5. Charlie
CHAPTER 5
Charlie
I can’t believe I just had a physical fight with Max. I’m trying to play it cool by dancing around the kitchen to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” while I stir the takeout soup. But deep inside my soul, it feels like my sock is falling off. I am not okay.
I can’t believe he actually tried to drag me out of this house. Or that I bit him. Or how hard his abs are. Or the fact that he made sure I landed on the couch instead of the hard floor when I did my little roll off his shoulder.
And then we sat there and practically snuggled while he talked on the phone, and it felt nice to be held.
And now I don’t even care if Nash told him that I could stay or not. I’m staying. This is an all-out war.
He was going to throw me out in the cold. Actually, worse than that, he was going to make me stay in a freezing-cold, toilet-less house while he sat all cozy by his warm fire, eating my soup.
And now, because of his boss, he’s forced to play nice and let me sleep in his house with him—I mean, sleep under the same roof as him, not with him with him. But whatever it is that has made him so angry at me, it’s not my problem. I am no longer going to apologize for myself. I’m not going to apologize for taking up space. I’m going to take one from Ilona Maher’s playbook. I can be confident in who I am. I’m not going to make myself less for any man anymore. That’s only ended with them leaving me anyway.
Just because I threaten his masculinity doesn’t mean I need to shrink myself.
He’s sitting there in the recliner, his face completely stoic. He’s tapping his fingers on the leather armrest like a grumpy grandpa. “What are you going to fix first on the house?”
“I don’t see how it’s any of your concern.” I pass him a bowl of soup with a spoon in it.
“It is if I want you to fix the pipes first so you can get out of here,” he says. He lifts the bowl a little. “Thanks.”
I smile warmly at him and take my own sweet time walking over to the couch with my bowl of soup. He’s so adorably confused, and that’s the way I intend to keep him. I sink down and stretch my legs out onto the cushions. Jim jumps up right away, and Larry scooches closer to rest his chin on my legs.
“You dogs are such traitors,” Max mutters to them as he stabs his spoon into the soup. He holds a bite in mid-air, studying it as though it might kill him. “Did you make this?”
“‘Make’ is such a loose term. Did I warm it up? Yes. Did I chop the vegetables and chicken? No. The nice people at the Pine Star Cafe made it and sent it in a to-go jar. I thought it was adorable that they sent it in a glass mason jar.” I stare at Jim, whose mouth is an inch away from my bowl. “Get down, you little stinker.”
His face falls as he jumps off my legs to sit next to Larry.
Max takes a bite of the soup as though, now that he knows I didn’t make it, it’s safe.
It’s awkward silence while the two of us eat soup loudly, glaring at each other and listening to Jim’s tail thump on the wood floor while he waits for one of us to realize he deserves his own bowl of soup.
I reach out and pat his head. “I like you, buddy, but you can’t have my soup.”
“Do you have a dog?” Max practically grinds out. If this is his attempt at starting a conversation, he’s not doing a good job.
“I thought about stealing my ex-boyfriend’s dog.”
Max chokes on the bite of soup he just put in his mouth. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. Is that why he’s your ex?”
I make a face at him. “It’s the only reason I stayed so long.” Not true. I stayed that long because I wanted a relationship to finally work.
“Yeah, I’d imagine anything over two weeks would feel like an eternity to you,” Max says thoughtfully.
I set my spoon down and sit up, tucking my legs underneath me. “Based on what knowledge?”
“You’ve been here for an entire day and done nothing on the house and instead chose to use your time to make my life miserable.” He grins and takes a big bite of the soup I so nicely shared.
“What did I do? I haven’t even seen you all day! And how do you know I haven’t worked on the house?” I wonder at what point giving someone a black eye is legal. Because no one has riled me up this much in years. I didn’t even feel this level of emotion when Bryce and I broke up. But I come to a ranch in eastern Oregon, and a man I’ve never heard of suddenly has the power to turn me into a rage monster.
“I’m not about to waste time arguing with you about the renovation. But in the short time I’ve known you, you’ve been a menace,” he continues, not realizing how his life is barely hanging in the balance.
“Well, for your information, Max St. James, in the short time I’ve known you, you’ve been nothing but a bully. And—and a grump!” I shake my head at the last insult, like I couldn’t have come up with something better in the heat of the moment.
“Well, now you’re just crushing me.” He pats his chest, then lets out a hearty laugh.
I stand up quickly, knocking a pillow from the couch to the ground. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to put an order in.”
I give him a jaunty one-finger salute, put my dishes in the dishwasher, and head outside, both dogs coming out with me. They tear off toward the treeline, barking happily.
If Max locks me out, so help me I’ll knock a new door into this house. The dogs are my insurance. He’ll have to open the door to let them back in, and I’ll be there, waiting.
I have to walk down the gravel path around to the front of the lodge where I parked my Honda. I already took a trip into town today, and I technically could have parked my car in front of the bunkhouse…but I didn’t want Max to see it when he came back from work.
Plus, it would be better to park it close to the lodge. My trunk is full of power tools and it’ll be easier to carry them inside from here.
