“I didn’t do as badly as I thought,” he smiles widely, running his fingers through the loose strands of his hair.
It takes me a moment to form words. I'm currently doing the ultimate impression of a fish out of water. Forcing my mouth shut, I shake my head.
“Embarrass yourself, you said? Now I have to compete with that?” I glare at him, but can't hold the smile back that’s creeping in.
With a shake of my head, I lift down an axe for myself and get into the same stance he has just taken. Fuck me, this thing is as heavy as I thought it would be. I throw it, hopeful that I might make it across the room. But my face falls when I see it hasn’t even made it a meter in front of me.
Well, this isn’t as fun as I hoped it was going to be. Bending down, I pull it out of the floor, ready to try again, when I feel the heat of someone coming up behind me. Luke traces his fingers down my arm until his hand is placed on top of mine, his fingers threading through mine around the handle.
He leans his head down to my ear, his hot breath sending goosebumps down my spine as he whispers.
“Let’s do it together.”
With our combined strength, the axe lifts much more easily this time around. Not that I'm paying it any notice. My attention is solely on the man pressed up against my back. I can feel every inch of him, and my body arches with the movement.
“One, two, three,” he says, his voice low.
Then my own axe flies through the air, hitting the target perfectly. I suck in a breath as my mouth gapes. I can't believe we did it. By 'we,' I mean him, as I didn’t do much to help at all. I spin and throw my arms around his neck.
“See, we make a good team,” he says, a smugness in his tone.
“Yeah, I suppose we do,” I reply, a little mystified at how perfect he is.
And for once, I feel as though this could go somewhere. He and I. And that is a feeling I have never felt or ever thought possible.
