Free Captain O'Reilly's Woman - Ashes of Love 1 by Gwen Campbell

back of the house.
    “Need anything?” she asked, looking around.
    “Maybe more of that sixteen-gauge cable,” he said, nodding toward the ground.
    Her head disappeared. The ladder rattled again and, in a few seconds, she was back, hauling a length of black cable through the access hatch and setting it on the walkway.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “I haven’t been here for two years. All the power that’s been generating has been flowing out through the underwater cable between here and the mainland, feeding the main line that goes back into town.” He stripped the ends off two wires, twisted them together and twisted a cap over them then wrapped the connection in electrical tape. “You know electrical systems, they hate being turned off.” He glanced around the solar-panel array. “Other than when the Miller’s came in to open up the place, today’s the first time in two years the house drew power back. Some of the connections fried.”

    Samantha didn’t need to ask if he knew how to fix them. The construction and maintenance of sustainable energy arrays was one of the first things any Army squadron worked on in a community. She’d worked on one or two in her day, only fetching supplies and assisting the more experienced members of her platoon, of course. David had obviously worked with these systems more than she had.
    “Did you build this one?” she asked. Lifting her hand, she shaded her eyes from the sun as she looked around. She would have come onto the platform but she was only wearing sandals, not boots. It didn’t seem like a prudent idea.
    “Uh huh,” David answered absently. Setting the fresh connection into a junction box, he sealed it up before moving on to the next section of panel.
    She liked watching him work. Liked it a lot. The way the sun shone on his tanned skin, his back shimmering with a fine sheen of perspiration. It was hotter up here, between the panels and the steel grating. The thickness of his shoulders impressed her, the way his arms flexed as he worked. His big hands were deft as he followed the connections then pulled them out, one by one, examining them for damage.
    “Shouldn’t be too much longer. Maybe another fifteen minutes or so,” he said, looking over at her. He smiled and the sun caught his beautiful, pale-blue eyes, framed by those dark, luxuriant lashes.
    “Okay. Maybe I’ll just hang out here then. In case you need anything.”
    “Not a good idea,” David said, his head tipping a little to one side and the smile shaping his full, square mouth widened even more. “You’re too big a distraction. You stay there and I’ll be grabbing you instead of that wire. And who knows when this job’ll get finished if I do that.”
    “Oh all right then...party pooper,” she grouched and, one corner of her mouth turning up, walked back down the ladder and set off to explore, enjoying the feel of his eyes on her ass as she walked away.
    Samantha followed a path to a small, wooden building and she stuck her head in the open door. It was a maintenance building. Inside were tools, a lawnmower, an empty ladder rack and a dust-free section of shelving the same size as the toolbox David was using, along with empty birdfeeders and stacked lawn chairs. She moved on.
    Down by the lake she noticed with satisfaction that the romaine leaves were gone. She found a wedge of sandy beach further on, backed by a stone retaining wall with a broad set of steps in the middle. She slipped off her sandals and stood on the shore, letting the wet sand squelch through her toes then waded in up to her knees. She turned back around and noticed small footprints on the sand. Ducks, from the look of them. Maybe a family. A fire pit sat at the far end of the beach. Thinking it would be a great place to sit after dark, Samantha checked her watch. David’s fifteen minutes were up and she walked back to the house. She called out his name. No answer. Knowing he’d be finished soon, she got a soda