Page 24 of Oops I Fell For The Electrician Next Door

“You look rested,” she says.

“I slept approximately four hours.”

“Must have been excellent sleep.”

I pick up the menu even though I know it by heart. “I need two breakfast sandwiches to go.”

“Two?”

“Nolan is working at the cabins.”

“Nolan?” She pours coffee into a clean mug and sets it in front of me. “How is the new guest?”

There is no point pretending she does not know exactly which guest she means. Millie probably learned Marc’s height, shirt size, and intentions while selling him the pastries.

“He’s doing some rewiring for me.”

Her gaze drops meaningfully to the collar of my shirt, where I sincerely hope Marc did not leave evidence. “At the cabins, Kelsey?”

I take a long drink of coffee. “Primarily.”

Millie laughs so loudly that a man in the corner turns to look. I point one warning finger at her, but I cannot keep my own smile from appearing.

It remains with me through the drive back to Eight Pines. The smile is still there when I find Nolan beside the open trench and see the new wire waiting on its reel. Work takes over after that. We verify the delivery, compare it with the permit, and begin preparing the conduit. I carry what I can, document what I cannot, and answer guest messages between tasks.

Three fifty-eight arrives before I am ready for it.

Marc’s truck turns beneath the Eight Pines sign two minutes later. He steps out looking tired, dusty, and better than any man has a right to look after ten hours on a construction site. His gaze finds me before he speaks to Nolan. The heat in it is private, even with another person standing between us.

He came back exactly when he said he would. And it gives me one more reason to keep smiling today.

Chapter Ten

Marc

My boss calls while I am sitting in the truck outside Eight Pines, but Kelsey is crossing the lawn toward me and I almost let the call go to voicemail. At the last moment, I decide to take it.

“Decker,” I answer.

“Tell me you’ve looked at the western-region offer.”

I watch Kelsey stop beside Nolan. She has dirt on her jeans, a pencil pushed through the knot of her hair, and a clipboard tucked beneath one arm. Four days ago, I did not know she existed. Now the sight of her after one day apart releases a pressure in my chest I did not know was there.

“I looked at it,” I say.

“That isn’t an answer.”

"You said I had until Saturday."

"Tomorrow is Friday." My boss pauses. "You asked us to create a field position that didn’t require you to chase national projects. We created one. You can live anywhere in western Colorado as long as you reach the sites. The salary is in front of you. The territory is in front of you. What else are you waiting for?"

Until this week, I did not know. The other offer pays more. It also puts me in charge of the company’s national troubleshooting crew, which means airports, extended-stay hotels, and a different city every time someone else’s job goes wrong.

Six months ago, I would have accepted before the sentence was finished. Now I look at the woman waiting beside a lakeside trench and wonder why I worked so hard to become the first man called whenever home was somewhere else.

"I’ll give you an answer Saturday," I say.

"By noon."