She walked hesitantly into the work site, skirting around the chop saw cautiously. “I’m not sure how helpful I’ll be. I’m… still having trouble reading words.”
“Numbers, too?” Travis asked. He handed her a tape measure and noticed that her fingers had short, sensible nails, not claws.
She unrolled it a few inches and shrugged. “Apparently, I can read the numbers.”
Travis gave her ear protection and showed her how to hook the end of the tape measure on a board and mark the right number. “Th
is porch is an easy job,” he said. “All the boards will be exactly the same length. Some jobs, it’s as much measuring as it is anything else; it can be tricky when every piece is a new length.” He showed her how to place a speed-square and mark a line across the board. It was distracting, being so close to her delicious smell. He wanted to caress her, but kept his touches professional, even if he couldn’t keep his lingering glances quite as reserved.
He caught more than one appraising glance in return, and several times, she licked her lips unconsciously and swallowed when their gazes crossed.
He cut the boards as she measured, and she grew easier with the task as they went, zipping out the tape measure and drawing the cut line with efficiency and confidence.
The last board, he took from her, then said, “Come cut it!”
“Oh, I couldn’t,” she protested. “It’s so…loud. I’d cut off a finger or something.”
“It’s perfectly safe,” Travis assured her. He showed her the cutting guard that came down to cover the blade, and put his hands over hers to show her where to safely hold the board and how to snug it up against the cutting guide.
He put her hands on the trigger and let her rev the blade up, letting her experience how quickly it would brake when she let go and what it would sound like, then stepped back. “Go for it!”
Jenny bit her lip, scrunched her whole face in concentration, and cut the board with one smooth, slow motion.
“Oh my gosh,” she squeaked, when she had released the trigger and returned the chop saw to its upright position. “That was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done!”
Travis had to grin at her enthusiasm. He refrained from the obvious comment that her life must not be all that exciting.
She helped him carry the board to the bare deck joists and hold it in place while he screwed it into place. “Here,” he said, passing her the tool.
She took it gingerly, then stared when he didn’t make a move to take it back. “Wait, you want me to do this part? Oh, no, I’m no good at this kind of thing. I tried using a power drill once and couldn’t even get one screw in. I chipped the drywall and still couldn’t hang up my picture.” She shook her head vehemently.
“Let me introduce you to the joy that is the impact driver,” Travis said, covering her hands on the tool reassuringly. He showed her how to hold it, and what to do with the hose that snaked away from it to the air compressor. The screws had special heads that fit into a closed bit, and Travis demonstrated how to make sure the screws wouldn’t wobble as they were driven in.
Then he moved back and let Jenny try her own. At first she was ginger with the screw, then bore down with more strength, and the screw shrieked into the lumber and left a little dimple in the board.
“Wow!” Jenny exclaimed, giving Travis a sunny smile. “That was so easy!”
Travis laughed with her. “My grandmother always said that no woman needs a man if she has the right tools.”
Jenny look admiringly at the impact driver. “This is definitely the right tool,” she said, nodding.
“My grandmother was a dirty old woman, and I think she was talking about something else entirely,” Travis told her with a grin. “But it’s still very true.”
Jenny laughed, and it was the first time that Travis had seen her truly relaxed. “Can I do it again?”
He showed her how to adjust the resistance so that the screws went in just the right amount, then let her screw in the rest of the board. They brought the next piece, aligning it with spacers. He screwed in the first two, then let her go wild with the driver while he brought the next board over.
With two sets of hands, the work went very quickly, and in no time at all, they were screwing the railing back onto the new deck.
“I’ve never made anything before,” Jenny said, standing back to admire their work. “What a feeling!”
“There’s nothing like it,” Travis said, but he wasn’t looking at the deck.
She looked up to catch his gaze. “There really isn’t,” she agreed.
Travis didn’t stop to ask permission this time, taking the invitation in her eyes as consent. He gathered her into his arms and kissed her with all the passion in his loins.
Chapter 16