page86 (2/2)

Michael grinned “Used for?”

That grin caused a flutter low inprocess I use the torch to soften the metal, so I can manipulate it”

“And you manipulate it with?”

“I knohat you’re doing”

“Dahlia” He gestured to the tools “I’ I want to kno you do it”

Squir at the coe him? Draw him into a false sense of security And then rea me to Hartwell!

Seething, I exhaled slowly, not wanting hireatly he could upset me I think he kneay Bastard

I tapped the bezel pusher and the bezel roller They looked kind of like a doorknob before they were fitted into the door “These help , channel, bead, and burnish Those are the different kind of settings” I picked up ical knife except mine had an enamel handle “The burnisher It’s like a peeler of sorts When you insert the stone, soap between it and the ap”

I checked to see if Michael was paying attention He was His eyes drifted between the tool and azes locked, I was so close to hiany in his eyes From a distance, Michael’s irises appeared alry, I swear they turned that color But under the bright lights ofof brown so dark it looked black encircled the any of his inner iris, while little flecks of dark brown created an inner circle around his pupil

His lashes weren’t long, but they were thick If it weren’t for his dark-blond hair, which he’d miraculously inherited from his mother instead of his dad’s dark curls, those eyes and his natural tanned skin would have e of his father But it wasn’t just the hair that made the two men different Michael had the warmest eyes I’d ever seen

They were beautiful

He was beautiful

Feeling another flush heat my skin, I put down the burnisher and reached for the tweezers “They are what they look like Tweezers For handling stones and h the other tools “Ha the silver” I touched a shallow slab of square metal and the weirdly shaped piece of estured to the shelving unit above my cabinet of tools where I kept my stakes “I have them in all shapes and sizes”

“And these?” Michael pointed to several long cylindrical pieces of metal A feere round, and a feere oval, all different widths

“Those are ring and braceleton what size of ring or bracelet you’re , and you can work it into shape around the lared into Michael’s face “Noe’re done with the tutorial … you want to tellhere?”