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TRIXIE

B y morning, Trixie had convinced herself that she’d blown Hunter’s interest in her out of proportion.

He was a difficult man to read emotions from and she’d seen more there because she wanted to, not because he was swooning over someone like her.

Maybe he’d have been willing for a convenient tumble, but anything more was just a projection of Trixie’s own yearnings.

Then she remembered that his brother had come to Alaska and found a soulmate .

Trixie turned the word over in her own mouth, wondering at it.

She had never believed in love at first sight.

Attraction, sure, and Hunter was a chunk of very sexy meat.

But true connections happened over time, born from trust and mutual respect.

Surely a single day of work, no matter how deliciously competent and smart he had proven to be, was not enough to make crazy declarations about destiny.

We’re going to see what this is .

Sexual tension, maybe. It probably wasn’t anything more, and Trixie had to fight down the hope that it was. She was too practical for schoolgirl dreams.

She stared at herself in the mirror over the tiny trailer sink.

Curly dark hair that never did what she wanted was standing on end thanks to a restless night second-guessing her own memories.

She finger-combed it, put it in a tight braid, and took a swift sponge-bath.

She’d head to the laundromat for a full shower after work, but there was no point in wasting precious water before a sweaty day of work and she was absolutely not going to do something that weak for any man.

She’d be wearing a fetching hard hat all day anyway.

To her disappointment, Hunter was not the first to arrive. Kyle and Keith rolled out of their battered truck and pulled on their gloves.

“You got a lot done yesterday, boss,” Keith said in surprise, surveying the framework they’d gotten up.

“I was giving a new guy a shot,” Trixie said. “Had to take him through his paces.”

“Don’t you ever take a day off?” Kyle wanted to know, while Trixie was still thinking about the paces she would have liked to have taken Hunter through.

“What?” Trixie dragged her head back into the game. “Let’s get started. I smell snow and I’ve got the trusses coming Wednesday, which won’t do anyone any good if there are no walls to put them on. Let’s get the ladders set.”

The rest of the crew trickled in, nursed coffees and commented on the new walls.

Trixie was glad that Hunter wasn’t the last to arrive and introduced him around.

He shook everyone’s hands very firmly. Sam and Noah came last in the same car.

Trixie set Keith and Kyle to finishing the second floor subfloor while she got Hunter and Dylan framing the exterior walls and then assisted Sam and Noah with the first floor sheathing.

In an absolute miracle of timing, the second floor was finished at exactly the same time they were ready to start lifting walls. “Still need to fill in the nailing pattern,” Kyle said, refilling his nail gun.

Trixie cast a practiced look over the wall that was lying flat.

The studs were flush with the sills, none of them warped, and the nailing looked solid.

She checked the plans and verified a few measurements, exchanging a quick look with Hunter as she pulled out the end of the tape.

“Let’s get this up,” she said, pleased. “Hunter, you at the end, Dylan, there. Kyle, watch the edge. Keith, have a brace ready.”

It was one of her favorite parts, lifting a complete wall and suddenly turning a deck into a room.

It was like unfolding one of those fancy pop-up cards.

They scooted it into place and Trixie bent to nail the sill down as Keith hand-hammered in a brace to hold it.

They had three of the exterior walls up by the time they broke for lunch, and the first floor was fully sheathed.

Hunter had made friends, despite his general use of grunts for communication—or perhaps because of it.

He’d worked tirelessly and selflessly, and Trixie was delighted to see that he quickly won himself a place high in the hierarchy of the team.

He might be less skilled at the work, but he had a natural sense of command that most of them reacted well to.

He was smart enough to defer to experience and self-confident enough to take correction without crumbling.

Noah immediately took him under his wing, and they piled into a truck together with the Taylor brothers for a lunch run.

Sam took his own car to meet them there, and Dylan lingered.

“I like the new guy, boss,” he offered, as Trixie powered down the generator and coiled up a hose that was a trip-hazard. “Looks like you do, too.” He grinned and nodded knowingly.

Trixie flushed. She thought she’d done a better job than that of keeping herself too busy to listen to her libido. It was a challenge, though, with Hunter all hot and sweaty, reaching and leaning on his tools, frowning in concentration and holding things up for her.

“Nothing is going on,” she assured Dylan. “I’m a professional.”

“You’re also a woman,” Dylan pointed out. “And, dayum .”

Trixie had to cover her face with a hand, sure she was the color of the red tool box.

“Don’t worry,” Dylan laughed. “He’s into you, too.”

“ Professional ,” Trixie reminded him, though she was ridiculously delighted to have confirmation that she wasn’t imagining the mutual nature of the attraction. “We’re both here to work. We’re all here to work.”

“No judgement,” Dylan chuckled. “You run a tight ship and play fair. You didn’t ask him to go up a ladder any more than anyone else.” He stripped off his gloves and took a drink from his bottle. “It’s been great working for you, but you’re allowed to have fun, too. I’m just ribbing you a little.”

“Thanks, Dylan,” Trixie said frankly. “I’m glad you have my back.”

“You bet, boss-lady.”

At closing time, they’d finished sheathing half the second floor and all the walls were up.

“Damned if we aren’t actually going to make it,” Sam said as they split up at the parking lot, tired but triumphant. “I was beginning to have my doubts. ”

“Well, I never thought we couldn’t do it,” Dylan said. Trixie wasn’t sure if he was trying to be loyal or contrary. Sam stomped off.

Hunter lingered, cleaning up after the others had left.

“You don’t have to take the grunt work just because you’re the newest,” Trixie told him with a laugh, feeling suddenly off balance now that they were alone again.

She had been able to stay busy enough that she wasn’t dwelling on dreamy memories of Hunter kissing her hand, but she couldn’t have missed how he strode around the worksite, looking stronger and sexier than any of the others.

“It’s Keith or Kyle,” Hunter said confidently, not offering to stop sweeping. “Maybe both, working together.”

Trixie hated the idea. “They’re good kids,” she said uncertainly. “Why would they want to sabotage their own work?” It was only a little easier to think about that than the idea of Hunter laying her down in the pile of sawdust to do dirty things to her.

Hunter shrugged.

“Well, why do you think it was them?”

Hunter opened his mouth and shut it again, looking at her very intensely, like he was uncomfortable about what he wanted to say.

“Look, I’m not doubting your detective skills, but do you have any evidence?”

“They’re shifters,” Hunter growled.

Trixie didn’t understand. “They’re working ten hour shifts. Just like you and the rest of the crew.”

“No, they’re shifters .”

Trixie was positive now that she was missing some nuance in what he was saying, and her confusion must have been clear on her face .

“ Shape shifters,” Hunter clarified, even more growly than before.

Well, Trixie told herself, there was always a catch. Hunter was handsome, capable, into her, and completely crazy.