He's a hot farmer with commitment issues. She's been in his friend zone since kindergarten. It'll take a little Mudville crazy to knock them out of their comfort zone...

CASH

In first grade, I teased her relentlessly. In fifth, when I realized girls might be good for more than torturing, she was my first real crush. And by the end of tenth grade, when her braces came off, the curves filled in and she figured out how to tame that mop of red hair, I was completely in lust with Red Meyer.

That didn't mean I stopped teasing her every chance I got. It was our way of communicating. But Red gave back as good as she got. It was one of the things I liked best about her.

Ten years later we were still "communicating" through jabs and jests and I was happy with our relationship. Then it happened. Carson Bekker, Mudville's own deputy sheriff, asked Red to dinner. And she said yes.

I'd always planned on getting around to asking her out myself, one day, when I was ready to settle down. I figured I had time. Amazingly I, Cash Morgan, was wrong. That doesn't happen often but it sure did this time.

Carson swooped right in and walked all over my unspoken claim on Red. Now I have to up my game before it's too late.

That's fine. I know her better than he does. Better than anybody. She's not going to fall for dinner dates or flowers. That's not Red.

What is? What am I going to do to win her back? I can't exactly tell you that, since it might involve my stealing some livestock for her. I can't ever let that boy scout of a deputy sheriff know about that.

But l do look forward to rubbing it in Carson's face when I apprehend the petty thief plaguing Red's shop before Mudville law enforcement does. And oh boy howdy is Red going to love me after that. As I said, Red is an unconventional woman. It's what I love about her. I just have to get up the nerve to tell her...

RED

It figures . . . I went my whole adult life with a crush on Cashel Morgan. Since we both graduated from Mudville High—Go, Hogs! But I never got out of the friend zone with him. Until now. More than a decade after graduation.

And why is Cash interested in something more now when he never was before? That’s the most annoying, frustrating, exasperating, ridiculous part. It’s all because another guy asked me on a date.

No doubt about it, Cash Morgan is going to drive me insane, if I’m not already there. Because in the middle of my personal drama in what was formerly a non-existent love life is the fact something wonky is happening at my store. Things going missing. Things being moved.

My friend Harper thinks it’s a ghost. Our friend Bethany thinks I’m just forgetful.

I’m not sure what I think—about any of it. The strange happenings in my shop. My date with the hot deputy investigating the oddities in my store. And especially not Cash.

All I know is that with all the craziness that’s happened around Mudville over the past six months, starting with Harper moving to town and her discovery of all the town’s secrets stashed in Agnes’s attic, we’d all better start to expect the unexpected.

Welcome back to Mudville!

If you read KISSING BOOKS, you've already met Red, the sweet and sassy red headed Main Street shop owner and Mudville native who befriends Harper, the city girl misplaced in a small town upstate.

RED HOT is a laugh-out-loud romp through the small town of Mudville featuring a love triangle one overworked shopkeeper never expected or wanted, a middle sibling who discovers he might possibly love someone else more than he loves himself, a mystery involving a very coveted missing cape, an estate sale full of clues, a surprise stranger—or two—no one saw coming, the quirky Mudville characters you’ve come to love, and some of the most adorable baby animals ever.

If you want more of Red, Bethany and Harper, and especially Cashel Morgan, one of the three hot brothers from Morgan Farm you met in Kissing Books, don't miss this steamy standalone laugh-out-loud read!

Cat Johnson