Finding Love in Forgotten Cove (Island County Series Book 1) by Karice Bolton Page A

project for you to be in charge of.” He walked to the kitchen and grabbed the first box of stone. “And it will give me a chance to eat my apple slices.”
    “You don’t think I’ll mess it up?” I asked, rather flippantly.
    “I’ll be here the entire time to make sure you don’t.”
    Mason placed the box of stones on the ground next to the fireplace. They were a beautiful ivory color, and when the light caught the rock in a certain way, it would sparkle in areas and looked almost magical.
    “All we do is dip the trowel into this mixture,” he replied, lifting the lid off a tub. “And smear it onto the wall in an even coat. Then you use that tool,” he pointed to another metal tool laying on the floor, “and run it through the material to remove the excess before you place the stone.”
    “You make it sound so easy.” I slowly stood up and took a deep breath in as he placed plastic on top of the wood floors to protect his handiwork.
    “It is. I promise. Dig in.”
    I grabbed the trowel and stuck it in the thick mixture, lifting out quite a load.
    “Now splat that thin set over here and start to smear it outward, keeping it under the string I placed there.”
    “Is splat the technical term?” I did as instructed and watched the glob of material slide down the wall and land on the plastic covering the floor. I knelt over to pick it back up with my trowel, but he stopped me.
    “Nope. You don’t want to use that. Get some new stuff on there and try again.”
    “I doubt we’ll get a new fireplace by Christmas at this rate,” I muttered, bending over to scoop more on the trowel. I stood up to have Mason take a step closer from behind. He was only a few inches away, and I could sense every single part of him as wondrous sensations zipped through my veins.
    It had been too long.
    I managed to get the goop plastered onto the wall right before it dropped to the floor. Mason slipped his arms over my shoulders and I nearly lost my mind. He was a solid six inches taller than me so this wasn’t hard to do by any means, but there was something about being this close to him that made my body respond to him and care nothing about the project in front of us. If I had eyes in the back of my head, I swear I’d see him smirking.
    His hand settled over the top of mine as he slowly guided my hand along the wall, spreading the gritty substance evenly.
    “See you work with what you’ve got. You can’t rush it. You just work slowly… easing your way into it. Stay consistent with the strokes but learn when to ease off. Then you won’t be left with any sort of disastrous mess to clean up at the end of it all.” His hand tightened over mine as we gave it one last swipe, and I felt the breath he let out cascade over my scalp, sending an intense awareness along my entire body.
    He was slick, but in a completely charming way.
    My breath caught as he removed his hand from mine, but he didn’t move away from me.
    “Time to place the first stone piece. We won’t need to use the other tool. Our finesse was perfect. We make a good team,” he said, placing both hands on my shoulders before giving me a gentle squeeze. The idea that setting stone could be such a turn on completely shook me to my core. How could this man make home improvement sexy? And more to the point, what in the world had gotten into me?
    “You doing okay?” he asked, tucking some of my hair behind my ear that had escaped from my ponytail.
    “Uh-huh.” My voice was far more breathless than it needed to be.
    “Good.” He took a quick step back and reached for the stone veneer.
    I watched the length of his body move and extend next to me as he lifted the stone and instructed me to hold out my hands. He placed it right side down and pointed at the wall.
    “Stick it on there. Go ahead.” He smiled. Whatever little war he’d set up in his mind, he’d won and that unknown victory had me worried.
    “Okay.” I tried desperately to shake off the feelings