Hunks, Hammers, and Happily Ever Afters

by Cari Quinn

  “No, you’re a lunatic. Big difference.” He finished his cursory inspection of her undamaged extremities. Apparently satisfied she wasn’t going to keel over dead in the next two seconds, he released her and clomped up the porch steps. He hesitated at the door for half of a beat before tossing her a look over his shoulder. “Might as well wait inside while I call for a tow.”

  Normally it would have taken a few minutes to get over the shock of that unexpected invitation, but she didn’t want to risk him thinking better of it and locking the screen behind him.

  With that possibility swimming in her mind, she rushed after him. She’d never been inside Huck’s cabin. He’d only built it a few years ago, after finally tearing down the old hunting shack that used to stand in its place. Even back then, prior to things going rocky between them, she’d never had occasion to venture inside that ramshackle building. One glance around the new cabin’s cozy main room verified that it was likely a far cry more livable than its predecessor.

  Not bothering to contain her curiosity, she scooted toward the adjacent doorway and peeked inside. A large log bed took up most of the space. She stared at the pinecone-patterned quilt, visualizing her and Huck entangled in a naked, sweaty heap of bliss on top of it. She shifted her focus to the right and noticed Huck watching her. Impossible to determine if he knew she’d just been mentally molesting him.

  “I’ll, uh, wait over on the couch.” Clearing her throat awkwardly, she shuffled to the suede sectional and copped a squat. The sound of Huck pacing in the kitchen curbed her natural inclination to snoop through the magazines stacked on the coffee table. Instead she passed the time twiddling her thumbs.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  She jerked her focus toward Huck’s curse. “What’s wrong?”

  His usual scowl was back in action. “Service is out on my cell.”

  “What about your house phone?”

  “It is my house phone.”

  “Didn’t your mother teach you the importance of having a backup?” Tsking, she shoved up from the couch and returned to the porch. After a quick dig in her purse for her own cellphone, she crossed to the doorway. “What’s the number for Larry’s?”

  Huck strode toward her, far too delectable with his shirt undone and his hair rumpled. “I’m surprised you don’t have it on speed dial.”

  “Har har. For your information, I only drop my car in ditches every other month.”

  His grin slid in place, a rare sight these days. Knowing she put it there probably shouldn’t make her as giddy as it did.

  “I’m sure every ditch in the county is shuddering in relief.” Leaning his shoulder on the doorframe, he recited the number for Blue Moon’s service station.

  The proximity of his muscled chest threatened to derail her concentration. Flustered, she punched in the digits, messing up the area code twice. Smothering an expletive, she hit send. The seconds counted down on the display, indicating that the call was placed, but the ringtone remained noticeably absent.

  Frowning, she clicked to end the call and tried again. Same result. “Huh.”

  “What?”

  “I think my service might be down too. Only it’s weird, because all the bars are showing as lit.” Twitching her nose, she angled the device so he could see.

  “That’s exactly what mine did.” He scrubbed a hand across his bristly jaw. “Guess I’ll have to drive you to the garage.”

  “Gee, desperate to get rid of me?”

  He offered her a droll look. “I think we both know the reason why.”

  That could mean one of two things. Either he was certain they’d get into another disagreement about the tree, or her mere nearness put him at risk of morphing into a raving horn dog.

  Oh wait, that last option was her fate. “Get your keys.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Fumbling to secure the buttons on his flannel shirt one-handed, Huck wrenched open the truck’s passenger door before Tully could beat him to the punch. The sweet smile she gifted him made it damn difficult to hold firm to his determination to hustle her back to town. The fact that he was struggling with his resolve confirmed the necessity of putting some much needed space between them. He’d have to contend with the cramped quarters of his pickup, but once he dropped her off he and his reckless desires would be on safe ground.

  She climbed in. Leaving her to get situated, he crossed to his side. Scooting behind the wheel, he leaned forward and keyed the ignition. The engine’s chugging groan as it refused to turn over was both unexpected and ill-timed as hell.

