Chapter 14

Maybe it made her a coward, she didn’t care at this point. The guys were all giving each other strange looks every time she walked past them. When Cooper suggested she give herself a quick refresher on some of the bigger equipment, she practically ran outside, anything to stay out of smelling distance, or whatever it was referred to.

After the first few minutes in the knuckle boom loader she was happy to be alone with no one watching. She was more than a little rusty maneuvering it. She’d almost tipped over when she’d forgotten to put the stabilizer legs down. The guys never would have let her forget that, ever.

Glancing up from the joystick, she saw Noah walking in her direction. Turning the engine off, she opened the door and looked down at him. “Hey.” The hesitant look on his face made her heart ache for him. “Come on up, I’ll give you a crash course.”

His amber eyes lit up with surprise, as he nodded and climbed into the cab. He hunched in the door until she moved over to perch on the box in the corner of the cab.

“Sit.” She grinned. “It might be a real crash course. I’m a little out of practice.”

Noah angled his large body until he was in the seat but turned enough to look at her. “You still know more than I do. All I have done since I got here is fetch tools and hold things. I feel like a nurse in an operating room.”

She laughed. “There’s an image.”

He smiled, it was tense and a little awkward, but it was a start.

“I’m a bit embarrassed about last night.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you for what you did. It couldn’t have been easy to do.” He gave her an anxious look. “I think it was your fear that snapped me out of it.” He shrugged, “it was worse than my own.”

Rolling her eyes, she turned so she could see him better. “Hey, I’m always happy to be scared witless to help someone out.” She studied his eyes for a few seconds. “Gage told me a bit of what caused it.” She touched his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here now. I think it will help.”

He looked at her hand on his shoulder, then back to her face. “I hope it does.” His chest rose with a deep breath. “I’ve done a lot of things I regret, but maybe I can still find a bit of peace.”

Lifting her hand away from him, she clasped it with her other one in her lap.

“So, are you really out here to practice or are the guys getting on your nerves?” He asked it quietly, as if he was afraid of crossing lines with her.

She grinned. “I couldn’t handle the looks they were giving each other behind my back. It’s a bit embarrassing.”

“Ah,” he sighed, “Gage explained some things.”

“Yeah. Why aren’t you doing everything possible to get away from me?”

Gripping the levers, he looked out the front window guard. “Part of what I…” he clenched his jaw for a second before continuing, “I’m used to being around females while they’re cycling.”

She flushed at the mention of it. “You’ve built an immunity to this scent or whatever?”

Noah grimaced and gave her a coy look. “I wouldn’t say I’m immune, I just have better control.” He gave her a genuine smile that disarmed her embarrassment almost completely. “Truth be told, you smell really appealing to the cat in me, but as you saw last night, I’m more than a little apprehensive giving in to anything to do with that part of me.”

She knew her cheeks were heated and he was only making fun of his situation to put her at ease, but it still tugged at her heart knowing he would do that. “Thanks for controlling yourself.” She looked out at the shop. “I wished the guys would get a handle on it.”

“They will.” He tapped the joystick with his fingers. “So, show me your magic with this beast so I feel like I know something.”

Laughing, she leaned over and started it again. “At least we’re far enough away from everything that we won’t drop the grapple assembly on anyone or crush anything.” Disengaging the stabilizer legs, she motioned to the levers and foot pedals. “These are to move the whole unit.”

He hesitantly touched one then the other to get a feel of how it moved. “That’s some encouraging words; things get crushed often around here?”

Pulling the lever, she moved the loader back in so they wouldn’t tip until she showed him how to engage the legs. “Not too much. I put a nice dent in the side of an off-road truck when I was learning.” Grinning, she motioned to the shed at the other end of the lot. “That used to have an awning built on it. Jake took out two of the supporting pillars when he was first starting.”

Noah laughed, his eyes shining. “I’ll have to ask him about that sometime.”

 

Forty-five minutes later, Kelsey turned off the engine in the second rig they’d used. “I think you’ve found your niche here, Noah.” She patted his shoulder and grinned at him. “You did great. Just practice whenever the guys aren’t working on them.” She shrugged. “You may be able to go on some of the calls when they only need a piece of equipment for a day and don’t have a qualified operator.”

Turning in the seat, he grinned at her. “I feel better, more than I have in a long time. Thanks.” Clearing his throat, he turned and looked out the window in the door. “I better get out of here; I don’t need Gage wigging out because I’m alone with you.”

Kelsey motioned for him to climb out. “Why would Gage care?”

Noah stopped half way down the ladder and gave her a wide-eyed look. “Uh…” he looked down at the ground, “I guess I thought you two had a thing going on.”

She watched him climb down. “Not that I’m aware of.” Turning, she climbed down two steps, getting out of these things always made her feel small.

Her boot caught the side of the bar and before she could grab onto anything, she dropped butt first toward the ground. Right when she thought she was going to hit the dirt, Noah caught her. She lost her breath when she hit his chest and grabbed onto his neck. Catching her breath, she exhaled loudly. “Nice catch,” she made a noise close to a giggle, something she didn’t really do, “Thanks.”

He was smiling again as he set her on her feet. “Anytime.” He sobered. “But hopefully not.”

Placing a hand on his arm, she took a deep breath to steady her heart rate, and then she heard a low menacing growl.

Turning, she looked over and saw Gage and Blair standing a few feet away. Blair looked worried, which was odd for him, and Gage looked pissed off.

Noah stiffened and stepped back from her. “Thanks again,” he said quietly.

She nodded, giving him a bewildered look before turning back to give Gage a narrow-eyed stare.

Blair motioned to Noah. “Come on, you can come with me to drop the wheel dozer off.”

Noah nodded and then headed toward the gate, giving Gage a wide berth as he went.

With her hands on her hips, she stood there staring at the man she wanted to kick. What the hell was wrong with him? The expression on his face was cold. Spinning on his heels, he stormed off in the other direction without a word.

That ended her good mood. Looking around, she saw Cooper leaning against the fence a few feet away.

“Let’s go talk, Kelsey.”

Huffing out a breath, she threw up her hands and followed him out of the yard. Cooper rarely used her name, so that told her right then that she wasn’t going to like their talk.