“Let’s check out the rest of the building, if you don’t mind.”
I led Micah through the site, pointing out the projects in each room—trim, counters, cabinets, a little of everything, it felt like. “They also want to partition this giant room back here into smaller spaces, so I’ll be working on the framing, that kind of thing.”
“Wow, you’re a Jack of all trades.”
“Not really. It’s just that carpentry covers a lot. Everything you’ve seen and more. Pretty much anything with wood, you can blame a carpenter.”
“Anything with wood, huh?” He chuckled.
Immediately my face heated. “Wood working, I mean. Shit, that doesn’t sound any better.”
Micah practically cackled as he shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m just giving you shit.”
“Jackson would be proud,” I muttered. “Let’s keep walking.”
As we walked and talked, Micah gestured to different areas, explaining how he envisioned the room as a set for filming while I talked him through the different projects that would take place.
Micah put his hand on my shoulder. “And here, we can—”
My brain short-circuited. His touch grounded me. His hand was warm and strong on my shoulder and that heat radiated through my body. My heart rate increased a little and my breathing tightened.
“What do you think?”
I blinked twice and turned to him, his hand falling away. “Think?”
“About the plans.”
“I, uh…”
“Earth to Asher. Were you even listening?”
I raised my eyebrows and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I must’ve zoned out for a second. Can you start again?”
Micah must have repeated himself, but my brain simply wouldn’t focus on his words. What had that touch done to me? Why was I so distracted by it? My head was swimming. I realized Micah had stopped talking again.
“It sounds great.” I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, trying to re-focus. “Honestly, whatever you tell me to do, I’ll make it happen. This is your domain.”
“Not only mine. You’ve got way more experience on a construction site than I do. I did some set design on the house we started with, but that’s the limit to my experience working around heavy machinery. Honest.”
I chuckled. “Noted. No heavy machinery around Micah.” His cheeks turned a faint shade of pink as I spoke and I wondered what he was thinking. We finished our tour of the job site and stepped out of the building into the bright light of day.
Micah cleared his throat, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets awkwardly. “Thanks for showing me around.”
“Yeah, of course. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to seeing what we do with the place. I think it’s going to be really special when we’re done with it.” I was happy to show him around, glad he’d be on site for a while, and excited that we had the chance to reconnect.
We held each other’s gazes for a moment, Micah with a smile on his face, only the sounds of traffic in the background. It was just the two of us in front of a building that we were going to work on together to bring to life again. That fluttering feeling in my stomach was back. What the hell is wrong with me? I couldn’t help but wonder.
As we stood there, a gentle summer breeze ruffled Micah’s dark hair, causing a few strands to fall out of place. I had the sudden urge to brush it aside, tuck it behind his ear, to touch him again. I restrained myself, knowing the touch probably wouldn’t be welcome—to either of us. No matter how loudly my brain and body were screaming the opposite, I had no need to go touching him casually, and I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea… whatever that was. I didn’t even know what I was thinking. All I knew was that I wanted more.
Chapter 4 - Micah
We watched each other for a long moment and I had no idea what to say but I didn’t want the moment to end. “Do you, uh, want to hang out sometime? Catch up? For old time’s sake?”
“Yeah. That would be great. What did you have in mind?”
I racked my brain for ideas. We hadn’t seen each other in so long and I didn’t know the town as well as I had as a kid. “Baseball? Isn’t there a halfway decent baseball team around here still?”
“The Guardians. They’re pretty good, actually. You want to catch a game sometime?”
