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“Really?” She studied the monster evergreen on the drive’s opposite side. “I mean, I’m already here. If you want it gone, say the word. Just remember, once it’s down, I can’t put it back up.”
He nodded. “Go for it.”
“All right, then. Stay back, we wouldn’t want Louie to get an unexpected haircut.”
She stepped away from them, retrieving her chainsaw as she went. Del’s movements were smooth, practiced. The confidence he’d seen in her actions last night was even more pronounced today, but rather than be intimidated by it, Isaac felt an invisible tug pulling him in her direction. This wasn’t just loneliness—it was attraction, plain and simple.
An attraction he shouldn’t act on, not with the massive dark cloud currently hovering over him.
She sawed through a thick outer branch and watched it fall, then bent to drag it out of the way. Man, did she have a great butt. Connected to a killer set of legs. Legs like that would look even better wrapped around—
Isaac looked away. Whether inspired by loneliness or an unexpected attraction, these thoughts were doing him no good. It’d be best to just let her do her work and go. Safer. Louie dropped his rump onto Isaac’s foot with a whine, as though reading his owner’s thoughts.
“Totally off limits,” he whispered to his deaf dog.
Del finished downing the other bush in a matter of minutes, then paused to drag an arm across her forehead. “I’ll swing back by and pick these up later if you don’t mind. Chase is gonna be needing his chainsaw back soon.”
“Chase?”
Ah, so she did have a boyfriend. Del skirted the fresh pile of downed branches and started toward him, tugging her sunglasses free as she approached. Those bright-blue eyes taunted him anew.
“The other half of Oak Barrel Farms. I play in the dirt, grow and order fresh inventory, and do the books. He does the more physical stuff, like delivery and setup of our bigger jobs. Oh, and the web stuff. I donothave the patience for technology.”
Pathetic as it was, hope lit in his chest. “Not the kind of person who’s glued to the internet, I take it?”
“Pfft, no. If it’s not a power tool, I can’t be bothered.” She took a handkerchief from her back pocket and dabbed at her hairline.
“Oh, come on. You look like the kind of person who spends all day on Twitter and Instagram.”
“Yep, that’s totally me.” Del rolled her eyes. “Not. Heck, do people even Twitter anymore? I thought Brooklyn said TipToe was all the rage now.”
He chuckled. “You mean TikTok.”
“TipToe, TikTok. It’s all just a bunch of people trying to get attention.”
Amen to that…
“Anyway, I’ll give you my number. Just text to let me know when would be a good time to come back for the branches.” She pulled a business card from her back pocket and handed it to him. “I’m not sure what my evening’s going to look like yet—still waiting to hear on the bookstore’s prognosis.”
“Oh, yeah, how did it go last night?”
She sighed. “Well, let’s just say it was hot, wet, and exhausting.”
Isaac looked away on a nod.Mercy, woman.
“But the leak finally stopped, and my aunt’s got someone coming out today to assess it all. Keeping our fingers crossed it’ll be a quick fix.”
“Definitely. And hey, thanks again for taking those shrubs down. I feel so much better not having to worry that something’s going to come crashing down on me when I leave.”
“Sure, no problem,” she said, loading the chainsaw into her truck. “And we can work on the rest of the cleanup maybe this weekend, after the ground’s had a little more time to dry out.”
“Sounds good. How long do you think it will take?”
Del closed her tailgate and paused to scan the long ruts in his yard. “Depends how cooperative those ruts are. A day, maybe two?”
“That’s all?”
He should have been happy to hear that. Pleasantly surprised, even. Instead, Isaac felt like he was about to be thrown into solitary confinement again.