I’m tearing into a bathroom tomorrow. It will be fine. I’ll have all day to gut it and see exactly what I’ll need to get this place fixed back up.
I grab my second duffel bag and carry it back to the bunkhouse.
I pull my phone out and try to get a call to connect. It drops twice before it finally connects as I step onto the porch.
After I place the order for some supplies that may or may not get delivered in a timely manner, I open the door and step inside.
I don’t see Max anywhere and can’t help but feel like he’s avoiding me. That makes me smile. It’s kind of fun to have that power over someone.
Now I just have to find a room to sleep in and take a nice hot shower. Because despite what Max thinks, I really did work on the house today. I spent the whole day tearing into walls, looking into the plumbing, and assessing the damage before driving into town to see if they had any sort of supplies I could work with.
I make my way down the hallway on the other side of the stairs. There’s a large picture of a shaggy cow. “Good grief. This is a monstrosity.” The cow is practically life-sized, the picture is so large.
“You get the upstairs.”
I jump far enough that I bump into the wall. “Do you have any other level of moving around other than sneak mode?” I yelp as I drop the duffel bag. “You have got to stop sneaking up on me like this.”
I turn to look at Max, and my breath catches. He really does have a gorgeous smile.
Is it there at my expense? Of course it is, but wow. It is a nice smile.
Such straight white teeth and even two dimples. Sheesh. It isn’t fair.
“This cow picture is huge,” I say as I gesture to the picture behind him.
Max quirks an eyebrow. “And your point is?”
I shrug. I don’t have a point. It was the only thing I could think of to say. “I like it. He looks like a friendly cow.”
Max’s mouth turns up in amusement. “I’m going to take a shower,” he finally says.
I really need to stop staring. “I’m not planning on jumping in with you.”
He blushes at that. “That’s not— I didn’t,” he sputters. “There’s only one bathroom.”
It’s kind of nice to see him flustered. Now it’s my turn to grin at him—until his words finally sink in. “One bathroom? Does this mean we’re going to need a bathroom schedule to get along?”
“How about you just stay out of the bathroom when I need it?” he says with a chuckle as he brushes past me. His elbow brushes against my arm, and I suck in a quick breath as he pushes the door open to the bathroom. “I wouldn’t wait around. I like to use the whole hot water tank.”
The door slams shut, and I contemplate pounding on it. But I’m not twelve.
“Two can play this game!” I call after him in a singsong voice.
The bathroom door jerks open, and he pokes his head out to glare at me. “Don’t get any ideas.”
Max disappears back into the bathroom, and I’m left staring at the wood door.
With a sigh, I pick up the duffel bag and trudge upstairs. There’s a large loft area with a full-sized bed under a window. I set my bag on the leather couch along the wall. There’s a clicking sound, and I turn around to find Jim and Larry standing at the top of the stairs. Jim wastes no time in coming to say hi, and Larry even takes a few steps in my direction.
And then I’m hit with a wave of nauseating, overwhelming, nose-burning skunk.
“What did you roll in?” I jump back as Jim advances with his usual friendly manner. Both dogs smell horrible. And even Larry thinks he’s going to come get some loving from me tonight. I squeak past them and run down the stairs.
There’s an ominous clicking of dog claws on wooden stairs as they barrel after me.
I grab the banister and slide around the corner on my stocking feet. I smack face-first into a bare chest.
Shrieking, I reach for something to hang onto so I don’t crash to the floor. Max catches me by the waist as I throw my arms around him. “Help. Skunk.”
The dogs yip as they reach the bottom of the stairs. “Oh dang,” Max mutters as he sniffs the air. “Dogs. Mud room.”
Their happy running stops abruptly, and I crank my head around to see them do the slow trudge toward the mud room.
I breathe a sigh of relief—and fresh air—as the two culprits disappear around the corner.
Leaning forward, I rest my head…on Max’s bare chest.
He clears his throat, and I realize his arms are no longer around me. I’m the one hanging onto him.
I leap backward. “Why are you naked?”
He glances down at the black sweatpants he’s wearing. “Last I checked, I’m still wearing my pants, even though you tried your best to pull them off.”
“I—” I freeze. That’s what I’d been trying to grab to keep myself upright—fistfuls of Max’s pants. Right . “They’re very nice pants. Wonderful. You look great in them.”
Max stares at me with amusement on his face.
“I’m sorry. I panicked. They followed me upstairs, and the smell was so bad.” That smell is going to be stuck up my nose for weeks.
Max nods and sighs. “You’d think they’d learn. They just always have to tangle with that skunk before bedtime.”
“No wonder they looked so happy running for that treeline.”
Max turns sideways to scoot past me, careful not to brush against me in the narrow hallway. “If they ever try to come up and sleep with you, you can tell them ‘mud room.’ They’re supposed to sleep in there anyway.”
He heads toward the living room to deal with the filthy dogs, and I wonder how I landed in such a situation.
I find this man attractive. It’s completely unfair when he’s an absolute pain in the butt, while looking like that.