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Beyond the neat grass were woods and just as I was about to turn back, I heard a soft but distinctive sound of someone chopping wood. I followed it, cursing under my breath when the heel of my shoe sank into the grass with every step I took.
The noise took me through to the woods until I came to an opening which looked like an open-air woodwork station. That’s when I saw him. He had to be Cameron. Tall, broad-shouldered and deeply tanned.
My eyes followed the ripple of his arms as he raised the axe and brought it down with a loud thud. He was shirtless and clearly a man who spent his time outdoors, and not basking in the sun. Working. I imagined tracing each of those cut lines with my tongue.
An ache rolled through me and settled between my legs.
God. I’d not felt that way about a man, let alone a stranger, in a long time. He must have sensed my presence or heard my quick breathing, because he turned around abruptly.
He stood staring at me, axe in his hand, and a frown etched across his masculine face, as if at any moment he would swing that axe at me. If Dorothy had not mentioned he had a good heart, I would have turned around and ran to my van as fast as my heels would let me. My legs carried me closer. I realized I was waiting for him to say something.
His tightly muscled, broad chest gave off vibes of great strength and protection. It made me instantly think of resting my head against it, even if just for a moment, but when I moved my gaze up to his face and his icy blue eyes, I almost gasped. There was no warmth or kindness there. Just a barren space of terrible coldness.
“What do you want?” he asked abruptly, the frown on his face intensifying.
For a few seconds, I couldn’t speak. A sudden chill hit my core. I couldn’t believe his rudeness. No hello or any form of politeness. He couldn’t be the good-hearted Cameron that Dorothy had referred to. There was nothing good-hearted about the ruggedly handsome man glaring at me.
“I brought your order from the grocery store,” I said automatically.
“Leave it at the front door,” he instructed coldly, and turned his back to me. I watched dumb-founded as he raised his axe in the air and continued chopping as if I wasn’t fucking there.
For a few seconds I was so stunned by the way he had so rudely dealt with and dismissed me I just stood there staring at him. Even though I wanted to say something, I couldn’t. He wouldn’t hear my voice above the noise of the axe meeting wood, anyway.
Grinding my teeth, I turned away and made my way back to the front of the house. My breathing returned to normal when I entered the van. What was the matter with him? And why did he live here all alone? I answered the last question myself. With that kind of attitude, who would want to live with him?
What a first impression!
I moved my hand to the ignition key, but I was shaking too much to turn it. A fresh wave of anger went through me. If I was honest, I would have admitted it wasn’t just the way he treated me that had affected me so much. It was the way I had responded to him that bothered me, but I wasn’t being honest right then.
I turned all my focus to fuming at him.
He wasn’t going to speak to me like that. How dare he? That was not the right way to treat people. Maybe no one had ever told him that. Well, that was about to change right now. I got out of the van again, propelled by righteous anger and indignation.
I marched back to the woods wishing I’d worn sneakers as my progress was slower than I liked. The sound of chopping wood had gone and it was silent, except for the sounds of insects and nature.
He had obviously heard my clumsy footsteps because he stood staring at me. The axe was now leaning against the trunk of a tree.
“Maybe no one has ever told you this, but you are a rude human being,” I said.
His gaze seared me, moving down my body before returning to my face. A hint of amusement pulled at the corners of his mouth, incensing me further. “You’re right. Nobody has ever told me I’m rude, but then again, I’ve never had someone walk onto my property and stand there, gawking at me, saying nothing either.”
He had a deep, authoritative voice that distracted me from my anger for a second. “I was not gawking.” Maybe I had been. The man was super hot, after all, but I wasn’t about to admit that. As a matter of fact, my cheeks flushed when I remembered the insane way my body had reacted to him.
“Don’t you have any more deliveries to make?” he mocked, “Or are you paid to stare at random men you come across in the woods?”
I pointed a finger at him. “You—” But I was at a loss for words. I hated his guts, but he was right. Ihadbeen staring at him, and still was. In my defense, he honestly was the most physically tempting male I’d ever come across in my whole life.
I tore my gaze from the intriguing V line that ran down until it disappeared down the low waistband of his jeans. I shook my head. In my state there was no getting the better of him. Embarrassed and still deeply furious with him and myself, I whirled around, and without another word, marched to my van.
This time for good.
Chapter Two
Cameron
I craved a cup of coffee at the end of the shift and not just any coffee. I wanted the kind that Joe’s coffee house in town made. I hated going into town and rarely did, but good coffee beckoned. I had just done a shift, hiking with visitors. It was not too bad. None of them had wandered off and gotten lost.
As I parked my Jeep in front of the coffee house my gaze moved to the grocery store next door. I’d thought of that woman more than I liked. She’d even invaded my dreams. Savannah. I’d found out her name from Dorothy when I passed by to check if there was anything they needed.
