Ridge Creek (15 page)

“Sure,” he agrees quickly.  “Love a good flat pack.  Grown
mans’ Meccano.”  Already rising off his stool he then asks, “Where’s the car?”

“Burgundy Maserati directly out front,” Emma mutters.  “You
might need a knife or some scissors or something.  The boots held shut with
baling twine because we couldn’t fit the flat packs on the backseat.  There may
be a few granny knots to contend with.”

I watch as Luke rolls his eyes and shakes his head almost
indiscernibly.  “Why is ridiculous shit the norm around you?” He mutters under
his breath as he heads for the door.  “Who the fuck ties the boot of a
goddamned Maserati down with baling twine?”

Emma and I glance at each other for a second, grin and then
go back to our tasks.

A short time later Luke reappears carrying both boxes, one
under each arm.  “Where do you want them?  In your rooms?”  He asks.

“That’d be great,” I reply as I finish poking the last
plastic bag of fruit and vegetables into the fridge.  “Can we do mine first?”

“Sure,” he mumbles as he turns and leaves the room. 
“Probably taking my life in my own hands entering your bedroom while Jake’s not
here, but what the Hell, you only live once.”

Jolting upright as I register what he just said, I flash my
eyes towards the door and find he is gone.  Swinging my eyes to Emma, I give
her a questioning look and she rolls her eyes at me.

Surely after last night I can assume Jake couldn’t care less
who is in my room whether he’s here or not.  Further supporting that point
would be the fact that I’ve not seen hide or hair of him all day.  He didn’t
even bother to tell me he was leaving on business this time.

I watch as Emma shrugs her shoulders at me and continues
opening the box in front of her.  Jambo is now sitting on the box and helping
her to peel the tape back.

“I’ll be in my room supervising Luke,” I mutter as I head
for the door as well.

“Sure,” she mutters absentmindedly as she busies herself
with digging my new laptop out of its box.

By the time I make it to my bedroom, Luke is kneeling on the
floor opening the flat pack box and spreading its contents out around him. 
Wandering over to sit on the bed, I survey the carnage as he opens various
packets of screws and bolts, upending them all together in a single pile.

“You sure you should be mixing those up?” I ask.

“Yep,” he mumbles, staring thoughtfully at the small pile of
hardware sitting in front of him.  Picking up the instruction booklet he flicks
through the pages and then announces, “Gunna need to grab a cordless drill from
my truck.”  Flinging the booklet down, he stands up and heads for the door. 
Just before he disappears into the hallway he looks back over his shoulder and
gives me a wink.  “You can get us a beer while I get the drill.”

Staring at the empty doorway, I quickly vow to myself that
tonight I will only be drinking one beer as I lift off the bed and head to the
communal room to fulfill his request.

By the time I get back, Luke is back in his kneeling
position on the floor and once again flicking through the instruction booklet. 
I watch as his eyes drift lazily up from the booklet and settle on mine.  I
walk straight to him and hand him his beer.  With a small smile, he reaches a
hand out to take his beer.  It is as he is wrapping his fingers around the neck
of the bottle that I feel his fingers graze mine and a small electric shock
zaps through my fingers.  A warm tingle then travels up my arm.  With a gasp, I
shove the bottle into his fingers and step back.

Holy crap.  What was that?

I watch as he grins at me again.  Bringing the bottle to his
lips, I watch as his eyes stay pinned on mine and he takes a long pull of his
beer.  “Thanks,” he murmurs.

“No worries,” I reply as I shuffle my way past him and
resume my seat on the bed to watch him as he works.

Placing his beer on the floor next to him, he also flings
the booklet down beside him and picks up a couple of pieces of board from one
of the piles he has in front of him.  Holding them together, I watch as he
lines some holes up, leans across to his pile of screws, flicks through the
pile and selects a screw.  Sitting it in the hole and holding the boards with
one hand, he then uses the cordless to screw it in. 

I marvel at how easy he makes it look.

I remember the last time I had to assemble a piece of flat
pack furniture when I was living with Tony.  It had been a painful process. 
None of the screws seemed to fit the holes, the head of the screwdriver kept
falling out of the screws and I broke a nail.  It was a long day and it was not
a good day.

