Lumberjack in Love (9 page)

“Is this your caveman act, Mr. Anderson? I think you’ve been living alone in the woods for too long.”

He stalked up behind her and slipped his hand between her legs. Wet already.
Sweet Jesus.

“Maybe I’m not civilized. But I think you like it, Miss Priss.” He sucked on his fingers.
Better than maple syrup.

“Maybe I do. Maybe I trust you, even though I don’t know why.” She blinked at him once and then lowered her lashes. “Now what?”

Marcus unzipped his jeans and pushed them down his thighs. He put one hand on the top of Ami’s back and gently pushed her over the railing until her ass‌—‌that perfect curvy ass‌—‌was angled just right. “Don’t move.” He stepped forward and brushed the head of his cock against her sweet spot. Ami’s legs buckled, and he grabbed her around the waist.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got you. I’ve got you good.”

“Don’t tease me, lumberjack.” Her breath was labored and she arched her back.

“I may be many things, Miss Jordan, but a tease is not one of them.” He slammed inside of her, and both of them shouted. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face along the back of her neck, sucking and nipping, marking her again. Just like he did the first night. He vaguely heard her sobs.

He reached up the front of her shirt and cupped those sweet bouncing breasts. A long, keening screech and ruffle of feathers interrupted his thoughts. He laughed as a red-tailed hawk landed on a tree branch in front of his house and eyed them. It was the female that returned to his homestead every year.

“Look, Ami. Someone’s watching.” He nodded to the hawk and Ami jolted in his arms.

“That thing isn’t dangerous, is it? It’s not going to attack us or something?”

“Of course not. She’s just wondering what the hell we’re doing.” He turned Ami’s head so he could kiss her. She hooked an arm around his neck and surrendered to him. So sweet and trusting. Christ.

“More,” she whispered. “Deeper.”

He growled his response and blanketed her body with his as they bent over the railing. He slammed into her. Hard. Once. Twice. She cried out. Again. And then he was falling, his knees giving out. He still held her against him, her back pressed tightly to his chest. He looked down to see his hairy thighs braced against that pretty pink bottom, and he wanted to howl with happiness.

Her head hung down, waves of golden hair spilling over the railing. She whimpered. “So much for keeping my distance.”

Marcus frowned and tipped her face toward him. “You still trying to keep your distance?”

She nodded. “It’s not working too well.” She looked so forlorn he wanted to laugh.

Instead, he cleared his throat. “No need for that. I’m not going to hurt you.” He gently pulled her up, reluctantly sliding out of her body. She turned around and wound her arms around his waist, nuzzling her face on his sweaty T-shirt.

“Yeah, I figured that out. You’re a lumberjack with honor. Why aren’t there any of you guys in Boston, huh?”

“Because we’re here. You just weren’t looking in the right place.” He stroked her hair until she looked up at him. He couldn’t read her expression, but at least she’d lost the haunted look from the day before. That was good.

“So, were the flapjacks an empty promise, or can you really cook?”

Marcus pulled up his jeans and laughed. Then he swung her up into his arms.

“Marcus! You are a caveman, aren’t you? Put me down!”

She shrieked as he threw her up in the air and caught her again. One of the Timberland boots fell off, and he was treated to the sight of Ami’s pink-tipped toenails.

“Time for me to prove my manhood in the kitchen. A dozen golden flapjacks coming up.”

She kissed the side of his face and sighed. “I think you already proved your manhood plenty.”

“Well, now I have to feed my woman. Don’t want her to faint from lack of nutrition.”

Ami giggled and held on tight as he carried her into the house.

“I can’t wait to drizzle that real Vermont syrup on—” She hesitated, then licked her lips. “My griddle cakes.”

Marcus groaned. No doubt about it. This girl was gonna kill him.

Lumberjack In Love

“Seriously, Rach, back off.”

Ami hunkered down in her chair and focused on the cup of coffee in front of her. Take-out from Bill and Bob’s. Would wonders never cease?

Rachel clucked. “I’m just curious about what happened to you last night. You swore before you left that you were only going out for dinner and insisted you’d be back by ten. At the latest. I didn’t realize you meant ten in the morning.” She smirked and took a sip of her organic green tea a.k.a. dirty hot water. Ami never understood how folks drank that scary beverage.

“For your information, I did spend the night at Marcus’s place. But we did
not
have sex last night. He was a perfect gentleman. Loaned me one of his shirts and held me while I slept.”

“Uh huh.” Rachel did not look convinced. “Well, then why are you blushing, little sis?”

“Blushing? Get real. I am not—”

“Not only are you blushing, but the tips of your ears are bright red. You only do that when you’re super embarrassed. So out with it. What happened?”

Ami reached up and touched her ears. Yep, they were flaming hot. Dammit!

“Fine. Here’s what happened. We had an incredible meal. He looks like a million bucks dressed up, by the way. We discussed my disastrous life. Then he took me home and held me all night while I slept. His arms are like two gigantic tree trunks covered with hair. And rippling muscles.” She sighed.

“And?” Rachel prompted. “I know there is more to this story, because your ears look like they are about to catch on fire.”

Ami sipped her coffee. “When I woke up this morning he was chopping wood. How was I supposed to resist that? He was sweating and huffing and puffing, and his arms were bulging. And his ass looks really great in blue jeans. There was no way I could resist.”

Rachel’s eyebrows were somewhere up in her hairline.

“And, uh,” Ami mumbled, “we may have had sex on his front porch.”

Rachel spit out her organic green tea. All over the dining room table.

“What did you say?”

