Harbour Lights

Bree caught him before he’d taken half a dozen steps back toward his truck. “I’m sorry,” she said. Her tone was serious, but there was still a wicked twinkle in her eyes. “I just can’t resist teasing you. You’re so cute when you get all flustered.”

“How old are we? Thirteen?”

She held up a hand. “I’ll behave. I promise. Now, go. It’s a good deed, Kevin, not a lifetime commitment.”

Kevin hesitated, then walked back to the bookstore. He cast one last warning look at his sister, then turned the knob and went inside.

He found Shanna sitting in the middle of the floor with a screwdriver in one hand and tears tracking down her cheeks. She was surrounded by piles of unassembled shelves.

“Uh-oh,” Kevin said, immediately recognizing the problem.

Shanna swiped impatiently at the tears, then regarded him with a chagrined expression. “I thought they came assembled. When the delivery guy piled up this huge stack of boxes, then headed for the door, I almost went after him with a hammer. I begged him to stay. I offered him money. It was pitiful. I even offered him a lifetime of free books if he’d put these together for me, but he just waved and walked out the door. What kind of customer service is that? I’d call and complain, but there’s no time. I have to get these put together.”

She stopped babbling and gave him a watery smile. “Have I mentioned yet that I am really, really glad to see you, especially if you have any idea how to assemble these things?”

Kevin wanted to be the hero she needed, but the sight of all these pieces of wood, little plastic bags of screws and nails and other unidentifiable pieces of metal made him want to curse a blue streak himself. If his father heard about how Kevin’s day had turned out, he’d laugh himself silly.

Still, she looked so frantic, he had to do something. He took another survey of the materials. How hard could it be?

“Instructions?” he asked at last, resigned to taking a stab at putting the shelves together.

She held up a sheet of paper with a diagram on it.

He looked at it. “Okay, this looks easy enough,” he said, faking confidence.

She frowned at that. “Really? It makes sense to you?”

He considered lying to reassure her, then shrugged instead. “Not really, but we’re two intelligent adults. Surely we can figure this out. If not, I have an ace in the hole.”

“Oh?”

“My dad,” he said succinctly. It might be humiliating to call in Mick, but in the interest of making sure these shelves didn’t tumble down on top of Shanna the instant the first books were stacked on them, it might be necessary.

“Isn’t putting bookshelves together a poor use of his skills?” she asked. “He’s an architect, right? A really famous one?”

“He is, but he’ll see this as an act of kindness,” Kevin said. “He seems to be open to all sorts of unusual opportunities these days.”

She studied his expression. “You sound bitter.”

“Maybe, just a little,” he said. “But that’s a story for another day. You read and point. I’ll assemble.”

“Works for me,” she said.

An hour later they had the frame for the first set of shelves assembled and the backing nailed on. It even seemed relatively sturdy. Kevin stood it upright and gave it a gentle shove, just to be sure. It sat squarely in place. “Not bad,” he murmured.

“It’s excellent,” Shanna said.

He laughed at her enthusiasm. “Let’s not get carried away. Where do you want it?”

When he’d positioned it to her satisfaction, they installed the movable shelves.

“Perfect,” she announced, then met his gaze. “There are only fifteen more units to go.”

Kevin swallowed hard. “Fifteen?”

She nodded, her expression apologetic. “You don’t have to help with all of them. I think I’ve figured it out from watching you. And the units for the children’s books are smaller. I can handle those, I think.”

It was the I think that kept him squarely in place. He resigned himself to a very long day. “I’m here. We might as well finish, or at least get as many done as we can today.”

And as long as they were focused on the shelves, there was little time for personal chitchat, no time for his gaze to linger on her soft curves and the shapely legs revealed by a pair of shorts. There were only a few spare seconds for that quick hint of betrayal that flashed through him when he did feel a stirring of interest in this woman who wasn’t Georgia.

That thought was so troubling, he stood up abruptly. “First, though, I think we need some lunch. I’ll run over to Sally’s and pick something up. Anything in particular you want?”

Shanna looked startled, but she recovered quickly. “Sure, a tuna on whole wheat would be great. Maybe some chips.” She met his gaze. “But I’m buying. I’ll get my purse.”

“I’ll pay for it,” Kevin said, but she’d already turned and headed to the back room.

He stood staring after her. In that instant, he realized for the first time that she was as skittish as he was, maybe even more so. If looking at her aroused his masculine appreciation, then this sign of vulnerability intrigued him in a way that was far more frightening. It was one thing to be here, helping out a newcomer to town. It was something else entirely to allow himself to be fascinated by her. Bree would gloat from now till doomsday if she ever found out her scheme just might be working.

Shanna had recognized the panic in Kevin’s eyes earlier in the day. She was pretty sure it was reflected in her own. After that one moment of disconcerting awareness, she’d been careful the rest of the day to avoid his gaze, to keep the conversation impersonal.

Of course, there was only so much to be said about the assembly of the bookshelves, especially since after a while it had become almost routine. An awkward silence had fallen between them. She’d had no idea how to break it without venturing through the minefield that was apparently his life these days.

It occurred to her that if she couldn’t converse with a man who was spending hours out of his day helping her put together bookshelves, it might not bode well for her ability to come up with small talk with which to engage her customers. That gave her a whole different reason to panic.

She had to stop sitting here pretending to help him when he obviously no longer needed her to read the instructions. She needed to focus on some other task.

Standing up, she announced to some point behind his left ear, “I’m going to start shelving books while you finish up, if that’s okay.”

He didn’t even glance up. “Good idea. I can finish up these last few units by myself.”

Shanna opted to start in the children’s section, which was as far from Kevin as it was possible to get without leaving the store. The shipment of picture books had come in at midmorning, so she started by unpacking those, her eyes lighting up as she studied the colorful artwork in each book before placing it on the shelf.

She was exclaiming over each one until a shadow fell over the pages of the book in her hands. She looked up and saw Kevin grinning at her.

“It’s going to be slow going if you stop to read every book,” he said.

“I’m not,” she protested, then chuckled. “Okay, I am glancing through every one of them. The artists who illustrate these books are amazing.”

“Thus all the excited exclamations,” he guessed. “I was hoping maybe you were back here looking at erotica.”

Shanna blushed furiously. “I’d hardly have it anywhere near the children’s section.”

“Good to know.” He studied her with obvious interest. “What sorts of books are you planning to stock, besides the picture books for kids?”

“I figure people at the beach will want escapism, so mostly bestsellers, mysteries, thrillers, romances, as well as some nonfiction such as cooking, gardening and regional books. If people start asking for things I don’t stock, I’ll special order it for them. I think customer service is going to be critical if the store’s to be successful.”

He hunkered down beside her and glanced at a few of the books spread around her. “Davy’s going to love coming in here,” he said.