AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And I’d sat on that damn couch, underneath that ugly green blanket, and felt a freaking hurricane of lust watching that man tackle and run and intercept things—all while wearing amazingly tight pants that did glorious things for his ass. And the arms. They were sweaty and dirty, and he had black shit on his face that I didn’t really understand, but it was all very primal and greatly appealed to my baser instincts.
I’d almost called him.
Almost begged him to talk me through an orgasm on the phone because I was watching him do sweaty sports things.
I’d fought the urge to tell him I wanted him there with me. And that I missed him while he was gone.
It was that last thought that had me pinching my eyes shut.
My stomach trembled, and I forced myself to turn away from the window, needing him out of my sight line.
The door opened, and I smoothed out my expression when he exhaled deeply. “I don’t know how you ever get things done. I never realized there could be a thirty-minute discussion about light switches.”
I smiled. “That’s why it’s important for the project manager to be on-site if the owner can’t. The longer they go without an answer to their questions, the longer it takes them to finish.”
His eyes tracked over my face. “William is nothing if not efficient,” he said. “He told me they’ll be done by the beginning of October.”
It wasn’t new information. William had told me this when Burke was gone.
All the same, hearing it from his mouth had my chest feeling hollow. I managed a slight nod. “How many builders actually get a project done ahead of schedule?”
How impressive.
I kept my tone light and unaffected, like I wasthrilledthat William would be done almost a month earlier than projected. Stacking subcontractors in a complicated game of Tetris was shaving weeks off the end items. While painters worked from the top of the house to the bottom, he pulled flooring to start working directly behind them instead of having them wait. Once they were done, it was off to the races for everything else. He warned me that the last month of the project would feel like Grand Central Station, but with each puzzle piece clicking into place, the big picture of what we’d accomplished was coming closer and closer into focus.
I filled up my water bottle and risked a glance at Burke. If he felt a similar ache in his chest, it wasn’t showing on his face.
“What did William need? Besides to test your patience about light switch options?”
He didn’t answer right away. Sometimes he got quiet when it came to the house. He didn’t always update me on the things he and William discussed. And I never pushed.
“Just wanted to tell me about their projected finish date,” Burke said. He sat on a chair and untied his yard shoes, setting them in a neat line next to my sandals. He tossed the mower keys into the yellow bowl. “And he said he’d set up the review of the property for historical certification if I wanted him to.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “We just ... hadn’t talked about what would happen when the work was done.”
His eyes were guarded. “I told him that.”
My stomach quivered with sudden nerves. “That was it?”
“No.”
The tentative steps around this topic suddenly felt big and clumsy. And for some reason I felt a streak of protectiveness for Burke. If William was pushing him too hard.
What a hypocrite I was.
“What did he say?”
Burke swallowed, the clench of his jaw one of the biggest tells that he didn’t want to answer.
“What wouldyoudo with it?” he asked. “With the Campbell House.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Me?”
He nodded.
I blew out a long breath, my heart hammering behind my ribs. For some reason, I didn’t want to stand awkwardly in the kitchen for this conversation.
Taking a seat on my usual spot in the corner of the couch, I studied his face before I even attempted an answer.
