Page 24 of Axe-ing for Trouble
“Don’t… make… me laugh.” She sucked in a shallow breath. “Ow. It hurts.”
Cringing, I reined myself in, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “Sorry.”
Once she’d gotten herself under control too, she looked up at me. “Were you messing with me, or did you mean what you said about lefty?”
I put away the Scrabble box, then padded to the hallway. Before I disappeared, I spun around. “Just messing with you,” I admitted.
She sagged in relief, which only made me want to rile her up a little more.
“The right one is my real favorite.” I spun around, grinning, when she gasped behind me. “Night, Trouble.”
Chapter6
Jude
The crisp air, the changing leaves, and the knowledge that we’d be back in the woods soon, ready for winter cutting, made fall my favorite time of year.
Since Chloe had promoted me, I’d been spending far too much time in an office, so I was beyond ready for the season. Weeks out at camp, no cell service, just me and the guys, cooking together and playing endless games of darts after long days in the forest. I brought my guitar and usually played while Ripley stole leftovers off the long wooden tables in the main bunkhouse.
I ran my hands through my hair, taking a deep breath, then took a slow sip of coffee. My neck was sore from sleeping on the couch, and I wanted nothing more than to hit the trails, but I had a lot to get done today.
As I lifted my steaming coffee cup to my mouth again, a “damn you, Jude” echoed down the hall.
I smirked into my mug. Ripley picked her head up off the floor and stared at me. I gave her a shrug, then stood and slowly made my way to the master bedroom.
When I stepped through the open door, I grinned. “You rang, Trouble?”
Mila was sitting upright, my dark green blanket pulled up to her waist and her hair plastered to one side of her face. She looked pretty cute, save for the snarl she had aimed at me.
“I said I was sleeping on the couch.”
I took a sip and nodded.
“And you moved me?”
I nodded again.
Her huff caused the hair framing her face to float. “Don’t do that.”
“I told you to take the bed. If you’d listened, I wouldn’t have had to move you.”
Eyes narrowed, she tried to cross her good arm over the one in the sling. She stopped abruptly, though, her face pinching in pain, and rested it at her side again. “How do you even do it? The painkillers aren’t strong enough to keep me from waking up if I’m jostled.”
I shrug. “I’m careful. And you’re welcome, by the way. I hope you had a good night’s sleep.”
She scrunched up her nose, her eyes darting around like she was trying to formulate a denial. In the end, she slumped. “I can sleep on the couch if I want to.”
“No guest of mine, especially one who is seriously injured, is sleeping on the couch when there is a perfectly good bed. I don’t know who raised you, but Debbie Hebert would beat me with a wooden spoon if she knew I let a lady sleep on the couch. While you’re here, you sleep in the bed and I take the couch.”
Her eyes flared. “You are impossible. What kind of macho bullshit is that? Don’t manhandle me.”
“If you weren’t so damn stubborn, I wouldn’t have to.”
She didn’t have a retort ready, but her mouth worked like she was trying to come up with one. For the space of several breaths, we stared at one another, neither of us willing to back down.
“Parker is gonna be here in thirty minutes,” I said when she didn’t snap back. “Do you need help getting dressed?”
She glared at me. “No thank you. But I’d love a cup of coffee.”
