Chapter 3

“Yeah, I know. I’m the sad embodiment of a city boy plucked out of his natural habitat. But it’s not as pathetic as it sounds, I promise.”

That makes him chuckle. “No?” He sets the axe on the ground, leaning it against the chopping block, then takes a couple steps closer to me. A breeze blows through the clearing, wafting his scent in my direction. Fresh sweat from a man doing manual labor. I’m one second away from swooning. Or falling to my knees and licking him.

I snap out of it, shake my head, and launch into an explanation of the map app, the GPS, my stupid phone, and its dead battery, and every word makes his smile wider, and when I’m done, he’s laughing.

“It was a decent plan,” he says. “Needs tweaking before next time, though.”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “Don’t tell my boss, please. He wouldn’t be happy that his star project manager didn’t manage Project Mushroom properly.”