Easton frowned. “There wasn’t.”

“Nope,” she insisted, her hand flapping in his head’s direction. “There was definitely a motion.”

Across the living room, Bree edged toward Jessie. “Where’s the handheld?”

“Why are you whispering?” he asked her.

Bree pointed a finger Easton’s way. “Because he might move if I speak too loud.”

Maybe Easton should have dressed more, but they were lucky he’d remembered to bring pants along with him to the shower. He could have emerged in a pair of socks and a toothbrush. Wishing he could extract himself from the situation, Easton tried skirting River, only to find Bree standing there, handheld video camera at the ready.

“Bree, you can’t film him coming out of the shower.” River went up on her tiptoes, shielding Easton’s chest from view of the lens.

“But…”

“No, Bree.” River exhaled a sigh. “Those white fluffy towels. It’s so wrong.”

Glancing at the towel, then back at River, Easton couldn’t remember a point since they’d met where he wasn’t utterly confused. “I have no idea what that means,” he told her.

“It’s probably for the best.” River patted his shoulder. “Hey, since you let us crash here, breakfast is on me. I don’t cook, but I’m happy to buy you breakfast in town.”

“There’s cereal in the cupboard. Milk in the fridge.” Easton looked longingly at the bedroom door, wondering if he could get through the two women in the hall or if he should give up. “Use it up. It’ll go bad when we’re out there.”

“Don’t shipping costs make this like liquid gold or something?” Jessie asked, already digging into the refrigerator. He jiggled the milk carton at them.

Easton didn’t dignify that with an answer. Yes, it was more expensive to get certain things shipped to them from the lower forty-eight, but he’d had to listen to tourists poking and prodding at everyone for years now. The fascination over his milk costs to strangers never ceased to annoy him.

Distracting them with free food seemed to be the trick, because Easton was able to finally escape the trio and get himself a shirt. He returned to find them making short work of a massive box of cereal. As he stuck with toast and coffee, Easton glanced at River. She was watching him out of the corner of her eye, and when they locked gazes, she managed to look guilty.

Huh. That was new.

Suspicious, Easton narrowed his eyes at River. “What did you do?”

The woman was good. He almost believed her when she blinked innocently at him. “Nothing.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

River would make an excellent poker player, but Bree’s face split in a massive grin. She must have known they were outed, because River sighed. “Well…okay. You see, we kind of decided to add a bit more to the roll.”

Easton rolled his eyes. “You didn’t.”

“We had to.” River and Bree nodded in agreement. “The barn was too torture-y to resist.”

“My property, ladies. That film belongs to me without my permission.”

“Do you have any idea the kind of money we could get selling that footage for stock film?” Bree added. “We’ll cut you in, I promise.”

Groaning in exasperation, Easton closed his eyes.

“Are you counting to ten?” River sounded as suspicious as he had been. “You are not counting to ten, because I’m a grown-ass woman, dammit. You don’t get to count to ten when dealing with me.”

Easton opened one eye, then smirked at the flush of heat on her cheeks. “You’re cute when you’re riled up,” he told her in front of them because he could.

River’s jaw dropped open, then clamped shut.

Before she could decide what to say, Easton continued, “I have someone you might want to talk to. For your documentary.” Maybe this wasn’t the right thing, but as the trio turned their heads his way, Easton pushed on. “My grandma Ruby always loved this town, and she’s been here her whole life. She agreed to tell you stories, the kind of stuff most people don’t even know about. Dad was bringing her by his house for a visit today anyway. She gets bored in the nursing home.”

They all stared at him, silent.

Easton cleared his throat. “Only if you want. She agreed to talk to you, but you’ll have to ask her if she’s willing to be filmed. She’ll be at my dad’s place later.”

He’d thought maybe he’d offended them until he realized they were stunned into silence.

River’s eyes had widened. “You’re kidding me. No one will talk to us. I called around for months trying to get people to agree to interviews, and we got nowhere.”

“Yeah, everyone’s been jerks that way.”

At Jessie’s drawled comment, the two women murmured agreement. Easton leveled a flat look them. “Those jerks are my friends and family,” he reminded them.

River’s hand touched his arm. “Sorry, Easton,” she said. “That came out wrong. It’s been tough here.”

“Yeah,” Bree echoed. “I’m sorry too.”

With a snort, Jessie sat back in his chair. “Well, I’m not sorry.”

“Really, Jessie?” Bree rolled her eyes.

“I’m not. A kid threw his gum at me yesterday. Locks like mine and gum do not mix.”

Bree kicked him in the leg, ignoring Jessie’s yelp of pain. “He let us stay in his house last night, and we’re getting an interview. Maybe even on camera, so try not to be an ass.”

“It’s part of my charm,” he assured her.

“Is it though?”

The pair began bickering, which seemed to be part of a pattern for them. Maybe River was used to it, because she seemed to tune them out completely. Instead, she squeezed his hand.

“We’ll take your lead on this, Easton. I promise.”

River looked so sweet and innocent and completely capable of not causing utter chaos in his life. Easton drained his coffee.

He’d believe that when he saw it.

Chapter 7

   Seeing Easton soaking wet had officially destroyed River’s calm. All that long brown hair falling over his shoulder…all damp and Easton-y.

So Easton-y.

Even as she sat in an armchair across from his grandmother, River had to fight to keep her focus on Ruby Lou and not Easton, who was standing guard over her wheelchair, arms crossed and beard bristly. River didn’t think they’d done anything to put his back up, but it was hard to tell with him. He might have been standing there, thinking about cabbage rolls, for all she knew. Or maybe he thought they were being offensively invasive with his grandmother.