Page 14 of Off-Limits Mate

At that moment, I realize that I can channel all of my energy into this. Amara likes this place. I feel so much tension around her, because she’s beautiful and fun, and getting to know her right now is… It’s realizing that Amara isn’t just Nolan’s kid sister. I look at her, and I don’t even see the little girl who chased me around.

I see a woman who wants to be independent. Who wants to make her mark on the world. And I want to help her do that.

I turn and walk out to the truck. “We start with the walls,” I call over my shoulder.

I don’t know if Amara follows me. But I do know that I’m going to get this done for her.

She is off-limits for me. However, the very least I can do is build her dream back up for her. Having that part of her life, making sure that I’ve left some kind of impression on her for the future, even if it’s small, makes something in my chest feel…

Good.

Chapter 7

Amara

Okay. I didn’t want it to be true. But having Jasper around is kind of nice.

More than nice, I guess. It’s really helpful. The plumbing guys are still digging up my lawn, but that’s going well, and they gave us the go-ahead to put flooring in because the flooding risk is down to nothing at this point. Jasper somehow managed to put all the drywall in over the course of two days, and he’s currently working on re-tiling the bathrooms. I’m here to make sure that I like the color of the flooring for the rest of the house.

And I brought lunch.

I pretty much stopped trying to help when Jasper just… did everything. He does exactly what I ask him to do, and I thought I’d be more bothered by the whole situation, but really, I’m not that bothered. I’ve had a lot of work to do, so Jasper just going for it has been helpful, and the fact that my house doesn’t look like a total trainwreck anymore is… nice.

I can hear music coming from the bathroom, where I’m sure Jasper’s working. There’s not really anywhere to set the food down that isn’t covered with dust, so I move out to the porch, putting the sandwiches I picked up from the Oakwood Café on the little table before hopping back inside.

Cautiously, I approach the guest bathroom. I peek around the corner and grin.

Jasper’s in there, all right. He’s singing softly, and I can pick out his voice even among the clash of drums and guitars blaring from his speaker. He has a nice voice, and occasionally, he stops to tap his fingers as he thinks, looking at the tile as though he’s really putting effort and thought into making sure it looks good in here.

He’s also sweaty. The shirt that he’s wearing, just a plain black one again, clings to him. I wish, not for the first time, that the endless supply of black cotton shirts would end, so that he could wear a white one that might show a little more…

“Hey,” he says, noticing me.

Shoot. Now I look like some kind of creep, lurking in the corner. I step into the bathroom, trying to keep myself from blushing. “Hi. I brought some lunch.”

“Awesome,” Jasper says, his smile widening. “I’m starving.”

“Cool. Meet you out there?”

“Absolutely.”

I creep back out to the porch, panicking slightly. His hands were covered with grout and tile mud and whatever else he’s been doing. I still have no running water, so I have no idea how to help Jasper clean up to eat, but I have a water bottle…

He steps out onto the porch, and I practically shove the water at him. “For your hands,” I clarify awkwardly.

Jasper looks grateful and splashes it onto his hand before he tips the bottle back and takes a sip.

My eyes widen. The muscles in his throat are… so weirdly hot.

I look away. Ogling someone’s neck has to be a whole new level of creepy.

“Sandwiches?”

I nod. “Oakwood café is really coming up in the world when it comes to their to-go offerings.”

“Great,” Jasper says, settling into one of the two rocking chairs I have on the porch. “I’d eat anything even remotely edible right now, though.”

I laugh. “Okay, well. These are definitely better than ‘remotely edible.’”

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