“No, I’m not.” He took the cup along with his chances.
“Darn.”
He snorted. “Seriously?”
“No. I’m sorry. That was unnecessarily rude.” Her chest puffed up with a large breath. “So, are we even now?”
J.P. pulled off the lid and set it onto the truck rail to drink the milkshake straight from the cup. He gulped down a large swallow. “I don’t think one milkshake really covers all of it.”
She rubbed her chin. “Speaking of covering things, don’t you have something to cover yourself up with?” He noticed her gaze flit down to his bare chest before swinging back up to his eyes and locking in there. He also noticed the pink tinge that came to her cheeks and figured—maybe even hoped—he had a little something to do with it.
“I don’t.” He didn’t feel like telling her he lived just a few blocks up the street and could easily grab something from his closet. It was too fun watching her squirm. Plus, it was a sauna out. There was nothing wrong with working on his tan while he enjoyed a frosty treat in the back of his truck. She’d just have to deal.
She moved a step closer.
“Wow,” she murmured, and for a hot second, J.P. thought she was referring to his physique. He couldn’t say he wasn’t proud. He knew he was fit, and it was nice to be appreciated, even by someone as maddening as Nora. But then her eyes narrowed and she made a face that was anything but approving. “You really did get stung, didn’t you?”
Chapter Seven
“You look like you’ve got chicken pox.” Nora’s eyes bounced from sting to sting, counting them out silently in her head. There were at least twenty, possibly more. Her heart pinched for all of those bees and their little lives lost. They didn’t deserve that tragic type of ending. She even felt a twinge of empathy for J.P., but it didn’t last long.
“I told you there’s a serious bee problem at the property.Nowdo you believe me?”
Her gaze landed on his neck as he worked on a swallow of the half-gone milkshake. She scolded herself when her eyes trailed down to his collarbone and the glimmer of sweat that pooled in the divot there.
Gathering a stabilizing inhale, Nora conceded, “I agree there’s a problem. But I think it’s you, not the bees.”
J.P. tossed his head and the rest of the milkshake back. When he thumbed his full bottom lip to swipe a stray bit of slush there, Nora coughed and wrenched her gaze away.
He was gorgeous. That didn’t help things.
J.P. lugged himself off the tailgate and slammed it shut, coming way too close to her when he crossed the sidewalk to chuck the empty cup into the trash. She’d expected him to be ripe with the sweat of a day’s worth of construction work, so the fresh, woodsy scent of minty pine that assaulted her senses had her dizzied and confused.
Of course he was attractive, but he had to smell good too? Things were not lining up here. She didn’t like it one bit.
He came back to the side of the truck, squaring off. “I am not the problem, Nora.”
The way he said her name made her stomach tighten. “No?” The word was a whispered breath.
He pressed closer. “No, I’m not.”
Her retaliation stalled in her mouth as she looked up at him. What was her response? To his words? To this closeness?
Apparently, it was to become altogether mute.
He raised his hand to lower his aviator sunglasses from his floppy brown hair down to his eyes. Nora swore his bicep flexed with the effort. Did it really take that much exertion to simply move his shades or was he showing off? Nora was certain it was the latter. There was no way he wasn’t aware that the sight of him like this made her totally stupid. He liked it. Enjoyed the attention. She could tell.
Not about to give him an ounce more of satisfaction, she switched the subject and took control of her wandering eyes. “Just so you know, there’s a noise ordinance around here and it prohibits construction or any other loud volumes before seven.”
His face screwed up in confusion. “What?”
“If my clock is right, you were out there at six this morning, making all kinds of ghastly noise,” she informed with a haughty swivel of her chin. “Just giving you a neighborly head’s up. You know, I wouldn’t want anyone complaining to higher ups and getting you in trouble.” She sneered when she added, “I know you’ve got a very important job to do. Wouldn’t want anything getting in the way of that.”
Two could play at this game.
“I start that early because—as you can plainly tell—the temperatures are completely unbearable by early afternoon.”
There was certainly a lot that was unbearable.
