Page 11 of The Love Shack

“Carpentry, but I’m a licensed electrician and plumber, too.”

“Holy smokes. Talent.”

He shrugged. Basically, he had experience with anything and everything he needed to know to restore a crumbling house.

“So why a T-shirt shop?” she asked, still strolling around the room with Hero close on her heels.

It was amusing that the dog seemed to show interest in anything that interested her. He really was a smart pooch.

“I’ve traveled a lot. All over the country and to different places around the world.”

She shot him a look. “No kidding?”

It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but he wouldn’t say that to her now, not with her opening up and honestly engaging. “That was the out for me. From where we both started, I mean.”

The second he mentioned it, her enthusiasm dimmed. Undaunted, he explained, “I signed on for some heavy construction, basically traveling wherever the company went. A lot of it was cleanup work after disasters, so from coast to coast.” He’d seen awful things. Death. Destruction. Desperation. Focusing on a better future had been his salvation, his way of coping with the day-to-day hardships.

Cautiously, she remarked, “Sounds like an adventure.”

Maybe to someone who liked to romanticize things. “The lodging wasn’t the best, but I kept to myself, got in as much work as I could and socked away a fair amount of money. Guess I caught on quick, because more opportunities kept pouring in.” He paused, thinking back over the years. “There are a lot of good people in the world. I don’t know about you, but I hadn’t really considered that.” He’d set out on his own carrying a massive chip on his shoulder and determined to do whatever was necessary to be different.

Different from his parents. From his hometown. From his upbringing and environment.

“Good men were patient with me, teaching me and...” Often praising him.

Honest to God, he’d liked how that felt. Before then, he hadn’t had much praise in his life.

Emotion twisted in his guts, but he tamped it down real fast.

Glancing around, trying to see the room through her eyes, he wondered what she really thought. “I wanted to soften it a little, you know? The white is great in other areas, but not here.” The pale gray rug nearly covered the entire hardwood floor, and his striped gray-and-tan comforter went with the rattan chair and gray bookcase. “A sterile setting didn’t seem right for sleeping.”

“I see your point.” She meandered over to his books. “You do a lot of reading?”

“More so than TV. It’s a great way to unwind in the evening.”

Picking up one heavy book, she quirked a brow in doubt and read the title aloud. “It Comes for You?”

“Edge-of-your-seat reading. Imagine an evil spirit that methodically terrorizes you, then feeds off your fear, growing stronger until he can devour you.”

She tucked in her chin. “I’d rather not.” Quickly, she put the book back in place. “I’d never be able to sleep if I read something like that.”

It struck him that her past and what she’d gone through were similar to the dark threat in the book. He’d found a way to move on, but was the same true for Berkley? He didn’t think so. Not entirely. “Fictional monsters don’t scare me.” Wishing he could get closer to her, that he could offer some comfort, he said quietly, “It’s the things real people can do that’s disturbing.”

She shot him a glance. “Yeah, well.”

The opening was there. She could talk about it with him, if only she would.

Her lips curled—and she dodged the opportunity. “Living alone in the woods hadn’t bothered me, but now I might be imagining all kinds of things.”

Living in the woods?So that’s how she’d showed up at his door? She had a place nearby?

Propping a shoulder on the wall, Lawson said, “I showed you mine. Will you show me yours?”

Those lively blue eyes, free of the dramatic makeup, flared wide.

“The shelter?” he clarified, while fighting a grin. She was so easy to bait. “Where you live?”

“Oh.” She touched a hand to her hat, adjusted it and nodded. “Sorry, I’m not at my best right now. With my outfit or my wits, apparently. My days start so early that I basically wash my face, brush my teeth and get to work.” She lifted the water bottle. “Would’ve been better if this was coffee, but I appreciate it all the same.”

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