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I turn to Grace and use my best professional voice, more for the benefit of my brother, who will undoubtedly bust my balls for hiring a hottie.
“As you were saying?”
She looks flustered. “Oh, um, I…look forward to seeing the plans? And the house! It’s a really pretty old house. Um, mansion.”
I nod and cross my arms over my chest, ignoring my brother who’s making a skeptical expression behind Grace. “And,” I add, “we should have the interior walls fixed or replaced by next week. Then I should be able to come and measure you.”
The blush surges in her cheeks. Wade spits his coffee.
“I meant, I meant…flip it, reverse it. You come. You measure me. I mean, measure the rooms!”
Grace bites her lip and looks away shyly. I watch, mesmerized at her manicured hands smoothing down her pencil skirt. “Seven o’clock. See you then.”
Electricity, sharp and hot, fires through me when Grace comes closer and shakes my hand. Her soft skin gives off a clean-scented perfume, and the stirring in my jeans is on overdrive now.
I escort Grace outside to her car and hear Wade mutter “Dumbass” as we sweep past him.
“Oversized baby,” I throw at him over my shoulder.
Seconds later I’m watching Grace drive away in a Chevy sedan that has seen much better days. I don’t like that for her.
“What the hell are you doing, man?”
I’d forgotten for a second that Wade had interrupted the meeting. “I told you,” I say through my teeth, glaring at his terrible parking job next to a fire hydrant.
“But Susan is the best at staging.”
“Susan dumped us.”
“Then get her back. She’s our sister, and she’s the best.”
“No need. I hired Grace,” I say, watching her car make the corner, axles creaking.
Wade gestures wildly at the street. “Her? Nobody knows her!”
I shrug. “So? We didn’t know half the guys on this crew when we decided to buy the Paget Mansion. We didn’t have the original plans; we didn’t know the historical director. But we took a leap of faith. I’m asking you to take a leap of faith with me regarding Grace. Besides, nobody else in Gold Hill will touch this project. So you’re just going to have to live with Grace.”
Wade scoffs. “I ain’t living with nobody. But it seemsyou’rescheming to live with Grace before too long.”
“If she wants that, yep.”
The chortle from my brother makes me want to slap him upside the head. “You’re right. Sound, logical business decisions always originate below the belt. I’ll meet you back here when she fails, and we’re upside down on our investment, brother.”
“It’s not going to go that way,” I tell him. I just know it.
I know it, because Grace walked into my life, bringing with her something to look forward to. What could go wrong?
CHAPTERTWO
Grace
“You actually got the job?”
I don’t want to make eye contact with my neighbor down the hall, Presley, who’s stopped by to warm her feet on my radiator since hers isn’t working.
“Yep,” I say blandly as I scour my closet for something to wear. Presley moved in about a month after I did, and I’d been dying for another single woman to talk to in this town. We’ve been inseparable ever since; she knows almost every detail about my life. She knows all about my nonexistent dating life and my bad luck applying for jobs since I graduated college with an art history degree. My parents raised me in Fate, but since moved their law practice to Phoenix. More growth, more litigations, more money.
They wish I would have followed in their footsteps, and the number of times I’ve heard them say my art history degree is worthless should send me into therapy.
