Page 10 of New Year's Renovations

“Harper, what do you think about that?” Jackson’s dark cocoa gaze rested on me and my cheeks flushed.

“Hmm?” I asked, having totally missed the question on account of being distracted by his biceps.

“I’m going to knock out the upper cabinets. We good?” He moved closer to me and the smell of his spicy cologne combined with his proximity sent full-body tingles rippling through me.

“Yes. That will open up the space. It’s worth losing a bit of storage.” I nodded, ignoring my racing pulse and the flash of heat in my belly.

“Come over here.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me in even closer to him, and my breath caught in my throat. The sounds of the crew fell away, and now it was just me and Jackson standing in the kitchen, face to face.

“It’s safer on this side,” he explained, pressing my hip and moving me gently to the side.

“Gotcha,” I said, my throat dry as the Mojave Desert.

With me out of the way, Jackson swung the hammer overhead, ripping the cabinetry from the wall. His back muscles flexed, straining the gray fabric of his shirt, and a vein in his neck throbbed with exertion even though he made it look easy. A loud crack echoed through the room as the cabinets fell, hitting the counter and splintering.

“That looks better,” Jackson said, drops of sweat beading on his brow.

It would look even better with his shirt off, but I kept that thought to myself.

Instead I said, “Love it,” and shot him an enthusiastic grin. He wiped his forehead and grinned.

“Good thing. That’s a tricky one to undo.”

“You have a good eye. How long have you been doing this?”

“Not that long; I played professional hockey for a few years right after college. But my dad’s been in the business my whole life. I learned a lot tagging along with him.”

“That’s great. It’s a family business, then?”

“Yep. Except now it’s mainly me and my brother. My dad’s mostly retired. He does some of the back-end stuff, but he has a bad knee.”

“This is hard work,” I said, fanning my face as my eyes swept over his broad shoulders tapering down to a perfect V waist.

“It helps keep me in shape.” Jackson flashed me a bright smile and my heart flip-flopped in my chest. I’d like to find out just how in shape he was.

“So I know you’re thinking about renting this place out eventually. You going back to Boston?” Jackson raised a brow at me.

“As soon as I land another job.” I pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear, trying hard to ignore the swarm of butterflies zooming around in my stomach.

He shoved a hand in his pocket. “Makes sense. Probably not a lot of job opportunities outside of the city.”

“Yeah, probably not.” I swallowed hard over the lump in my throat, my chest tight all of a sudden.

“While you’re here, though, you should check out all Starlight Bay has to offer. Have you had Starlight Pi yet? That’s P-i, not P-i-e. Oliver, the guy who owns it, is this huge math genius. And he makes the best pizza in town.”

“No, I haven’t been there.”

“You have to eat at Pi’s. He makes his pizza in a brick oven and it’s to die for.”

“Sounds delicious.”

“You have plans tonight?”

“Let me think…no,” I said, trying to keep my cool despite the thundering of my heart in my chest.

“Great. I’ll pick you up at 6:30 then.”

“Sounds good.” I smiled up at him, suddenly starving for pizza.

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