Page 15 of Hard Wood Daddy

The tree smashes right in front of us, crashing down on the hood of the Prius.

Something didn’t jump up from the road to dent the bumper after all. It fell from the sky. Phil was looking in the wrong direction.

A loud crunch and another jolt as the trunk rolls off the hood, onto the bumper, then crashes into the ground, emphasize the crazy reality of what just happened.

We’re both gape-mouthed inside the car for a long second in the shocking silence that follows, staring at the massive tree that nearly killed us.

Phil scrambles to unbuckle and stumble out of the car. “Nooo,” he wails in a high-pitched, childlike whine, clutching at his head. “My car! Mybaby!”

I clamber out with my heart galloping like I’ve just won the Triple Crown. We weren’t going that fast when we stopped, but there’s an ache across my chest from the seatbelt, and I can’t stop my hands from shaking. Adrenaline surges, and I have to hold onto the door to stay standing.

The damage to his car is ugly. The tree took off his whole bumper.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” I say. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

He flings himself over the dented hood of his car and keeps wailing. “My baaaby!”

The back of my neck prickles. I can feel that someone is watching me. As if I’m being pulled around by an invisible hand, I turn to look up the hill.

He’s there.

Rutger.

Somehow, in the days since we were last together, I’ve forgotten how enormous he is—and I remembered him being pretty big. He definitely could take on a Sasquatch.

And probably win.

His shaggy head gets lost in the branches. His wide shoulders can’t be hidden by a tree trunk. His fists—God, those hands—are clenched at his sides, flexing like they want to wrap around something.

Or someone.

Is he the tree feller? Because I was in the car with another man?

Don’t be ridiculous. Over you?

My brain refuses to accept it, but if it wasn’t him then why that tree, and why now?

The romance of it takes my breath for a second. God, am I that girl who gets all tingly and special feeling by making a man murderous with jealousy?

Until now, I wouldn’t know, but yeah, I nod to myself, I’m totally that girl.

The reasons for being in the car with Phil are totally innocent, but I get the feeling that doesn’t matter to my monster-mountain-man. Disapproval radiates from Rutger like a dangerous haze.

Possessiveness hardens his jaw.

I’m his. And he’s come to claim me.

“Are you okay?” Rutger barrels down the hill at an impossibly fast run for a man his size, ignoring Phil and keeping his eyes keened on me.

Phil jumps sideways as Rutger passes, but he quickly turns back to his baby. “M-my car,” he stutters. “It’s ruined! I was trying to be so careful. And now look at this.”

“Go back to camp. There’s a tow truck number in the office,” Rutger tells him. “Call them.” He looks me up and down, claiming me with a hard stare. “I’ll take Tess into town.”

Chapter 4

Rutger

Iget Tess into my pickup, and I think about keeping her there.

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