“But how do you know what it will be when you start?” I asked, running my hands down my arms to smooth the frisson of titillation from new knowledge.
His gaze moved as he thought. “I never really do. It’s that old cliché. Eventually, the piece will tell me.”
“So cool.” I thumbed in the direction of the new hunk of wood on the floor. “Any idea what that’s going to be?”
He held my gaze a fraction too long. “No idea.” He shrugged, but the tips of his ears had gone red.
“But it called to you? The wood?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes again. “I can feel you trying so hard not to make a joke.”
“Sohard.” I squeaked. “No. No. I’m good. I got it all out of my system.” I held up my palms in seriousness.
He gave me one more skeptical look before checking the mass he just brought in. “Yes. I have a good feeling about it.” He lifted an arm to point at a specific part of the root system. “See that knot there?”
“Um?”
“Here, look.” He put his head next to mine to see from myheight. “See there.” He grabbed my fingers, loosening my pointer with his calloused hand to gesture to the specific spot.
All at once, the rest of the world went on mute. No hum of the space heater, no soft snoring from Ripley, only the sound of the heavy pulse beating throughout my body. It wasn’t an overtly sexual gesture or even remotely flirtatious, but the air must have shifted around me. I was aware of his masculinity. His scent. The hairs on his muscular arms where his shirt was pushed up to his elbows.
I tried so hard to remember that I was supposed to be looking for something, but I was so in my body that it was like my mind went offline. Even when I’d been attracted to somebody on a mental level, it never felt like this. I never felt it so deeply in my body like electrical pulses. Was this what normal people felt? A physical presence that seemed to weigh me down while simultaneously making me float.
The hierarchy of my being was always brain first, then maybe gut instinct and heart, and somewhere way down on the list was libido. I never led with libido. I was not a person who felt visceral reactions to people. Give me incredible wit or intense specified knowledge of one area of study, a skill set nobody else has, and I’m gone. Competence kink suited me. It had taken months of getting to know Kevin before I felt any sort of lust stir.
Simply put, I was a cerebral girly, and this physical reaction was intense.
It was much better when I hardly thought of him at all.
Chapter 11
Levi
She went quiet.I didn’t know much about Claire Wells, but she certainly wasn’t shy about making her thoughts known.
I’d overshared her into silence. She had seemed so genuinely interested in my work, but I had a habit of always going just a little too far and not realizing it until the person was already gone.
Then again, her silence could be because she was currently caged in by my arms. What was I thinking? I wasn’t. As was beginning to be the pattern around her. I was so caught up in the moment that I touched her without thinking. Now she stood in my embrace like a lover, her sweet floral scent rattling my peanut-sized brain. She was soft and warm and pliant.
All I’d touched for so long was unforgiving, weathered pieces of wood—she’d have a field day with that one. When was the lasttime I’d even touched a woman, let alone one who seemed to infiltrate my brain with her nosy questioning, deep dimples, and wide smile that made my brain blank out? Had I remembered to breathe? My lungs ached. If I inhaled her now, the memory of her would be latched to this exact moment, and I’d be cursed to relive this yearning every time I smelled anything close to this combination of sweet florals, wood shavings, and whatever made her scent hers.
It wasn’t only my obvious physical attraction to her. Loathe as I was to admit it, I missed conversation. Was it a conversation? Or had I verbally bombarded her? I quickly replayed the past hour, and it had been rich and fulfilling conversation. Her questions were specific and genuine. There was no reason to fake caring about any of this when she got nothing in return but information. Aside from brief interactions in town and Pace’s check-ins, I was more isolated than I thought.
Wasn’t that what I wanted?
“Anyway, that’s what drew me to this old stump.” I dropped her arm and stepped back.
“It’s incredible,” she said, color high in her cheeks, eyes glancing around and not at me.
Was she trying to be polite to protect my feelings? Did it matter if she hated it? I was by all accounts successful enough to sell every piece every year, so what did her approval matter … yet.
“You sell them in town? That’s how you make your money?” She stopped, and her brows pinched. “Sorry, that might be an incredibly invasive question. Sometimes, I forget to filter thoughtsbefore they leave my mouth. As you have most likely noticed.” The blush grew darker.
I swallowed, knowing exactly how that felt.
“It’s fine.” I grabbed a chisel. I wasn’t even sure which one I grabbed, but I needed something that wasn’t her body to occupy my hands. Maybe if I looked like I was going to get to work, she’d leave me to my solitude. That was what I wanted.
“I do okay in tourist season. Usually, it’s enough to last me through the year. Sometimes, I help with odd jobs around town. My friend Pace knows everybody and is constantly offering my help.”
