Page 29 of Bad Boy Crush
The announcer introduced the first three competitors, who took their stations. The first heat was between a guy named Cory, Ant, and Hunter. “The event is timed,” Paul Bunyan informed the crowd, “and they must completely split five logs. But time is only one element being judged by our panel. Style counts.”
“Style does count,” May agreed. It was her personal motto.
Lou traded her beer from one hand to the other to take turns slicking her palms on her shorts. She was nervous for Ant. So far he’d lost one game and placed in the other. “How good do you think Ant is at log splitting?”
“You tell me. He recently chopped a tree in your backyard.”
“He used a chain saw, not an axe. How would I know if he can lift an axe over his head and land it with precision in the center of a block of wood?” More than once. Until it split in half. And then repeat on four more logs. “Precision wasn’t his strong suit in the axe-throwing competition.”
“He was coming down off the high of kissing you.” May poked Lou’s arm. “He was probably concerned someone would notice the axe he was wielding in his pants.”
“You are not giving me an inch on this are you?”
“No. But if you’re lucky, Ant will give you several.”
Before Lou could become completely distracted by that suggestion, she turned her attention to Ant. He stood at the center position in front of them, clenching and unclenching his fists.
For the first time since they kissed, he locked eyes with her. She didn’t look away. She couldn’t look away. Her hunger for him was palpable, even from twenty yards away.
“Do not fuck this up for him,” May whispered. “You can have penetrating eye contact after the game.”
Lou mouthed “good luck.”
Ant nodded. Message received.
He focused on the log in front of him, his attention solely on his work. When he pursed his lips and blew out a steadying breath, Lou’s mind promptly served up a memory of his lips on hers. How wrong the kiss should have felt but hadn’t. How she’d discovered a secret part of herself that had wanted that kiss.
“Go!” the announcer shouted, jerking Lou from her thoughts. All three men raised their axes overhead and brought them down onto the block of wood. Cory, who had owned the tree tossing event, glanced the blade off his stump and sent it rolling to the ground. He replaced it and tried again. Hunter was doing well, or so she thought, until Ant’s fourth swing split the first log right down the center. He didn’t slow, replacing that log with the next fresh one.
Three blows, and that one split down the middle as well.
She couldn’t tear her eyes off his powerful arms, his impressive form as he lifted the axe and swung. Sweat glistened off his skin, his lips peeled away from his teeth, and the sounds he made as he brought the axe down reminded her of another act entirely. Low grunts, huffed exhalations…
Mind in the gutter, she fanned herself with the neck of her T-shirt.
When Ant won the heat, she sprang out of the chair, spilling some of her beer on her leg in the process. He pulled his hat off his head and waved to the applauding crowd with it. Lou set her beer on the ground to cup her mouth and shout her congrats. His burning gaze returned to her as he replaced his hat. His smile widened.
An emotion that ran deeper than shock and confusion and attraction bubbled up. She was intensely proud of him. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck, hold him close, and apologize for ever doubting him.
Off her throne, she told May she’d be right back. There was something she had to do. Something she’d needed to do for a long while now. As she started toward him, a woman called her name. Sofie was running in her direction, shouting something about photos.
“Photos?” Lou sent a searching look to May, who shrugged.
“Yes!” Sofie picked up Lou’s horned headpiece. “My friend Charlie is the best photographer. You’ll love her.”
Lou was pushed back toward the chair as May slipped off of it. Then she was introduced to Charlie, a beautiful blonde with doe-like eyes and a camera around her neck. Before Lou knew what was happening, she was posing with her gifts and doing her best to smile under pressure.
* * *
After the photos were taken, the crowd at the Pate property had thinned. The beer and snack booths were in the process of breaking down to once again set up tomorrow at a different location for day two.
Lou had caught sight of Ant earlier, but he’d ducked out without saying goodbye. May had ventured off to find Lisa, which left Lou and her box of sacrificial offerings in the passenger seat of her car.
As she drove away from Pate Mansion, she decided to swing by Ant’s house and check in. Brady was still on the clock, so she knew he and Ant hadn’t gone out to the bar. Plus, she’d spotted Donovan in his tall, black-haired glory wandering around his backyard with his dog as the festivities came to an end—no Ant in sight.
Slightly sunburned and tired, she was tempted to go home and take a nap, but she knew herself. The day was unfinished, words had been left unsaid. If she returned home now she’d pace the floors, unable to think of anything save the unexpected kiss and the apology that followed.
Five minutes later, she parked in Ant’s driveway and walked to his shop door. The CLOSED sign dangled from a hook, the lights off inside. She cupped her hands at either side of her face and peered inside when a voice called out, “Over here.”