Summer on Honeysuckle Ridge (Highland Falls Book 1)

by Debbie Mason

  “I don’t sell my carvings.” Ever. To anyone.

  “What? Why the heck not?” She looked truly shocked.

  “I do them for me.”

  “Okay, but if you sold just a few of them, you could buy the farm. I could help you. I featured an artist on my channel and turned him into an overnight sensation. He’s successful and rich now. You could be the same. You’d never have to worry about having crazy neighbors with wild kids.”

  He couldn’t resist. “How about a crazy lady with a wild Yorkie?” Then he frowned and looked around. “By the way, where is your dog, and my dog?”

  “I don’t know where Wolf went, but Bella’s on a time-out in your room.” She lifted her hand to her mouth, mumbling something around the thumbnail she chewed.

  “Say again?”

  She sighed and lowered her hand. “She was humping Wolf.”

  He laughed, then sobered at the look she shot him. “What did Wolf do?”

  “He snapped at her and pushed her away. I think it hurt her feelings. It’s hard to be rejected, you know. I felt bad putting her in time-out but she needs to understand she can’t go around trying to have sex with every dog she meets.”

  “She wasn’t trying to have sex with Wolf, Abby. She was trying to dominate him. I talked to you about this yesterday, but you obviously weren’t listening to me. If you don’t show her who’s boss, you’re going to be in trouble. She thinks she’s a hundred-pound mastiff, not an eight-pound Yorkie. And the first things that have to go are her bows and dresses.”

  She waved him off. “You’re just saying that because you’re a guy. And not just a guy. You’re a guy-guy. Like one of those alpha guys. Lumberjack man.” She nodded and made a fish face, pointing at him. “That’s what this is all about. You’re projecting.”

  “Really? I’m projecting on a dog? All right, I’ve heard it all now.” He ducked to look her in the eyes. “You’re treating your dog like a baby. She’s not a baby. She’s a dog. And if you don’t want her to get eaten, you better start treating her like one.”

  She slapped her left palm to her chest. “That’s a horrible thing to say. Do you not think I’ve suffered enough? I’ve been—”

  He held up a hand. “Yeah, I know. Leeches, snakes, mice, spiders, and bats all have it in for you.”

  “Bats? I never said anything about…The bird wasn’t a bird, was it?”

  “Ah, no, it wasn’t, but don’t worry about it. I’m going to take care of it.”

  Her face lit up. “You’re going to buy the farmhouse?”

  “What? No. I told you, I don’t have any money.”

  “But your carvings are…Okay, fine,” she said, no doubt catching a glimpse of his not happening expression. “Eden said you were in the military. Like some crazy elite force. So you must have a good pension. Unless you got dishonorably discharged. You didn’t, did you? Eden said you were a hero and that you were awarded the Purple Heart.”

  “I wasn’t dishonorably discharged.” In his mind, he should’ve been. He shouldn’t have been given a medal for an operation that cost two men their lives. “Still doesn’t change anything. I don’t have the money to buy the farmhouse.”

  “What do you do with your money?” She looked around the barn as if drawing some unsavory conclusions.

  So he told her the truth. “I give it away. And don’t ask me to who because it’s none of your damn business. Now go get your dog, and I’ll get my toolbox.”

  “I have a better idea. Why don’t Bella and I stay here while you take care of my animal issues?”

  “No.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Why not?”

  “Because I said so.” He walked away. She was giving him a headache. Probably because she talked too much. Or it might’ve been because he’d talked more in the past twenty-four hours than he had in months.

  “That’s not an answer,” she called to his back.

  He turned. “Do you want my help or not?”

  “Yes, but I—” She lifted her hands in a gesture of frustration, and it was then that he realized the true root of his headache.

  It was from the strain of keeping his eyes on her face. “There’s a shirt hanging on the back of my door. Put it on.”

  “But it’s like seventy degrees out…” She followed the direction of his gaze. “Oh. Oh!” She whirled around and, cradling her arm, ran for his room.

