A safety thing? For him or her? “It’s my tree and I say it stays how it is.”
He looked at his watch. “Look, Peaches, I have to head to work in an hour, so if we can speed this along, that would be great.”
“Speedwhatalong?”
“You call me all the unladylike names in your vocabulary, I stand here, unaffected and charming. You go back inside, and I give this tree a little trim.”
Her jaw dropped. She was going to murder him. There was going to be a warrant out for her arrest because he’d be dead. “First of all, you are about as charming as a frog. Second, the last time you gave my treea little trim, you butchered it. Key word,mytree.”
“Come on. It’s hanging over my property. If it means so much to you, I’ll save you the branches.”
“You put a stick in my hand, and you’ll know what it feels like to be a piñata.”
He threw his head back and laughed.
That wasn’t meant to be funny. It was an accurate account of what would happen if he so much as touched her tree. Okay, maybe hitting this man with a stick wasn’t the smartest idea. He was a million feet tall, and word around town was that he was a former Navy SEAL. But anger could do crazy things to a woman, including give her superstrength.
“Look,” he said, finally sobering. “Let’s make a deal. I trim the tree, and you stand right there and supervise. If I get too excited, I give you permission to pick up a stick and hit me with it.”
“How about we make a different deal? We wait until my fence permit arrives and you can trim any limbs hanging over it.”
“That’s not gonna happen.”
“Yeah, because you know the tree’s not on your property.”
“No. The fence isn’t happening.”
Her eyes narrowed. She’d already bought the fence but had made a silly mistake and applied for the wrong permit, something herkindneighbor here had been all too quick to point out.
“There’s nothing you can do,” she said, straightening. “The application’s in and once it’s approved, the fence is going up.”
“Why are you so fixated on me not seeing your front yard? Got something to hide?”
“No. Got something to block…you.”
The corners of his eyes creased. “Do you know, this lovely old lady, Mrs. Ferrington, lived in that house before you. She used to bake me cobbler and get my mail when I was away. I wonder what happened to her?”
“She probably got the hell away from you so she could live her last few years in peace.”
“I miss her.”
Sky slammed her fists onto her hips. “Go away and take your chainsaw with you.”
“Just as soon as I’ve trimmed this tree.”
God. He wasinfuriating.“If you don’t go back into your house right now, I’m going to…”Shit. What was she going to do?
He lifted a brow. “Call the sheriff’s office? You could, but I’m not sure having my brother drive out here worked so well for you last time. Or you could try my sister, but she’ll just tell you I’m as stubborn as I look and you should let me trim the tree.”
It was actually unbelievable that the egotistical jackass had a brother who was the town sheriff. You’d think if God was going to make her live next door to Becket Hayes, he’d at least give her a town sheriff who hated him as much as she did.
She folded her arms. “I’m not moving. You’ll have to physically remove me to get to the tree.”
“Honey, if that’s your way of asking me to touch you—”
“Oh my God, I keep thinking I’m dealing with an adult, and then you speak.”
He laughed. He actually laughed at her.
