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Ricardo reluctantly got to his feet. “I’ll see you later.” He gave Olivia a wink. “Maybe we’ll meet up in one of the bedrooms.”
“Nope,” Carson said. “That’s not going to happen. After Olivia is done in this room, she’s demoing tile in the bathrooms.” A one-person job that didn’t lend itself to conversation. “You know how to use a jackhammer?” he asked Olivia.
“Yes,” she said without looking up at him.
He left and went back to paying invoices and answering emails. His mind wasn’t on the job, though. An hour later, Carson abandoned his laptop and checked on her again. He heard the jackhammer going in one of the bathrooms and went to see if she actually knew what she was doing.
She was perched on the bathroom counter, goggles, facemask, and mufflers on, while Martin, another one of the twenty-something crew, did the job for her.
Figured. Carson tapped Martin’s shoulder to get his attention.
Martin turned off the jackhammer and removed his muffler. “Yeah, boss?”
“You’re supposed to be working on the sprinklers. What are you doing in here?”
Martin fumbled with the machine’s handle. “I was showing Olivia how to use the jackhammer.”
Martin had done most of the bathroom already. Carson nodded, his lips pressed together. “I think she’s got the idea now. Why don’t you get started on the sprinklers.”
Instead of leaving immediately, Martin gave Olivia a few more tips, and said, “Find me if you have any problems.” He gave her a smile. “See you around.”
Martin left the room with an extra bounce in his step. Carson leaned against the doorway and watched Olivia slide off the bathroom counter. “You didn’t tell him that you already knew how to use a jackhammer?”
She blinked innocently. “I did, but I also told him that I’d never used this type of jackhammer before. And it seems wrong to turn away help when your crew is trying so hard to be nice. Team building and all of that.”
“Yeah, well, I’m worried less about building a team and more about building the house. So if—” He meant to say more, but she turned on the jackhammer, and the rest of his words were drowned out.
Fine. Whatever. Hopefully, no one else would abandon their jobs to help her with hers.
He stalked off to the den to go over the week’s schedule. The next time he went to find Olivia it was after five and the crew was all leaving. She’d finished with the tile in the first bathroom and moved on to the next one. She was sweeping the floor, a garbage bag full of broken tiles just outside the door. He had to grudgingly admit that she’d done a good job.
She turned when she saw him. “This is just about finished. What’s next?”
“Dinner. You’re done for the day. I’d offer to share my leftovers, but I didn’t enjoy eating them the first time, so you’re better off with whatever you bought at the store.”
“Okay.” She pulled off her gloves and wiped an errant strand of hair from her face. How was it that she looked so good after a day of hard work? “I meant to ask you, do you have a crockpot anywhere?”
“Nope, just the oven and stove. Also, there’s a barbeque out back if you ever want to use that.”
She nodded. There didn’t seem to be more to say. She bent to pick up the trash bag full of broken tiles, but he knew it was heavy. “Leave it,” he said. “I’ll take it to the trash.”
Her gaze flicked to his boot. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Leelee. I still bench press five hundred. I think I can handle it.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
He didn’t immediately move out of the doorway. He wasn’t sure why.
Instead of waiting for him to leave, she turned sideways to slip out of the door. She brushed into him in passing. Even that brief touch of her skin gave him a jolt he hadn’t been expecting.
He watched her walk down the hallway. She didn’t look at all tired or sore from the work. And Lucas hadn’t been wrong about the way Olivia looked in shorts. The girl had well-defined calves. She must run.
If his foot wasn’t in a boot, he would suggest going out on a run together sometime. He liked the idea of her jogging beside him, struggling to keep up. She’d be too proud to admit she was having a hard time and would end up winded along the way. Then he would tease her about it and offer to carry her home.
A stupid fantasy. He glared at his boot and felt useless. One injury and now he had to hobble around.
Before Olivia disappeared from sight, she took her hair out of her ponytail and let it fall, swinging down her back. Then she ran her hands through it. Did she have any idea how good she looked when she did that?
