd when he grabbed my hand and pulled me with him around the left. My hand tingled where he touched it, both of us warm against the cooling night. And the strangest thing happened after we bypassed the group.

He didn’t let go of my hand.

I didn’t let go of his either.

Once we cleared the crowd, Rowan gave my fingers a quick squeeze.

Yeah, everything about this felt dangerous.

People waved at us, and I had to use my free hand to wave back.

“Maisey!” Fred from the local veterans’ group yelled at me from the curb between two carnival games. “You working the bachelor booth tomorrow?” He eyed Rowan hard and jerked his chin at us with a knowing smirk.

I shook my head at his antics, trying to hold back a smirk. “Not this year.”

“Well, tell your dad the pumpkins came in!”

“Bachelor booth?” Rowan asked.

I shrugged, not wanting to get into that. “It’s for charity.”

“Maisey, tell your sister the popcorn balls are a hit this year,” Stephanie from the bakery yelled, thankfully changing the topic from the charity auction.

I waved at her. “She’ll be happy to hear it.”

This town. There was something special about it. Even when the people here drove me nuts, it was one extended family. It always felt like this in October—warm and alive yet small and homey.

Rowan looked completely out of place in the middle of it.

And not just because he kept glaring at things as we passed.

He really was one big mountain man dropped into a Hallmark movie.

The only question was how it ended.

“Still hate crowds, huh?” I asked as he grimaced at two kids sharing a funnel cake.

“Yes.”

Our arms swayed together. “Then why did you come tonight?”

I’d promised him I’d be surrounded by people and perfectly safe, but he’d demanded to come along with me.

His gaze slid to mine. “Because you’re here.”

My stomach flipped so hard I had to stop breathing. What did he mean by that? Was it because he wanted to be with me, or he worried I’d end up kidnapped by my ex?

Why did I want it to be option one so much more?

We stopped near a game booth with a teenager half-heartedly stacking milk bottles into small pyramids.