Page 22 of Forbidden Kisses
It was just after five o’clock when they pulled into the parking lot of Sawyer Seafood. Grace yawned and stretched her arms overhead. Then she smiled sleepily at him. A sudden image of her doing the same next to him in bed popped into his mind.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking concerned. “A strange expression just came over your face.”
He laughed nervously, averting his gaze. “Tired, I guess. Long drive. Thanks for coming along this afternoon. Looks like your workday is over.”
“Yeah. I better get home to check on my mom.”
“Right.”
“Not that she needs it. She’s doing great. You really can’t even see the Parkinson’s some days.”
“You should take care of yourself, too,” Jack said. “I was glad to hear that you’d hung out with Abby and Krista the other night. It’s good to keep friends.”
Grace looked over at him, and he had to remind himself that he and Grace were just friends.
“Good night, Jack,” she said softly.
“Night.” He watched her get out and walk away, a little part of him wanting to jump out of the truck and pull her back toward him. He wanted to press her against his truck and kiss her senseless.
But they were only friends. And that’s all they could ever be.
—
The next morning, Jack met Tristan at the pier early and they worked steadily through lunch until midafternoon. Between the two of them, they’d completed 75 percent of the job in a week’s time. Both grabbed a water bottle from the back of Jack’s truck and drank half the bottle before pulling it away and looking at each other. It’d been an eight-hour day where they’d done ten hours’ worth of work.
“Come on,” Jack said, walking toward the front of his truck. He grabbed his checkbook and wrote out a payment to Tristan.
“What’s this?”
“Told you I’d start paying you. You earned it.”
Tristan wasn’t wearing his dark sunglasses today. Just the ball cap pulled over his head. Sweaty strands of hair stuck to his forehead. “That’s a lot.”
“It’s what I’d pay any man on a construction crew.”
Tristan looked up and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Have you made any new living arrangements yet?”
“My friend has a place just south of here. He said I could move in if I could pay rent.”
“Friend?”
Tristan twisted the cap back on his bottle of water. “A guy I went to school with. He goes to college now.”
“Oh yeah?”
Tristan nodded. “I was thinking that I might go to college on the side, too, while I work for you. Maybe online.”
“Not a bad idea. Might take longer to get the degree, but as long as you keep at it. Well, good job today. Another day like this and we’ll have this job finished.”
Tristan looked worried.
“Word has traveled about our work here. Someone wants us to build a boathouse. Can’t do that on my own. Would you be interested?”
“Yeah. That’d be cool,” Tristan said, smiling again.
“Great. See you later, Tristan.”
