It Had to Be Him Read Online Free Page B

finish the paint job while she decided what she was going to do with her life. It was tempting to just pack up and go, but if she left the fence half-painted, they’d all accuse her of reneging on top of being a screwup.
    Too bad she had nowhere else to go. Given a choice it sure wouldn’t be Anderson freakin’ Butte.
    As she leaned down to flip the switch, a familiar voice rang out in greeting.
    Meg smiled as Pam, her hairstylist best friend who dressed like a hooker, made her way down the drive. Maybe Meg should point the nozzle at Pam and paint some clothes on her. But then, if Meg had a body like that, she’d probably want to show it off too. “Hey, Pam.”
    Her friend sashayed closer. Pam put so much bump and grind into her walk she should’ve carried her own pole. And she looked the part for the job: bleached-blonde hair, curvy body, and a man-eating smile. “Hey, Megs, glad you’re back. Heard you were going to open a lodge on the other side of the lake.”
    It hadn’t been five minutes since she’d left her father’s office.The Internet had nothing on the grapevine in Anderson Butte. “Well, uh, I haven’t really decided—”
    “Because I have a business proposition for you.” Pam batted her eyes.
    Someone should tell her that only works on men. Meg loved Pam like a sister but she had bigger problems at the moment. “I’m not really sure what I’ll do with the place yet. But I’ll keep that stellar idea of yours in mind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to paint this fence.”
    Pam blinked. “I haven’t even told you what it is. Come on, Meg. We’ve known each other since the first grade.”
    True. She was mad at her family, not Pam. “Sorry. Bad day. What did you have in mind?”
    A sly grin lit Pam’s face. “I offered this deal to your father, but we all know how shortsighted he is, right? This could be a way to stick it to him, you know? See, I’ve been taking an online massage class, and I—” Pam suddenly stopped and her eyes got all gooey. “Oh, hey, Ryan.”
    As mad at her family as Meg was, she could have kissed Ryan for saving her from Pam’s off-kilter idea. Pam giving massages in hotel rooms would surely get someone arrested.
    “Pam.” Ryan lifted his chin in greeting. “Need to talk to Meg. Excuse us?”
    “Sure. Stop by later if you’d like to help me with my massage homework. A body full of muscles like yours is hard to come by in these parts.” How Pam raised her chest and made her boobs suddenly swell larger was a mystery Meg didn’t want to solve. “We’ll talk later, Meg. Bye.”
    “See you.”
    Meg and Ryan stood in silence until Pam’s swaying hips were at the top of the hill. Meg turned and eyed her brother. “You and Pam?”
    “Nope.”
    Ryan, the man of many words.
    “Good. Now, thanks for saving me, but the only thing I have to say to you is—you all suck!”
    “Prove us wrong then.” He reached into his khaki uniform pants pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “For your new house. Utilities will be on in the morning.”
    Ryan pressed the keys to their grandparents’ house into her hand, then turned to walk back to his place. That he had been the first to say he had no problem with not getting his fair share of the house poked at her heart. “Thanks, Ry.”
    He didn’t bother to turn around, just lifted a hand to say goodbye.
    Meg stuffed the keys into her back pocket, flipped the switch on the compressor, and went back to painting the fence. Zeke was right—the paint shot out so fast she’d have the job finished in no time. Then she’d collect Haley from Zeke and go to the diner. She needed Aunt Gloria’s comfort food. And some awesome pie. Nothing helped a desperate girl think more clearly than Aunt Gloria’s chocolate mousse pie.
    When the compressor suddenly stopped working mid-squirt, Meg turned to see what the problem was.
    Casey stood with the plug dangling from her long, elegant hand. “We need to talk, Meg.”
    She dropped the