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‘Yes, and the floor.’
‘I know it’s a cliché but people always hide things under the floor.’
‘Okay, sure. This is making my job a lot more exciting.’
Ava stood close to him, hands on hips wearing only a sport tank-top and short bike pants. The way the stretch material clung to her body left nothing to his imagination. Her arms and legs were toned, like she exercised often. Her skin was nut-brown, her long dark hair was pulled high into a ponytail. It bounced around and over her shoulder each time she moved. His body burned once more.
‘What have you been doing this morning?’
‘Oh.’ She paused. ‘Duke and I took the dogs out. The puppies can’t walk far but we carried them down the paddock. They loved it and now they’ll sleep for hours they’re so tuckered out. And then we picked a few veggies from our new patch. It’s really taken off. Unexpected, given we’ve never grown vegetables before. And, oh, did you know we have chickens now? We’re feeding them the scraps and hoping for eggs, but not yet.’
Noah’s chest tightened and his breath caught; Ava was settling in. She was making a life here, establishing a home. He might have been wrong; she may not be the city-chick he’d thought. It didn’t matter anyway; he could never ever afford this place now. He was well and truly skint. The original grand plan of taking over when she upped stumps back to the city was never going to happen. Those dreams were long lost.
Why then did his chest expand with a sensation that felt strangely like hope. Did she see the beauty in Bellethorpe? But he was being ridiculous. What did it matter to him? The only thing that mattered was doing this job to get the money he needed to fight for his daughter. That was all.
Ava started collecting the discarded furniture and threw items outside on the grass. He watched the lean muscles in her arms tense with the movements. She was a hard worker and that was a problem as her list of admirable qualities just kept growing. She was focused and enthusiastic and she continued to surprise him. Now she retrieved a chair and mounted it with surprising agility. Standing on tiptoe, she reached inside the cupboard on the wall searching for further items. The chair wobbled and he rushed forwards and grasped her around her waist.
Argh! He needed to stop this. This time he felt her tiny waist and the skin underneath where her tee crept up. He swallowed and his body pulsed with need. This was too much. Her curves were beneath his fingers and he imagined her body crushed against his, feeling all of her, her head burrowed into his neck, the smell of her hair in his nose. He wanted that and it scared the hell out of him.
Ensuring she was stable, Noah dropped his hands, and stepped back. Touching her was a bad idea.
‘Nothing there.’ She jumped down from the chair but didn’t face him. Did she feel it too? ‘How can there be nothing else?’ Her disappointment was crushing. But not for long. She spun around. ‘Floor next?’ Those dark almond-shaped eyes peered up at him and all Noah could do was nod.
Chapter Fifteen
Ava ignored her awareness of Noah’s every move, his touch upon her skin, his smell, his intense stare.
It was easier to focus on the work. Kneeling on the floor, she picked up one corner of lino. ‘Argh, this is disgusting!’ The floor covering was an old-fashioned yellow colour with a green swirl that she was sure would have been lovely once. Now, well, yeah, it was out of date, not helped by the fact that there was probably one hundred years of dust and dirt under there.
Ava donned her dust mask and held another up in silent question to Noah. He shook his head. She didn’t lecture. His call, but her sinus passages were better off not blocked with dust. And what a great way to hide the emotions she was struggling not to express.
Mask safely in place, she peeled up another small section. ‘I knew it!’ Without waiting for him, she rolled the corner further, revealing the floor beneath covered in newspapers. ‘Quick, Noah, help me get rid of the lino but don’t step on the papers.’
The lino was stiff and unmalleable and it took great effort to remove it. ‘I’ll need to cut this with a knife,’ and he extracted the tool from his belt and sliced. Ava hovered, holding her breath.
As the floor space was revealed, Ava covered her hands over the mask imitating her mouth and turned to him, eyes bulging. ‘What a find! I’m going to pull each piece up and put them somewhere safe. I’ll need to be careful, sorry to be a pain.’
He shrugged. ‘I’ll grab a drink of water.’ Ava watched him saunter away, the belt around his hips jangling with its multitude of tools. Her eyes diverted to his cute backside snug in his denim jeans. Hot damn.
‘It’s a broadsheet, perfectly preserved, except for the dust of course. They’ve laid page after page down over these floorboards. There might even be a whole paper here.’ She talked out loud to herself.
Not saying anything upon his return, Noah stood at the doorway and lifted the edge of one corner of paper to examine the floor underneath.
Ava kept reading. ‘Oh, you’ll never believe this. This page is dated 1919 and there’s an article on the Spanish flu. How ironic we’re reading this after suffering through our own pandemic. You know they say the two are very similar. Thousands died back then and they didn’t have the science or innovation we have … incredible!’
Noah was busy running his fingers along the floor. ‘You might be in luck. These timber boards look in pretty good shape. There’s nothing nicer than the original boards sanded back to perfection.’
‘Oh, that will look so good.’
‘Is there anything else I can help you with?’
‘Uh, ah, no. This won’t take long. I’ll try to get them up and you can keep working.’
‘Okay, great. I’ll get the rest of this room out today and prime it for the new installation. The floor will be done last so that’s no bother. I’ll get the team in to do the kitchen over the next few days. Working together, it will be completed in half the time. Is that okay with you?’
‘The team? Oh, yeah sure. Whatever you think best.’
‘It will take less time and be more economical in the end, plus you’ll have your kitchen back quicker and I can move onto the next room.’
