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Sofia was sure he was a busy guy, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he cultivated that perception to avoid having to deal with arguments against what he said. If he’d stayed, would she have told him she wasn’t sure what kind of tension was arcing between her and Adrian?
Probably not. At least not until she figured that out for herself.
She took a quick tour of the house while she sipped her coffee, pleased with the overall progress. Tiling the bathrooms and kitchen were the last major projects. The flooring in the rest of the house was done. Drywall was up, sanded, and primed. The painters were in the back bedrooms, so they’d be ready to do the front rooms tomorrow.
She could see each room coming together as it had in her mind, details from her design sheets floating into place. If she could just get them to align this nicely during move in, she’d have done it. She’d have proven that she could do the job she loved and do it well. Maybe then she’d be ready to beard the lion in his den and pin down her father about what he wanted to do with the company when he retired.
She tossed her empty coffee in the trash, energy restored, and picked up a screwdriver and her bag of covers. Time to make her dreams come true, one switch plate at a time.
Chapter 17
A beer.A shower. A bed.In that order. After a hellish day like this, that’s all Adrian wanted. It was nine o’clock, and he was D.O.N.E.
The tile fiasco had simply been a matter of the wrong numbers on the wrong lines. The order amounts had been correct, and it had only set them back about fifteen minutes. Everyone who had a stake in seeing this series take off had pitched in big time today. He’d seen everyone but Sofia tackling projects, whether it was their responsibility or not. He and Seth had gotten the repurposed sideboard and cabinets assembled for the island, and he had to admit, the mix of butcher block and marble countertops worked well. But Sofia hadn’t even come in to see it.
After lunch, the rest of the day had been a struggle. Nothing major, just little hiccups that meant he spent the day putting out fires instead of knocking out his to-do list. His crew was solid though, and they’d gotten the tile laid so it could set before the moving crews started walking on it tomorrow afternoon. Frankie had handled the trim outs in the bedrooms, and then pitched in on the painting, so those rooms were done. Enzo and his guys had the landscaping roughed in, and they’d finish planting the annuals in the morning. Thankfully, that had been a lighter job, just a little curb appeal, no grading issues or major stump removal.
No matter how many times Jake had suggested he go ask Sofia a question, Adrian had resisted. Crown molding? He made the call to leave it out. It was a fussy detail and took too much time and money. The homeowners would never miss it. And if he was going to take more of a leadership role in this company, he should be able to make executive decisions like that.
Plus, the way Sofia had spoken to him didn’t sit well, and he wasn’t looking forward to doing it again. He knew she was worried about how this “thing” was going to impact their working together. He thought they could work around that. But if her response was to treat him like a grunt, when she was the one who was the unknown quantity, this was going to be over real quick. No matter that she turned him inside out with a blush. He’d give money to know what she had been thinking about before she tripped over those stupid tiles.
Flipping through the cut book, he made his mental to-do list for the next day before he left.
He could do painting touch-up and start the guys on grout in the morning, once he could walk on the tiles. And then a full day Sunday of lifting furniture and arranging it at Sofia’s beck and call. That sounded fun.
“Last call! Anyone still here?” Silence answered him. He left a few of the lights on for security and pulled the door shut behind him. The camera crew had already left, and he’d sent his guys home at five, since they weren’t getting paid overtime and he was perfectly capable of finishing tiling a floor on his own. When he was an owner, he’d make sure everyone respected the crew’s time.
He locked the door and set the alarm code. Securing the site against theft was always his last step before heading home. If anything went missing, it would be on his head. He climbed into the cab of his truck and exhaled for the first time all day. He was bone tired. Getting a house finished was already hard, but doing it all over three times for the cameras and dealing with their external deadlines was exhausting. He, for one, would not be sad if the pilot didn’t get picked up. If this became a show, this would only get worse.
He turned the key in the ignition, but before he even touched the gearshift, his phone was beeping an alarm. The motion detectors in the house were going off.¡No mames! Can this day just be over?Had someone seen the crews all over the house and been waiting for them to go? At least the raw materials had been installed so there was less chance of the pipes or wiring being stolen, but there was still a shit ton of electronic and video equipment in the house. He grabbed his long crowbar from behind the seat and dragged himself back out of the truck.
He disabled the alarm and began a room-by-room search. He’d say one thing for the new open concept kitchen and dining room: it was easy to scan from one end of the house to the other. That would come in handy once Farha and Gautam had little ones running around. Turning down the hallway, he pushed open doors to bedrooms and checked closets. The last room he checked was the nursery. And there she was, the thorn in his paw. Sofia, still in her baggy T-shirt and torn jeans. Her beautiful hair wasn’t show ready. She’d tugged it into another goddamn ponytail on top of her head, and all he could think was how much he wanted to kiss her neck. Scratch that. How much he wanted to be welcome to kiss her neck.
She had earbuds in and hadn’t heard him enter. She probably also hadn’t heard him when he’d called out ten minutes ago to see if anyone was left in the house. What was she doing here so late?
“Hey. HEY!”
How loud were those headphones? He tapped her on the shoulder and she spun, paintbrush raised, catching him across the chest.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” She brushed at his chest, simultaneously making his stain and his strain worse. “You startled me.”
“I seem to have that effect on you. Why are you still here?”
“I wanted to work on the mural while it was quiet.”
“Mural? That’s not in the binder.”
“I know. It’s a surprise. I didn’t want to tell them about it until I was sure I could make it happen. Since Frankie didn’t finish in here until this afternoon, it was going to be close. But it’s going to make the room so special for them.” She pointed to an old photograph she’d taped to the wall. “See this? It’s Farha when she was five, visiting her grandparents’ house outside Mumbai. I’m going to paint it over here, next to where the reading nook will go.”
A little girl in a full sari sat next to a reflecting pond full of floating lotus flowers and lily pads, reading a book.
“Do you know what time it is?”
“I do, but I don’t mind a late night here or there to get the job done right.”
Adrian’s hackles rose. “Is that a dig?”
“What time did you send your crew home?”
