Free Lumberjack in Love by Penny Watson Page B

puffing, and his arms were bulging. And his ass looks really great in blue jeans. There was no way I could resist.”
    Rachel’s eyebrows were somewhere up in her hairline.
    “And, uh,” Ami mumbled, “we may have had sex on his front porch.”
    Rachel spit out her organic green tea. All over the dining room table.
    “What did you say?”
    Ami glanced at her sister. “You heard me! We had sex on his porch, okay? Really hot sex. It doesn’t mean anything. I’m a grown woman, and I needed to blow off some steam. So I did. With a super sexy lumberjacky guy who also happens to be really nice and thoughtful.” She glared at Rachel, daring her to speak.
    “Oh, well if that’s all.”
    “That’s all. I have no interest in having any sort of relationship with him. And I’m sure he isn’t interested in me. Besides, what would a city girl do in a place like this? No Barneys. No Starbucks. Crickets. Come on.”
    Rachel got up and grabbed a letter from the kitchen counter. “Well, you might want to take a look at this first. Before you decide Vermont has nothing to offer you.”
    Ami snatched the letter out of her hands and read silently. “This is from the Vermont Children’s Science Museum. They want to talk with me about the garden design for the new play area.”
    Rachel smiled. “Doug told them all about you and showed them photos of some of your work in Boston. They were impressed.”
    “Rachel!” Ami screamed and hugged her sister. The two of them jumped up and down, screaming and yelling until the front door flew open.
    “Daddy, why are Mommy and Auntie Ami hopping around the kitchen?” Natty giggled.
    Doug laughed. “I dunno. Maybe because they’re weird?”
    “Doug!” Ami ran over to her brother-in-law and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you! This really means a lot to me. It’s my first job interview since…well, since.”
    Doug pulled back and pinched her cheek. “I know, bubs. You’re welcome. And just for the record, I hardly had to do anything to get you that interview. As soon as they heard award-winning designer Ami Jordan was interested in their project, they jumped at the chance to talk to you. Congrats.”
    Ami bit her lip. “Holy crap! I have to get ready for this. I want to have some preliminary sketches for them by Friday.” She looked frantically for her cell phone. “I have to call Marcus. Maybe he can give me some ideas about his tree house design so I can make a coordinated landscaping plan.”
    Rachel found the phone under a stack of papers and tossed it to her. “You should definitely call him.” She shot Ami an innocent look and said, “Maybe you guys could work on his porch. Or something.”
    “Ha ha ha. You are hilarious, sis.”
    Natty tugged on her sleeve and she bent down to kiss her niece on the forehead. “What’s up, lady bug?”
    “Why are your ears red, Auntie Ami?”
    Rachel roared with laughter as Ami ran up the stairs to make her call.

    Marcus parked his truck in front of the cabin and frowned. The last thing he’d expected to see was Ami Jordan’s little SUV parked next to his porch. After a rousing session of sex and a sticky breakfast, she’d left him with a “see you around sometime” and he’d laughed in her face. She was pissed. But still under the mistaken impression that nothing was going on between them. He figured she’d be hiding out at her sister’s place all day.
    He pushed open the front door and froze. The television blasted a Celtics game. As in, blasted at decibels loud enough to be heard in New Jersey. Henry was stationed on the sofa, wearing a green and white Celtics bandana around his neck. Ami had the coffee table pulled right up to the couch. Empty soda cans, beer bottles, papers and pencils, a lap-top, bowls of pretzels and popcorn, and a bobble-head of Larry Bird covered the table top. Ami was bouncing up and down on his sofa like a trampoline artist.
    “Yes! Dunk it! Dunk it! In your face, New