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“There’s something else I’ve been thinking about,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder and avoiding eye contact until she gauged his reaction. “About the designs for the golf course.”
“The ones I thought we might be able to get the owners to give us money for?”
“Yes.” She felt her shoulders tense. “It turns out the owners are keen to pay you for those.” When he didn’t say anything, Allie was forced to look at him. “I really want to make changes to the course. I loved working with you, and I really want to keep working with you. We’d obviously draw up a contract and you’d be paid the going rate.”
He looked thoughtful as he nodded slowly. “I have done a lot of research on golf course design, and since a good chunk of the work is already done it would make sense for us to continue …”
Allie trailed her fingers over the back of his hand. “Why do I feel there’s a but coming on?”
“I’m just concerned it might be awkward now.”
“It won’t be. I promise.” She wanted to keep working with him so badly that she was pretty sure she’d resort to begging if necessary. “Last time we worked on it together it was fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” The tiny twitch of his eyebrow was the only crack in his serious features. “But last time we were working on the designs together we also had a lot of sex. Which was great, but is probably going to make me a little uncomfortable if you’re paying me.”
“I wasn’t planning on paying you for sex!” She laughed loudly. “Do you want me to promise not to have sex with you while we’re working?”
“Absolutely not. So you can see my dilemma.”
She rested a hand on his chest as she grinned at him. “How about you get paid for your work and not your breaks?”
“Yep. That should work.” His eyes sparkled. “Will there be any limit on how many breaks I can take?”
“No. Breaks will be encouraged.”
“Then you have yourself an architect.”
CHAPTER 49
The months that followed were one big happy blur for Allie. Once she had Hugh on board to redesign the course with her, she was keen to get ahead with it. Having the clubhouse fully staffed and running smoothly meant she had plenty of time for that, but she decided to go the whole hog and refurbish not only the course but the clubhouse too.
During the last two weeks of August the club was closed to the public while teams of workers came in to give the place its makeover. Most of the work to the clubhouse was cosmetic, the most substantial change being the addition of a playroom at the back of the restaurant. Allie had employed two qualified childcare workers who would be available for anyone wanting to leave their children while they played a round of golf. They already had bookings for the upcoming school holidays, so Allie was confident it was a good idea. Hopefully the play area would also encourage more families into the restaurant.
The painters had given the flat upstairs a fresh coat too, since they were doing the rest of the building. Allie had stayed at Hugh’s place for a few nights to escape the worst of the fumes, but now her dad had come to visit she’d reluctantly gone back to the flat to keep him company.
“I feel as though I’ll never get the smell of paint out of my nose,” she said, opening the living room window a little further.
“It’s not so bad,” her dad replied, leaning forwards on the couch and straightening up a piece on the chessboard on the coffee table. “What time are Emmy and Hugh coming over?”
“Soon, I guess.” A knock drew her gaze in the vague direction of the door, but she didn’t bother moving to answer it.
“Hello!” Hugh called along the hallway.
“Your ears must have been burning,” Richard said.
Emmy burst into the room with her usual joyful energy. “You already have the board set up,” she remarked, immediately taking up position on her knees across the coffee table from Richard.
“I’m not going easy on you this time,” he told her.
Emmy grinned. “I won’t be going easy on you either.”
The two of them had hit it off when Richard had been to visit a couple of months earlier and had fallen back into their easy rapport at dinner the previous evening.
Hugh wandered over and casually slipped an arm around Allie’s waist while dropping a kiss on her forehead. “How are your stress levels?”
“She’s been wearing the floors out with her pacing,” Richard answered.
“I tried to check everything was okay in the kitchen but I got kicked out.” She leaned her head on Hugh’s shoulder. “Then I wanted to help set up the patio, but Daisy and the rest of the staff told me to go away.”
