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“You had Logan over here to work the farm and do the heavy stuff.” His voice had a steel undertone to it that she found intriguing. Instead of reminding her of the way things ended for them that fateful night, it reminded her of the way they started.
“I did. He was here all day.” In contrast to his tone, hers got lighter in hopes of defusing the frustration she could sense simmering just under the surface. Although, for the life of her, she didn’t know where his frustration was coming from. Or why she cared.
“Then how do you explain this?” he asked, motioning with one hand over her body.
“Well, he did the hard stuff. I just pulled all the weeds from the garden then churned the soil in the compost pile, and then….” She trailed off at the incredulous look on his face.
“Andie, you’re coming straight off a desk job. You aren’t in shape for this kind of work right out the gates. Not by a long shot. You can do serious, long-term damage to your body.” He shoved up as he spoke and marched out of sight toward the kitchen. If Andie had the physical ability, she would have followed, but since she was pretty sure her butt was broken, she settled for craning her neck as far as she could in hopes of glimpsing his whereabouts.
“I don’t have to ask you if you drank enough water today; it’s obvious you didn’t. Here.” He reappeared as quickly as he vanished and shoved a bottle of water in her hand as well as a banana he must have snatched from the fruit bowl on the table. “You need water and potassium. Do yourself a favor and get some good quality vitamins, okay? And keep up with these.” He tapped the banana in her hand. “They will help more than you’d think.” As she just sat there holding both and staring at him like a simpleton, he took the bottle from her and opened it. When he handed it back, he took the fruit and peeled it halfway before giving that back too. “C’mon. Bottom’s up. Finish both and then I’ll help you the rest of the way.”
“I don’t know if I’m more grateful or embarrassed. Or confused as to why you’re here,” she prompted after a healthy swig from her water.
“No need for either of the first two. I’m glad I showed up when I did.” He regarded her with amusement now. And, unless she was way off, embarrassment of his own. “And as for why I showed up when I did, I had some papers I wanted you to take a look at. Now, don’t go blowing up on me, but I was gonna talk to you about selling. See—”
Andie was sure her eyes turned red and steam started pluming out the top of her head. Otherwise, she had no explanation for the speed with which Luke snapped his mouth closed.
“But that can wait.”
“You’ll be waiting a long time on that, Baxter.” She was torn. Losing the farm after he’d had his heart set on it for years had to be hard on him. Andie knew also that if they hadn’t had any history between them, she’d feel a whole lot worse about it. She glanced out the window as she tried to focus on that and his current savior status and leave the rest out of it for now.
When she looked back at him, she caught him eyeballing her from head to foot with his lips compressed as if he was trying hard not to laugh at her.
“I know. I’m a hot mess.”
He smirked. “Nah, you just look like you put in a full day’s work.” When she gave him the skeptical look that lie deserved, he chuckled and added, “Or maybe a full day of mud wrestling wild animals.”
“I thought so,” she said with a sigh and took a big bite of her fruit. Now that she’d taken one bite, she suddenly realized she was starving. Famished even. And Andie made short work of her snack as Luke looked on with a smile that made her wish this situation had happened when she was showered and wearing anything other than the grungy jeans and the dirt-smudged tee she was draped in.Oh well, she thought as she took another swallow. So the hottest guy she’d ever known was seeing her at her worst—that was just her luck. Then she reminded herself that she hated him anyway and not to spare his opinion of her another thought.
* * *
Luke tried very hard notto let his thoughts show as he regarded his new neighbor. When he’d come by to drop off the papers for her to look over and saw her writhing on the stairs, he’d been panicked at first. Afraid she’d been attacked or taken a bad fall, or who knows what. All he knew was that the level of fear he felt was way out of proportion, considering their rocky past.
Of course, he thought,I can always let that asshat Jax handle this, if things get too sticky.He hated the man, but she apparently was keeping him on as her bookkeeper, so he could always just communicate through him. Although, it was a tossup on which was the worse option.
Andie moaned and arched. As the ass he’d been massaging for the last half-hour lifted while the curve of her back deepened, Luke’s mind emptied. She was delectable. His hands flexed at his sides as he fought the urge to take what he wanted. He mentally kicked himself for what felt like the millionth time over that night. He wasn’t a guy who lived in the past or wasted time on shoulda, woulda, couldas, but he’d spent more time regretting his actions that night than he had almost anything else in his life.
She was obviously still hurting, and all he could think about was how great she felt under his hands.Get it together, Baxter.
“Okay.” Andie smiled, charming him with the smudges of dirt on her nose and cheek. “That’s better. I think I can make it into the shower without serious bodily injury now.” She set the mostly empty bottle down with a decisive plop. “You game?”
“God, you’re cute.” He smirked, her entire face showed how surprised she was at his compliment. Eyes as round as a doe’s, her eyebrows disappeared into her bangs and her pink lips made a perfect O. “Yeah. I’m game. Let’s go slow though. C’mon.” Luke decided the best course of action was to not give her time to respond. Just keep moving and let her think about the fact that for them, the games had changed. He barely caught her when her leg buckled as soon as she put weight on it.
“Shit!” he said as his arms banded around her. “I got you. Hold on to me.”
“What the frick?” she exclaimed, and her middle-school-approved curse brought a chuckle from him. “It was just a cramp. A cramp from the pits of hell. But still, just a cramp. Why?” Then her words trailed off as she turned to face the steps.
“You do realize that cramps can do serious tissue damage if they are severe enough, right? And yours was pretty severe.”
“Okay.” Andie took two deep, huffing breaths. “Okay. I can do this.” She glared up the stairs like they were an opponent to be destroyed. “That which doesn’t kill me and all that jazz, right?”
“Right.” Then, because if she got any more adorable, he’d have to do something about it, he urged her up the next step.
“Holy fucking Jesusss! You gotta be fucking kidding me!” And there went her middle-school manners.
Luke was glad she was loud and concentrating on watching her feet; she couldn’t see or hear him chuckling. He tried biting his lip to keep from grinning anyway, just in case she looked back and caught him laughing at her. She had a white-knuckled grip on each railing and was pulling herself up while he took shameless advantage of the situation to put his hands on her butt again and pushed.
She cussed her way up to the top landing with enough imagination and gusto that even he was impressed.
