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Julian and I break out into a coughing fit.
I wave my hand in the air and gasp. “Do we need masks or something?”
“Let me check to see if I have a couple lying around.” Julian rushes to the truck bed.
Beams of light cut through the dust cloud, drawing my eyes toward the source.
“Oh my God.” I walk inside, ignoring Julian’s protest from behind me.
The dual staircase leading up to the second floor looks likesomething out of a movie. Intricately carved wood balusters and the elaborate hand-embroidered carpet running up the length of the stairs blow me away with the amount of detail crammed into a single statement piece. Whoever designed the entrance had an eye for detail and luxury.
“What the hell, Dahlia? You should have waited for me.” Julian doesn’t give me a chance to grab the mask from him. Instead, he covers the lower half of my face before fixing the straps in the back so my hair doesn’t poof up.
To think I said romance is dead.
“Are you seeing this?” I wave toward the stairs with a muffled voice.
“I’m sure smelling it.”
“Where’s your mask?”
“I only had one left.” His nose scrunches again before he sneezes.
I reach for my mask, only for Julian to push my hands down. The graze of his fingers against my knuckles sends a pleasant zing down my spine.
Oh Dahlia. You’re a lost cause.
“I’m fine,” he says with a sniffle.
“No need to act chivalrous without an audience.”
He shoots me a look before walking toward the foyer beneath the stairs. “First impression of the place?”
“I’m in love.”
His right brow rises. “Just like that, huh?”
“Just like that,” I repeat as I note the detailed wood moldings throughout the space. “I mean, look at all the details.”
“Whatever carpenter they hired did a great job. Termitedamage aside, the craftsmanship is impeccable.” He runs a hand over the baluster.
“Think you could replicate it?” I ask without thinking much of it.
His hand freezes. “I don’t do carpentry anymore.”
“What? Since when?”
With the way he becomes engrossed with a light switch, one might believe he was born before electricity was invented. “A while.”
“Why?” My high-pitched voice echoes around us. Julian had the talent to turn a block of wood into a work of art with nothing but a few tools and a single idea.
To think he stopped…
He shrugs. “I got busy.”
“I refuse to believe this.”
He checks his watch. “I have a meeting in thirty, so let’s keep going.”
