AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dom crossed his arms and pinned Jake with an intent stare. “If you were a client, would you trust your money and your home to someone with that office?” He waved a hand toward Frankie's pit.
“Meena does a great job keeping the common areas clean and tidy. Frankie could meet them out here."
Dom brushed away that suggestion as if it was a gnat annoying him. Jake knew there was more to it than that.
"What’s your real worry about Frankie?" Jake pushed.
Dom ran his free hand through his hair and sighed. “She’s so young.”
“She’s older than you were when you started this place,” Jake pointed out.
“Exactly! I know just how much of my life this place has eaten up. I've given it so much, and I still can’t walk away from it. She’s not even married yet. What about kids? I don’t want that life for her.” Dom ran a hand over a face that seemed to have aged years over the course of their conversation.
“It’s not about what you want for her. What does she want? Is this the life she’d choose for herself? Has she said anything about marriage and children?”
Dom latched onto the last question in that string. “Why? Does that make you nervous?”
Jake ignored Dom’s significant glance and not-so-subtle prying. “Even if she does want that withsomeone, should she put all of her ambitions on hold until she has them? How did that work out for Jo?” Jake watched as Dom's brain stuttered over that thought.
“It's not… Jo didn't… That’s not what I'm saying," Dom growled.
“That’s what I’m hearing though. And she’s hearing that you don’t trust her or respect her abilities.”
“I respect her ability. Girl can swing a hammer. Taught her myself, didn’t I?”
“Your ability to defend her and doubt her in the same breath is mind-boggling.”
“You’ll understand when you’re a parent, young man.”
Jake chuckled. He’d decided long ago that parenting wasn’t in the cards for him. His father had been so driven by his own ego and ambitions that he’d seldom been around during Jake’s childhood. The fact that Jake had earned more by the age of ten than his father had in a full career had only widened the distance between them, which had allowed his mother essentially free rein over his career choices. She had taken full advantage of his father’s long absences, playing the role of stage mom to the hilt.
Jake's parental role models weren't exactly stellar. He didn't know what good parenting looked like. He'd only had scripted bits on TV for reference, and those had never lined up with real life. No, he would never bring a child into the life he led. No way was he going to subject a child to the unique hell of him trying to figure out what he was doing. With the demands of his job, even well-adjusted couples struggled to make parenting work.
"Not happening, old man. Not. Happening."
CHAPTER16
“So the hidden cellar is finished?”
After the debacle in her office that morning, Frankie would take any good news she could get. Seth nodded and grinned as he flicked the latch open. With one hand, he pushed the edge of the quartz countertop back, and it slid easily on the hidden tracks built into the island cabinetry. With the top open, he lifted another catch and pulled open the end of the island to reveal a hidden staircase descending to the secret wine cellar Sofia had insisted on. The whole operation glided effortlessly and Frankie clapped her hands.
“It’s perfect! Oh Seth, Ma is going to love this.”
“It’s definitely one of the coolest installs I’ve ever done. All that’s left to do is putting together the wine racks down there and wiring the lighting. Two racks are already down there, but the other four are on back order. They should be here today or tomorrow.”
“I really can’t thank you enough for making this project happen for free.”
“Not quite free. Don’t forget, we’re having Brandy’s nursing school graduation party here next year free of charge.”
“Absolutely. A deal is a deal.” She shook her cousin’s hand with a cheeky grin. She’d have agreed to get him the moon if he’d asked.
She was elated to have this done on time and under budget. Something on this damn project should follow the family motto. She was also glad she wouldn’t have to eat crow in front of Sofia. Frankie had promised she’d get it done, and she had, and that was all that mattered.
The humiliation of overhearing her dad and Jake doubting her abilities and criticizing how she organized herself had cut her confidence to the quick. She’d needed something to go right to prove that she was as competent as she thought.
Jake had stripped down her defenses on top of that bar without removing a single item of clothing. Now she felt open to every attack, intentional and accidental.
Between all the low-key flirting on site and the connection she'd felt at the hospital, she'd thought this was heading somewhere. But after he'd left her high and decidedly not dry on the bar, she was questioning everything. Had she read him wrong? Was he laughing at her? This probably happened to him all the time.