  “Sounds like your battery is dead.”

  “Damn well shouldn’t be.” He jumped out of the truck and propped open the hood before stalking toward the shed. He located the portable jump starter and trekked back to his vehicle. After attaching the clamps to the battery terminals, he reached inside the driver’s side window. “Stretch your leg over to the gas pedal and give it a good tap when I crank the ignition.”

  Nodding, Tully flipped up the center seat divider and wiggled closer to the steering wheel. Once she had her foot in place, he twisted the key. Taking her cue, she pressed down on the pedal. He gave the charge a good minute or so to catch. No luck.

  One more shitty circumstance he didn’t need to contend with.

  Ducking his head beneath the hood, he yanked the cables free and glared at the unresponsive engine. “You would have to fuck with me.”

  “Sorry, what did you say?” Tully called from inside the cab.

  He slammed the hood shut. “Nothing.” Scratching his nape, he met her gaze through the windshield. “Might as well come out of there. Damn truck isn’t going anywhere.”

  She heeded the suggestion and joined him in front of the vehicle. “Now what?”

  “Got your keys on you?”

  “Yeah, they’re in my purse.” She blinked at him. “It’s impossible to drive the wagon out, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “I might be able to do it.”

  “Why? Because you’re a man?” She rolled her eyes. “I forgot that gives you driving superpowers.”

  “Smartass.”

  “Cute, now smart. You’re spending an awful lot of time checking out my ass.” She punctuated the quip by sticking out her tongue.

  “Keep that up, and I’ll have some suggestions for how to put that tongue to better use.” Shit, why did he go and say that? And why was he disappointed as hell when she snapped her mouth shut?

  Coughing delicately, she swung her purse strap over her shoulder and gestured for him to lead the way.

  The stroll down the shade-dappled lane should have provided a blessed reprieve for his overtaxed libido. It was certainly less hazardous to his sanity than being stuck in the truck with her. But the graceful slope of her neck and sassy sway of her hips provided their own brand of torment.

  He dropped his scrutiny to her feet and grunted. “You do realize it’s no longer summer, right?”

  “Contrary to popular belief, it’s not illegal to wear flip-flops after Labor Day. Besides, I wanted to show off my pedicure.” She stalled in her tracks and wiggled her toes.

  “Gonna be a ruined pedicure after traipsing around on this dirt road all day.”

  “Nothing a nice hot shower won’t take care of.”

  Shit. She would have to implant that visual in his brain. Shaking his head to clear it of the enticing fantasy of a naked and sudsy Tully, he attempted to corral his mental meanderings and instead concentrate on the walk ahead of them. He succeeded for roughly two seconds. Despite every effort to resist, an inexorable compulsion lured his attention to her profile.

  A faint red blotch rode just beneath her jawline. A visible souvenir left by his beard scruff, presumably. He stared transfixed at the spot, the desire to leave dozens more across her fair skin a tangible force inside him.

  “Don’t even think about it, buster.”

  He jumped guiltily. Fuck, was he that transparent? “I’m not thinking anything.” He hoped to God she
wasn’t a mind reader, or he was about to get royally busted.

  Tully slid him the side-eye. “Yeah, right. I can practically hear the gears grinding in that devious brain. Do you honestly think I’d forget that the last time we walked down this road together you scared the crap out of me with your despicable ghost stories? Ha! Not falling into your vile trap again.”

  He frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You know.”

  “No, I don’t. How about you clue me in?”

  “Okay, let me set the scene. Eighth grade, night of your annual bonfire.” She lifted her gaze to his and huffed under her breath. “I know you didn’t want me there. It’s why you went out of your way to terrorize me. Admit it.”

  The cobwebs cleared from his memory. He nodded, reluctantly. “You’re right.”

  “Was I that much of a pain in the ass? Shit, guess I haven’t changed much, huh?” Her flippancy didn’t entirely veil the hurt lacing her tone.

  It’d be easier on him in the long run if he let her believe the worst. Any wedge between them kept her at a nice, safe distance. Only he’d have to live with the weight of her hurt.

