“I’m going to tell you a trade secret,” I replied, stopping to turn toward him. “You ready?”
“Hit me.”
“You know when the sun comes through the window and it’s shining in your face?”
“Yes.”
I paused for effect. “Roll over.”
Daniel chuckled and started walking again.
“I’m serious,” I said, hurrying to match his pace. “It works!”
“Uh-huh.”
I smiled, letting the scent of home wash over me.
“Hey, Daniel, um…Danny?”
“Yeah?” He reached for my hand and slid his fingers between mine.
“Thank you for what you did this morning.” We were nearing the house, and I needed to get it out before we got within hearing distance.
“I figured you would thank me for last night,” he teased. When his eyes met mine, his expression grew serious.
“I…he—” I stuttered, trying to find the right words. “He’s a proud guy, so losing the ability to take care of this place has been, well, it’s sucked for him. Big time. And I do what I can, you know, to make sure that it looks okay out here…but it’s never as good as it looked before, and I know he hates that. He hates all of it. Ian and I usually process the wood when we see it’s getting low, but I’ve never thought to ask my pop to work the splitter.”
Daniel’s thumb brushed along mine in a caress.
“I should’ve thought to do that,” I finished.
Lifting my hand, he pressed it to his lips. “I didn’t know how to work the splitter, so I asked him to show me,” he replied simply. “We’ve always done it by hand.”
I knew what he was doing. He was downplaying it. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to acknowledge what he’d done for Pop.
“Still?” I grimaced. “We’re in the twenty-first century, bro. Get with the times.”
“I might,” he said as we continued walking. “We split that wood in less than half the time it would’ve taken me to do it by hand.”
“Modern technology,” I agreed, nodding sagely. “What a marvel, am I right?”
It took him a moment to realize I was fucking with him. When he did, I wasn’t prepared for the way he reacted. As he yanked me forward, he bent at the waist. His shoulder hit my gut, and my feet went flying into the air as he threw me over his shoulder.
“What the hell?” I screeched, laughing so hard I could barely breathe. Of course, the broad shoulder pressing against my diaphragm probably didn’t help that either.
Then he started spinning.
My hair flew out in a halo around my head as I wheezed and cackled, the world flashing by through my rapidly tangling hair.
“Put me down, you Neanderthal,” I yelled, barely able to get the words out as I braced my hands against his back.
“Are you going to keep making jokes about my age?” he asked, his laugh a little breathless as his arms tightened around my thighs.
“I’m not going to lie to you, mate,” I choked out, trying to tickle his sides. “I probably will.”
His hand hit my ass in a stinging slap as he stopped, and my head swam as he lowered me to the ground again, making me stumble.
“You spanked me,” I accused, reaching back to rub away the sting.
