Page 5 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

I waved him off and reached into the satchel hanging across my chair. “Let’s see how it goes. I’m sure she’ll be fine, but if an angry ex-boyfriend or the cops show up, I’m pointing them in your direction.”

Mentally shifting gears, I drew out the folder I’d brought along and dropped it on the table. Jared placed his fingers on the plain manila folder and pulled it closer to him, around his yet untouched sandwich.

“What’s this?” he asked as he opened the cover and peered down at the information within. “Heritage House? I’ve never heard of it. Is it one of ours?”

“I want it to be,” I said, picking up my sandwich again. “We’ll need contractors on the job when I get the bid.”

“Another residential project?” He grimaced. “I really don’t understand the appeal of these. We should be going after that new super-center they want to develop. The commercial projects make so much more money, but I suppose I’m digressing.”

“The commercial contracts are your thing, not mine,” I reminded him. “The reason I’m showing you this is because I’ve been struggling for the last month to get the couple who own this place to accept the bid.”

“Okay. What’s going on?”

“They’re eccentric arty types who have ideas in mind that won’t work structurally and they’re not accepting the bid because I won’t agree to ideas I know I won’t be able to deliver on.”

Jared scanned over the first couple pages, then shut the folder and pushed it back toward me. “Turn it over to Lila. If anyone can get through to these people, it’ll be her. She makes friends with everyone and I’ve got a feeling she’ll speak their language. I told you, Ford. She can be a real asset, but you’ve got to put her to work.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but I suppose I can give it a try.”

Sunshine and rainbows might actually work on these people. It was like nails against a chalkboard for me personally, but Lila was colorful and so were these clients. Jared was absolutely right that she might be able to reach them.

He looked at me from across the table, his expression more understanding and open than I was met with from most. We’d worked at the same firm for a while before we’d passed our exams and he was one of the few people in my life who knew snippets of my history.

We’d grown close while working together in the trenches until we’d fully qualified, and I’d let him in initially because he’d reminded me of Luke. Dark blond hair. Green eyes. Good sense of humor.

Every now and then, I still saw my old friend in him, and this was one of those moments. I knew Jared didn’t understand everything I’d been through. He didn’t have any military background himself, so it was difficult for him to decipher some of it, but at least he tolerated the darkness that had overtaken me since my time in the service.

“Look,” he said, his face straight but not stern or angry. “I know she’s not what you wanted, but she is what the firm needs. Moreover, she knows what she’s doing, she’s going to be able to help you navigate some of your blind spots, and I have faith that she’ll be able to help you bring in this client.”

I took what he’d said onboard, even if I wasn’t ready to start counting my chickens with this contract. We’d have to see if she had it in her first. I was only considering this because I’d been striking out with this couple for much too long and I wasn’t stupid enough to keep doing it when I had a new potential weapon in my arsenal.

When I got back to the office, I strode directly to Lila’s door and walked in without knocking. She looked up immediately, clearly startled, but before she could say anything, I dropped the folder on her desk.

“Look through this bid and reach out to the clients on my behalf. I want another meeting with them to see the house again, but I also need you to manage their expectations. What they’ve asked for is impossible, and if anyone tells them otherwise, they’re lying.”

Cornflower blue eyes held mine as she nodded, her seemingly natural red hair in a ponytail behind her head that bounced with the eager intensity of that nod. “I’m on it.”

She even gave me a strange little salute that made me feel totally uneasy as she pulled the folder closer. “Rest assured that it will be done, Mr. Callahan. I’ll have feedback for you within the hour.”

While part of me wanted to keep staring into those very blue eyes and try to figure out how any person could be so peppy and happy, I simply grunted in response, turned, and walked away. Once I was in my own office, I shut the door firmly behind me and hung my head in my hands, desperate to get out of that dark space that was constantly trying to suck me in and spit me out.

Working with someone like her wasn’t only going to be difficult because of how annoying I found that sort of personality. It wasn’t even really that at all. Professionally, I could shut out the noise and do what needed to be done.

What she was, however, was a constant reminder that there was still light out there and that I didn’t know how or if I’d ever claw my way back to it.

3

LILA

On the Friday night after my second week working at CE, I left my last night class for the week looking forward to blowing off some steam with Addy, my best friend and the reason why Virginia Beach had ever even been on my radar.

I probably never would’ve thought of applying to the art institute here if it hadn’t been for her suggesting it when she’d found out I wanted to go back to school. As I pedaled along the boardwalk from the institute to the bar where I was meeting her, I caught myself thinking about the week I’d just had and more specifically, about my moody, mysterious boss.

Ford Callahan was going to be a tough nut to crack, but after receiving my first assignment from him, I was feeling a lot more optimistic about my decision to take the job at CE. Honestly, I’d thought he was barging into my office that day to fire me, not to give me a task that had seemed pretty important to him.

Flashing green neon lights on the side of a building up ahead drew me out of my thoughts. Squinting to be able to read the letters in the fading light of sunset, I realized that I’d arrived at her favorite happy hour bar. Time to put Mr. Callahan out of my head.

Well, as far out of my head as I could, but since the first thing Addy asked me was about my job, my thoughts were almost immediately centered right back on him. I stuck the pink straw of my brightly colored cocktail between my teeth and shrugged.