From Temptation to Twins(19)
“I’m fine,” Melissa said. “They only kept me overnight—”
“They kept you overnight?”
“Just because of the anesthetic. I was sleeping.”
He gently took hold of her forearm and lifted her injured hand to look at it from a few angles. “You’re not allowed to touch anything.”
“I get it. I won’t.”
“Ever again,” he added. “None of my tools. None of any tools. I don’t want you hammering or sawing.”
“Noah,” Jules interrupted, realizing he was going overboard.
“Painting?” Melissa asked with a little tease in her tone.
“Fumes,” Noah said.
“I’ll wear a mask.”
“You need a helmet and body armor.”
“Oh, come on. I’m not that bad.”
He gazed pointedly at her bandaged hand. “Yes, you are.”
Jules realized the tone of the argument had changed. He wasn’t angry. They seemed to be having fun.
“Well, I’m not doing all the work myself,” she put in lightly. “I don’t mind keeping Melissa away from sharp objects.”
“And heavy and hard objects, too,” Noah said with a glance Jules’s way.
“But she has to be able to help. We need her contribution.”
He returned his attention to Melissa. “Painting is okay.”
“I’m not sure who put you in charge of the project.”
“I’m a skilled professional with industrial safety training. Have you had industrial safety training? When you can produce a certificate that says you have, you can be in charge of the jobsite.”
Caleb’s voice interrupted from the doorway, tight and demanding. “You let her use your nail gun?”
The memories of last night flooded back to Jules. Her skin heated up, and she swore she could smell Caleb’s woodsy scent.
Noah clamped his jaw shut, and his gaze darkened on Caleb. “She wanted to see how it worked.”
“And you showed her?” Caleb asked Noah.
“I told her not to touch it without me.”
“That didn’t work out so well, did it?”
Melissa spoke up, “It was my fault, Caleb, not Noah’s.”
“But you’re the one who got hurt,” Caleb said to her. “How are you? Should you even be here today?”
“She insisted,” Jules said, finally finding her voice.
Whatever had happened, or not happened, between her and Caleb last night, it was over. She needed to forget about it and move on. Though she’d spent most of the night restless and disappointed, he’d been right. They were on opposite sides of a fight, and that fact wasn’t about to change.
“Melissa is going to sit down,” Noah said.
He still had hold of her forearm, and he led her across the restaurant.
Caleb moved closer to Jules, and her reaction to him intensified. She didn’t want to be attracted to him, but she couldn’t seem to turn it off. Logic, she told herself. If she used logic and reason, and remembered who he was and what he wanted from her, she’d be fine.
She braced herself.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
“About what?”
The last thing she needed was an intimate little rehash of last night. He’d had his chance. He didn’t take it. And she was glad of that. At least she would be glad of that, once her logic and reason kicked in.
“Business,” he said, surprising her.
“Oh.”
His expression tightened, and his nostrils flared ever so slightly.
“Sure,” she said, making to follow Melissa across the room.
“Just you,” Caleb said, keeping his voice low.
“What’s going on, Caleb?”
“I don’t want to upset her.”
“But you’re willing to upset me?”
A beat went by before he answered. “There’s something you need to know.”
She gave up trying to guess what he was getting at. “Sure. Fine. Out on the deck?”
“That’ll work.” He turned for the door.
She followed, out into the sunny June afternoon. Seagulls swooped through the salt-tang that hung in the air. The tide was high, waves battering the rocky shore, sending spray into the air and roaring softly in rhythm.
“Talk,” Jules said, widening her stance and tipping up her chin.
Caleb halted at the rail and turned. “I’ve been talking to my lawyer.”
“You can’t sue us.”
“I’m not going to sue you. Sue you for what? Why would I sue you?”
“I don’t know. What else do lawyers do?”
Her comeback seemed to stump him for a moment.
“Defend criminals,” he suggested.
“Have you committed a crime?”