  Exhaling heavily, he slowed his pace and kicked a stone blocking his path. “I did scare you so you’d leave. I overheard some of the kids plotting something. They stopped talking as soon as I walked up to them, but it was pretty obvious who their target was.”

  Tully’s mouth adopted a wry slant. “Me.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You were protecting me from whatever they had planned.” She poked his arm when he didn’t answer. “Thank you.”

  “No reason to thank me. I should have kicked their punk asses instead.”

  “Eh. Kids can be assholes. Besides, Jay Townsend has a receding hairline and erectile dysfunction. Karma’s a bitch.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Do I even want to know how you have the 411 on Jay’s limp dick?”

  “Eww, not in the way you’re thinking.” She wrinkled her nose. “Bookstores and juicy gossip go hand-in-hand.”

  He grunted. “If that’s the case, you must have heard some real doozies about me. Especially lately.”

  She gnawed her lip, confirming his suspicions. Giving a humorless laugh, he tucked his thumbs in his back pockets. “Gotta love small towns.”

  “Have you seen her?”

  He didn’t require a secret decoder to determine whom Tully was referring to. “Nope.”

  She remained cocooned in silence for a moment. “Do you want to?”

  It took less than a second to conjure his answer. “Hell no. I sincerely doubt she’d want to see me, either.” He and Mel hadn’t exactly separated on the best of terms. And it wasn’t just because he’d caught her cheating with his best friend.

  The months leading up to that nasty reveal hadn’t been good between them. He might not be a Sherlock Holmes when it came to deciphering the female mind. Then again, same could be said for most of his gender. Still, it hadn’t taken too many clues to determine something was up with Melanie. For starters, she’d pulled away from him. Emotionally and physically. Looked for more and more excuses to travel downstate to visit her sister. He’d blamed himself. Figured the itch for city life had gotten beneath her skin. His reluctance to leave Blue Moon made things worse for them, in and out of the bedroom. Eventually guilt got the better of him, and he’d decided to surprise her with an unplanned visit during one of her many trips to Ann Arbor.

  Well, it’d been a surprise all right. He sure as shit hadn’t counted on walking inside her sister’s condo in time to witness Mel getting plowed by Brian. Not trusting himself to refrain from dislocating every bone in his best friend’s body, he’d retraced his steps to his truck and made the four hundred mile trip back to the Upper Peninsula. He’d called in sick the next four days and steadily worked his way through a drunken bender. On the fifth day he’d bagged up the embarrassing amount of liquor bottles littering his cabin and returned to the living. He hadn’t told anyone what happened. Not that it mattered. When you were dealing with a population of less than a thousand, word spread faster than a wildfire.

  “I know this is the part where I’m supposed to say I’m sorry about Melanie. But the truth is I’m not.” Tully frowned, her expression turning contemplative. “I mean, I am, in the sense of what she did and her waltzing back to town like it’s no big deal. But here’s the thing. She’s an idiot.”

  He choked on a cough, earning another frown from Tully and a whap on his back. For being such a tiny thing, she certainly wasn’t lacking in strength. Hell, she probably could have kicked those kids’ asses back in the day. Shows how much he knew. “Thanks, but I don’t need the Heimlich.”

  “I know. Just getting you back for that tongue comment.”

  He chuckled. “Admit it, you considered it.”

  “Maybe.” She offered him a cheeky grin. “Maybe I still am.” With that provocative admission dangling ripe between them, she sashayed ahead of him.

  His gaze instantly zeroed in on her derriere, which he swore she deliberately wiggled. A fresh crop of sweat broke across his brow. Encased in her skin-tight yoga pants, her ass held the power to completely disintegrate his brain cells.

  He had no idea which he’d lose first—his mind...or his willpower. Left with the certainty that he was screwed either way, he strode after her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Here it comes. Nibbling her thumbnail, Tully peeked in Huck’s direction.

  Snapping his mouth shut, he tore his focus from the station wagon. “How in the hell did you accomplish that?”

