CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Deacon
“What the hell are you doing?” Sebastian asks. He sounds pissed. Which makes no sense, because I’m doing exactly what he asked me to do.
I look up at him from my spot on the floor, holding the baseboard I’m about to nail in place. “What?”
“You’ve installed that upside down. You’re going to have to start over. How much time is that going to take?”
“It’s not upside—” I stop myself as I look back down at the baseboard, because he’s right.
It is upside down. And it’s not the simple sort of flat baseboard that’s easy to confuse.
It’s ornate and sculpted with an extremely distinct top and bottom.
“Shit, Seb. I’m sorry. I’ll fix it. It won’t take me more than an hour. ”
“An hour we can’t afford.” He glares at me like the house has just fallen down around us and I’m the reason. “Call Millie and have her adjust the schedule.”
“I don’t think—” But Sebastian’s already walking away, literally growling under his breath.
Millie was, of course, hired on the spot after she solved all our issues with a detailed and precise schedule that allows us to cut our client workload by thirty-five percent and have a good amount of time to work on finding the right property for our parents’ house and get it built in less than two years.
It’s not entirely what Seb wanted, but it’s a good compromise.
It also means we have to split up more, and Seb has to delegate decisions, which he hates. Right now, Cash and Ry are out scouting properties with the realtors, because there’s nothing pressing they need to be working on.
Sebastian does not trust them to get it right, but we convinced him they could handle at least narrowing down the options. Amazingly, he listens to pretty much anything Millie suggests. He says she’s the only one of us with any sense.
Cash has been extra grumpy with Sebastian. I suspect because of the admiration Seb has for Millie and all the time they spend alone discussing the schedule, but Cash is in full denial mode and pretending Millie doesn’t exist.
Which gets weird when they’re in the same room together and seems destined to hurt Millie’s feelings, but I can’t convince Cash he’s doing the wrong thing.
Especially since there’s no other option.
He can’t have a relationship with her or let her know how he feels when he’s her boss.
She is too amazing to sacrifice to his hormones.
Cash is horrible at relationships, and there’s no way it would end in anything other than disaster.
Like my own non-relationship seems to be doing. I watched Amelia with her ex at the restaurant yesterday. Just to make sure he didn’t do anything mean or dangerous.
He didn’t. Just made her smile and laugh all through lunch. They were so chummy she grabbed his hand when he went the wrong way out of the restaurant, and they walked down the block together hand in hand.
I yank probably too hard on a baseboard as I remove it and nearly nick the wood.
Amelia hasn’t responded to the text I sent yesterday with a picture of an idea for the cat gym, and DogPerson didn’t respond to HandsyGuy last night when I messaged to find out how her meeting went with her ex.
At least I don’t have to worry about her finding out we’re the same person since she’s never going to see either of us again now that she’s got her little family back together.
I focus on putting the baseboards the right way, which, after a sleepless night and a morning hating a man I’ve never met, is harder than it should be.
“Levi’s back, but he’s still got stuff he needs to do to help Gentry,” Sebastian says as he stomps back into the room. “You’re going to have to cover for him.”
“We’re going to have to hire someone else to cover for him,” I say. “You know more about electrical work than I do.”
Sebastian scratches his head, seemingly flummoxed. “Right. I know that. How did I forget that?”
I drop what I’m working on, get up and cross the room to stand in front of him. “Because you’re overworked, overstressed, and sleep deprived? Millie added time for you to relax to the schedule. You need to take it.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “What I need to do is find an electrician so we can stay on schedule. I’m calling Dani to find out who did the electrical work on their outbuildings last year.”
“We should hire one permanently.” Back in Aspen Cove we had another electrician on staff and a dozen other employees who helped us on big jobs.
“We aren’t there yet,” he says. “I’m not spending money we don’t have and going in the hole like we did in Aspen Cove.”
“We climbed out of the hole, Seb. We’ll climb out of it here too.”
“We’re not getting in the hole at all. We stick to jobs we can handle as a small crew until we can afford a bigger staff.”
He storms back out, and I get back to work. I shove all thoughts of Amelia and her ex to the back of my brain, but they don’t stay there.
They drift out and harass me as I finish the baseboards and move on to the crown molding.
When my phone dings and I see Amelia’s name on my screen, I’m sure I must have conjured her with my obsessive thoughts.
Amelia: I’ve got an hour for lunch today. Want to meet at my place and talk about Marmalade’s gym some more?
There’s a winking smiley face emoji at the end of her message, which I think is supposed to mean she’s not serious about talking about the gym. Which means she’s looking for sex.
My cock, waking up at the thought, is all for that plan, but the rest of me sighs in disappointment. I can’t convince her I’m more than just a fun guy who’s good in bed if all she ever wants from me is midday quickies.
Me: How about I take you out for lunch? There’s a new place near the college I’ve been meaning to try.
Amelia responds almost immediately: We can’t get naked in a public place.
She couldn’t possibly be clearer, and I’m definitely picturing her naked and already on my feet and grabbing my keys. I will convince her to see me as more, but if the lady wants sex, who am I to deny her?
I’ve almost made it to my truck when Sebastian stomps onto the porch. “Where are you going?” he yells.
“Lunch break,” I yell back at him. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” I won’t, but he probably won’t even notice if I’m late.
Yeah, right.
I’ll make it up in overtime.
I back out of the driveway, talk-to-texting into my phone to ask Amelia what she wants for lunch.
She responds that she just wants me.
Without speeding, somehow, I make it to her house. She’s standing on the porch waiting for me, still in her uniform from work, and my heart stills in my chest as I imagine, just for a moment, coming home to this woman’s smiling, beautiful face every day for the rest of my life.
I close my eyes and pull myself together. I cannot be feeling this way about Amelia when she doesn’t feel the same and is likely to get a restraining order if she ever figures out I’m HandsyGuy.
“You’re going to get your heart broken,” I say to myself. “Get your shit together.”
When I open my eyes, Amelia’s head is tilted to the side and her smile has dimmed. She looks as though she might want to change her mind about inviting the man who’s in his truck talking to himself into her house.
I hop out and cross her lawn in a few strides. I swoop her up into my arms and kiss her until I can feel her smile against my lips. “It’s good to see you,” I say as I carry her inside and set her on her feet.
She looks up at me, the concern not totally gone from her eyes. It gives me hope that maybe she cares about me as more than just her sexy casual hookup. “Everything okay?”
I open my mouth to say what I always say, which is that of course everything’s okay. Everything’s great. But that’s not going to convince her to give me a real chance. I have to be honest with her and, worse, I probably have to be vulnerable.
“Just stressed with work,” I say. “My parents are moving to town at the same time we’re trying to get our business off the ground, and we want to build them a house.
” I run a hand through my hair, already feeling like I’ve said too much.
“My brother’s the one who’s really stressed, and he’s driving the rest of us to develop ulcers of our own. ”
She smiles up at me and runs her hands over my chest. “I know just how to help you de-stress.”
Clearly, she’s not interested in having her mind changed. She only wants fun from me. It hurts for a moment until she grabs the back of my neck and pulls me down for a kiss.
She tastes so good, and her ass feels amazing in my hands when she hops up and wraps her legs around my waist. I might never get what I want from Amelia, but at least I can give her what she wants.
It’s not like I won’t have fun doing it.