Leave Me Breathless

Her clumsiness is quite endearing, yet I refrain from telling her so.

I help her down, ensuring her stability before I release her, though it’s only when I try to step back that I realize she’s the one clinging to me. She’s looking at me again, her blue eyes ridiculously large and beautiful.

I look away. I need some breathing space. Weird shit is happening in my veins, my heart, my head. ‘Excuse me,’ I say, forcing myself from her hold and heading back to my cabin, scrubbing my hands down my face and breathing out. For a man who’s content on his own, a man who’s not interested in getting involved with a woman, this one sure has my blood hot. No woman has ever done this to me. Stirred my interest. Gotten me so curious. Made me laugh. Stoked desire.

I splash my face with cold water, if only to bring myself around from this . . . oddness. Only once I’ve composed myself do I head back outside. And stop dead in my tracks at the threshold when I see no sign of Hannah. Where’d she go? ‘Hannah,’ I call, taking the steps and scanning the area.

‘Yeah?’

She appears from behind a tree, and my muscles relax. That’s fucking weird, too. ‘I thought you’d gone.’ And so what if she had?

She blows a strand of hair from her face, trudging toward me. ‘You’ll have to tell me how to get out of here.’ She gestures around to my hidden sanctuary. ‘I just followed my nose.’

Followed her nose, huh? Should I read more into that? Probably not. ‘So today you came to see me to tell me you’re not awkward,’ I say, my head tilting. ‘What were you doing up this way the other night?’

‘Looking for Molly’s house.’ She shrugs. ‘I was delivering paint and got completely lost.’

‘Then I’m glad I found you.’ The words come from nowhere, making her withdraw a little. ‘I mean—’ What the actual fuck, Ryan?

‘I’m glad, too,’ she says on a mere wisp of air. ‘Or else I could’ve been eaten by a bear or something,’ she adds cheekily, as if she’s regretting what she’s said.

‘There are no bears around these parts.’ Silly female.

‘Wolves?’

I shake my head. ‘You’re in the Peak District, not Alaska.’

‘Wild dogs?’

‘Nope. No man-eating monsters around here, sweetheart.’ I pick up my axe from its resting place by the pile of logs, swinging it casually as I kick my foot onto a nearby log and lean forward, resting my elbow on my knee. ‘Only me.’

She rolls her eyes for effect, approaching and claiming my axe. ‘No offense, but you’re not the least bit scary,’ she says casually.

‘I wasn’t trying to be.’

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip as she regards me carefully. What’s she thinking? ‘It’s heavier than it looks.’ She rips her eyes from mine and inspects my axe. Now I know she wasn’t thinking that. ‘Did you chop all these logs?’

‘Yep. I love the springtime. It’s warm during the day, but early mornings and nighttime are still cool enough to light a fire.’ I kick a few logs as Hannah studies the handle, both hands flexing around the wood. ‘Wanna try?’ I ask. Where are these words coming from? And is this wise, given she’s so fucking clumsy? She could take my head off.

Hannah looks up at me. ‘At chopping wood?’

‘Sure.’ Why the hell not. Dancing with danger seems to be in my blood. I take a moment’s pause on that thought. Hannah? Dangerous? She looks about as deadly as a baby bunny. I bend and collect a pre-chopped log, placing it upright on the stump. Then something comes to me. ‘Your shoulder.’

‘My shoulder’s fine.’ She rolls it, stepping forward and lifting the axe. At least, she tries to. She barely gets it past her waist.

‘Want some help?’ I ask. Help? That would mean being close to her. Touching? Is that a good idea?

She looks at me, silent for a few moments, before quietly replying, ‘Sure.’

I rub at the nape of my neck, struggling to find a reason not to help her. After all, I offered. And she accepted. I can do this. And actually, something inside me is satisfied she wants me to, especially since she couldn’t bring herself to even look at me before today. So I close the distance between us yet make sure our bodies don’t touch, but of course when I lean past her, my plan goes to shit and my front meets her back. I swallow and take the handle of the axe, just below Hannah’s grip. She stills, going quiet.

‘You get more power if you hold the handle nearer the end,’ I say quietly, my voice naturally rough. ‘But you lose some precision.’

‘Okay,’ she whispers. ‘So hold it here?’ Her hands move onto mine.

‘Yeah.’ I find my eyes closing when she shifts position, rubbing into me a little. Jesus Lord above, what is she trying to do to me? ‘You think we’re lined up?’ I ask, unable to check myself.