She looked at Devlin, seeing him in a new light.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re about to have me for dinner.”
She laughed, coloring. “I guess because I find the fact that you can do your own renovations very sexy.”
He laughed, raised his brows, and set the piece of paneling down. “Well, hell, lady,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her around the waist, tugging her closer. “If I’d a known that, I’d a shown you my power tools right off.”
He kissed her then, long and slow and deliberate, and she felt the humming in her veins. When the kiss ended, she leaned back in his arms and smiled coyly. “I wish I’d known you had this talent a few months ago. I could have used your help.”
“Yeah? Why?”
She disentangled from his arms and began walking around the room, not wanting to bring Cal and the house in Summerville into the conversation. Devlin was installing cypress wood paneling into the back room, creating a lovely lowcountry feel. The back wall had been replaced with a long wall of windows overlooking the marsh. Dora crossed her arms and stood looking out over the wide swath of waving grass and the Intracoastal glistening in the sunlight.
“This view never gets old.”
Devlin followed her to the windows and stood beside her. “That’s because it’s always changing. Folks from off who come to buy always want the ocean views. I can find that, too. But it’s the wetlands that shows the change of scenery. The migrating birds, the changing grass—bright green in the summer, gold in the fall, brown in the winter, then the soft greening again in the spring.”
He turned his head and looked at her, his gaze serious. “Why could you have used my help a few months back?”
Dora sighed, resigned, and looked up at him. “I have to put my house in Summerville on the market. We bought it as a fixer-upper, only we never did the fixing-up. There was never the money. Now that we’re getting a divorce, we’re putting the house on the market. Suddenly everything that I’ve been waiting years to get done has to get done in a hurry.”
“So, you’re trying to flip the house.”
“Not even. We’re just trying to get it in decent enough shape to sell it. Cal wants to spend money we don’t have, and I want to sell it as is. He won, of course.”
“Why of course?”
“Because whenever it’s an issue of money, Cal makes the decision.”
“Even when the outcome affects your financial situation?”
Dora moved to the other side of the room, where a new fireplace mantel was being installed.
“Cal is not as concerned about my financial situation.”
Devlin gave a little laugh. “He’s an ass.”
“Yes, well . . .” Dora looked closely at the wood trim of the mantel. She heard Devlin draw closer.
“How can I help?”
Dora turned and found he was standing very close. “Cal just called. There’s a problem of a leak. It’s probably the roof. He wants me to find someone who can take a look and tell us what needs to be done.”
“He wants you to find the person?”
She nodded.
Devlin pinched his mouth, keeping what she was sure was a string of unsavory comments from flowing out.
“I’ll take a look. And I should send him a whopping bill, just to teach him a lesson. Only you’d get stuck paying the bill. We can drive up together and I’ll take a good look around and give you my opinion, for what it’s worth.”
“That would be so great. Apparently the workers are slacking off, too.”
“I’ve got good crews who can do the work for a good price. If your guys are jerks, we’ll send them packing.”
“What can I do to thank you?”
Devlin gave her a wicked look that promised mischief, then pointed to the box of paneling. “Grab some gloves, woman, and lend me a hand. I’ve got work to finish before I cook you dinner!”
They spent the rest of the afternoon paneling the back room together while Devlin’s old CD boom box played rock and roll. With the hum of the power tool and hammering, they couldn’t talk much. Instead they sang out the lyrics to songs they remembered from their youth, and during the occasional slow song, Devlin strolled over to her side, swinging his hips to wrap her in his arms and dance with her. He held her close, hummed in her ear, and smelled of sweat and wood, and it was pure heaven.
When at last the room was paneled, Dora and Devlin stood back to admire their work. She’d actually helped panel a room, she thought with stunned surprise. And it had been fun! This is what she’d always imagined it would be like for her and Cal in the house they’d bought. Working together, side by side, taking pride in their accomplishments, sharing in the glory. It was never going to happen, not if they’d lived in that house for another ten years. She knew that now. It wasn’t the time or the money. Cal didn’t have Devlin’s skill or the desire to do the transformation himself. He wasn’t interested in anything but seeing it done. Cal was, simply, not Devlin.
“Nice job,” Devlin told her, obviously pleased with the turnout.
“I can see how you got hooked,” she said.
“You had a good time, did you?” he asked, curious.
“I did,” she replied honestly. “I never knew how physically exhausting it was, but I had a great time. Can I help with something else?”
Devlin laughed then and wrapped her in his arms. “I knew you were a good ’un.” He kissed her nose, then patted her bottom in a signal they were done. “Let’s take a swim before dinner.”
“I didn’t bring a suit.”
“Yeah? So?”
Dora made a face. “I’m not going skinny-dipping.”
Devlin wagged his brows, then grabbed her hand. “Come on, I won’t look. Much.”
Dora laughed but pulled away. “No way.”
“Chicken. All right. Come on, then, and help me pull up dinner.”
“Where are we going?”
“Down the dock, of course.”
He took her hand again and she followed him outdoors. They walked single-file in the path he’d made through the tall grass that led to the wood dock. It was very long and very narrow, double the length of Mamaw’s dock at Sea Breeze, because it had to stretch much farther out over the grass to reach water.