Watching quietly as Luke works I am amazed to see that a few
short minutes later, several pieces are already screwed together and the flat
pack is starting to look like a desk.

Holy shit.

Deciding I should probably acknowledge his good work I
announce, “You’re very good at screwing.”

No sooner are the words from my mouth than I realize what
I’ve said and I quickly follow with a, “Shit, that didn’t come out right.  I
mean - ”

He cuts me off with a grin, “I am.”  Picking his beer up
from the floor next to him, he rocks back on his heels and gives me another one
of his lazy looks. 

Boy has this guy got the smolder factor going on.

Taking another swig of his beer, he doesn’t say anything,
just stares, puts his beer down and continues putting the desk together.

“I suppose you do a fair bit of it when you set up your
green energy systems,” I continue in an effort to make small talk.

I watch as he flicks me a glance, smirks, then continues
working. 

Shit.

This is not going well.  Why the hell do I keep saying
stupid shit?  I lift my beer back to my lips and for some reason, drain it.  It
goes straight to my head.

Damn.

“Another?” I ask pointing at my now empty beer bottle.

He lifts an eyebrow at me and nods.  “Sure.”

Launching off the bed, I head back to the communal room.  On
arrival, I find Emma is well underway setting up my laptop and she is at the
software installation phase.   Watching me as I pass through, she looks at the
empty beer bottle in my hand and grins. “You go girl.”

“I’m becoming an alcoholic,” I mumble as I bin my empty
bottle and grab two more.

Shrugging her shoulders she returns her attention to the
laptop and I leave her to it.

Back in my bedroom, I pass through the doorway and jolt to a
stop as I do a double take.  The desk is finished and Luke is tightening some
screws on its side.

“Holy shit,” I exclaim as I stare dumbfounded at the desk. 
“You’re finished?”

Tightening one last screw, he puts the cordless down and
grabs his beer.  Once again tipping back on his heels, he takes a long pull
from his beer as his eyes settle on me.  He nods.

“That has got to be a world record effort.  You’re fast. 
Real fast.  You should enter flat pack building competitions you’re so fast. 
Do they even have those?  If they did, you could be a world champion and travel
the world screwing flat packs together while people cheer you on.  You’d
probably end up with sponsorship from Hitachi or Dewalt or something.  Have you
ever considered a career in professional screwing?”

I then watch as is chest starts shaking and a grin spreads
across his lips which are still touching the bottle.  Taking another swig, he
finishes his bottle and puts it down.  “Are you suggesting I become a man
whore?”

“What!  No!” I screech.  “I didn’t mean that!”

Jesus.

Why do I keep saying this stupid shit?  You’d think I’d
never been around a man the way I am getting all tongue-tied.  He continues
smirking before he relieves my distress by explaining, “I’m a qualified
electrician Arianna, I’ve been using a drill, for screwing, since I was
sixteen.”

“Oh,” I mumble.

Well that makes sense.

It would be highly unlikely you could install green energy
systems without being an electrician.  Why didn’t I think about that earlier? 
I walk forward and pass him his new bottle of beer.

Deciding that I can’t keep this conversation on the straight
and narrow, I ask, “Why am I struggling to make a conversation with you?”

“Because we are alone in your bedroom and you’re attracted
to me,” he says simply as his lips twitch a little.  He takes a long pull from
his beer and settles it on the floor next to him before continuing, “Where do
you want your desk?”

Dumbfounded I feel my mouth drop open as I gape at him.

Cocky bastard.

What is it with the men around here?  They are all straight talkers. 
What ever happened to subtlety?  Snapping my mouth shut again, I feel my brows
knitting together as I ask, “That’s a bit cocky isn’t it?”

He gives me a grin and shrugs his shoulders.  “Just sayin’,”
he mumbles before clearing his voice to ask, “Where do you want the desk?”

I point to a wall near a power outlet.

“I’m attracted to you to Arianna, but I know you’re
off-limits.”

Huh?  What the hell does that mean?

“Off-limits?” I squeak as he starts rolling the desk towards
the wall.

Luke ignores my squeak and settles the desk against the
wall.  Turning back to face me, he leans his hip against it and continues, “Me,
Jake and Zane have been tight since Grade four Ari.  We are brothers in
everything but blood.  That means we respect each other.”

