My hand shoots to my hip. “We promised Consuela that we’d get the tree decorated.” It was the only way we could get her to go home. The poor woman works herself to the bone. The least we could do was offer to decorate one of the trees to give her a break. We did pick one with an easy design—or so we thought.
“Okay, which way do I tilt it? Get it right this time,” he grumbles.
My eyebrows fly up. “Me get it right? You’re the one who can’t follow instructions.”
“If you think you’re so good, then why don’t you come up here and help instead of barking out orders?”
“Maybe I will.” One thing I’m learning about Axel is that he doesn’t mind challenging me at every turn. It’s actually refreshing. I can be a bit much for some guys, but Axel can hold his own with no problem.
“I dare you.”
That’s all I need to hear. I charge forward and climb up the ladder. When I reach the rung he’s on, I bat his arm. “Get down and let me show you how it’s done.”
“If you insist. But first, you need to move over, so I’ll have room to come down.”
“I am over.”
He steps down into my space. We volley for position, lightly shoving one another. Then my foot slips. I yelp as I fall sideways. He tries to catch me. The motion sends us toppling forward into the tree—ladder, and all.
My body is shaking from head to toe. I get to my feet, and he does the same. “Oops,” I wince, assessing the damage. The tree is on the ground, and several of the glass snowflakes and icicles are broken.
“Are you okay?” Axel asks.
I look down at my hands and arms. I have a couple more scratches to add to the ones from last night, but it’s not too bad. “I’m fine. How about you?”
“Not too bad, considering.” He dusts off his hands.
“I’m so sorry about the tree.” The ladder is now resting on top of it.
He shrugs. “No big deal. We have thirteen others.”
A startled laugh clips my throat. When he howls with laughter, I do the same. We laugh until tears rush to my eyes and my stomach hurts.
“Aren’t we the pair?” He gives me an appraising look. “Two for two. First, we do a pavement dive and now this.” He makes a face. “We’re not the most coordinated couple.”
The meaning of his words warm through me. So we’re a couple? Okay, it was probably figurative rather than literal.
“I’ve always been a klutz … sadly.”
He’s amused. “Ah, so you’re taking responsibility.”
“Not on your life. You’re the one who pushed me.”
He laughs again. “I see how it is.”
I lift my chin. “Yes, sir.”
He lifts the ladder off the tree and stands it upright.
I take in a breath. “I guess we’ll have to redo everything.”
“No way am I doing that again. Who knew there were so many steps to decorating a tree? It was painful enough the first go-around.”
I snigger. “Amen to that. What do we do with it?”
His eyes zing with adventure. “How do you feel about bonfires?”
I flinch. “We can’t burn the tree. Bianca will freak.”
