She left the town house and headed for the corner where she could hail a cab. Her father’s harsh words fought with an image of Caleb.
Last night might turn out to be one of her biggest regrets in life, but it was also one of her most fantastic experiences. And right now it was a balm to everything else.
She stopped fighting and let the memories of Caleb crowd in.
* * *
Caleb had spent nearly a week in San Francisco. Jules invaded his thoughts at every turn, while he ensured the building was safe and the repairs got underway. His marketing staff was busy planning an exciting reopening event, and the community support had been enormous. As soon as things were under control, he left the manager in charge and flew back to Whiskey Bay.
Back home, his first interest was definitely Jules, so he made his way down to the Crab Shack.
Coming up on the building, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
It was Jules. She was on the roof. Noah was up there with her, tools hanging from his belt as he set up the first row of cedar shingles.
“Hi, Caleb,” Melissa greeted him, coming out onto the patio.
Noah turned and looked down.
“That’s not happening,” Caleb said to Noah, nodding his head in Jules direction.
“She’s not using the nail gun,” Melissa said.
“She’s coming down right now,” Caleb said in a booming voice that caught Jules’s attention.
“It’s not hard,” she told him, walking down a plank on the steep pitch toward the edge of the roof.
“Stay back from the edge,” he warned her.
She seemed completely unconcerned. “I’m not going to fall off the roof.”
“Get her down from there,” he told Noah.
“I work for her,” Noah said.
“Noah wanted to hire an assistant to do the roof,” Melissa said to Caleb.
“We don’t need to pay for an assistant,” Jules said.
“This is ridiculous.” Caleb marched to the ladder and began climbing.
“Go away,” Jules told him. “This is none of your concern.”
He wanted to argue that it was most definitely his concern. Since last weekend, everything about her felt like it was his concern. He wasn’t about to stand back and watch her get hurt or worse.
“Come down, Jules.”
Her expression turned mulish as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked adorable in dusty blue jeans, a red plaid shirt and leather work boots. Her braid stuck out of a red baseball cap, and she had a measuring tape clipped onto her waistband.
He wanted to take a picture. More than that, he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her like a fireman down the ladder. Then maybe he’d keep going, all the way to his house, all the way to his bed, where he’d strip off those work clothes and join her in his tile shower.
He stepped onto the roof. “I’ll be the assistant.”
He didn’t have a ton of time to spare, but there was no way he was risking her.
“We don’t want your help,” she said. “And we don’t trust your help. You’ll probably put holes in my roof.”
“I’m not going to put holes in your roof.” Grateful that he’d worn treaded hikers, he walked up the pitch of the roof.
Noah watched from the sidelines, apparently content to let them work it out between themselves.
“You are going to listen to reason,” Caleb told her.
“You’re not being reasonable.”
“You’re a complete novice and roofing is dangerous. How is that not reasonable?”
“This isn’t your restaurant, it’s mine. I’ll be careful, and Noah’s doing most of the work.”
“You’re just as high off the ground as he is. You don’t have to be operating a nail gun to fall twenty-five feet.”
“I’ll stay away from...” Her expression shifted, turning resolute. “Hang on. I don’t need to justify this to you. It’s my decision.”
“Get down off the roof, Jules.” There was no way he was leaving her up here.
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll carry you off.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Look at my face. Do you think I’m bluffing?”
“I think you’re trespassing.”
“You want to go that route?” Once again, he was confronted by her intellect. She was way too smart. Why did she always have to make things so hard for him?
“Yes, I do,” she said.
“You can.”
“I know I can.”
“But what about this?” He was fully aware that brute force wasn’t going to succeed. “I help Noah up here, and you help Melissa down there. You get my free labor and the irony that goes with that.”