  “There was a pothole.”

  “So you decided to avoid it by driving into a big ass gully instead?” He scratched his head. “It’s a damn miracle you didn’t roll the car. Or hit those trees.”

  His pronouncement drew her gaze to the stand of pines. Her near death experience came crashing back in vivid technicolor and she shuddered. “That’s the crazy thing. I swore I was going to, but the car sort of stopped in mid-air. One second I’m doing a Dukes of Hazzard impression, and the next I thunked to the ground.”

  The look Huck tossed her insinuated she might be a few cards shy of a full deck. Not that she blamed him. If she hadn’t seen and experienced it firsthand, she might question the state of her mental faculties too. “I know it’s hard to believe, but that’s how it went down.”

  He scrubbed a hand over his mouth before dropping his arm and returning his attention to the vehicle. “Maybe it seemed like that’s what happened, but most likely you were never completely airborne. Fear and panic only made you feel like you were.”

  “No, I was.”

  “Tully, that makes no sense.”

  “Not everything in this world does!” She pointed to the front tires. “Does it make any sense that my car hasn’t moved from that spot despite the fact that it’s parked at a freakin’ ninety degree angle?”

  “Okay, I’ll admit that’s strange.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  He circled the station wagon, slowly sweeping it with an assessing squint. “I’m worried that if I try to back you out or move you forward you’ll only end up stuck even worse. Or possibly with the undercarriage ripped open by those rocks.” He gestured to the boulders a few feet lower down the gully.

  “Let’s not do that.”

  He glanced toward the road. “We could hang out for a while. Someone drives by, we can flag them down and possibly use their cell phone.”

  Skeptical of that plan, she scanned the vista. “Do you get a lot of traffic out here?”

  “Not tons. A few hunters now and then. And the occasional curiosity seeker.”

  It took a moment to catch his meaning. She veered her gaze to the forest. “You know, you could probably make even more money keeping the tree in one piece.”

  A groan fell from Huck. “Can we have a single minute where we don’t argue about that damn tree?”

  “I’m not looking to pick a fight. I just think that chargi
ng admission might be the answer to your money woes.”

  “Oh yeah.” He tossed up his arms. “Having a bunch of strangers tromping through my woods is exactly what I want.”

  “What are you? A crotchety old man who’s going to start yelling at kids to get off your lawn?”

  A growl rolling from his throat, Huck stalked to the edge of the road. Kicking at a tuft of dried grass, he glared off into the distance.

  “If you see a squirrel, tell it we could stand a lift.”

  “Shut up, Tully.”

  Snuffing a grin, she plopped her purse down and leaned against the side of the station wagon. Even with her additional weight on it the vehicle refused to budge. Like that was completely normal. Mystified, she cruised her focus to the hood.

  Huck could rationalize it all he wanted, she knew there was no logical explanation for any of this. For Pete’s sake, there was a magic tree living less than a football field length from his front doorstep. He should be used to odd—

  Blinking, she jerked her head up and stared in the direction of the forest. The tree.

  Orbs of coppery light materialized near the pines, winking in and out of view as they danced through the greenery. Goosebumps broke out across her skin, followed by a bemused wonderment. “Oh. My. God.” Adrenaline rushing in her veins, she pushed away from the station wagon and stumbled down the embankment.

  “What the hell are you doing? You’re going to break your neck.”

  Halting on one foot, she slashed an excited look Huck’s way. “Did you see that?” Judging from his blank stare, he hadn’t. Too impatient to explain it to him—not that he’d believe her in the first place—she sprinted toward the trees.

  “Tully, goddamn it. You’re an ER trip waiting to happen, you lunatic.”

  Tuning out the remainder of his shouted grumblings, she dashed into the woods. The pungent tang of evergreens and wild bittersweet immediately enveloped her. Recalling Huck’s dire prediction of an ER visit, she slowed her pace. She’d never hear the end of it if she tripped over a fallen branch and broke her neck. The hushed silence surrounding her was slightly spooky but she persevered on.