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"What the hell are you talking about now?"
"You. You've got the charm of a rattlesnake. And that's when you're on your best behavior. Do yourself a favor and stay away from her as much as possible if you expect her to sell to you when she's ready to bail. If she gets a load of you and your winning ways, she may dig in her heels and stay if for no other reason than to keep the farm out of your grouchy-ass hands."
"You're a funny guy, you know that?" Luke shook his head at Jax while he envisioned impaling him with the business end of his pitchfork. "Why don't you take your show on the road? You and Jeff Dunham could pack the house. Of course, he has puppets. You got any puppets to go with your act? Oh wait. I forgot. You're usually the one with something stuffed up your ass and talking as someone else's mouthpiece, not the other way around." His hands waved in agitation as he advanced, and it gave him a gratifying surge of pleasure to see the other man dodge and weave. He knew Jax was only doing it to avoid the small amount of debris that was flinging off his gloves, but it was gratifying all the same. "I know, you can combine your acts and just go on as one of his. You ask me, I always thought you looked a lot like Peanut anyway. It's perfect."
"And there you have it." Jax started walking backward with his hands raised in the air as he spoke. "Exactly what I was talking about. Mean and grouchy as The Blues Brothers’s nun. Stay away from her Luke. I mean it. For your own good, keep your distance and if you ever cross paths, pretend you're a deaf mute. Trust me buddy; ten minutes talking to you and she'd probably sell to the Manson family before she'd see the farm go to you."
Luke considered trying his hand at javelin throwing, but Jax reached his car and was getting in by the time he finished talking. Luke settled for returning the other man's sarcastic wave with a hand gesture that, although immature, was still satisfying.
"What the hell does he know?" Luke asked Pansy as he grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and hefted the weight of it. He reflected on the last time a woman had come between them. “Bastard's the last person on earth I'd listen to." As he passed the placid, dewy-eyed, cow he nodded in her direction. "I'd sooner listen to you." Then he trudged to the waste pile out behind the barn to drop off the first of many loads that were on today's agenda.
Chapter 4
Logan Baxter was a gorgeous young man. Andie could see his father in him clear as day. Instead of the military crop of hair his dad sported, Logan’s black locks were longer on top in that messy, careless way that reminded her of the Seattle grunge scene from the nineties. Only, on Logan, she could tell his style was not artifice but rather incidental. He probably couldn’t care less that he looked like the modern-day James Dean bad boy. Andie bet he set every female pulse racing within a fifty-mile radius.
When Andie realized the neighbor Jax had referred her to was Luke, she almost didn’t call. Honestly, she never wanted to see that insufferable man again. But when she thought about all Jax had told her regarding Logan and how much he already worked here, she knew she couldn’t hire a different ranch hand. It would be a slap in the face. Now, as satisfying as it would be to slap his father, Logan was innocent, and she just couldn’t do something so underhanded to a kid.
“You know, I may be your employer, but you are the one who’s going to have to train me.” She smiled at him and wrinkled her nose as she lifted her hands in a helpless gesture. “I haven’t pitched in around here since I was a kid. Even then, I only did the jobs Uncle Wally assigned me. I don’t have a clue what all the chores are here on a daily basis.”
“That’s cool.” Logan shrugged with his mumbled words as he sipped the cola she’d given him earlier. They were seated at the ancient dining room table going over his hours, salary, and job description. The longer his list of duties got, the more Andie wanted to pay him.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t hire another field hand, Logan?” she asked as he kept remembering things for the daily to-do list. “This seems like a lot of work for just two people.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” Another shrug. “I mean, it’s your place, your money, so if you wanna hire on another dude, it’s all good but I can do all this no problem even if you don’t pitch in.”
“Well, of course I’m going to pitch in,” she assured him. “But if you say we got this, then I’ll take your word for it.” Deciding to put words to action, Andie pushed back from the table and stood. “How about we start now? You can show me what needs to be done in the veggie garden.” She smirked at him good-naturedly. “Since I’m the boss, I’ll leave the septic inspection to you.”
“It’s no problem. The system here is old, and Wally had me giving it the onceover monthly as long as I’ve been helping out. I’m used to it.”
Andie cringed comically and won a reluctant smile from the stoic young man then followed him out the door to begin.
