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“True, but Juno is a decent person. And not likely to suffer fools. If Juno thinks she’s good, is she likely to be bad at her job?”
“Not likely, no.”
“And you saw Sarai talking to her about what she could do?”
Although I could already see where Henry was going with this, I humored him. “Yes. I’m pretty sure Kit showed Sarai photos of her past designs.”
“Then she got this job on her own merits. Because of her own professional work. No matter why else she might be here, she’s here because she earned it, and she’s going to be a professional. All you have to do is what you would do for any of us and treat her as one.” Henry shrugged as if it was simple, and on top of Daniel’s advice, I knew I was being an ass.
I couldn’t assume the worst of her. This was a job, and I had to treat her as the professional she was and deserved to be treated as. It was that simple.
Still, my stomach tied itself in knots, and I couldn’t think of anything but how she might react when she saw me again. I didn’t know if she knew we were on the same project, as Sarai had made it sound as if Kit had signed on before I had. Anotherfactor in her favor if I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“I’ll drive,” Henry said as we got to the parking garage beneath the office building. I sighed but nodded.
Although I didn’t plan on admitting it, I was too distracted.
“We’re taking my car, though,” I replied, pulling my keys out of my pocket.
“I was hoping you would be vain enough to say that.” Henry grinned and took the keys from my hand.
“Why do I get the feeling that I’ve been manipulated into letting you drive a much more expensive car than you normally would on the pretense of you being kind?” I replied.
Henry chuckled and unlocked the sleek Aston Martin I’d had imported. “Because that’s exactly what just happened. See, you still know how to spot a fraud from a mile away. You like this woman, right?”
I nodded despite his new dig at me. He had a point, and I could laugh at myself.
“Then, unless she’s been so obvious, I reckon she’s probably safe. And if not… Be sensible with what you trust her with, take your time, and enjoy the rest of the ride. You’re a billionaire. Are you really going to care if it costs you a million to have fun and go on dates and do the sorts of things you can’t do easily while single?”
Of everything he’d said, he certainly made sense with this last one. I’d always preferred to spend money on experiences over material objects. I appreciated the beauty in art, but because of the emotions it created. The moments and the memories. And I felt the same about the buildings I designed. They were built for people to make memories inside, not to be stared at and not enjoyed.
If I spent some money on dating Kit, what did it matter as long as we enjoyed dating? If it didn’t work, I’d have memoriesof fun. Of good dinners and good conversation. I knew that I’d get that with her, no matter what.
There was just one problem with this new line of thought. What if she didn’t even want to date? After I had been so rude to her on the last night on the island and had barely spoken to her afterward, I didn’t deserve a date with her. If anything was going to work between the two of us, I would have to repair the damage first.
Everything else was work. I could do my job. I could respect her doing hers, and with any luck, she would be interested in me as well, and I could ask her on a date.
With a sort of plan in mind, I finally felt more settled. And if nothing else, I had some good friends who gave good advice. Whatever happened, I would be all right.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The site came into view and undid some of the work the mental pep talk I’d given myself had done in calming me. My heart rate increased, and I considered getting Henry to turn around or drop me off somewhere else.
My reaction was ridiculous. I knew that, and I wasn’t going to actually ask, but I was tempted. And there was no guarantee she was even on the site at all. She could be anywhere doing anything.
Still, I wanted to see her. If nothing else, I wanted to know how she would react to me.
Henry pulled into my usual parking spot. The first time we had come here, everything had been dirt. Now, there was a small parking lot, mostly for site members and visitors. Sarai was ambitiously hoping to open the park before it was all finished.
Given her business and that this wasn’t her first vacation park, I didn’t doubt that she had customers who would be willing to pay to be here even before she had everything in place and ready. But I didn’t like that kind of pressure.
Not that I hadn’t faced it before. I’d been in charge of some projects that had such tight schedules, we ended up needing to charge almost double our initial quotes to bring in extra peopleto fix mistakes. But there was only so much more people could do, and I knew Sarai wanted it done right by the right people.
Thankfully, so far so good. The schedule was a few days adrift, but there were two weeks baked into the end before the grand opening. If people stayed here before then and understood it wasn’t fully open yet, it was Sarai’s business to conduct.
Still, I was grateful that I was working on the project. It was fun, quirky, and had a lot of different interesting elements to it. The theme was obviously the whole world, with sections that represented famous landmarks in various locations, and it had been laid out as if the park was a mini-map of the globe.
I’d taken a few tiny liberties for the ease of fitting everything in nicely, but nothing that the average person would notice. Each hut was themed after a different city, and there was at least one for most countries.
