His fingers stopped moving and she could tell he was trying not to say the first thing that came to his mind by the look on his face. “Yeah, sure, that sounds like fun. Ever built a fire pit before?”
She batted her eyelashes. “Why, darling, that’s what you are for.” Before he could respond, she started laughing. “No, I haven’t. However, they have this wonderful thing called the internet. You can find whatever you need on there. Including plans, how-to videos, and supply lists. It’s really a fascinating place.” Standing up to walk into the house, she could hear him talking under his breath so she turned back to look at him over her shoulder. “What was that?”
He waved her off, “Nothing, nothing. Can’t wait. Let’s go.”
She smiled while she put her shoes on then got her purse and keys. When she walked back out, Noah was in her backyard looking at the house then around to the ocean. She came and stood by him.
“This is the spot. For the fire pit, I mean. What do you think?” He rubbed the back of his neck.
Lexi smiled, this was the spot she’d chosen. She’d done a lot of research and took measurements, as this was something she had wanted to do for a long time, but she wouldn’t tell him that. “Looks great. Ready to go?” She held her keys up and jangled them.
Noah sighed. “I suppose you want to drive.”
Lexi stopped and turned to look at him. “Is there a problem? I’ll have you know I’ve only been in one accident when I was nineteen and it wasn’t even my fault.” She walked to her car.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for your driving.” At her skeptical look, he shrugged. “It’s just I love to drive and I never have enough chances to do it. Besides, you have a new Dodge Charger with the Hemi package. I haven’t driven one of those yet.” He looked at her with hopeful eyes.
She folded her arms across her chest, contemplating him. “Would you like to drive my car, Noah?”
He nodded quickly, grabbed the keys out of her hand, and opened her door. As she walked by him to get in, she tapped him on the chest and said, “Don’t make me regret this. This could be a one-way trip for you.” She sat down in the car and looked straight ahead.
His eyes narrowed as he bent down and waited for her to look at him, faces inches apart. “Why, babe, you wouldn’t leave me in town with no way to get back home would you? Besides, I haven’t had a ticket or an accident in years.”
“And just how many did you have, years ago?” She tilted her head to one side.
“Just a few,” he smiled. “But that was a long time ago. I am older and wiser now.” He tapped his finger to the tip of her nose and stood up. He was whistling as he walked around the car and got in. When the engine roared to life he let out an excited laugh. “This is going to be so fun.” He grinned at her.
She shook her head. “Just drive, and get us there in one piece, please.”
*
When they got back, Lexi went into the house to change and grab the plans while Noah went home to get into some old clothes. She smiled at how he was like a kid in the candy store behind the wheel of her car. He was a very competent driver and as the miles went by she relaxed more. He did push it, but never too much. He held it just in check.
She watched Noah go to the trunk of her car and start moving the blocks around the house to the backyard. Since she didn’t want anything large or elaborate, her trunk was big enough to hold all the building materials. She knew how heavy they were and it was impressive watching him carry them. She was tempted to stay there and watch him unload it all but that wasn’t fair.
Grabbing a couple of waters and putting them on the back porch, she went around to the shed and grabbed her wheelbarrow to start loading. Noah came around the side of the house and his smile twisted into a scowl.
“Would’ve been nice to know you had that earlier.”
“Now you know. Let’s get a move on before it gets too hot.” She turned to get another brick out of the trunk. She paused when Noah came up beside her and put his hand on her arm.
“Why don’t you start organizing everything and going over the plans? I’ve got this.” He gently squeezed her arm.
She raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t think I’m strong enough to do this?”
“I didn’t say that. Somehow, I think you’d do it all on your own if you wanted to. What I’m saying is that to be more efficient, one of us should do the manual labor and the other should figure out what to do.”
He was standing so close. She could feel his heat radiating toward her. She watched a bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of his face and dropped onto his chest where it soaked into his shirt. She blinked a couple of times and tried to focus on what she’d wanted to say to him. In the end, she nodded and walked away.