Read Online Stick in the Mud Meets Spontaneity (Meet Your Match, book 3) by Rachael Anderson - Free Book Online

because I didn’t want to hoof it back, no pun intended.”
    Even after all she’d been through, Samantha still had a healthy dose of spunk. Colton appreciated that. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll be taking the mustang back first thing tomorrow.”
    “Why?” She tried to twist to look at him, but her face pulled into a grimace of pain, and she quickly turned back.
    “That’s why,” Colton answered, his jaw clenched tight.
    “But Kajsa—”
    “Will understand.” After today’s episode, Samantha would probably crawl into that yellow Bug and speed out of here as fast as she could. There would be no more riding lessons, no more wild, purple hair or toned legs, and no more unexpected comments that would make him laugh like he hadn’t laughed in a long time.
    Colton hadn’t exaggerated about all the stories he’d heard about Samantha. They had piqued his curiosity. He’d always wanted to meet the girl who’d strung a clothesline between her house and the one across the street, creating a make-believe world where two young girls became secret agents, charged with decoding mysterious secret messages that would come in through the window. The girl who’d buried Kajsa’s cut-off hair in the garden after Adi had cut it too short, promising that planting it would make Kajsa’s hair grow faster. The girl who built snow caves and painted them to look like fairy houses.
    Even before Colton had actually met Samantha, she’d inspired him. And now that all those stories had been personified in a living and breathing, beautiful body, Colton was reluctant to let her slip away. Maybe it was selfish, but he didn’t want to just hear about those stories, he wanted to be in them.
    “What’s that?” Samantha pulled on the reins to make Nutmeg stop and pointed to a run-down little log cabin, set back about fifty yards from the road.
    “We call it The Shack,” Colton said. “I’m in the process of fixing it up so I can move in.” Not that he’d gotten very far. Colton had spent a few hours there the previous evening, mostly filling up garbage bags and setting out mouse traps.
    “You’re serious.”
    “Yep.”
    “That is so cool.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “Can I see it?”
    “Um…” Colton thought about the warped wooden floor, the dust-and-cobweb covered windows, and all the dead mice or rats that were undoubtedly “lounging” around. Even dirty and purple-haired, Samantha didn’t belong in that cabin. Not yet anyway.
    “Oh, come on,” she said, pulling on his hands to try and steer Nutmeg toward it. “It has an aura of mystery and neglect—a place where old and interesting stories hang out.”
    “And spiders,” added Colton.
    “Spiders?” Her fingers stiffened over his, and Colton smiled.
    “Big, hairy, spiders. They look like tarantulas on steroids with fangs.” Okay, so maybe that was a little overkill because she was yanking on the reins again, apparently not buying any of it.
    “Not that way, Nutmeg. This way.”
    With a sigh, Colton fed the reins through her fingers and showed her how to gently guide the horse to the right. Nutmeg followed immediately.
    “I would have known how to do that if you’d taught me some of the basics,” Samantha said.
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    They stopped in front of the house, and Colton slid off the horse, then carefully helped Samantha down. She immediately walked to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.
    “Is it locked?”
    “Sort of.” Colton slammed his shoulder into the wood, and it flew open with a loud creak. Everything about this place either creaked or squeaked. It was old. Very, very old.
    Samantha grinned. “So that’s how you lock doors around here.”
    Colton eyed a nasty, flattened mouse in a nearby trap. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t keep the critters out.”
    “Okay, that’s gross.” She had a stronger stomach than he’d expected because the sight of all the dead rodents didn’t keep her from