4
Nash shoved the pry bar between the wall and plywood board and used his weight to pull down and rip the panel off. He hadn’t had a look behind these boards yet and he hoped he’d find the fireplace in decent enough condition to get it working.
The last thing he wanted was to refurbish it before he was ready to do this back section of the house. He needed this area to remain livable for the duration of the renovations. Or at least until he got the private part of the house ready to live in.
“How’s it look?”
Glancing over his shoulder he frowned. “I’ve barely got one board off.”
“So? Aren’t you a master builder?”
“Master builder?”
“Yeah, you know, an expert.”
“Ah, sure. But last time I checked that didn’t come with a cape and x-ray vision.” He pulled the loosened piece off the wall completely to reveal solid stone. “Still think I should know already?”
“Oh.” Laura tossed the quilt off her lap and placed her mug on the table as she stood up.
“Put the hoodie on.” She scowled at him and he could see the argument forming in her eyes. “Not up for debate, Laura. I’m not having you white as a ghost with blue lips again.”
She froze, her head tipped to the side, eyes narrowed. He could tell she wanted to protest. He’d never been all that good at reading her but right now she was as transparent as glass. Whether her defenses were down due to being half frozen or being trapped in close proximity, Nash didn’t care. All he cared about was making sure she didn’t scare him like she had earlier.
He drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Please put it on.”
Her gaze softened a second before she gave him a slight nod. Snatched the hoodie of the couch where he’d dropped it earlier, she slipped it over her head. Her hair was still damp, but without a blow dryer she’d done what she could with a towel. Another reason she should put on the extra layer.
The hoodie buried her, the hem resting at her knees, the sleeves so long a third of them were flopping around past her hands. She held her arms out and laughed. “God lord. I could fit four of me in this thing.”
An exaggeration for sure but it got the point across. The sweat pants and thermal had been big on her but his hoodie swamped her. And she wasn’t small. At five seven, with a runners build, he wouldn’t call her skinny or even slim, she was solid, had muscles and curves and not an hour ago he’d gotten to see all of them.
The memory had his mouth going dry, his heart racing and his groin throbbing. He cleared his throat. Licked his lips and swallowed. “It’ll keep you warm.” Spinning around he stuck the pry bar in the next board with more force than necessary.
Distraction. He needed to distract himself from thoughts of Laura without her clothes on.
“Can I help?”
Studying her for a moment he determined she was steady on her and nodded. “Sure. Can you pile the boards up over by the back door so they’re out of the way after I pull them off.”
“Okay.”
He might have agreed but he watched her closely as she moved the first board. If carrying the extra weight made her unsteady he’d park her ass back on the couch. Satisfied she was all right, if a little slow, he got stuck into the next board.
He’d started at the top of the boards and reached chest height before the firebox came into view. Leaning in to study the stone work he saw someone had removed a timber mantle before boarding the wall up but from what he could see the mantle had been a later edition and not original to the house. The stones looked in good condition in spite of the coating of black soot along the bottom edges.
“Hey, that looks all right.” Laura leaned around him to peer into the dark gap. “I can’t see inside.”
He rolled his eyes. “Step back and I’ll get another board off.”
“Sorry. I’m excited to see what’s in there.”
“Let’s hope it’s not a body,” he muttered.
“A body? Really?” Her voice held a note of glee. “Have you ever uncovered one?”
“What the hell?” Nash stared at Laura as the next board ripped away on one side. “Seriously?”
She shrugged. “I’m a cop. I’m always thinking about stuff like that.”
