4. Olive
Olive
“Tell me absolutely everything you know about Holden,” I demanded.
We were at Brent and Claire’s place, but Brent wasn’t here right now, so I felt free to gossip.
“Holden? Why?”
My cheeks flushed. “Just… because.”
She laughed. “How’d you meet him, anyway?”
“He’s come into the clinic all week.”
“All week?”
“He busted his hand up pretty bad. And I’ve been… checking on it to make sure it heals okay.”
I had every day except today, because the Doc had gotten to him first.
My sister was practically the living encyclopedia of the Harrison Logging Camp. Even before she’d started dating Brent, she knew everyone’s life history better than half the guys actually living here. And that was because she was best friends with Mina, who happened to be married to the foreman.
Claire raised an eyebrow as a slow, knowing smile spread across her face. “The new guy? He’s only been here for a few months. He’s pretty chummy with Shane already. He came from another logging camp out of state, and Dylan says he’s one of the hardest-working men he’s ever hired.”
“Does he… flirt with a lot of the women who go out to those bonfires?”
My sister laughed. “Maybe a little, in a good-natured sort of way. But I haven’t seen him get serious about anyone yet.”
My heart sank. That’s what I was afraid of.
She bumped her shoulder against mine. “What’s going on? Do you have a crush on him, Olive?”
“Maybe a little,” I admitted, feeling a flush creep up my neck.
“Well, it’s about time,” Claire said, her smile softening. “You haven’t looked at a man since…”
She stopped herself, but the name hung heavily in the air between us.
Chad.
My ex-fiancé. The man who’d stood me up at the altar three years ago, running off with a yoga instructor with a perky butt that he’d met on Tinder.
“Since Chad,” I finished for her, my voice remarkably steady. “It’s fine, Claire. It’s been a long time. And I’m ready to move on from that asshole.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” She looked at me with an assessing eye. “But if you want to catch Holden’s attention, maybe we could spruce you up a little tonight.”
The idea of my sister giving me a makeover struck terror into my heart.
“No. We don’t need to do that. Besides, I don’t think he’s really relationship material, right? You said yourself he flirts with everyone at camp.”
She tugged at the t-shirt I’d thrown on before coming over. It was a freebie I’d gotten when the Cozy Bean opened up a few years ago. “I’ve never seen him flirt with anyone seriously. He’s not out there being a bang ho. In fact, I haven’t heard of him dating anyone since he got here.”
“Really?” I looked up at her as a tiny smidge of hope bloomed in my chest.
Claire gasped, her eyes lighting up. “You’ve got it bad for him.”
“I do not.”
“You do too! It’s obvious. Okay. That’s it. We’re going to glam you up tonight, girl. I’ll make sure you get his attention.”
As she started digging through her closet, I admitted, “I think I might already have his attention.”
She turned to look at me with a tiny sundress clutched in her hands. “Really? How do you know?”
How to describe it? He’d been flirting with me hard ever since the first second I saw him. But there was never anyone else around. And… I was always in my scrubs.
I knew better than to think I looked sexy in them. The ones I’d been wearing today had tiny teddy bears plastered all over them. My work clothes wouldn’t entice anyone, let alone a hot-blooded sexy lumberjack like Holden.
And I wasn’t exactly a supermodel. Claire had gotten all the good looks in our family.
All I had were brains and a dry sense of humor.
“I don’t know. It’s just the look in his eyes. And… he’s been a little flirty.”
She grinned. “That sounds promising. Okay. Try this one on first. It will show off your tits the best.”
She shoved the itty-bitty sundress at me.
“No way.”
“Yes way. Just try it on.” Then she turned to the closet and started pulling out half a dozen other dresses.
If Holden thought I was bossy, he didn’t know my sister.
Claire linked her arm through mine as we headed to the bonfire.
We were walking slowly on Brent’s account. His knee surgery had gone well, but the doc said he’d probably have a slight limp for life.
“Now remember, flirting goes both ways. You need to lean in when he does. And make excuses to touch him. Men love that sort of thing.”
Brent growled, “Olive, don’t listen to her. Just be yourself. Holden’s a stand-up guy. You should let him get to know the real you.”
“The real Olive is the reason she’s still single.”
I snorted, listening to the two of them bicker.
Claire had been trying to pretty me up my entire life. And she might be right.
I was probably a little too practical. And I wasn’t good at flirting with anyone. But for some reason, I hadn’t dissuaded Holden from trying.
As we got to the roaring bonfire in the center of the camp, I smoothed down the skirt of the casual summer dress, suddenly feeling very exposed.
I’d vetoed the first seven options. But finally gave in on this one.
It had looked flattering in the mirror, hiding my belly while it highlighted my assets.
But I felt like a fool.
The man was a walking fantasy. And I was a plus-sized girlie.
There was no way he was really into me. I suddenly wished I hadn’t let Claire give me a makeover.
I tugged the top of the dress up, but that lifted the hemline. So I tugged the hemline down, which lowered the bustline. There just wasn’t quite enough fabric here.
I shouldn’t have come out tonight.
Every weekend I had a date with two men. Ben and Jerry. They came in different flavors and never sassed back.
I hardly ever came out to the logging camp.
Yes, I knew this was where all the hotties were hiding.
But I wasn’t much for chasing men. I guess I hadn’t been since Chad. He’d really done a number on my self-esteem.
The light strum of an acoustic guitar drifted over the noise of the crowd. The camp was alive with lumberjacks. Guys were drinking, laughing, and shaking off a brutal week of work.
A lot of them looked coupled up, with a happy woman at their side.
But I was only looking for one of the lumberjacks.
And when I spotted him, he didn’t have a woman next to him. He wasn’t staying still long enough for any of them to catch him.
