Chapter 14 #2
I paused, then looked back over my shoulder. “You wanna haul the manure instead?”
Without another word, she dropped the shovels and marched over, shoved me aside, and grabbed the wheelbarrow handles.
“It’s heavy,” I warned, watching her closely.
“If you can do it, I can do it.”
She lifted the thing with a grunt that told me she was already regretting her decision, but pride kept her moving. I let her go it alone and stayed behind to finish cleaning up.
A few seconds later, I heard a crash from outside and sighed.
Please don’t be what I think it is.
I walked to the back door of the barn, and sure enough, there she was—sitting in a pile of manure next to a tipped-over wheelbarrow.
I couldn’t help it…I laughed.
She glared up at me with murder in her eyes. “I’m glad you think this is funny.”
“I mean…” I shrugged, still chuckling. “You kind of stuck the landing.”
“You’re a jackass.”
I held up my hands, trying and failing to wipe the grin off my face. “Hey, you’re the one who insisted on doing it yourself.”
Her nostrils flared as she rose to her feet, manure clinging to the back of her jeans and half of her shirt. “You could’ve warned me the ground was uneven.”
“I thought you could handle it,” I said, unable to resist plucking her nerves. “Didn’t you say if I could do it, you could do it?”
“I hate you,” she spat, then stormed past me and headed straight for the house.
“Yeah, well the feeling’s mutual, princess!”
As I turned to go back for the barn, Luke rounded the corner with a young colt in tow. He took one look at my face and raised a brow. “What was that about?”
“She’s just mad because she fell in a pile of horse shit,” I said.
Luke shook his head as he unclipped the halter and let the colt loose into the pasture. “Why do you have to be so hard on her?”
“She’s not as dainty as she looks,” I muttered, watching her disappear into the house. Amusement tugged at the corner of my mouth, and I forced it away.
Luke looked at me like he could see right through me. “You’ve gotta get over your trust issues. Not all women are heartless liars.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off.
“Don’t even start, Zane. It’s like you want to hate her and are looking for every reason under the sun to justify it.
She’s not a criminal or a murderer or whatever else you’ve cooked up in your head.
She’s just new in town. And if you had a single ounce of gentleman in you, you’d try welcoming her instead of acting like a total jerk. ”
I stared at him, surprised. “When did you get so insightful?”
Luke shrugged, then grinned. “Maybe you should go talk to her. Try apologizing.”
I looked toward the house, but she was long gone inside.
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I guess you’re right.” But the words didn’t feel right as they left my mouth.
Truth was, I didn’t buy it—not completely. Luke could call me out all he wanted, but there was something about her that still didn’t sit right with me.
So, yeah, maybe I’d apologize. Maybe I’d even try to play nice.
But I’d be damned if I let my guard down.
Luke cupped his hand to his ear and tilted his head. “I’m sorry, what was that? Did you just say I was right?”
I gave him a playful punch on the shoulder as I walked past. “Don’t get used to it.”
Still, as I climbed the porch steps, all I could think about was how fast she’d wormed her way in. Less than a day, and already they were all on her side. Belle, Red, Luke, Norah…even my own mother. But fuck if I was going to fall for it, too.
Her door slammed just as I stepped into the kitchen.
A heavy, regretful sigh blew past my lips.
I’d already kicked off my boots by the back door, so my socked feet moved quietly over the hardwood as I made my way down the hall.
I ran through my apology for the hundredth time, trying to land on something that didn’t sound fake as hell.
By the time I stopped in front of her door, my palms were sweating.
I knocked, gentle but loud enough. “Andi?”
A muffled voice answered “come in” through the door. So I did.
“Look, I just wanted to say—”
I froze.
Holy shit.
She was naked.
For a second, my brain just quit on me as a vision of golden skin and curves and all that dark hair falling down her bare back struck me dumb. My mouth opened, but nothing came out as her head whipped toward me.
“Zane!” she shrieked, diving for the quilt at the foot of the bed and yanking it around her. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I—I knocked!” I stammered, dragging my gaze to the ceiling like that might erase what I’d already seen. “You said come in!”
“I said don’t!” she shot back. “Don’t come in, you idiot!”
Shit.
She looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor. I sure as hell wanted to join her. Disappearing, not on the…floor…fuck.
“Oh my God, Zane, just go! Get out!”
“Right. Shit. Sorry!” I backed out fast, nearly tripping over my own feet as I yanked the door shut behind me.
A loud thud slammed against the other side of the door. Whatever she threw, I deserved it. Honestly, I wished it had hit me. Maybe a good blow to the head would erase the image seared into my brain.
But let’s be real…there was no way in hell I was ever forgetting that.