Ami glanced at her sister. “You heard me! We had sex on his porch, okay? Really hot sex. It doesn’t mean anything. I’m a grown woman, and I needed to blow off some steam. So I did. With a super sexy lumberjacky guy who also happens to be really nice and thoughtful.” She glared at Rachel, daring her to speak.

“Oh, well if that’s all.”

“That’s all. I have no interest in having any sort of relationship with him. And I’m sure he isn’t interested in me. Besides, what would a city girl do in a place like this? No Barneys. No Starbucks. Crickets. Come on.”

Rachel got up and grabbed a letter from the kitchen counter. “Well, you might want to take a look at this first. Before you decide Vermont has nothing to offer you.”

Ami snatched the letter out of her hands and read silently. “This is from the Vermont Children’s Science Museum. They want to talk with me about the garden design for the new play area.”

Rachel smiled. “Doug told them all about you and showed them photos of some of your work in Boston. They were impressed.”

“Rachel!” Ami screamed and hugged her sister. The two of them jumped up and down, screaming and yelling until the front door flew open.

“Daddy, why are Mommy and Auntie Ami hopping around the kitchen?” Natty giggled.

Doug laughed. “I dunno. Maybe because they’re weird?”

“Doug!” Ami ran over to her brother-in-law and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you! This really means a lot to me. It’s my first job interview since…well, since.”

Doug pulled back and pinched her cheek. “I know, bubs. You’re welcome. And just for the record, I hardly had to do anything to get you that interview. As soon as they heard award-winning designer Ami Jordan was interested in their project, they jumped at the chance to talk to you. Congrats.”

Ami bit her lip. “Holy crap! I have to get ready for this. I want to have some preliminary sketches for them by Friday.” She looked frantically for her cell phone. “I have to call Marcus. Maybe he can give me some ideas about his tree house design so I can make a coordinated landscaping plan.”

Rachel found the phone under a stack of papers and tossed it to her. “You should definitely call him.” She shot Ami an innocent look and said, “Maybe you guys could work on his porch. Or something.”

“Ha ha ha. You are hilarious, sis.”

Natty tugged on her sleeve and she bent down to kiss her niece on the forehead. “What’s up, lady bug?”

“Why are your ears red, Auntie Ami?”

Rachel roared with laughter as Ami ran up the stairs to make her call.

Marcus parked his truck in front of the cabin and frowned. The last thing he’d expected to see was Ami Jordan’s little SUV parked next to his porch. After a rousing session of sex and a sticky breakfast, she’d left him with a “see you around sometime” and he’d laughed in her face. She was pissed. But still under the mistaken impression that nothing was going on between them. He figured she’d be hiding out at her sister’s place all day.

He pushed open the front door and froze. The television blasted a Celtics game. As in, blasted at decibels loud enough to be heard in New Jersey. Henry was stationed on the sofa, wearing a green and white Celtics bandana around his neck. Ami had the coffee table pulled right up to the couch. Empty soda cans, beer bottles, papers and pencils, a lap-top, bowls of pretzels and popcorn, and a bobble-head of Larry Bird covered the table top. Ami was bouncing up and down on his sofa like a trampoline artist.

“Yes! Dunk it! Dunk it! In your face, New York!”

“Ami?”

Her head whipped around. Marcus stared at her in amazement. He’d seen photos of fans like this in the newspaper, but had never actually seen one up close and personal. She wore a Celtics cap, Celtics T-shirt, Celtics sweatpants, green and white sweatbands around her wrists, green and white pom-poms on her pigtails, and war paint all over her face.

“You’re home! I tried to call you, but there was no answer on your cell.” Her head twisted back to the television set. “I can talk to you in four-point-five seconds, okay?”

“Nice outfit, Jordan.” Marcus set his briefcase on the entryway table and headed to the living room. Something was different about his house. Well, something else was different, in addition to the crazed fan jumping on his sofa. There were plants everywhere. Tucked into the hallway, on table-tops, on the kitchen counter, on the mantel over the fireplace. Even one next to Henry’s dog bed. His house looked extremely
green
. And that wasn’t counting Ami’s outfit.

“Yes!” Ami grabbed Henry’s face and gave him a huge smack on the lips. “I love it when we beat New York!” Henry wagged his tail.

Marcus leaned against the buffet and folded his arms across his chest.

“What?” Ami patted Henry’s head. “Why are you staring at me? Don’t you like sports?”

Marcus cleared his throat. “Why am I staring at you? Well, let’s see. The last time I saw you‌—‌after we had just had mind-blowing sex on my front porch‌—‌you left me with “See you around sometime.”

“Oh, that. Well—”

“The next time I see you, you’ve apparently broken into my house—”

“Now wait a minute! The front door was open. I did not break in—”

“Filled my cabin with ten million plants, which I told you I didn’t want—”

“Don’t they look great? You’ll get used to them, I promise—”

“Made a huge mess in my living room, with your crap all over the place, and bowls of junk food—”

“The pretzels are organic! Really. I’m not kidding!”

Marcus grunted. “Organic pretzels? How evolved. Let’s take a look at the evidence, shall we?” He headed into the kitchen to investigate the empty chip bags. The garbage can was overflowing.

Ami ran after him and skidded to a stop in her stocking feet.

“Look.” Marcus pointed to the trash can.

“What?” She peered into the garbage. “I promise I’ll clean up.”

He shook his head. “You put beer bottles in the regular garbage can.”

Ami looked inside the trash bin and giggled. “Whoops. Yes, I did. Sorry about that.”