Intrigue (Elvis Presley Story)

Chapter 11

"The scene with all the snow should cool you off just fine."

Olivia set the note on the granite counter and smiled. Normally, she would of loved to check out a classic movie with her Aunts. But tonight she was a woman on a mission.

It was about to get noisy and dusty in here and it would probably send Louise into some kind of conniption to see any of the carefully reconstructed home being torn apart again.

Tonight, she was glad to have the house to herself. Well, mostly to herself.

She spread her arms in a wide gesture and apologised for the house's muggy atmosphere. "As you can tell, we don't have the central air running yet."

"Not a problem."

Not for her, at any rate. Elvis presley was dangerous sophistication in his suit and tie. But tonight he'd shed the jacket and rolled up his sleeves to set up two ladders and scaffolding in front of the locked double doors leading to her unfinished sunporch.

The air of danger still clung to him as she watch him work. She supposed the holster he wore and his get-the-job-done focus added that. But there was something more earthy, more intimate about exposing the tanned column of his throat and his forearms as his muscles flexed with the task and glistened in response to the heat of the summer night.

"I'll go ahead and open some windows. If there's any breeze at all, we'll get a decent crosscurrent."

"Here." He hopped down from the three-foot platform he'd built and took the toolbox from her grip. What she toted with two hands, he picked up with a smooth one-handed swing and set it on the scaffolding.

"We'll need a hammer and chisel to break up that mortar, then a pry bar to move those rocks."

Perhaps succumbing a vital to the heat herself, olivia unhooked the top two buttons of her blouse as she watched him sort through the tools and pull on a pair of canvas work gloves. His back and shoulders flexed with each precise movement and she wondered how shameless it would seem is she kept right on unhooking buttons.

The windows. Open the windows and cool off before you embarrass yourself. Not that she was any kind of expert in the art of catching a man's eye, but she had a feeling that drooling would not be the most attractive thing she could do. "I'll get the windows," She said out loud needing the extra impetus to move away from him.

Elvis was diving into this treasure hunt with as much enthusiasm as she. He trusted that her idea was the right one-at least it was good enough for him to take a chance on.

She didn't know what it was that made her nerves dance and her skin flush with anticipation-working beside the sexy Detective or basking in his unqualified support of her crazy idea.

Staying true to its architectural design, they'd left the shape of the original church windows intact-tall and narrow, running from thigh height to near the line of the ceiling. And though each window had been fitted with insulated frames with shades installed between the glass.

"You lock these at night, right?" Elvis queried. "At that height, especially, I can't tell you how easy it'd be to cut the screen and climb in if someone wanted to."

She pushed the first window open, deciding this wasn't the time to admit that she and her aunts did sleep with their bedroom windows open at night. It was just too darn hot not to.

"We plan to have a security system installed before the construction is completed."

Meaning it wasn't there now. Meaning she didn't have to admit anything-Elvis already knew. She felt his heat behind her a split second before he reached around to inspect the window's new lock for himself.

"Lock them when it's just you or your aunts here," he ordered. "It's better to sweat than to scream. Remember how you felt in the parking garage?"

Helpless. Terrified.

She shivered at the ominous words of wisdom. A second later his hands were on her shoulders, kneading away the fear, kindling a whole new different kind of tension. "I'm not trying to scare you," he whispered against her ear. His warm breath danced along her neck. His touch warmed her deep inside. His touch felt seductive. Intimate. Right. "I just want you to be smart. and safe."

Olivia nodded. "I will."

Before she succumbed to the urge to lean into his sheltering body once more, he pulled away and returned to work. "So all that lumber stacked outside is to finish the second floor and sundeck?"

"That's right."

"And the flagstones?"

She opened another window and followed him back to the scaffolding. "Paving the sunporch."

He set the toolbox on the floor and climbed to the three-foot platform. "It looks like McCarthy has more supplies and equipment outside than you have room for in here."

"We gutted everything from floor to ceiling, so there's plenty to rebuild inside."

"Plenty of places out there for a man  to hide if he wanted to."

Olivia looked up at his stern countenance, towering above her. "You know, as far as giving reassuring pep talks give, you suck."

His chest-deep laugh lightened up his expression and dissipated the direction mood of his matter-of-fact warnings had created. He held out his hand to help her climb up. "May I?"

Kicking off her heels she still wore, olivia wrapped her fingers around the worn canvas glove and strong hand underneath. Elvis's unvarnished  facts and abundant skills and strengths made her feel safe, yet off-kilter in a way that was unfamiliar as it was exciting.

Once she stood beside him, he picked up the hammer and chisel. "So where do I start?"

The new rows of stones and mortar above the door frame was obvious.  Olivia studied the puzzle. "I don't know if your father meant to count six blocks to the north, or to count from the north end."

Elvis counted off the limestone blocks with the chisel. "Looks like the second one from either end. Where do you want me to do the damage?"

Olivia's reviewed the design of Vernon's sketch in her mind and decided. "This one."

Like forensic archaeologists, Elvis hammered and chipped away at the mortar while olivia brushed away the dust and concrete bits that held the block in place between layers of century-old stone. Anticipation kicked in, exciting her pulse as inch by inch, a little more of the double-shoe-box-sized limestone blocks was revealed.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! and thanks for reading! xoxo