  Chapter Six

  The next afternoon, Abby knocked on the door to her bedroom with one hand while holding a plate of blueberry muffins from the gift basket in the other hand. “Hunter, I brought—”

  “Don’t you dare come in here, Abby. You nearly took off my head last time.”

  “I told you I was sorry. I didn’t mean to turn on the ceiling fan. I had no idea the switch was behind me when I leaned against the wall.” To ogle his muscles.

  “I don’t have time to talk. And if you don’t stop bugging me—”

  “Bugging you? I was trying to help. And just so you know, I was going to feed you. But if you don’t want the blueberry muffins—”

  The door opened, and he took the plate. “Thanks.” He closed the door in her face.

  Her mouth fell open. Honestly, he was the rudest man she’d ever met. But he was reframing the window in her bedroom to seal a newly discovered animal entry point so she decided to keep her opinion to herself.

  Her cell phone rang with another FaceTime call from her family. She walked down the stairs as Hunter renewed his hammering in her bedroom. She sat on the second-to-the-last step and accepted the call. Staring at the phone, she prayed it was her sisters and not her mother.

  “Thank goodness,” she said when Haven and Haley appeared on the screen. “I was afraid you were so worried about me that you’d broken your promise and told Mom.”

  Haven scrunched her nose, looking confused. “Why would we be worried about you?”

  Abby stared at her and raised her arm. “Uh, bitten by a snake, remember? A ginormous snake. A deadly snake.”

  “Abs, it wasn’t a deadly snake. Copperheads just get a bad rap.”

  Peeved that Haley was dismissing her trauma so easily, Abby said, “Really? And when did you become the snake expert in the family?”

  “I’m not a snake expert. Hunter is. He said you’ll be fine, and he was right. You look so much better now than you did yesterday morning.” Haley smiled.

  “Where’s Hunter?” Haven asked, looking past her.

  “In my bedroom.” He’d spent yesterday afternoon and evening working in the attic and her great-aunt’s room, which were supposedly worse than hers. Except last night the bat had come back, and he’d brought friends.

  At her sisters’ wide-eyed stares, she corrected herself. “Hammering. He’s hammering in my bedroom to ensure that I won’t be sharing my room or my bed with any wild animals tonight.” She narrowed her eyes at the two of them as they tried to suppress their grins. “Do not even go there.”

  “Why not? He’s sooo hot. He looks like Thor. I mean, he looks like Chris Hemsworth playing Thor. If I were ten years older, I would totally do—”

  “Haven Helen Everhart, I don’t ever want to hear you talk like that again.”

  Her sisters laughed. “You sounded just like Mom.”

  “Yeah, well, you better be careful or I’ll tell her you’re not the innocent little angels she thinks you are.”

  “Oh, come on, admit it. He’s off-the-charts gorg, Abs. If we were the type of girls who ranked men by numbers, we’d give him a twenty out of ten. He’s in a class all by himself,” Haley said.

  “Of course he is, because no one would want to be in the class with him. He’s overbearing, bossy, and grumpy.” And he’d hurt her feelings when he’d said she was the clumsiest woman he’d ever met, even if it was kinda true.

  “Please don’t turn into one of those women,” Haven said.

  “What women?”

  “You know the ones. Their husband leaves them for someone else, and they turn into
bitter and angry women who shut themselves off from love,” Haven said.

  “Yeah, don’t do that, Abs. We want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy. And you deserve to have someone who loves you. The Abby we know, not”—Haley glanced at Haven, who nodded as though giving her permission to say whatever was on her mind—“the Abby Chandler and your Hollywood friends wanted you to be.”

  Abby rested her head against the wall, stunned. “I tried really hard not to let the fame and the fortune go to my head or change me. Honestly, I didn’t think it had. I’m sorry. You guys should’ve said something.”

  “No, it’s not that. We loved your fame and fortune. You spoiled us, and we couldn’t have been prouder of you. We were always bragging about you to our friends.”

  Abby forced her smile to stay in place as Haley confirmed her worst fears. She’d lost her sisters’ admiration and respect. She was nothing now. Just a penniless woman living in the middle of nowhere whose risk of dying before she was thirty had increased exponentially because she didn’t have what it took to survive in the mountains of North Carolina.