“That’s nice for you but what’s it got to do with me being
off limits?  I’d like to hear more about that.”

I watch as his eyebrows knit slightly and he starts to
scratch his neck.  Giving me a strange look, he pushes of the desk and heads
back to reclaim his beer from the floor.  “Are you shittin’ me?” He asks.

“Shitting you about what?  I wanna know why I’m off-limits.”

“Because you’re Jakes woman,” he replies looking confused.

“I am not!” I snap loudly.  So loudly that I watch Luke
physically startle and make a small body movement backwards.

“You’re not?” He asks looking confused.

“Not that I know of,” I huff as I walk back to the bed and
slump down on it to consider Luke’s revelation.  “Sure he looks after me, but I
think he only does it because he feels sorry for me.  That doesn’t make me his
woman.”

Luke takes a slow pull on his beer and stares at me for a
few beats.  “You might want to talk to Jake about that.  I’m not sure you and
he are on the same page.”

“That sounds like an understatement,” I mumble to myself as
I start to wonder if I am in fact Jake’s woman.  I would have thought to be
someone’s ‘woman’ you would have had to have at least kissed.  None of this
makes sense.

I take a swig of my own beer and watch as Luke looks
thoughtful for a beat or two.  Looking like he’s come to some sort of decision,
he wanders over and sits next to me on the bed.

I’m instantly assaulted by the very pleasant scent of Luke. 
A soft musky male smell mixed with cologne.

Why do men have to smell so good?

Suddenly feeling nervous at his close proximity, I start
focusing on stripping the beer label off my beer.

“Ari, look at me,” he murmurs.

I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

I decide to ignore him and start chewing on my lip as I
continue scratching at the beer label.

“Ari, don’t make this awkward.  I wanna be your friend.  I
get your confused.  Anyone would be after what you’ve been through.  But don’t
go underestimating your own worth just because of what happened.  Jake’s into
you.  He’s more into you than I’ve ever seen him into anyone before.  I still
don’t get why he married that other bitch but he did.  He didn’t have to bring
you back here, but he did.  He didn’t have to look after you, but he did.  For
some reason he saw something when he found you on the side of the road, and
whatever that something was, he’s following it up.  If I had to make a guess,
I’d say it’s something to do with you being tough.  Women that look like you
aren’t normally tough.  They’re normally whinging princesses who are put on
this earth to cock tease men, give us blue balls and send us nuts.  You’re
gorgeous but you sure as hell are not a princess.  It’s an attractive trait. 
So attractive that if Jake hadn’t already made it clear to everyone he knows
that you’re off-limits, you’d be under siege right now by at least a dozen
guys.  I’d be one of them.  Without hesitation I would have thrown you on the
back of my bike and taken you home.  No questions asked.  Not one of use gives
a single shit about your past and I can guarantee that Jake doesn’t either.  He
also is not looking after you because he feels sorry for you.  He’s looking
after you because he wants to.  You need to talk to Jake.”

“I need to talk to Jake,” I agree as his words settle softly
somewhere inside me.  Perhaps my ‘mandar’ has been functioning correctly.

Lifting my eyes from my now shredded beer label, I find Luke
studying me with soft eyes.  He looks genuinely concerned.  “Thank you,” I
murmur as my eyes drift across his face.  It is then that I am suddenly hit
with a fresh thought.  “What happens if I don’t want to be Jake’s woman?”

“Simple, you talk to him, tell him that, then you come find
me.  Straight away, as in - within seconds, don’t fuck about wastin’ any time
on that count,” he smirks and his eyes shine brightly.

I start grinning too.  “I suppose it’s nice to know I’ve got
a fall back guy.”

“Only if you need him,” he replies as his face swings back
to a serious look.  “Do you think your gunna need him, is there something I’m
not reading right here?”

“No I don’t think I’m gunna need him,” I murmur softly as I
drag my eyes from his face to my beer.  “Well at least I hope not anyway.”

“I thought as much,” Luke murmurs softly before he takes
another pull on his beer.  “Right then.  Flat pack two.  We’ll do this one
faster because this time you can help.  You are on opening and emptying packets
duty.”