Page 58 of Resting Beach Face
Still, Declan hadn’t denied that he liked me. His eyes seemed to plead for me to give him something he didn’t know how to express. I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea that maybe wecouldhave something.
And so what if it looked different from other relationships? I’d never seriously dated anyone before. Being with Declan always would have been different for me. Something deeper and meaningful.
As long as I had a hand and toys, I could get the sexual release I needed. I’d been doing it for months, hadn’t I?
But it was all a moot point if Declan left Swallow Cove.
With a sigh, I turned to Gray. “Where do you think we should start?”
“Well, we’re still waiting on cabinets for the kitchen, so I think we should start in the living room. Get the floor patched up. Get up on the roof and track down the leak, so it doesn’t just keep damaging the walls.”
Declan had cleared the place of trash and broken glass, but now the damage to some of the flooring was even more evident.
I nodded. “And all this paneling?”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the rustic wood planks of a cabin, but the 1960s imitation paneling that covered the walls.
He wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, that’s pretty outdated. The best bet is to pry it off the sheetrock. It’s glued, essentially. If we’re careful, we can preserve the sheetrock, sand it down, and then paint it.” He gazed around with a considering look. “It would be kind of awesome to give this the cabin vibe though, consideringthe original wood floors. We could do some wainscoting over the bottom third, give it a more updated panel there? Maybe a lighter wood to keep the room brighter since the flooring is darker?”
I nodded. “I’ll have to talk it over with Declan first, but I think that sounds good.”
Gray’s lips twitched, but thankfully he refrained from teasing me about my Declan obsession. Good thing too, because I needed his expertise and he might quit if I kicked his ass.
“We’ve got plenty to keep us busy until we reach that point,” he said. “Do you know where Declan keeps the ladders around here?”
“He’s got a garden shed. We can try there.”
He nodded. “All right, let’s get to work.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Declan
The next few days,I watched a slow transformation at The Roost that was equally exciting and disconcerting.
“It’ll get worse before it gets better,” Cash had assured me when I’d gaped at the holes in my floor after I’d brought the guys a couple of sandwiches the first afternoon.
“It’s just growing pains,” Gray had added.
I’d nodded dutifully, reminding myself that I’d promised Cash just that morning that I trusted him. And I did. More than I ever would have expected.
Cash wouldn’t let me down.
He was here, working during his off time when he didn’t have to—and hard enough that his shirt stuck to him with sweat, clinging to muscles I didn’t even know the man had, though it explained how easily he drew the eyes of other men and women.
Still, when I’d swung by a couple of days later to see paneling ripped off the walls, I couldn’t hold in my gasp of horror. Cash had talked over their remodeling plan with me, and I’d agreed, but seeing sheetrock mottled with glue and remnants ofpaneling that had gotten stuck to the walls was different than envisioning the final product.
Cash laid down his tools and came to take the bottles of water from my hands. “Breathe, Dec. It’s gonna be great. You have my word.”
“I know. It’s just…” I waved a hand at the wall. “It looks like a lot of work. I should be helping.”
Cash tossed a bottle of water to Gray, then lifted his own to his lips and took a long drink, his throat working as he swallowed.
“You are helping. We appreciate you clearing the path outside.”
“And the food and drinks,” Gray added, saluting me with his bottle of water.
It wasn’t enough. Cash was working around his hours at the resort—and Gray was working around boat tours. I could work around the B&B needs, too. I had to get a couple of rooms ready for guests arriving that afternoon, but I could go over once the check-ins were done for the evening.
