Carolina Dreaming: A Dare Island Novel by Virginia Kantra Page A

have in mind?” Damn it, was that her voice, so breathless? So weak?
    “Murphy.” Warning in Sam’s voice.
    “Muffins,” Gabe said, ignoring him.
    Jane blinked. “What?”
    He shrugged. “Pay me in muffins. Or chocolate chip cookies. Or dog food. Whatever you want.”
    She searched his eyes, trying to see behind the slouch and the smirk. She wasn’t used to men offering to do nicethings for her without expecting something in return. Was he serious?
    Something moved in the yard behind him. The black-and-tan dog, scratching vigorously at a camouflage bandanna that someone had tied in place of a collar around its neck.
    That
Gabe
had tied, she realized. He was taking care of the dog now. Was it possible this hard, lean former Marine was trying to take care of her, too?
    The thought made her warm all over.
    And wary. She wasn’t a dog. She didn’t need anybody taking care of her.
    “You can do this in one evening?” she asked him. Buying time.
    His lips tightened, almost as if she had offended him. She winced. Maybe she had. And then he grinned. “Unless you want me to stick around longer.”
    Her cheeks flamed with relief and annoyance. At least, she assumed that sudden heat was annoyance.
    “Gabe’s uncle was a contractor,” Sam intervened. “Gabe apprenticed with him in high school.”
    So Sam trusted him. Well enough to hire him, at least.
    “And you’re okay with this?” she asked Sam.
    Sam looked amused. “It’s his time. It’s your bakery.”
    Jane hesitated. She could see that damn door so clearly in her mind, how many steps it would save, how much better it would be.
    “We’re pouring the footings today,” Sam said. “If you want time to think about it, I can pull the crew, put them on another project tomorrow. Course, I can’t promise when they’d be back.”
    “You get me the door, I can put it in tonight,” Gabe said.
    Jane’s heart beat faster. “Tonight?”
    Gabe glanced at her. “So you can stay on schedule. We need the door in place so we can install the ledger board before we start framing.”
    She had no idea what he was talking about. But Sam was nodding as if it all made sense. She trusted Sam.
    She looked at Gabe, all lean, honed strength and attitude, and wished she could trust him, too.
    Or maybe she wished she could trust herself.
    She realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a rush. “Tonight,” she said. “Thank you.”
    *   *   *
     
    “M AN , YOU GOT balls,” Tomás said later that afternoon. “Telling the boss how to do his job.”
    Balls, but no brains, Gabe thought. First day on a new job, he had planned on keeping his head down, his nose clean, and his mouth shut.
    Yeah, because he was so
good
at that, he thought derisively.
    Gabe had the initiative and the experience to be a good Marine. What he didn’t have was the ability to sit back and take orders from some dickhead officer with more rank than sense throwing his weight around.
The incompetent leading the unwilling to do the unnecessary
, they used to quip in Afghanistan.
    Grady, despite his air of privilege, his expensive haircut and pricey watch, wasn’t a dick. He didn’t seem to give a shit how well Gabe played with others as long as he got the job done.
    Gabe was grateful to Grady for giving him a chance. But, shit, no door?
    When Gabe used to do remodels with his uncle, Uncle Chuck would go on and on about work flow and efficient use of space. Jane must spend all day on her feet already. What good was her fancy new deck addition if it forced her into taking a thousand unnecessary steps a day?
    Gabe hadn’t figured on challenging the boss on Day One. But Sam, surprisingly, had agreed.
    It felt good that Grady trusted his judgment.
    “He seems like an all right guy,” Gabe said.
    “Sam? He’s a prince,” Jay Webber said, trundling over withanother wheelbarrow of wet cement. “If you pushed, he probably would have paid you that overtime.”
    Gabe drove his shovel into the