she didn’t have a lot of choices.
And now, four hours later, almost the entire pile of lumber had been moved, and after lunch, they’d be able to start the actual building part.
“Will this be ready by tonight?” Eve asked.
“Well, depending on how well you guys do, there may be walls, but you’ll still be able to see through them. No plumbing, though. This stuff takes time. Look how long it took you just to unload the truck.”
Madison and Waverly arrived with the last two-by-four, collapsing onto the pile as soon as they’d placed the board on top.
“Please tell us we’re done for the day.” Madison wiped her forehead, then pulled her hand away and looked at it in disgust, like she couldn’t fathom how all of that dirt had gotten there.
“Done for the morning, yep.” Luke pointed toward the dining hall. “There’s a sink right outside the kitchen. Go wash up. Piper left lunch stuff out on the counter for you. We’re back here in thirty minutes.”
“Half an hour? That’s it?” Waverly whined.
As the girls stumbled toward the dining hall, Luke heard “slave driver” come out of someone’s mouth, but it only made him smile.
“Are you trying to kill them?” Gabi’s voice wiped the smile clean.
He turned toward her. “Nope. Why? They look dead to you?”
“I’m never going to hear the end of this, thank you very much.” She put her hands on her hips, and he hated the sudden urge that struck him—the one that made him want to kiss the frown right off her gorgeous face.
He smiled, almost reaching out to wipe a smudge of dirt from her nose, then stopping himself because what the hell?
“Gabi, I guarantee you that by the time you’re alone with those girls in your tent tonight, they will be too tired to give you any shit at all. Eight hours of manual labor will do them in. Guaranteed.” He put down his tool belt and stood back up. “You know, I’d have thought you’d be the first one to want them put through as much hell as possible, given that they got you sent here, instead of Bermuda.”
“Barbados.”
He shrugged. “B-something.”
She paused like she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if she should. Then she went ahead. “Just to be clear about something, I’ve let you be in charge this morning because—well—I’ve never built a bathroom from scratch. But despite what you’re telling them, I’m not turning them over to you long-term or anything.”
“Good. I don’t want ’em. And you only agreed to trust me for the day … so far.”
He saw a tinge of pink color her cheeks, and for a moment, he didn’t know if it was anger, embarrassment, or fear that put it there.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I do. Trust you, I mean. I just pretty much suck at it.”
He laughed, and this time he did reach out to wipe the dirt from her nose. “We can work on that. But first, we’ll spend the afternoon making these girls regret they messed up your vacation, okay?”
She started to speak, but he put up a hand to stop her. “In a perfectly safe, nonthreatening sort of way.” Then he winked. “They might even accomplish something, if we’re not careful.”
Chapter 11
Early the next morning, Gabi settled into one of the Adirondack chairs beside the dock, reveling in the muted beauty of the sunrise, even though her back was screaming in pain from all of the lumber-hauling she’d done yesterday.
“Morning.” Luke’s voice came from behind her as he strode onto the sand, then sat down in the matching chair. “Sleep well?”
He looked just-showered delicious, not at all like he, too, had suffered through hours of manual labor just yesterday, even though he’d carted far more boards than she had. Meanwhile, she’d made do with a lightning-fast dip in the lake, one that had done nothing to ease the pain she was suffering from yesterday’s exertion.
“I slept perfectly, thank you.” If she was careful not to shift her weight right now, he’d never see her grimace as every muscle in her body screamed for mercy.
He looked at her, his eyes tracing her face slowly. “Bullshit.”
“Yup.” She bit her lip as she crossed her legs slowly. “You wouldn’t happen to stock Advil here, would you?”
“Oliver might have some. Not sure.”
“Speaking of … stocking things, I have a group of teenaged girls. We thought we were coming to a fully functional camp. I’m going to need to go into town and get … stuff,