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“I’ll look at it as soon as I get it, and then hopefully, you can submit it tonight.”
“Done. Okay, next up is what you want to purchase here. I’ve done a preliminary search for big-ticket items in New Bern, apartment buildings and commercial space. We can start there. I’ll also put out feelers to find out if there’s anyone that could be talked into selling for the right price.”
They spent the afternoon going over properties, looking at pictures, and reading through the listing details. He was a little more cautious with this, which relieved her. This would be a huge, potentially complicated deal and not something he should jump into lightly.
“I can’t go much longer on coffee and a half a cookie,” he said. “Thanks for sharing, by the way. You wanna grab something to eat?”
He didn’t mean like a date. Right? Just in case, she’d better say no. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea. He was her client, and they had to keep a professional relationship.
“Nah. I’ll grab something on my way home and write up the offer there. We’re at a stopping point, and if you leave now, you can miss the traffic.”
“You trying to get me to go?” he teased.
“You can stay as long as you want,” she said. “But I’m leaving now. Someone ate half my lunch, so I’m starving, and you don’t want to see me hungry.”
“I would love to see you frazzled,” he said, looking at her sideways. “Do you ever get ruffled? Messed up? Dirty?”
The way he said it sent a tingle up her spine. Did he mean dirty as in making-mud-pies dirty? Or as in hot-and-sweaty-sex dirty? Yeah, okay, she had to get out of here. She stood and called Luna.
“Time to go, sweet pea.” The dog trotted over and allowed Kate to put her in her carrier. Thank goodness.
Kate had taken her outside halfway through their work session and, because Adam wasn’t around, commanded her to pee the way he’d suggested. Luna peed right away, a detail Kate would take to her grave. No way she would give Adam the satisfaction of being right about the dog training thing.
She handed Adam a stack of papers. It was the information she’d printed containing details on the properties he might want to buy. He took them, stood, and stretched.
When he raised his arms over his head, his T-shirt rode up just enough that Kate caught a glimpse of abs. Lean, muscular abs. She looked away quickly when he put his arms down. The last thing she needed was for him to catch her ogling him.
“I’ll email you later tonight. Drive safe,” she said at the door.
“See ya, Blondie.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kate was pulling into her parents’ driveway for Sunday dinner when her cell rang. She put the car in park and answered it. It was the listing agent for the house Adam had offered on, and he was calling with great news. She called Adam right away.
“Hey, guess what?” she said. “They accepted your offer on the lake house.”
“That’s fantastic,” he said.
“They made a few tiny adjustments on dates that are no big deal. As soon as you sign the amended forms, we can start everything moving. I can send them via email for you to sign electronically, and I’ll return them to the listing agent tomorrow.”
“I’m on my way to New Bern now,” he said. “Can I swing by and sign them?”
“Oh, well, I didn’t plan to go to the office tonight…” Shewould, if he insisted, but she didn’t want to. She could smell her mother’s lasagna from the driveway.
“No. I don’t want to put you out. I’ll come to you. Where are you?”
“I’m sitting in my parents’ driveway, about to go in for dinner. I guess you could stop by here…” She could make the seller’s adjustments on her laptop and print the contract in her dad’s office, so that wasn’t an issue. The risk was potentially having to invite him into their den of insanity. Maybe they’d be too wrapped up in themselves to notice when he stopped by. Or she could listen for his car and try to meet him in the driveway.
“Sounds good,” he said. “What’s the address?”
She tiptoed in and went straight to her dad’s office to get the paperwork in order, then headed to the kitchen. Her plan was to not say anything to her family and hope that she could meet him at the door, have him sign, and then get rid of him without anyone knowing he’d been there.
When she entered, her sisters were huddled in a circle next to the dining room table.
“Hey, Katie,” Lucy said. “We were just talking about your husband hunt and trying to think up a better name. I came up with groom garner. Whatdya think?”
“How about mate mining?” Lizzie asked.
