Page 51 of Rough and Rugged

My best friend’s younger sister is the last person I expect to see at the weekend festival full of rugged loggers and lust-hungry ladies. Not to mention Ginger is engaged, or so I thought.

When she teasingly suggests removing the unwanted diamond from her finger, I’m the first to chant ‘Take it off’.

I’d also like her to remove a few other things, like my flannel shirt she’s borrowing, which looks darn good covering all her curves, and the cage around my heart, keeping my secret crush on her under lock and key for nearly twenty years.

LOGGER FEST

Copyright © 2024 Laura Dunbar

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Chapter One

Ellis

“Whatisshedoinghere?”

The curvy redhead side-eyes me while I address her brother, Grant.

I don’t mean for my question to be as harsh as it sounds but seeing my best friend’s younger sister in this rugged setting was like finding a rainbow trout sunning on a beach. Definitely a fish out of water in these parts.

“Sheis here to check out the local sights, Ellis Duncan.” Ginger Solomon crosses her arms and faces me, narrowing those brilliant sky-blue eyes in my direction.

This weekend is Logger Fest, known among the locals as Lumberjack Lust Weekend. A blissful forty-eight hours when burly men are brash and unfiltered, and most women present are looking to get laid the lumberjack way. They want a rugged man, who might be a little gruff on the outside, and even gruffer between the sheets.

And the last person I want here is Ginger.

She’s always been a thorn in my side until one day she was suddenly a beautiful rose. Luxuriant hair that matches her name. Pale skin, flawless other than a freckle near the corner of her mouth. A mouth I’ve wanted to kiss for ages. I had a chance when we were teens, but I blew it. She was fourteen back then; I was seventeen.

Respectively, we are now thirty-six and thirty-nine.

And Ginger is engaged.

Which buries an ax in the fact she shouldn’t be present at a lust fest.

Grant claps me on the back. “Ease up. She isn’t going to cramp your weekend. The ladies will still be lining up for your lumber-dick.”

My face scrunches. I might have known and loved Grant since high school but sometimes he acts like we are still adolescents and not grown men. I have responsibilities now and I don’t get laid on the regular. Hence, the reason for being here. Then again, I’m not all that interested in hooking up with just any random someone.

My gaze lands on Ginger only briefly before turning my head to the side and squinting off in the distance like something else is more interesting than the woman I’ve wanted since I was in my twenties.

“Ew.” Ginger draws my attention back to her and wrinkles her nose in this cute way. “Must you still act like randy teenagers, discussing your . . .” She waves outward, her gaze dropping to the zipper region on my shorts before glancing away.

“We must,” Grant counters, wrapping his arm around her neck and pulling her to him, then rubbing his knuckles over her hair like she’s still a kid, and not a beautifully poised woman, a little overdressed for a day of logger events.

Ginger has city girl written all her from her polished nails to her pristine shorts and flouncy top. She’s out of her element in this backcountry. Even Grant is slumming it a bit by being here. The woods. The lake. The fresh air doesn’t compare to his condo in the city, glassed in with only a sliver-view of a greater lake.

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