Page 33 of Love Me Reckless

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“I don’t have a way to cut the wood myself.”

I bite back an offer to do it for her. From our conversationin the hot tub that night, it’s clear that tackling this herself is important. “You could probably ask the hardware guy to do the cuts for you when you buy the wood.” I move around the hole, widening it a little more.

“That’s a good tip,” she says.

I stand to the side and lower the shovel so she can see the depth. “This what you have in mind?”

She walks over and peers down, giving me a quick hit of her scent. It’s like rich cocoa, or maybe cinnamon, and not at all what I expect. Her open shirt collar gives me a view of the freckles disappearing down her neck.

A cocoa fragrance and freckles should not make my dick twitch.

“You think it can go a little deeper?” she asks.

I take a step back and rub my neck. “Uh, sure.”

Thankfully, she turns for the back of the SUV.

I dig another few inches, willing my imagination to simmer the fuck down.

“That should do it,” Kirilee says, bear-hugging the post and shuffling toward me. I grab the underside of the little house and together we lower the post into the hole.

Then I hold the library upright while she examines from all sides. “It’s perfect!”

While she holds it steady, I start repacking the dirt into the hole, tamping it down with the shovel handle every few inches.

“I think I have a place for my community art center,” she says in a quiet voice, like it’s some kind of secret. “It’s a house on the other side of the elementary school. It was a preschool for years. Run by a pair of retired schoolteachers.”

“Sounds promising.” I dump in another bit of dirt.

“It needs a lot of work though,” she says with a grimace. “With winter coming, Birch said?—”

“What kind of work?” I don’t mean it to come out harsh, but I don’t give a fuck about what Branch thinks.

“Insulation for the garage and adding some plumbing for thepottery studio. Electrical in the house. Ripping up the carpet, painting.”

“That’s all interior. You can do that in the winter.”

She gives me a thoughtful glance. “Right. I can do the cosmetic stuff, but the rest I need help with.”

“I can take a look at it,” I say while tamping the dirt all around the post. “I’m no contractor but I know the basics.”

Her eyes light up. “That would help me so much.”

“Sure thing.” I try to wiggle the post, but it’s solid. I fit the jagged pieces of the grass turf back together and tamp them down too.

Kirilee steps back, her eyes bright. “It looks so good!”

“Now for the books.” I lean on the shovel handle.

“Right!” She moves to the back of her car, leaning into the hatch. I shouldn’t drink her in or imagine how her silky ponytail would feel in my fist, or how good the curve of her waist would feel in my hands as I slowly sink inside her, but once the thought takes hold, I can’t think of anything else.

“Steamy romance, right?” Kirilee laughs, dragging a box of books to the edge of the hatchback. Her ponytail falls past her shoulders as she flips through the books. “Maybe some YA and middle-grade adventure books too, for the younger readers?”

To distract myself, I open the little library’s glass door and sweep the interior with my fingertips, clearing the grit from the shelves. Then I rememberThe Princess in Blackand the goat-rescuing Princess Magnolia, up in my room. “Be right back.”

It takes me a minute to dig through my piles, and by the time I return, Kirilee is sliding books onto the shelves, a look of concentration on her pretty face.

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