Page 75 of She Was Made for Me

I frown. There’s something in her tone that sounds off, and I open my mouth to ask more, but she pushes her mouth into a smile.

“Anyway, I want to hear more about Kyle. I bet you’re hardly getting any work done at all now.” She gives me a grin that’s meant to be cheeky and playful, but her words bring the guilt back again.

“Actually, I have been distracted,” I mutter, clutching the Brooklyn Heights book to my chest.

“Of course you have.” Sadie leans against a table of books, eying me. “That’s normal. I’d be distracted with that hottie walking around all day.”

I give her a faint smile, and she sighs.

“Vi, you know you have…issueswith work, right?”

“Issues?”

“Yeah. You always have. It’s why we didn’t really keep in touch when you moved away, and why I’m always on you to take a break. You let your career rule your life, and that’s admirable, but it comes at a cost.”

Huh. Kyle said basically the same thing to me that first night we went to dinner.

“I think it’s great you’re having a little fun with Kyle. Why not?”

I twist my lips to one side. “Because I—we—have a job to do.”

“Sure. That will get done. I know you won’t let everything fall apart. That’s not who you are. You need to trust yourself a little more. Trust that you can do a good job on the project while also having a life outside of work. Work-life balance and all that.”

You deserve a life outside of work too. Who are you when you’re not working?

I think of Kyle’s words at dinner, and realize Sadie is right. I’ve done nothing but work for years, to the exclusion of everything else in my life. I’m allowed to have fun, and it doesn’t have to mean everything at work falls apart. I can do both.

Sadie’s gaze drops to the book in my hands. “What’s that?”

“Oh.” I glance down. “Just something I thought Kyle would like.”

Her mouth tugs into a knowing smile. “There’s no way you’re only in this for two weeks, babe.”

29

Kyle

“Ilike this orange color,” Dale says as he passes Violet in the basement. “I wasn’t sure about it at first, but it’s growing on me.”

“Thanks, Dale. It’s called Autumn Apricot.” Violet grins, brush in hand. She chose a rich apricot for a feature wall in the basement, and it works well with the cream kitchen countertop and navy-blue hexagonal tiled backsplash. She had to remove her ‘bedroom’ from the basement when we started working on this floor, but it hasn’t mattered—she spends every night in my bed.

Violet glances at me over her shoulder as Dale leaves the room. Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on the color choice at first either, thinking it might be too much, but I’m glad she chose something bold. It works.

I told her she didn’t have to paint it herself, but she’s been very firm on using her work time pro-actively and being involved in a hands-on way. Even though we’ve never taken time out of the workday to spend together, I know she feels guilty about spending her evenings with me instead of working. It’s like she’s trying to cram twice as much work into her days to make up for it.

“I told you the apricot would work,” she says with a satisfied smile.

I chuckle, wandering closer to the stepladder she’s standing on. She’s wearing her denim mini skirt and a black tank top, and with no one around I’m tempted to drag my lips over the exposed skin of her shoulder, to shove her skirt up and bury myself inside her.

“It works,” I murmur, watching her paint. She’s very careful, paying attention to every stroke of the brush, wanting it to be perfect. That’s Violet.

I press my face to her shoulder, inhaling the sweet vanilla scent of her skin before pulling myself away and upstairs, where I won’t get myself into trouble.

The past two weeks have gone way too quickly. It’s like I blinked and they were over. One minute I’m kissing Violet in the backyard, telling her we have two whole guilt-free weeks together, the next Rich is texting me to say he’s looking forward to getting back to the city and checking in on the progress at the house. I want to wind the clock back and start over.

I sigh as I head upstairs to find the guys taking their afternoon coffee break in the parlor. We’ve had the specialist come in to redo the plaster in here, and soon this area will be painted too. I stand in the doorway, proud of how far we’ve come.

“Looking good, huh, boss?” Phil grins from where he’s lounging in a folding chair.

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