Midnight Kiss (Virgin River #12)(41)

“But it doesn’t drive you crazy that everything’s not done?”

“What is truly worthwhile often needs patience.”

“You have a lot of it, don’t you?” She frowned. “I don’t get that. My view is that you have to grab for everything as soon as you get the chance. You never know what will disappear and never come back.”

He’d taken her hand again, and she found that she liked the sensation of his big hand swallowing hers. “Perhaps what’s available for the grabbing isn’t worth keeping,” he said. “Slow is better.”

Not to me, she was about to say when he opened the door to his—well, obviously not a garage. Tools of all sizes and descriptions were placed strategically around the floor or arranged on the walls. “Wow. What is all this?”

“The instruments of my trade. This,” he indicated one that had a wicked saw blade sticking out of its flat surface, “is a table saw. That is a band saw, and over there is a lathe.”

“What’s a lathe do?”

“Do you recall the missing newels in the staircase? I’m replacing them with matching ones I turn on this.”

“Really? How?”

He reached for a block of wood about three feet long and square. “I begin with this.”

“I can’t picture how that could become like the ones I saw. Would you show me? I mean, is it too much trouble?”

His eyes warmed. “Not at all. First put on these—” He handed her a set of goggles, then donned his own. “And these hearing protectors.”

Once they were both armored, Jordan’s own voice sounded odd to her as she stepped up beside him and watched him fasten the long piece at each end. Then his hands went unerringly to a tool with a wooden handle and a curved metal shaft. On the end, it was rounded.

“This is a spindle gouge.” He pointed to a spot on the other side of the machine. “You stand over there. This—” he indicated a flat metal edge he adjusted to come closer to the block “—is called a tool rest.”

When Jordan was in place, Will flipped a switch and the wood began spinning. He put the handle of the tool at an angle on the rest. With deft hands, he leaned the tool in and out, and wood shavings all but leaped off the block in long curls. Beneath his hands began to appear graceful curves she could never have imagined creating from a block of wood.

“That’s incredible.”

“What?” Will flipped the switch.

“Sorry.” She stepped back, but she couldn’t help wanting to touch. “I hope I didn’t interrupt at a bad time.”

He studied her and the hand that was rising by her side. “Come over here. You can help.”

“Me? Oh, no, I couldn’t—”

“Jordan, you’re curious. There’s no substitute for the feeling of the wood under your hands.”

“But it’s beautiful. I’ll mess it up.”

He shrugged. “I have more material.”

She was torn between longing and fear. “I won’t be good at it.”

“Do you only do things you’ve already mastered, then? I think not. You were not born a lawyer.”

“Some would say I was born to argue.”

“And there I’d likely not disagree,” he said with a smile. “Still, surely you’ve attempted the unfamiliar.”

“I learned kickboxing,” she admitted. “I’m really good at it—want to see?”

“Perhaps later. Just now, let’s find out if there’s a woodworker lurking within you.”

“Okay.” Truth be told, she really did want to try it. She assumed the place he indicated in front of him and tried to imitate his two-handed grip, one beneath and one over the tool, guiding it.

“Hold it firmly but keep your body relaxed.” He arranged himself behind her, his big frame a comforting and disturbing presence all at the same time. “You’ll need to be both flexible and vigilant. No piece of wood is uniform throughout. Its textures and composition differ from spot to spot. Keep the spindle gouge slightly loose in your fingers, but clasp it carefully enough so that the turning doesn’t dislodge it. I wouldn’t want to see a scar in this lovely exterior of yours. Notice the edges of the tool. They’re wicked sharp.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t…”

“Here, place your hands in mine, and we’ll begin together so you can acquire a feel for this.”

She fought past her awareness of his big, warm hands, of his hard body a shelter around her. She narrowed her eyes, staring hard and steeling herself.

Will kissed the side of her neck, jolting her.

“What was that for?”

“Don’t tense up. Light on your feet, fluid in your motions.”

Jordan inhaled one good, deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.” I hope.

Will flipped the switch and drew her hands with his closer until the blade touched the wood. Jordan gasped and jerked. The spindle gouge slipped, goring a crooked line in the wood before he pulled her hands back. “Sorry.”

“You’re doing fine. There’s an entire forest lost to my learning. Now relax against me, and let’s begin again.”

Relax. Against him.

Yeah, right. But she tried, and he was a good teacher. Soon her fascination was great enough to overcome most of her extreme awareness of his body touching hers. She focused and watched the curves form under her hands—