Page 50 of Wood Riddance
It was a means to an end. Selling off acres in hopes of bailing out the business was no skin off my back.
Owen had handled the sale from Boston. That was his specialty. Contracts and accounting and debt ratios. He was great at it.
I wanted nothing to do with Hebert Timber. Like my brothers, I hoped the doors could remain open. It would be horrific for our employees and subcontractors if we had to sell the business. But I trusted Owen. If he thought this deal would help us continue operating, albeit at lower capacity, then I did too. But my future had nothing to do with logging. I had my eyes set on starting my business and taking care of Merry. If I had to work for the Gagnons to do it, then I would.
* * *
Unsurprisingly, Adele left the office still fuming. I found her at her desk that afternoon, where she was pounding the keys of her laptop into submission.
“I’ve been tracking the weather and the GPS coordinates. Looks like the best time to leave will be Thursday around noon,” I said.
I kept my tone light and approached her slowly. If I startled her too much, she might throw a wrench at my head. And given her aim with an axe, I had zero doubts that she’d hit be dead between the eyes.
“The rules still stand.” She didn’t even look up from her screen. “And no mentioning the other night.”
I held my hands up in surrender. There was nothing in this life that could make me forget the sight of her mostly naked body. I’d balance an apple on my head and let her knock it off with an axe if it meant I could see her tits again. Not that I would say that out loud, of course.
“We’ve seen each other naked,” I said, raising one eyebrow. “We can move on now. It’ll be a quick trip. We’ll be back before sundown.”
She grasped the top of her laptop screen and slammed it shut, pinning me with one of her signature glares.
“She-Ra,” I soothed. “I know that look usually shrivels every set of testicles in a five-mile radius, but it won’t work on me.”
“Shut up,” she growled. “And forget about the other night.”
“As if I could. Seeing you naked might have been the highlight of my year. I gotta tell ya; I can’t get you out of my head.”
“I won.” She grunted. “No more flirting. No more staring at me like you want to devour me.”
That was a blow. Not only because the urge to do just that was unrelenting, but because she could read me so damn well. Though I supposed I’d never really hidden my attraction.
“I’m not Red Riding Hood, and you’re not the Big Bad Wolf.”
I smirked. She was partly correct. She was no Little Red Riding Hood. She was a wolf, just like me. That right there was what made her the most fascinating woman I’d ever met. She wasn’t sweet, and she wasn’t innocent. She was powerful and dirty and all my fantasies come to life.
“Got it. No flirting. No talk about nakedness. Any other rules?”
“The most important one.” She cocked a brow at me. “Don’t piss me off.”
Ha. As if that were even possible. “My breathing pisses you off, She-Ra,” I said, taking a single step closer.
“True.” She pushed her chair back a few inches and regarded me. “But when you’re flying a plane with me as a passenger, I want you to keep breathing, so I’ll grant you a stay of execution.”
I bowed my head in mock gratitude. “You are a benevolent queen.”
“You can go now.”
She swiveled in her seat, averting her attention from me, and put her booted feet up. Settling back, she picked up her phone from where it sat face down on the desk. Without another word, she swiped at the screen, effectively dismissing me.
My eyes were drawn to her purple nails as she gripped the device tightly. It took a moment to realize she was watching me with both brows lifted. Right. I was making this weird.
I turned to leave. But then my curiosity got the better of me. And maybe my yearning to be in her proximity. The pull between us was strengthening every day, and I wanted to be near her for another moment. Then I’d leave. So what if I was a masochist? Her insults excited me, and when she was angry, it lit up all my nerve endings. Yeah, there was something wrong with me.
Sauntering back over, a glutton for punishment, I caught sight of her phone screen and stepped up behind her, bending low so my beard tickled her ear.
“Are those dating profiles, She-Ra?”
She immediately clutched the phone to her chest. “So what if they are?”
