Page 9 of Grump

“I can’t help but feel a little bit like history is repeating itself.” Jess nods her head, taking this all in stride. She opens her mouth to speak and closes it. We sit there for a few minutes while she gathers her thoughts.

“Do you blame yourself?”

“Me?” My eyebrows shoot up. “For what?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.” Her shoulders raise a little, showing off the slightest hint of cleavage. I have to train my eyes not to look.

“I guess I’ve considered that I just wasn’t enough for her. In a lot of ways, she got what she needed from other people, and I didn’t really play a role in her life.”

“It’s not your fault.” Jess lets out a long sigh, gazing out at the waterfall. “It’s easy to get caught up in it, and I understand where you’re coming from. But we all make choices, and honestly.” She licks her lips. The continuous rush of water fills the silence between us. “I’m nothing like her.”

“No?” I ask.

“This is a job, Luke. Yeah, I have to post a lot, even sacrifice some of my own autonomy for it, but I didn’t go to college. I don’t have a skillset to fall back on. For me, this is it.” I nod, suddenly understanding her situation. She leans in a little closer. “And honestly, I like what I do. It’s fun, and something tells me someone like you could use a little more fun in your life, too.”

She raises a dark brow, challenging me. “Oh, I know how to have fun.”

“Yeah?” The corner of my lip curls up. “Prove it.”

I stand, then slowly help her up. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t challenged me, Jess.” Her eyes light up, and I realize how fast my heart beats just being around her.

ChapterSeven

Jessica

“This is your idea of fun?”I tease, picking up the ax. “I can do this in the city!” Luke hulks over to me. His shoulders are so massive I can barely believe they’re real.

“Not like this, you can’t.” He takes the ax from my hands, and I move out of the way—wayout of the way. His blue eyes narrow on the tree in the distance ahead of him. His biceps flex as he raises the ax over his head. The amount of muscle this man has is alarming. He releases the ax. It goes flying through the air and lands just off-center of the red bullseye painted on the tree in front of him.

“Damn!” He mutters.

“Close, but no cigar, Mountain Man.” I tease. Overhead, trees shade the afternoon sun.

“You think you can do better?” He turns to me, and my knees turn to mush. Call me crazy, but after his little honest tell-all by the mountain, my urge to crawl him like he’s my own personal tree has increased. I want to throw myself at him, so he knows I’m interested.

But is he interested in me?

I head over to the tree, use my foot as leverage, and pull the ax out of its bark. “Hell yeah, I can do better.” I lie. There’s no way I can do better than that.

“Be my guest.” Luke spreads his arms wide and moves out of the way so I can take my turn. “This is dangerous, you know?” I stall for time. “At least at an actual ax-throwing place they’re all about safety so no one loses an eye.

“I’m all about safety.” His hands go to his hips. I know there’s a six-pack lurking underneath that t-shirt. “Have you gotten hurt since you’ve been with me?”

“No,” I admit.

“Hell, I even saved your ass out in the woods.” I open my mouth to object, but he keeps talking. “So I’d say you’re actually better off with me by your side.”

Did he just say that out loud? Heat rises to my cheeks. To say I haven’t imagined what it would be like to live here, like this, with him would be a total lie. Not that I’m seriously considering it, but sometimes the brain betrays you.

“Whatever,” I mutter and take a starting position. I should’ve warmed up. My shoulder pops as I rear back.

“Keep your eye on that target.”

“I know what to do, Luke.” In my periphery, I see him raise his hands in defeat. Hell, he’s almost even smiling.

I silently count down from three and release the ax, praying it comes somewhat close to the tree. To my surprise, it hits nearly the exact same spot where Luke’s ax landed before. “Holy shit!” I scream, jumping up and down. “I did that!” I squeal, pointing at the tree. “I can’t believe it.”

Luke’s face twists. “Hell, I can’t either. I wasn’t even sure you’d make it to the tree.” Leaves crunch underfoot as he heads toward the target. I follow behind.

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