Page 11 of My Greatest Joy

As soon as the wheelbarrow is full, I whistle, and Dasher comes running behind me, beating me to the house. I roll and set the load down on the deck and then open the door.

“Hey, Fallon!” I call out and wait for her to approach. “Hold out your arms.”

She raises her brows. “For what?”

“You stay here, you work here. Carry these logs inside.”

I scoop them up and wait for her to comply. “You want extra heat or not?”

She sighs, nodding.

Carefully, I set a small stack of wood in her arms, and my hand runs along her wrist, repositioning a few so they don’t fall loose.

“Got ’em?”

“Yeah. Now what?” She glares, which is unfortunate. She’s too pretty to always be scowling. Her long dark-brown hair is silky smooth, and images of yanking it hard as I take her from behind run through my mind. Just thinking about widening her thick thighs as her green eyes pierce through me has me growing hard.

“Set them next to the fireplace, then come back for more,” I say, adjusting myself when she turns around.

Dasher follows her into the house, and I hear her scold him for stepping on her heels. I snicker at how eager Dasher is for her affection.

After the fourth load, Fallon stomps toward me and huffs. “How much more? My arms are tired.”

I hand her one more pile and wait as she secures them. “Last one for now. I’m gonna go grab more.”

“Since I unloaded this one alone, you can do that one, then.”

I arch a brow in amusement. “If we’re playing by those rules, then you can cook dinner since I made lunch.”

“Alright, but don’t blame me if you get food poisoning.”

“Oh, c’mon. You can’t be that bad.”

“I once set my oven on fire making a cauliflower pizza,” she deadpans. “So yeah, don’t trust me in the kitchen because I’m never home in time to eat dinner.”

“Wait…how’d you manage that? Also, cauliflower on anything sounds disgusting.”

She looks too embarrassed to answer and spins around, marching toward the fireplace. Instead of letting her get away, I follow her.

“You left the cardboard on, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.” She walks in a maze around Dasher as he relentlessly tries to get her attention.

“What’d you have the oven set to? Five hundred?” I taunt.

She drops the logs beside the others, then brushes the loose bark off her sweater. “If I tell you, no laughing.”

I withhold a smirk and cross my arms. “No promises.”

She scoffs. “You’re…not wrong. I was reading something on my phone while setting the temperature, and I guess I didn’t realize what I’d done until it waswaytoo late.”

Scratching a hand over my beard, I hold back laughter as I grin. “Yep, that’ll do it. So no pizzas, then. Doesn’t mean you’re completely helpless.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Anyone can learn the basics if they try.”

“I can manage a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.”

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