By six o’clock that night,Andie was so sore and exhausted that she feared she wouldn’t have the energy to make it up the stairs.
“C’mon, girl.” Standing at the foot of the staircase, Andie looked up and thought to herself that it must have grown throughout the day, because right now it looked like so many stairs even Rocky Balboa would be daunted. “Sure, it’s longer than it was this morning, but you can do it. One step at a time.” Lifting her leg to the first step Andie whimpered like a sullen toddler, since there was no one around to hear and think less of her. It felt like there was not just a fifty-pound weight attached to her foot, but her thigh and ass muscles burned like they were on fire. “Okay, that wasn’t so hard. See?” she blatantly lied to herself. “You can do this. Youhaveto do this.” The next step was even more excruciating, and the one after that too until Andie seriously considered giving up. The second story seemed farther away than ever, and she contemplated just sleeping on the couch—filth and all. “Get over yourself. Sheesh!” she muttered, then digging deep, she powered up the next three steps with gritted teeth and a two-handed grip on the bannister.
The Charlie-horse hit her in the ass like a gunshot. Andie went down instantly with a sharp cry as the left side of her back end bunched up like it was literally twisting into a knot. The pain was bright and hot, and as her right hip and shoulder landed hard on the steps, Andie’s left leg trembled in an uncontrollable spasm. Crying, she tried to rub at her tush, and Andie was horrified. The cramp was so severe that it felt like her ass was made of marble. Her fingers didn’t have the strength to work at loosening the muscle, and as the spasms continued to worsen, she wondered if it was possible to die from a muscle cramp. Right now, she sure felt like it was.
“Shit! Andie, what happened?” Through the pain and tears, Andie saw Luke drop whatever it was he was holding and bolt for the stairs.
She opened her mouth to tell him she’d be fine, but then another wave hit so strong it shot her body into an involuntary arch as an agonized cry tore from her throat.
“Oh fuck. Here. Let me….” Luke knelt on the step next to her, and Andie realized pain overrode pride. Under normal circumstances, she’d be mortified for him to see her filthy and sprawled out like this after the way he treated her. Right now, she couldn’t care less and only turned her head into her arm to muffle her cry as he grabbed a handful of her ass. “Holy shit, that’s a bad one. Shh,” he soothed when she barely managed to muffle a scream as his strong fingers dug into the unrelenting flesh. “I know it hurts. Hang in there. We’ll work it out.”
Andie cried as flames burned through her bottom like a wildfire and radiated down her thigh. She muffled them as best as she could, but in all her life, she’d never hurt like this, so if he wanted to judge her and think she was a wimpy city girl, he could go right ahead.
“Damn, Andie, this is the worst cramp I’ve ever seen. Your muscles are getting torn to shit.” Luke adjusted closer and gave her a worried look. “I’m going to really put some pressure into it. Hang on, ‘kay? This is gonna hurt like a bitch.” Andie didn’t think it was possible to hurt more, but she nodded and closed her eyes.
She was wrong. It was possible. The pain intensified to nuclear levels as Luke kneaded her ass like it was bread dough. It was an eternity in hell before he spoke. “There we go. That’s better now.” Even as he said it, Andie felt the agony subsiding and breathed a small sigh of relief.
Just when she thought she was out of the woods however, the cramp came back for an encore, and her whole body shuddered as the pain redoubled and lanced through her like a lightning bolt.
“Fucker.” Luke’s mutter exactly matched her sentiment as he dug back in, and Andie didn’t know what was worse, the cramp or the massage to relieve it. It was an agonizing ten more minutes before he was satisfied that she was safe to try moving. “Here you go,” he told her in a sweetly gentle voice that was a stark contrast from the muttered curses he grumbled as he worked on her. “Just put your arms around me. I’ll carry you up the rest of the way.”
Pride and her vanity returned now that the pain had receded. “Oh, please.” She wiped at her tear-streaked and dirt-smudged cheeks. “I’m grateful you came when you did. So grateful. But you don’t have to carry me. I’ll just sit here for a minute until I can work up the courage to try again.” She meant it as a joke, hoping it would lighten the mood; however, he looked anything but light.
“How much did you do today?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused by the anger she could sense coming off him.
