Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
I shut my eyes. “I was three, and they made each of us get up and tell something about ourselves. It was the only thing that came to mind. My mother hadn’t told me it was something to keep private.”
Holden rolled on the floor—literally rolled on the floor—he was laughing so hard.
I shook my head. “Thanks a lot, buddy.”
Alex climbed to her feet. She put her hand on my chest, which took the sting out of my buddy’s betrayal ever so slightly. “Don’t worry. He also told us some really great things about you.”
I frowned. “Yeah, I bet.”
“How was your day?” she asked. “I came downstairs to grab a box of screws earlier, and you looked busy.”
“Yeah. But it’s been good. We have a lot started already.” I lifted the case in my hand. “I came up to give you a nail-gun lesson, like we talked about last night. Do you have a few minutes?”
“I do. Two of the guys just went to get boxes of the flooring we’re putting down. But if you’re busy, I can ask Holden to show me how to use it.”
Holden stood and smacked dust from his hands. “Actually, I’m handy. But Brayden is your go-to power-tool guy. He taught me everything I know.”
Of course he was completely full of shit, but I appreciated the bow out. Holden winked from behind Alex.
I nodded toward the door. “Why don’t we go down the hall to the primary bedroom? The beams are all exposed, and no one is working in there today. That way you can practice.”
“Okay!”
In the bedroom, I unpacked the cordless nail gun and gave her a quick tour.
“This is the safety tip. It won’t retract until you press down on whatever you’re going to nail.”
“Oh, alright. Great. That makes me feel better about using it.”
I showed her the jam-release latch, magazine, magazine-release button, and the trigger switch. It wasn’t really very difficult, but considering it was powerful and you could easily shoot a nail through your own hand, I understood her hesitation.
“You ready to try it out?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
I handed her the gun and stood behind her. There wasn’t any certain position you needed to be in, so I took a little advantage of the situation. “Put one foot in front of the other for the best balance,” I said.
“Okay.”
“Now just place the nail gun where you want it.” I reached around her and pointed to eye level. “Let’s tack one in right here. I’ll hold the gun while you pull the trigger the first time so you get the feel.”
My arm wrapped around Alex, enveloping her petite frame in a hug from behind. I liked the feel of it, so I wasn’t going to nudge her to hurry.
“Should I do it?” she asked after a moment.
“If you’re ready.”
She pressed the trigger, and the loud sound of a nail tunneling into the beam echoed around the room. Alex whipped around with an excited smile. “That was easy!”
A piece of hair fell across her cheek. I couldn’t help myself. I reached out and brushed it back from her face. With just the two of us in the room standing so close, the moment grew intimate.
“You’re really beautiful, Alex.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Thank you.”
My eyes fell to her mouth, and her breathing picked up.
“You feel it, too, don’t you?” I whispered.
She swallowed and leaned in. “What?”
“It’s hard to put into words, but it feels like there’s a magnetic force between us. Anytime I go near you, something pulls me closer.”
I heard footsteps pounding down the hall, but I was too lost in the moment for it to really register. At least until Dave ran into the room.
“Pipe busted! Where’s the main shut off?”
Fuck. “I gotta go.”
Alex blinked. “Yeah. Of course. Thank you for showing me the, umm…thing.”
I bolted down the stairs with the smile still on my face. But it wilted when I got to the kitchen. Water sprayed from a pipe in the ceiling. The main shut-off valve was in the basement, so I took the steps two at a time and twisted the knob.
“Water stop?” I yelled up the stairs.
“Not yet!”
“Give it a minute. Whatever’s in the lines is going to piss out before it’s done.”
After another thirty seconds, someone yelled down that the water was slowing, so I went back upstairs. “What the hell happened?”
“It’s my fault,” Jason said. “We were doing wall and ceiling prep work. I had a couple of people pulling all the old nails out. But I didn’t specify to remove only nails in the beams. Apparently there was an old, rusty nail lodged in a pipe. Drywaller must’ve hit it when they were sheetrocking decades ago. Guess it was acting like a plug, until one of the ladies removed it.”
Kyra pouted. “It was me. I’m sorry. I got carried away and wasn’t thinking.”