Fixer-Upper Read Free Page A

pruner to the tree. “I saw with the sharp bit till the branch comes off?”
    Dakota took the pruner back quickly, his lips twitching. “Come on, I’m going to show you how to do this.”
    They stood under the tree, and Dakota extended his arm with the pruner firmly grasped in his hand. “You’re going to make a cut a little up from where you want the branch to end, like so. You need to watch what you’re doing so when the branch falls it doesn’t hit you. You’re going to make another cut here and another one here.” The branch fell to the ground with a thump. “It’s easy,” he said, handing the pruner back. “Once you’ve cleaned up some of the branches, we’ll move on to trimming the leaves.”
    “Got it,” said Jake, running over the steps Dakota had just outlined. It definitely looked easy enough.
    “Let me watch you do one,” said Dakota, dark gaze focused on Jake’s face.
    Jake did not want to do anything with Dakota watching him like that. He could feel himself getting nervous just thinking about it. What if he dropped the pruner or the branch landed on him? He couldn’t very well tell him no, though.
    Taking a steadying breath, fully aware of Dakota’s gaze on him even though he couldn’t see it, he stepped forward and mimicked the steps Dakota had just gone over with him. His hand shook a little at first, but he quickly steadied it, and soon the branch was falling to land beside the other one.
    He stepped back and aimed a smug smile at Dakota, hiding his surprise at how smoothly it had gone. “See,” he said, “I’ve got this.”
    Dakota still managed to look skeptical, but he nodded. “All right. I’m going to be working in the front yard. If you need anything, come find me or Jasper.”
    “Will do,” Jake assured him.
    “Don’t forget to take water breaks,” Dakota said before taking off for the front yard.
    Jake thought Dakota was a little obsessed with how much water he was drinking. He watched him walk away, gaze drawn to the way his torso narrowed and his ass moved as he walked. He jerked his gaze away. There was stuff to be done.
    The task was a fairly repetitive one, and Jake quickly sank into a rhythm, moving from tree to tree, collecting a growing pile of chopped branches. He left them gathered underneath the trees, unsure what he was supposed to do with them.
    Jasper came by after a while, interrupting his rhythm. “There’s a couple branches higher up that need to be trimmed. Do you want me to do them?” Jasper asked.
    Jake tilted his head back, noticing the branches that stuck out even more noticeably now that the bottom ones were shorter. “I can do it,” he said, not wanting to leave the job half done. He looked down at the pruner. “Is there a longer one of these?”
    “I’ll get you a ladder,” said Jasper. “Hang on a second.”
    He came back with a ladder that had to be leaned against the tree for balance. Jake had to grit his teeth to steel himself as he climbed it, one hand clutching the ladder, the other the pruner. He felt like he was going to fall over backward. Deep breaths , he told himself. Just take some deep breaths.
    Maybe he’d ask Dakota to trim the leaves if it spared him having to spend all day on the ladder.
    Every time he finished one section of tree, he had to climb back down the ladder and move it, then repeat the process of climbing up it. Every now and then, it would shift beneath his weight, and he’d resist the urge to flail with panic, instead holding tightly to it like that would do any good.
    He was working on one stubborn branch that had him leaning out from the ladder, balanced with his hand on the root of another branch. He tried to ignore the ground below. His tongue was between his teeth as he concentrated. The branch did not want to be cut. He jerked the arm holding the pruner.
    The branch slowly began to tilt downward.
    He jerked his arm again.
    Down it tumbled. He gave a little cry of delight. It was echoed by a cutoff