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There was a long pause before Belle spoke. “What happened to the woman who was ticked off she had to spend any time in Wilder?”
“I guess she realized that home isn’t such a bad place to be.” Especially if Jesse was there.
Although she knew he wouldn’t be there for long. He was a drifter. He made no bones about it. He acted like he was interested in renovating Mrs. Fields’, but she knew it was just something to keep his business mind occupied while he was waiting for Corbin to return. And maybe that was what she was as well. Just someone to pass the time with while he waited for Corbin.
Not wanting to even consider the possibility, she changed the subject. “So have you found any office space to rent?”
“Unfortunately, no. The places we can afford are no bigger than what we have now. The places that are bigger, we can’t afford. It looks like my plan wasn’t such a good one after all. I’ve always been bad at making decisions.”
“That’s not true, Belly. Buying our own tables and chairs will pay off in the long run. So will having a bigger space. We just need to keep looking for a place that will hold all our event supplies and be cheap enough we can—”
She cut off as she stared at the carriage house. It had been built to store multiple carriages. It had four large sliding wood doors and plenty of space inside for horses and carriages . . . and decorations and tables and chairs.
A brush of lips on her neck had her releasing a startled squeak.
“What happened?” Belle asked.
Liberty closed her eyes as Jesse kissed his way along her neck. “Nothing, Belly. I thought I saw a mouse. I’ll call you back later.”
“A mouse?” Jesse whispered in her ear as soon as she hung up. He took her hand and placed it on his fly. The feel of his stiff erection made her knees weak. “Does this feel like a mouse to you, darlin’?” He nipped at her neck. “Have you ever made love in a whorehouse, Libby Lou?”
His choice of words had more than her knees melting. He had never used the term “making love” before and it did something to her heart.
Her voice trembled with need. “N-N-No.”
“You want to?”
At the moment, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more. Only one thing stopped her. “I refuse to do it on an old whorehouse mattress.”
He chuckled against her skin. “Which is why I bought a brand-new mattress for the big ol’ brass bed in the corner bedroom.”
He’d also bought new sheets. On those sheets, he used his talented fingers and lips to make her scream his name over and over. Much later, when Liberty was completely sated and cuddled against Jesse’s hard naked chest, her mind returned to the carriage house.
“How big is the attic over the carriage house? Is it big enough for an office and maybe a conference room?”
Jesse stopped drawing circles on her arm. “More than big enough. Why?”
She sat up. “You know how I told you that Belle and I were looking for bigger office space in Houston. Well, Belle hasn’t been able to find anything that is bigger than what we have and fits our budget.” She hesitated. “But what about if we rented the carriage house from you.”
Jesse blinked. “You mean move your company from Houston and relocate here?”
She sighed. “You’re right. That’s crazy.”
He sat up. “I don’t know about that. The carriage house is the size of a warehouse and would be plenty big enough to store everything event planners would need and then some.”
“But most of our customers live in Houston.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “From all the events you have lined up for the townsfolk, it sounds like there are a lot of people right here who need your services. And you said your family’s barn is a gold mine as far as a venue goes and you think people wouldn’t mind traveling here from Houston for weddings. So if they wouldn’t mind traveling from Houston, they wouldn’t mind traveling from Austin. Which is close to the same distance.”
He was right. They could double their clients. Excitement started to tingle in her stomach, but it died quickly. “It’s a falling-down mess.”
“And that’s fixable. When is your lease up on your office space?”
“In a couple months.”
“That’s plenty of time to get the carriage house finished.”
“But we can’t pay for the renovations.”
