Page 13 of Searching for Love

She stopped laughing. “Doing what?”

“Business manager. I’m going to be busy in the kitchen. You’ve worked at all the top restaurants in town. You must know how to hire, fire, train employees, market, and run a business by now. So come do it for me. Full time. One job. No more running around.”

“Don’t you want to do that yourself?”

He laughed. “Honestly, when thinking about starting my restaurant, it’s the one thing I didn’t want to do.” He held up his hands in a pleading gesture. “Don’t make me beg.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What if I’m terrible?”

“Then you can fire yourself,” he said with a smile. When she shook her head, he sighed and thought quickly. “Okay, how about a trial basis? We can reassess things six months after opening the doors.”

“Six months can make or break a business. How about three months?” she said after a moment.

“Deal.” He held out his hand for her, eager to get her to agree with the plan.

When she placed her smaller hand in his, he held back a cheer as they shook on it.

“Now, how about we head back and start working on that floor?” she suggested. “I’m dying to see what’s underneath all that black stain.” She clapped her hands. “After I make a few calls so I can continue working here,” she added as she got out of his car.

He did a little fist-in-the-air motion as a celebration and then followed her into the building.

Okay, so she was a million times better at using the sander than he was. The thing had a mind of its own and kept pulling to one side when he was in control. When she did it, it looked effortless.

So while she slowly glided over every inch of the hardwood flooring, he got busy removing the old wood paneling in the back hallway.

When Parker and his crew returned from lunch, they headed up to the rooftop.

He’d talked to Parker earlier that morning and agreed to the patches and repairs they were doing on the flat roof. They were supposed to get rain later that week, so the roof was the highest priority.

After they were done with that, there were a ton of electric and plumbing fixes in the basement.

He’d just finished removing and hauling all the old dark paneling to the dumpster when he heard the sander shut off.

Stepping into the room, he held in a slight gasp.

Avery was standing in front of the front windows. The light from the sunset was streaming in, making her vibrant red hair glow like a halo around her face.

Her beauty quite literally took his breath away.

Without thinking, he stepped towards her, lifted his hand to her face, and slowly leaned closer. She could have pulled away. Could have told him to piss off. Instead, the slightest curve of her lips invited him further.

When their lips brushed, something rushed through him, a zap of awareness he’d never felt before in his entire life. He could never have imagined he would ever feel something so powerful.

For the first time in his life, he was awake in every aspect. He had total awareness. All of his senses were on fire. Everything converged to this one moment.

“Wow,” Avery said against his lips.

“Yeah, wow.” He rested his forehead against hers.

Just then they both heard Parker’s crew heading down the stairs. He took a giant step back as the workers stepped into the room.

“Wow, this looks much better,” Parker said with a grin. “So, Sara heard through the grapevine that you’re going to be working here full time,” Parker said to Avery.

“Yup, just made it official. I still have to tell my dad that I won’t be filling in at the station, but I’m sure he’s going to be excited.” Avery glanced back at him.

“You’ll both be happy to know that as of right now, your roof won’t be an issue. We just finished there,” Parker said as his workers hauled their tools outside to their trucks. “We will continue working on plumbing and wiring tomorrow. I can’t promise that will take a single day.” He shook Lucas’s hand. “See you in the morning.”

“This looks amazing,” she said once they were alone. “Better than my parents’ flooring.” She turned towards him. “Are you going to stain it light or dark?”

“Light,” he answered quickly. “I’m thinking of just sealing it.”

She nodded. “Good idea.”

“We’ll need to talk about that kiss,” he said suddenly.

He watched her smile slip a little. “I don’t want to complicate this. I just agreed to work for you. I don’t think it would be wise if we let this”—she motioned between them—“gunk things up.”

He felt a slight stab in his chest. Shit. He hadn’t thought about it like that. He nodded. “You’re right. So we won’t mix the two.” His heart sank. He took a step closer to her. “I think we both felt a big enough punch with that kiss that we know that it’s going to be hard dancing around whatever is between us. I’d like to explore it further, but if it’s between you not working here or us enjoying each other, then I can push my feelings aside. For now.”

She nodded slowly and he took a step back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gathered up her bag and headed out the front door. Even the dying sunlight turned her hair a vibrant color. He could still see it when he closed his eyes.