Chapter Four
Jacob
The first day of construction always got my juices revving.
I was always ready to tackle everything all at once, even though that wasn’t realistic.
Still, with my crew all there at seven a.m., the possibilities felt endless.
Darah tackled the electrical work in the master bathroom while Agatha and Niall took delivery of the bathroom fixtures for all three.
Felix hadn’t wanted to do all three at once, but I explained it made sense to do the entire remodel in one go.
So they wouldn’t forever be fixing things.
All three of the old toilets had issues, and I’d been happy to consign them to the rubbish heap.
As I eyed the steel, antique clawfoot tub Josie had acquired, I was kind of glad I’d hired a few extra laborers to help out.
Jay and Kris were guys I’d hired before, while Gina was new to the crew.
And, after about half an hour, I acknowledged she was as strong as she’d claimed.
Of course, she did volunteer firefighting out of House Three up near where we were, so she’d be able to lug around about a hundred pounds worth of equipment.
She also kept her cell phone close to hand in case she got a call.
With the higher temperatures came dryer conditions, and structure fires became critical to put out in case sparks got into the dry underbrush or parched trees.
She eyed the tub.
“Well, okay, then.”
“Flooring first,” Niall pointed out.
Gina turned at the sound of a truck pulling into the driveway. Her eyes lit when she realized more supplies were arriving. She did a little happy dance and headed down to meet the driver.
Niall slapped me on the back. “She’s a keeper.”
Eight hours later, I had to agree. Gina earned her pay and then some. So did all my crew. We worked like demons on the bathroom and, after a few problems, the entire thing was done.
I patted her on the back as we stood, as a group, on the front porch.
Kris eyed the drooping porch. “I should probably do that tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we should do a quick safety survey in the morning. I did it before, but I missed that, and now I’m worried what else I might’ve missed.” I wiped my damp forehead with my sleeve. “Okay, let’s call it a day.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Gina bounded down the stairs and headed along the long driveway to where she’d parked her car on the road.
Darah nudged me, then took off as well.
The rest of the crew followed. Mine was the only vehicle in the parking area of the house because we’d had deliveries arriving all day.
Even with eight of us, this would be a tight project to finish on time. I’d cleared the decks, though, and this was the only thing we had to work on.
As Agatha drove off in her van—the last straggler—Felix’s car appeared, and he drove up the driveway.
More sweat dripped down my face.
Ah, fuck it.
The workday was over, so I yanked my T-shirt over my head then stuck my face in the stinky thing so I could wipe the sweat off my face. Fuck, was it ever hot. Even up here in the mountains where we might’ve expected a bit of respite, we got none. Just brutal, unrelenting heat.
Felix stopped at the edge of the walkway and stared at me.
More specifically, he stared at my bare chest.
Like…huh?
He’d seen me virtually, or even completely, naked hundreds of times. My family had a swimming pool, for crying out loud. Yet he was looking at me…in a weird way.
I glanced down at my chest, trying to discern if something was amiss. Alas, just my abs that weren’t quite as washboard as I’d wish, a bit too much chest hair for my liking, and no tan because Mom drilled into us how bad the sun was. Even at twenty-eight, I listened to my mother, and if that meant sunscreen, then it was a small price to pay to keep her happy.
What’s he staring at?
I just wasn’t certain. “You want to come see the work we’ve done today?”
Slowly, he nodded. “Uh, sure.”
Holding his gaze for just another moment, I nodded then gestured to the cabin doorway.
He followed me in.
“Watch your step.” He was smart enough to know that, but I said that to everyone stepping into my construction zone. He didn’t need a hard hat, but he probably should be wearing boots instead of his shiny loafers. I’ll tell him that later.
I gingerly led him up the stairs. We’d stripped the carpet off and pulled up all the carpenter nails. “The stairs will be one of the last things we do.”
“Makes sense. You’re still hauling things up and down.”
I chuckled, thinking of that bloody bathtub. Well, both—the one we’d carried up and the one we’d removed and thrown away. “In here.”
We’d made our way across the empty master bedroom and into the master bath.
Felix gasped.
I grinned. “Yeah, pretty cool, eh?”
“It’s…” He faltered at the doorway.
“It’s okay to come in. Everything’s set and working.”
We’d busted our balls to get it done. Well, butts, since half my team didn’t have balls. Still…we’d worked so fricking hard to get this done.
“I can’t believe you did it.”
“Truthfully, I can’t either. My crew—” I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling an unaccustomed emotion. Beyond the normal gratitude I felt for my people. “They really like you and Josie. They want it done properly and quickly. I mean, we never dawdle on jobs, but…” I pointed. “Now, the bathtub’s not hooked up, and the shower’s not finished, but by tomorrow night everything will be perfect.”
“Right. No showers or baths.” He cut me a sly grin. “I think I can manage one day.”
“Don’t you swim at the leisure center some mornings?”
He offered a shy smile. “I didn’t realize you knew that. Yeah, a couple of mornings a week. I was planning to go tomorrow.”
How I’d known that random fact, I couldn’t remember. In fact, I suspected I knew a lot on minutiae about my future brother-in-law that would fill a small part of my brain. “Well, I should be going.”
