After they’d put Jordan to bed at night, he kissed her a few more times. Nothing too passionate, but he’d felt shattered, and he wanted her to know he was interested in rekindling what they’d had. Did she want that, too?
“This is the first tree we’ve got to deal with.” They approached the leaning tree with the bright red ribbon attached.
Tilting her head, she eyed the half-exposed roots. “What do I do?”
After putting down the chainsaw and shrugging off his backpack, he closed the distance and cradled the back of her neck. “You kiss me.”
That smile flickered again as she rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how that’ll take care of the tree.”
“It’ll take care of me and give me the strength to cut up the tree.” Lowering his lips, he pressed them against hers, softly, slowly, sensuously.
The tiny sound that erupted from her throat drove him wild, and he bundled her closer, his other hand curling around her back. Before he plundered again, he took a quick peek to make sure they couldn’t be seen by anyone across the lake. Nope. Deep enough in. The last thing he needed was Rico teasing the crap out of him. Not that he couldn’t handle the ribbing, but he wasn’t sure how Chelsea would handle it if she heard. He didn’t want to do anything that would hamper the repair of their relationship.
The crackling of his radio had him reluctantly backing away. As Chelsea’s face colored a deep pink, he pressed the button and answered.
“Lapierre.”
“Theo,” Dina’s voice came through. Seriously? The woman had bad timing. “I was wondering your location.”
“Rico and I are taking care of the questionable trees at Jordan Pond. Already talked to Norma about this. Is there something you need?”
“Simply filling in my records. Norma’s in a meeting, and I didn’t want to disturb her.”
“Okay, we’ll check in later if anything is out of the ordinary.” The woman needed to back off. She hadn’t radioed Rico.
Before he clipped his radio back to his belt, he held it out. “Let me show you how to use this, just in case.”
Her eyes got wide. “Why would I need to use it?”
“Doubtful you will, but it’s not a bad idea to know how if anything happens.”
“I don’t like that thought.”
“Here.” Handing her the device, he positioned himself beside her and showed her which buttons to press. One arm ran up her shoulder, under her hair to caress her neck.
A chuckle sounded as she tipped her head to stare at him. “Ulterior motives for showing me, maybe?”
“Maybe.” He dipped his head to kiss her birthmark. The silky skin of her neck tasted sweeter than any candy.
Her voice quivered. “We won’t get many trees done this way.”
“Are you complaining?” he asked, his lips wandering up the side of her neck to right below her ear.
A shiver ran through her, and he nipped her lobe.
“Oh, God. No complaints.” Her breathy whisper nearly did him in, but she was correct. They’d never get the work done if he spent all day kissing her. Perhaps he could spend all night doing it instead. That thought got him motivated to finish up.
After a last nip to her neck, he reluctantly set about his job and prowled around the tree, assessing how best to tackle it. He got Chelsea to work on clipping some of the smaller exposed roots, warning her to stay on one side of the tree. Last thing he needed was it falling on her, or him. A few of the branches dragged on the ground, so he started up the chainsaw and took care of those.
Once they’d cleared away as much as they could, he pointed Chelsea to a spot a few hundred feet away. “Stay over there while I try and get the trunk down. You never know how it’s going to fall.”
It took a good half hour to get all the way through the trunk, but it finally settled on the ground. He’d come back another day to cut it all up. Today was simply for making sure the few leaning trees didn’t come down on anyone.
When they moved to the second tree, he showed Chelsea how to use the chainsaw. She was nervous but managed to cut a few small limbs off the trunk while he stood behind her, supporting her.
“Do you have anyone working on your house today?” Theo asked as they marched toward the last tagged tree. “You said you wanted bathrooms done first, right?”
“I do, but the plumber can’t come for another week. Brett showed up before I left. He’ll be peeling all the old wallpaper off in the downstairs rooms.”
