Page 26 of Honeymoon Phase
“What is going on with you?” I ask, giving him a light shove.
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you acting like it’s totally normal for you to compete today? You’ve never shown any interest in lumberjack stuff before. In fact, I think you had some choice words for lumberjacks at my house several weeks back.”
Luke shrugs dismissively. “Things can change.”
“Why not tell me though?” My brows furrow as I stare up at him. “Why keep it a secret?”
Luke’s eyes narrow ever so slightly as his gaze moves from my eyes to my mouth and then back to my eyes. His lashes are impossibly long, and I feel mesmerized by them for a moment before he says, “You said you were looking for a lumberjack husband.”
“Yeah?” His brows quirk, and I burst out laughing. “That’s what you’re doing? Competing to be my fake husband?”
The humor drains from his face slightly as the muscle in his jaw thumps under his beard. “Nothing about this is fake.”
My mind reels with the serious look in his eyes. “Is this why you’ve been too busy to hang out this past month? Have you been...” I glance down at his arms that are putting in a really good shift inside that flannel. I reach up and squeeze his bicep, my insides clenching at the sheer bulk of it. “Have you been training for this?”
“And what if I was?” he asks, taking a step closer to me and causing me to lean back from his intense body heat.
“Then I’d say you’re absolutely crazy, man,” I reply with a laugh, letting go of his arm and stepping away for some much-needed air. Surely, he didn’t do all this for me. He must have had an interest in this stuff before I ever brought it up.
Right?
“It’s not crazy to want to be there for a friend.” Luke’s voice is curt and businesslike, but when his eyes drop back down to my shirt, they twitch with something I can’t quite decipher. Whenhe looks back up at me, the corner of his mouth tugs back into a smile. “And I guess I’m hoping third time’s the charm.”
Luke begins walking backward away from me, turning on his heel with that swift swagger of his and my eyes blatantly drop to his ass as he goes.
What in the actual fuck is happening?
Chapter 10
Fact or Fiction?
Lumberjacks can fuck right off.
Luke
Split me like a good girlis on repeat in my head as I grip my axe and set up for the wood chopping competition taking place in a few minutes. I glance down the line of twenty other lumberjack contestants standing in front of their stumps. We’re to cut through a two-foot-wide tree truck section starting on one side and then switch over to the other side until it’s cut fully in half. My research showed that good lumberjacks can get this task done in under a minute. In my practice sessions, I never beat ninety seconds.
I guess there’s a first time for everything.
And with the simmering irritation I feel over Roe and her shirt and the fact that some of these lumberjacks have possibly split her like a good girl... I have a feeling I could crush this competition.
“Woo-hoo, Luke!” a voice calls from the distance and I look up to see my sister-in-law Cozy cheering for me. She’s next to Max and the rest of my family who are currently occupying two full rows of bleachers. There’s Max and Cozy sitting by each other with Ethan standing on his seat, then Calder, Dakota, my mom, Wyatt, Trista, and little Stevie. My insides damn near melt when I catch sight of Stevie dressed in a flannel shirt with a matching stocking cap.
God, if I could pull a win out on my first competition, thatwould give me all the momentum I need to take me through the rest of the day.
Let’s fucking go.
My eyes scan the crowd for Roe and when I see her sitting beside her dad, I feel every muscle in my body come to life. She smiles and waves at me as I prop my axe on the ground. Without hesitation, I hold her eyes as I spit into both of my palms before rubbing them together to show her how serious I am. Within seconds, she’s no longer smiling.
She looks bothered.
Good.
That makes two of us.
“Addison!” The lumberjack next to me yells her name, tearing our eyes apart. I look over to see him waving enthusiastically.
