Page 88 of Head Over Heels

So all I did was stare up at him in complete bewilderment.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, and a hushed whisper was all I could manage.

Then Cameron smiled, a little crooked smile that landed its hook right underneath my ribs. “Show us who you are, Ivy Lynch. That’s all.”

I emitted a short puff of air. “That’s all.”

“Yup.” He tucked his hands into his front pockets, and the bulge of his muscles was honestly just a little obnoxious. “What would you be like if you weren’t afraid to show that side of you?”

“I’m not afraid,” I snapped.

And inexplicably, he smiled.

“Prove it.”

With my mouth hanging open, Cameron gave me one last lingering look and then walked out of the house.

Chapter 16

Cameron

The morning dawned clear and promised to be hot, which meant work on Mom and Dad’s property began after breakfast. Even with the cool breeze that would disappear after lunch, my shirt was soaked through after just a couple of hours.

Poppy, my unwilling volunteer, lay in the bed of my truck. “I can’t do any more. My hands are going to fall off.”

“Not for a few more hours at least,” I promised, then pressed the nail gun up to the wood and pressed the trigger.

Bam.

“Come on,” I told her. “I promised Mom we’d have this done by the end of the week.”

Poppy groaned. “Can’t Ian help you with this? He’s the other builder in the family.”

“Ian had two new furniture commissions come in,” I told her. “So he’s busy for a while.” I marked a piece of wood where it needed to be cut and handed it to her. “Here, you can handle cutting that one.”

She sighed dramatically, then pulled herself up and hopped out of the bed of my truck. She took the piece of wood and walked over to the table saw, pushing her safety glasses into place before she lined the wood up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her, just to make sure she wasn’t accidentally going to saw her fingers off. But she did it exactly like she was supposed to.

“Good,” I told her. “Maybe you can start framing in houses for us.”

“Ha,” she said. “Yeah right. Like you guys would ever let me step foot on an actual jobsite. I can’t even stop for a visit without your face doing that pinched, annoyed older brother thing.” Poppy pointed at me. “See? You’re doing it right now.”

I gave her a steady look. “That’s because you know exactly why I’m acting like a protective older brother when you come visit us at work.”

Poppy studiously avoided my eyes. “I’m quite sure I don’t.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Poppy, as much as I have never wanted to verbalize this … you have got to get over this crush on Jax. He’s not fit for any woman, let alone you. Even if he wanted to, he doesn’t know how to share his life. He comes and goes as he pleases, and as much as I trust him with my life…” I paused, making sure she was listening. Her eyes briefly flickered to mine. “I would never trust him with you.”

My sister stood there, her throat working on a swallow, eyes locked on the small framed-in building, a two-by-four clutched in her hand. And her brows were furrowed as she carefully processed what I was saying.

“Why not?” she asked.

It was as close as she’d ever come to admitting it to me, and all it did was add another weight to my shoulders. Sometimes it felt like I was carrying a million pounds of rocks on my back. Every member of my family were responsible for a few, but Poppy seemed to have more than her fair share.

I shook my head. “He doesn’t know how to love a woman the way you want him to. You think Ian is bad about trusting people? Jax is ten times worse.”

Her chest heaved on a great big breath. “Maybe he just hasn’t trusted the right woman yet.”

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