Page 16 of Love to Prove You Wrong

I stepped closer, coughing loud so as not to startle him. I didn’t want to be responsible for him cutting into his hands.

He looked up, a smile spreading over his face, and put down his jigsaw. Then he cleaned the sawdust from his hands and stepped away from the workbench.

“What do you think?” he asked.

I looked around his work area. All I saw were cut pieces of wood and lots of sawdust.

“Um. Good, I guess?” I said carefully.

Justin threw his head back and laughed. “I know it doesn’t look like anything yet, but I promise you I’m going to turn these pieces of wood into something amazing.”

I laughed under my breath. “I don’t know if your confidence is cool or annoying.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what you do, Addy.”

I picked up a triangle-shaped slat. “What is this supposed to be?”

He took the piece of wood from my hand, briefly touching my skin. His touch sent shivers all over me. Man, I hated my body for liking him.

“Were you even paying attention the other day?” he asked. “I thought we’d decided to build our own food stands. One for popcorn, one for cake and cookies, and one for pizza. This is going to be a pizza sign.”

He held the sign next to his head, pretending to gobble it.

I nodded. “Oh, right. I didn’t realize it was going to look this professional.”

“Of course. I wasn’t planning to just slap two planks together and be done with it.”

“Why do you need me here if you’re such a professional? I don’t know the first thing about working with wood.” I tried not to sound like a horrible person, but Justin had a way of eliciting snide remarks from me, like a magician who kept pulling rabbits out of a hat.

He cocked an eyebrow and grinned. I slapped him on the arm before he could say anything. It was so typical of him to want to turn everything I said into something dirty.

“Shut it. You know what I mean. Carpentry. Building wooden food stands.”

He kept grinning, and his eyes watered up from a suppressed laugh. “So what if you don’t know the first thing about wood? I can teach you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure this kind of subtext works wonders for you in Hollywood, but this is Old Pine Cove, Justin. Your antics won’t fly here.”

He crossed his arms. “I mean it. In a non-sexual way. I know you’re doing the decorations and baking the cakes, but there’s no reason why we can’t work on building the actual stands together. You could stain the wood. It would save us a ton of time.”

“So basically, you want me to do your dirty work?”

His gaze pinning me in place. “You know what I don’t get, Addy? You are such a sweetheart to everyone. In fact, I heard Leanne from Dave’s Diner call you an angel yesterday. Your giggles and sweet comments seem to penetrate every part of this town. But whenever you’re around me, you seem to turn into a little devil. All you have to offer me are snarky remarks. How much longer are you going to resent me for my past mistakes?”

I opened my mouth to bite back but changed my mind. Bickering with Justin was exhausting. Was that really what I wanted? To be even more exhausted than I already was? Maybe it would be better to try a different approach.

I bit my lip. “I’ll try to be more angel-like in front of you. But don’t test your luck. Consider yourself on parole.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” he asked with a smile.

I averted my gaze from his. Looking into his eyes for too long made me feel like I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“Where’s the stuff to stain the wood?” I asked.

He walked over to a box filled with paint brushes and cans. Then he put a cut piece of wood on two trestles before opening one of the cans with his screwdriver.

I put my hand in front of my nose. “That’s a pretty strong scent.”

“I know. Try putting on a dust mask. It might help with toning it down a bit.”

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