  She felt like the loser the mean girls in high school had proclaimed her to be.

  “But you weren’t really you when you were with Chandler, especially the last couple of years. Abs—”

  Afraid she might cry, Abby interrupted Haley, “I promise, I won’t become bitter and shut myself off from love.”

  “Great. Because we think Hunter is perfect for you,” Haven said.

  “You can’t be serious. This is why you called, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, and before you list a hundred and one reasons why it won’t work—”

  “Besides the man having absolutely zero interest in me, you mean?” Abby interrupted Haley. “Which, by the way, is mutual. I have no interest in him either. And, yes, I’m not blind, so I do realize he is an incredibly good-looking man. Although totally not my type.”

  “Just saying, but maybe you need to rethink your type because your type sued you and then dumped you.”

  “That’s not nice, Hal,” Haven said, then smiled at Abby. “We just don’t want you to rule Hunter out because you think he’s not your type. The same goes for Highland Falls. It might be just the change you need. It probably doesn’t feel that way because of the snake and everything, but maybe you need to give it a chance. Hunter too, because he—”

  “Fine. I promise to keep an open mind. I’ll just ignore Hunter’s tendency to bark at me. Yell at me. Grunt instead of answering my questions. Look at me as if I’m a blonde instead of a redhead. And instead of focusing on his domineering, bossy ’tude, I’ll focus on his rugged masculinity.”

  At her sisters’ amused smiles, she hammed it up, moving her hand through her hair in a sensual way. Except her fingers got caught in her curls, and she had to yank them out, which kind of ruined the effect. She continued anyway. “His thick wavy hair and his piercing blue eyes, that mouth with the full bottom lip and that thick neck and bulging muscles that make you want to…Ummm.” She closed her eyes, doing her best impression of Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm in When Harry Met Sally.

  There was a reason Abby never made it as an actress, but she’d made her sisters laugh, and that made her smile. Until she opened her eyes and saw the oh, crap expressions on Haven’s and Haley’s faces.

  “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

  Her sisters nodded, giving the man standing behind her finger waves.

  Abby groaned. “Shoot me now.”

  “Gladly.” Hunter stepped around her to head for the side door onto the porch. He was shirtless, and a tool belt rode low on his hips, his khaki shorts and heavy work boots showing off his muscular calves. But it was his smoothly muscled back that caught and held Abby’s gaze. As though he sensed her lustful attention, he slung the T-shirt he had bunched in his hand over his shoulder.

  “Abs, do something! He’s leaving,” Haley whisper-shouted over the line.

  “Go after him, Abs. You need him. Just apologize. Blame us.”

  “Okay. Okay.” She didn’t want to chase after him, but her sisters were right. She needed him. She’d been waiting for a good time to ask him to help her with the rest of her to-do list. She just hadn’t figured out what to offer him in return. Now she’d be lucky if he finished sealing the gates to the wild kingdom for her.

  She heard her mother calling for her sisters. “Is she asking if you’ve seen her phone?”

  “Yeah, we kinda gave our phones away, so we—”

  “Why would you…” She blew out a breath. “Right. I told you I’d buy you new iPhones when you got back.” Abby’s mother and stepfather didn’t have a lot of money for extras, and Abby made sure her sisters never went without. She knew what it was like to be the kid wearing the neighbor’s hand-me-downs, the kid who didn’t have a cell phone or laptop. She’d been the one to buy Haven and Haley the latest tech gadgets, and the latest trends in clothes and shoes. Whatever they’d wanted, Abby bought. “I promise, as soon as I sell the farm, I’ll buy you new phones.”

  “No. We can take the money from the school accounts you set up for us. That’s really why we called. We talked about it, Abs. We want you to take the money. You can pay Hunter to fix the house and buy whatever you need. We can work our way through school. We don’t mind, honest,” Haley said, with Haven nodding beside her.

