Her blue eyes lit up with interest. "Are you sure?"
"Why not? I've already marked off the section that needs to come out. All you need to do is cut along the lines. And if things go off the rails a bit, I can always make the patch a little bigger to hide the evidence. It will be our secret."
For a second, he thought she might hug him before she finally said, "I promise to be careful."
He put on his safety glasses and dug a second pair out of the toolbox. "Here, put these on."
After giving her a quick tutorial on how the saw worked, he positioned her in front of the damaged area. When she had the tip of the saw aimed in the right spot, he stood directly behind her, ready to coach her as necessary. For both their sakes, he needed to concentrate on the job at hand, but he was way more aware of the sexy woman than he should have been under the circumstances. It didn't pay to get distracted by the faint scent of her perfume or the halo of wild curls that had escaped from one of those scrunchie things meant to hold her hair back out of the way.
"Okay, let her rip, Natalie."
She hit the ON button and jumped a bit when the saw took its first bite of the drywall. He steadied her arms with his hands, but then left it up to her to continue on her own. All in all, she did a pretty credible job, taking her time and biting her lower lip as she guided the blade along the lines he'd marked. In just a couple of minutes, she finished the last cut.
After turning off the saw, she stepped back from the wall to critique her work. "It's a little crooked."
He brushed away some of the dust. "Not enough to matter. You did a fine job, especially if that was your first time using a power saw. I can fudge the edges a bit when I put in the replacement piece. Once it's taped and mudded, no one will be able to tell."
His words clearly pleased her as she surrendered the saw and safety glasses to him. "Thanks for letting me do that, Tino. I'd hang around to help with the patch, but it's almost eleven thirty, and everyone stops to eat lunch at noon. I'm supposed to help serve today, so I'd better go get cleaned up."
Then she frowned. "You are going to join us for lunch, aren't you?"
Actually, he'd planned on finishing the last few patches and then heading over to his brother's place to hang out for the rest of the day. However, eating with a bunch of strangers suddenly sounded a whole lot better than beer and watching a ball game with Jack.
"Sure, I can stay."
"Great! I hope you like pizza and salad." She picked up a small backpack and took off across the gym at her usual speed. Halfway across the room, she stopped and turned back to face him. "If there's room, save me a spot at your table."
Okay, then. So maybe this whole attraction thing wasn't a one-way street. "I will. See you then."
"Great!"
She shot him another one of her bright smiles and disappeared through a door on the other side of the room.
-
Natalie forced herself to cross the rest of the gym without looking back a second time even though she dearly wanted to know if Tino Gianelli was watching as she walked away. She suspected … no, she hoped he was.
He was the first interesting-not to mention attractive-man she'd met since she ended her engagement to Benton Humboldt last month. She liked Tino's dark, wavy hair and teasing eyes the color of bittersweet chocolate. It probably wouldn't amount to anything, but a girl could always hope. Besides, flirting with a handsome man over pepperoni pizza and Caesar salad was a harmless way to dip her toes back in the dating pool again.
"Hey, Miss Natalie, how's it going?"
She smiled at Clarence, the janitor who kept things running here at the center. Despite spending more than forty hours there during the week, he showed up every Saturday to help with the ongoing effort to restore the building to its former glory. She looped her arm through his. "We should get at least half of the gym painted today. One of the new volunteers is about finished patching the holes in the last two walls. I'm really hoping to convince him to come back again. He seems to really know what he's doing."
"That's good, girl. You're going to have this place shining soon."
"I hope so. I know having all our stuff underfoot makes your job harder."
He smiled. "Now, you don't go worrying about that. I don't mind one bit, and it's only temporary, anyway."
That was true, but it seemed to take forever to make any real progress. She had to remind herself that the faded paint and outdated furnishings were slowly disappearing.
"There's so much more we could be doing for the people in this area once we get the building back up to code and the new computer lab finished. We're also hoping to have the after-school daycare program up and running soon. Kids around here need a safe, affordable place to go until their folks get home from work. I've also spoken to the community college about getting some volunteers to tutor and help with homework."
Clarence patted her arm. "I love the way you look at this old gal and see all the possibilities. Most people only saw how rundown she'd gotten, and the only thing they wanted to do was tear her down. I know at least one member of the city council pushed real hard for that to happen. Wanted to bring in a bunch of fancy stores or something else just as useless. Folks around here need a place to gather. You know, to come together as a community. Outsiders don't understand that and should just stay out of our business."
He wasn't saying anything he hadn't told her a dozen times before. Once again, Natalie didn't bother to point out that she had been an outsider the first time she'd visited the building or that it was outsider money pulling his beloved community center back from the brink. Besides, she agreed with him in large part. The people who lived in the immediate area should have the biggest say in how things were done.
They were about to pass the door to the ladies' room. "I'd better stop in here and clean up a bit before I serve lunch. I'll be sure to save you a couple of those brownies you like so much."
"You spoil me, missy." He smiled down at her and winked. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Let me know if you need me to set up any more tables or anything."
"I will."
She headed into the restroom. One look in the mirror had her wanting to bang her head on the wall. "Well, don't you just look lovely?"
Not only did she still have the remnants of the paint streak smeared across her cheek, but her hair was an unruly mess. She looked as if she'd just rolled out of bed and hadn't even bothered to brush her hair before leaving home. Sigh. And here she thought Tino's smile had been flirtatious. Now she suspected he'd been having a hard time holding back his laughter. All things considered, she couldn't even bring herself to blame him.
After soaking a paper towel with water and soap, she scrubbed the rest of the paint off her face. It was tempting to put on a bit of makeup, but she settled for just a touch of lipstick. Next, she tackled her hair, dragging a brush through it before quickly braiding it. As usual, despite her best efforts, a few strands still escaped to frame her face with soft curls. She'd spent years trying without success to tame her hair. It was as good as it was going to get.
Regardless, she had better things to do than primp in front of a mirror all day. It was almost time to start serving lunch. They normally had plenty of other volunteers to help with that task, so it wasn't imperative that she show up. However, passing out pizza was the one chance she had to personally thank everyone who had shown up today to help. The foundation's money might be footing the bill for the project, but it was the volunteers who made it happen. She liked letting each of them know that she appreciated everything they did to help.
She headed down the hall and grabbed one of the aprons with the foundation's name on them that she'd purchased with her own money. She'd designed the logo herself and was pretty pleased with how they'd turned out.
The kitchen was already bustling with activity. She automatically sought out Rosalie Earle in the crowd. The older woman ran the kitchen like a benevolent drill sergeant, marshaling her forces to operate with amazing efficiency. The kitchen had been one of the first areas to be renovated in the building. Instead of a bunch of mismatched appliances that were hopelessly out of date, now the place was filled with gleaming stainless-steel counters, a commercial-grade refrigerator, cooktop, and dishwasher.