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“Not even close.” Then her gaze traveled to Luca. “Well, hey, there you are. Luca Moretti…in person,” she said genially.
“Hello, Harper,” Luca replied, with a smile that was too charming for Conor’s peace of mind as his cock—the asshole—twitched.
Aaaaand this was why Conor had avoided meeting with Luca in person. He did a terrible job holding his libido at bay around the man.
Harper offered a handshake to Luca as well. “It’s nice to finally meet you face-to-face.”
“I wish it was under better circumstances,” Luca said, as all three of them turned to look across the street.
Conor didn’t see flames anymore, which gave him hope that perhaps the fire was out. If it was, it appeared it had been contained to the first floor. Not that that was necessarily good news. There would still be significant smoke damage to the floors above. God only knew how long this was going to set them back on the project.
“Do we know what started it?” Harper asked.
Luca shook his head. “Not yet.”
“You were here this morning, weren’t you?” Conor asked Luca. Though it was a Saturday, Luca had mentioned putting in a half day in hopes of turning the corner on the demolition phase and moving them toward the actual remodel. “You mentioned at our meeting yesterday you planned to do something with the electrical wiring.” He, Luca, and Harper had held a quick video call, touching base on their plans for this evening, including the tour of the building, followed by a late dinner.
Luca nodded. “I did say that, and I was here earlier.”
Conor gave him a very pointed look. “You don’t think perhaps something went wrong with whatever you did?”
Luca scowled and crossed his arms. “What are you saying?”
“Seems like a pretty big coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”
“You think I set the fire?”
Conor sighed. “Don’t you?”
“No. I don’t.”
Conor wasn’t sure how Luca could discount that question so quickly. Surely, he didn’t think he was infallible. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know how to do my damn job.”
Conor felt something inside him snap. There were too many aspects of this project that were pushing him out of his well-established comfort zone. Taking on a business partner, working with a famous model, and having Luca thrust back into his life left him feeling edgy and…well…itchy. Like he was walking around every day in a scratchy wool sweater that was too tight.
Conor raised a hand, gesturing to the building. “All I’m saying is it seems highly suspicious that the very day you start working with the electrical wiring, we have a fire. What else could have started it? The place has been gutted.”
“I inspected the existing electrical wire, checked the GFCI outlets, and it was all up to code,” Luca insisted. “I don’t know what started it, but it wasn’t me.”
“Must be nice to be so confident,” Conor muttered, hating himself the second the words left his mouth. He wasn’t a fighter by nature, so he wasn’t sure what he was doing.
Luca’s features darkened. “How do I know this isn’t another attempt by the Russos to destroy the Moretti reputation?”
Conor scoffed. “Jesus Christ. Do you seriously think I’d burn down my own building just to make your company look bad?”
Luca shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time the Russos have pulled underhanded crap to ruin my family. I thought we were beyond all that feuding families shit, but maybe we aren’t.”
“I had nothing to do with this,” Conor insisted.
Luca didn’t look convinced. “You’ve got insurance on the building, right? And it’s not like you’re hurting for money. Like you said, the place was gutted, and the work has barely begun. Not much to lose that you couldn’t recoup easily enough.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Conor was livid. From the corner of his eye, he saw Harper watching them, her gaze traveling from his face to Luca’s and back again like a spectator at Wimbledon. “That’s an outrageous accusation.”
“Is it? I mean you were awfully damn quick to point the finger at me.”
Conor put his hands on his hips. “So now you’re accusing me of insurance fraud to get even?”