“Oh.” He held up his finger and retreated to his car. Within a moment, he headed back with a pizza box in his hands. “You like Canadian, right? Mushrooms, pepperoni…” He wrinkled his nose.
“You don’t like Canadian?”
“No, I can’t remember the other ingredient.”
“I think bacon is the one you’ve forgotten. Although each pizzeria does it a little differently.” I pointed to the box. “But they are the best in town.”
A look of relief crossed his face, and he let out a little puff of air. “Yeah, I thought I remembered you saying that.” He indicated his backpack with his chin. “Sodas. I considered getting beer—”
“Soda is perfect.” I relieved him of the pizza box, and we walked inside.
Sawdust covered just about every surface, as Niall had cut some wood today that we’d used to shore up some areas that needed extra reinforcement. Again, I wished Felix had bought something newer, but his budget wouldn’t have stretched that far. Not if he wanted to live in the country, which he obviously did.
He eyed the place. “Uh, maybe we should sit on the porch?”
I grinned. “Good idea.”
We headed back outside, and within a few moments, we’d plopped onto the step, distributed pizza and sodas, and were chowing down.
Oh, he’d remembered my favorite was fizzy lemonade.
What a sweetheart.
Which is why he’s the perfect guy for your sister—considerate, gentle, and kind.
As we ate, Felix tried to tuck his mushrooms onto a napkin.
“You don’t like mushrooms?”
He flushed.
“Then why did you order a Canadian pizza? Or didn’t at least ask for half without mushrooms…” Because he was being considerate, gentle, and kind.
He winced. “I forgot. Well, I remembered you liked Canadian, but I forgot they put mushrooms on it until I saw it, and…” He shrugged.
“I’ll eat them.” No sense wasting good fungi.
After a moment, he handed over his napkin.
I took it gratefully, indelicately shoving them all in my mouth.
He offered up his current slice which had several.
“Uh, I’m not going to touch your pizza. As it is, I didn’t really clean my hands.” I’d washed them but not scrubbed them yet. I hadn’t handled anything toxic or bacteria-carrying, so I wasn’t worried.
He caught his lower lip in his teeth.
I grinned. “You can feed them to me.”
His eyes widened. Then, after a moment, they narrowed. “That feels like a trick of some kind.”
“Never.” Even as I said the word, I flashed to all the pranks I’d pulled over the years on various friends. As well as on family, such as Josie.
But never on Felix.
Had I always known? How sensitive he was? How easily he might be hurt? Even before his dad died, he’d been a quiet and introverted guy. So unlike Wally, Josie, and me. We were all loud, boisterous, and mischief-makers.
I reconsidered. Josie tempered that impetuousness when she was around Felix.
And, if I was honest, so did I.
Wally was the only one who didn’t seem cognizant of his younger brother’s delicate nature.
Slowly, Felix pulled a mushroom off his pizza.
I opened my mouth and angled myself so he could drop it in.
He did.
Our gazes met.
He giggled and pointed to my chin.
“What…?” I swiped. “Oh, cheese.”
“You want the others?”
“I want everything you’re willing to give me.”
Even as I said the words, the misinterpretation opportunities popped into my head. Sexual innuendo? Really?
And yet clearly Felix didn’t see it that way. He gathered the remaining pieces of mushroom—less than a mouthful—and offered them to me.
Guileless deep-brown eyes stared at me as I took the mushrooms into my mouth. Slowly, I closed said mouth and chewed mechanically.
What the actual fuck, dude? Are you crushing on your sister’s fiancé?
That shook me out of the trance. “I should get going.”
“You haven’t finished your drink.”
“It’s in a bottle, so I can just take it with me.” I eyed the sky with the slowly setting sun. “You going to be all right out here by yourself?”
“I’ve got a tent, an air horn, and bear spray.”
I didn’t like the sound of any of that. “Not a lot of help with coyotes.” Or determined bears, for that matter. “Are you sure you don’t want to come home with me? I’ve got a spare bedroom…”
“The insurance company says someone has to be on the grounds for the homeowner’s policy to be valid. Plus, I’d hate to have someone come along and steal everything.”
I wasn’t positive about the insurance, but yeah, getting everything stolen would suck. Of course for someone to know there was stuff to steal, they would’ve had to be scoping out the property and, this far from town, that wasn’t really a thing.
After securing the cap to my soda, I rose.
Felix leapt up as well. “Here, take the leftover pizza.”
All of one slice. We’d devoured it. Well, I’d eaten five slices, and he’d eaten two. I comforted myself that he’d bought a medium so the slices were smaller, but the rest of me admitted I was starving and hadn’t been forward looking to going home alone and whipping up something to eat.
Probably would’ve done drive-thru.
Yeah, but that cost money, and I was trying to save money. “You sure you don’t want it?”
He glanced at the woods. “Better to not tempt fate. I’ve got a chocolate bar if I get peckish.”
I almost laughed at the word peckish. Partly because it was just so Felix and partly because I thought of the word pecker, which got my cock perking up and taking notice. Oh, that might also have been because of the super cute guy sitting next to me. “You’ll be okay?”
He nodded, meeting my gaze. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Yet, even as I drove back down the long, winding driveway, I knew I would.