Faker - Sarah Smith Page 0,20
A handful of people examine blueprints on the hood of someone’s truck parked nearby. Another pickup pulls up to the site loaded with more two-by-fours. Two guys I recognize from the warehouse jump out of the truck and unload the lumber.
Tate joins the nearest group of people sorting through two-by-fours. To avoid looking like the inept volunteer that I most certainly am, I copy the people near me and help line up the rows. Tate works like a machine, drilling together the segments in no time.
“So you’re a secret homebuilding expert in your free time?” I ask.
He pauses, leaning up to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “I’m hardly an expert. But I did spend my summers in high school and college working for a homebuilder.”
When he reaches up to stretch, I peek at him. His forearms glisten in the unrelenting sun. I’ve mentioned before that he’s a nonugly entity. However, now that I see him in work clothes, there’s no avoiding the fact that he’s undeniably in shape and attractive. Life is so very unfair.
I move to line up another row of lumber, and he follows. I twist around to reach a faraway two-by-four and catch Tate midgawk. He was staring at the slim peek of my midriff with a half-open mouth. A second later, he clamps it shut. His eyes fall away, but not before I catch a cloudy look I don’t recognize. He tries to appear busy messing with the drill bit despite his chest rising and falling rapidly.
This is an amusing change of pace. Showing a bit of skin works a lot better at throwing him off than being combative. I step toward him until the tip of my tennis shoe touches the tip of his work boot.
He lets out a garbled grunt, and the faintest pink color creeps up his cheeks.
“So unprofessional. Keep your eyes to yourself, will you?”
He backs up before almost tripping on an uneven dip in the ground, his face tomato red. I can’t help but smirk to myself at how thoroughly I rattled him.
“Hey, you.” Jamie’s voice sends happy goose bumps across my sweat-soaked arms.
Behind the dark lenses of my sunglasses, I take stock of him. The tattered white shirt he’s donned displays his muscular arms nicely. Ripped jeans hug his legs, while a well-worn tool belt hangs off what I can only assume is a killer set of obliques. He looks like a sexy contractor straight out of a romance novel.
“Hey,” is all I can say. I can’t think of any other words to speak, I’m so flustered.
Kelsey halts midstep on her way to the water cooler to gawk.
“Come to mama,” she mutters from behind me. She elbows my arm, and I bite my lip to keep from grinning too wide.
Jamie must have heard, because he lets a soft chuckle slip.
“You weren’t trying to get away without saying hi, were you?” He gives me the same killer smile he did last week, and he’s maintaining the same eye contact. Definite flirting tells.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I have a pen to return after all.” I pat the side pocket of my yoga pants. He takes a glance at my legs, just like I hoped he would.
When he finally meets my eyes, he’s grinning even wider. “Happy to see that. But I’d be even happier if I could see you outside of here. Maybe someplace cooler?”
“Oh. That sounds—”
The grind of a circular saw drowns out my voice. Jamie and I twist around to see Tate slicing segments of lumber just feet away. I glare at him and point to the stack of unused two-by-fours, wondering why on earth he thinks we need more.
“Do you have to do that right now?” I try to yell over the scream of the metal blade slicing through wood. Tate squints up at me, mock confusion on his face. He points a work-gloved hand to his ear and shakes his head, indicating that he can’t hear.
I hold up a finger to Jamie, then dart around to the extension cord trailing from the portable generator. I yank it from the outlet before narrowing my eyes at Tate. His jaw muscles bulge when he bites down, probably out of frustration.
I step back up to Jamie. “I was saying, that sounds great. What did you have in mind?”
“If you’re free tonight, I’m going to hit up the rock climbing gym. Stellar air-conditioning even on the hottest days. Makes you feel like you’re scaling the Rockies in the fall. Care to