Holden was everywhere.
He was fetching beers for the older guys. Joking loudly with the newer men. And adding wood to the fire.
Holden looked completely, effortlessly lovable.
But as I watched him from the sidelines, I wondered how much of this was a performance.
He was always “on.” Always smiling.
Was this good guy routine just an act to keep people from looking too closely?
After Chad, I’d learned to be careful about trusting men with my heart too fast.
Oh, who was I kidding? I’d been locked up like Fort Knox ever since Chad broke my heart.
Holden was the first man who’d made me consider taking a risk with it again.
But right now, all I was doing was watching the man. And he was putting on a pretty nice show. His muscles rippled as he grabbed the handles of a half-keg of beer and started coming back toward the fire.
That’s when I realized what he was doing. My nurse instincts snapped into place, displacing any anxious thoughts I’d had about approaching him.
That little brat. He was using his injured hand!
Irritation burned through me as I marched straight over to the picnic tables just as he set the heavy metal keg down.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest.
Holden turned, his eyes lighting up the second they landed on me. “Oh, holy fuck, Olive. You look gorgeous tonight.”
“Don’t try to distract me,” I scolded, though my stomach did a cooperative little flip at the compliment. “You’re lifting a keg with a glued-together hand.”
“I remember my safety training. I lifted with my legs,” he joked, flashing that devastating grin of his.
I didn’t smile back. “Did you work this week?”
His grin faltered slightly. He looked down at his heavy boots, then back up at me. “Yeah. I did.”
“Holden,” I gently chided, “you need time off.”
“I couldn’t,” he said, his voice dropping so the guys nearby wouldn’t overhear. The easy charm vanished, leaving something raw behind. “I told you I haven’t been around long enough to pull that kind of stunt, Olive. I have to pull my weight.”
“Dylan isn’t going to fire you over a medical necessity.”
“You don’t know that,” he argued softly.
Before I could push the issue, Mina appeared out of nowhere, grabbing my elbow. “They just cut the cake in the cookhouse for Valerie’s baby announcement. All the ladies are there. Come on, before the guys eat the whole thing.”
“Duty calls,” I told Holden, as I tapped a stern finger on his chest. “No more lifting.”
He grinned. “Only if you promise to come back and spend time with me tonight.”
My lips parted, but no words came out. My mind was a total blank. This man was having an effect on me.
At the last second, I managed to say, “Okay.”
A smile lit up his face, and he rumbled in that low, sexy growl of his, “I’m holding you to that, girl. If you don’t find me later on, I’ll come find you.”
As Mina dragged me away, my heart did a happy dance.
But at the same time, it ached a little for him. I kept thinking about what he’d said the other day about Dylan and Brent.
Before we got to the cookhouse I asked, “Mina, is Holden fitting in well on the logging crew?”
“Holden? Yeah. He’s a champ. Why?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t want to betray his confidence. But I also felt like I had to get to the bottom of this. “He, uh, hurt his hand earlier this week.”
“Yeah, I heard about that. Dylan told me he stopped the disc delimber from toppling over. It could have cost the team a lot of time if it had been sidelined for repairs.”
“Well… he kind of hurt himself in the process.”
Mina stopped walking and looked at me. “Not bad, though, right? He hasn’t missed any work.”
I pursed my lips. He hadn’t taken a single day off.
“Evidently, but that was against my orders. He was supposed to take a week off.”
She furrowed her brow. “Why’d he work then?”
Oh, fuck it. I wasn’t good at keeping secrets. “I think he’s got it in his head that he could lose his job if he takes time off.”
Mina snorted out a laugh. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard. Thoren was laid up with the flu last week. He’s still got a job.”
“Yeah. That’s what I tried to tell him. But… I don’t know. Maybe they were strict at the last camp he logged at.”
She looked concerned now. “You want me to have Dylan talk to him about it?”
“No. Don’t do that. I don’t want Holden to think I’m digging into his business.”
“Well, does he need time off? He’s got the next two days to rest up before Monday rolls back around.”
“As long as he takes it easy this weekend, he’ll probably be all right.”
Ten minutes later, I emerged from the cookhouse with the biggest slice of cake I’d ever seen perched on a paper plate.
The ladies had all been in high spirits, but I’d fled as soon as the conversation had turned to why I was so gussied up tonight.
They all wanted to know which of the single men had caught my eye.
Claire, being the good sister she was, didn’t betray my confidence. But I still fled the scene to get away from the other women’s questions.
As I went back to the bonfire, I heard a loud grunt of pain.
It was the mystery guy. John.
My sister had told me all about him. What there was to know. He was a hard worker but quiet. And he didn’t hang out with the other guys much.
He rubbed his left forearm as he stepped back from the fire.
There was an angry red patch of skin near his wrist.
“Did you burn yourself?” I asked, setting my cake down on the nearest barrel.
“Just a little,” he growled. “I was moving some logs on the bonfire. I may have gotten too close.”
“Let me see,” I said, leaning in to inspect the skin. It wasn’t blistering, just a mild first-degree burn. “You should get some antiseptic on it, so it doesn’t get infected. Mina’s got a first-aid kit around here somewhere.”
John looked past me, his expression changing from guarded to more guarded.
I looked over my shoulder to see what he was looking at, and there was Holden.
“You all right?” Holden grunted, his award-winning smile missing from his lips as he stepped up beside me.
“I’m fine, man,” John grunted back. “Just a little singed.”
The two men faced off, both of them going tense. Then John scoffed and shook his head, taking a step back. I got the distinct impression they’d just finished a wordless battle that may have involved me.
I bit my lip to hide my smile as John left to go find a beer.
John hadn’t been flirting with me in the slightest. But seeing Holden get all worked up and possessive?
I liked it. A lot.