  “Absolutely not. I want you guys to focus on school.” She didn’t want her mom to feel like she had to help them either. And Abby knew she would. Her mother had always worked hard, but after Abby’s dad left, she’d had to work two jobs just to keep them afloat. She’d never complained, but Abby had heard her crying herself to sleep at night and had vowed that one day she’d pay her back. She’d made several attempts over the years, only for her mother to refuse the money. So instead, Abby spoiled her sisters, mom, and stepfather at birthdays and Christmas. And with a gap year that had turned into a family trip of a lifetime.

  Her mother and stepfather had been worried sick about the girls traveling to remote parts of the world on their own (as had Abby), but they understood their desire to help others. It was something they aspired to themselves. So after first clearing it with Haley and Haven, Abby presented them with the trip as a retirement present.

  Her stomach clutched at the thought that she might never be able to spoil any of them again. Outside she heard a truck’s door slam. “I gotta go. Hunter’s leaving. Don’t forget to erase the phone’s history before you give it back to Mom.”

  “We love you, Abs,” the twins cried in unison.

  “Love you guys too.” She made kissy faces at them as she ran for the door…and tripped over her shoes.

  * * *

  “Hunter, wait!” Abby flew out of the farmhouse, waving her arm to flag him down.

  “You see, this is what happens when you take too long taking a leak, Wolf. Next time I tell you we’re leaving, you better get your ass in the truck ASAP.” He turned to look at Abby, who was pounding on his window. He lowered it. “What?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of what I said or, you know, the fake orgasm thing.” Her cheeks pinked, and her eyes lowered to his chest. He was wearing a clean T-shirt, but he suddenly felt naked under her stare. As though she sensed his eyes on her, she lifted her gaze to his.

  “You sure it was fake?” Way to go, Mackenzie.

  “Was what…Oh, that, yeah. I’m not very good at it. I couldn’t fake an orgasm to save my life. It became a bit of an issue with my ex. I…” She wrinkled her nose. “You really didn’t need to know that, did you?”

  “Nope.” He frowned and tapped his finger against his forehead. “What happened there?”

  “Here?” She pointed at the red mark, and he nodded. She glanced away, saying something under her breath.

  “Come again.” She looked at him, and he bowed his head. “No. I didn’t mean literally. I meant what did you just say?”

  “I ran into my phone.”

  “How is that even…” He held
up his hand. “Never mind. I’ve gotta go.”

  “No!” She reached through the window and grabbed his arm. “Please, don’t go. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have objectified you that way. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was Haley and Haven’s fault. They’re just looking out for me, and they think you…Never mind. I won’t ever talk about you like that again. I’m truly sorry. Please tell me what I can do to make it up to you.”

  She looked like a lost puppy with her big pleading eyes, and he opened his mouth to tell her he was going to finish her room once he got back from town, but she just kept talking. He’d never met a woman who talked as much as her.

  “I really need to sleep tonight, and if you don’t finish animal-proofing my room, I won’t. Unless you stay with me.” She held up both hands, palms out. “Not with me, with me. I mean in the other bedroom. Or if that’s too close, on the couch.”

  “Are you done?”

  She nodded, clutching her bottom lip between her teeth. It had taken him less than two days to be able to read her tells. She was trying not to cry, and why that caused something to move in his chest, he had no idea. He did know he didn’t like it.

  “I’ll be back in about twenty minutes to finish up. I just have to go to town and pick up a couple things at the hardware store.”

  “Town? You’re going to town? I need to go with you.”

  “No. I don’t have time. The hardware store closes in fifteen minutes,” he lied. He needed time away from her before he lost his ever-loving mind.

  She was already halfway to the house. “I’ll be two minutes. I just have to grab my shoes and Bella.”

  “No way. Dog stays. She’s in the crate.”

  “I can’t leave her by herself. I’ve never left her alone before.”

  “That’s fine. You don’t have to,” he said and started the truck.

  “Okay, okay, but can you leave Wolf to protect her?” She walked back to the truck. “I know you think I baby her, but what you don’t know is I rescued her from my ex’s cosmetics company. She was subject number three. They were testing a new hair-care product line on her. A lot of people don’t know this but a Yorkie’s hair is almost identical to humans’. When I took her from the lab, most of her hair had fallen out, and she had open sores on her skin.”