Page 54 of Your Place or Mine

I hadn’t even won.

Not really.

Sure, I’d gotten the last word. But he’d smirked.

Smirked, like he knew something I didn’t…like he was already under my skin and liked the view.

I reached the sidewalk and paused for a breath. Just one. A long, calming inhale to remind myself that I wasn’t here to spar with a man who wore flannel like it was armor and looked like he’d stepped out of a lumberjack magazine.

I was here to run a building. Build a life. Not get caught in whatever slow-burn soap opera Callum Benedict had going on behind that scowl and those ridiculous eyes.

I swore I could still feel the heat of his stare on my back. It had practically branded me when I’d said,“When I do touch something, it’ll be worth it.”

I hadn’t even meant for it to sound suggestive. At least… not entirely.

“Get it together, Lydia,” I muttered, clutching my notebook like it might tether me to reality.

I walked back toward the coffee shop, heart still racing.

And I knew, without a doubt, that I was in trouble.

Because every time I heard that low, growly voice, I felt something zip through me like electricity. Not the polite kind, either. The kind that left you scorched and wondering why on earth you wanted to go back for more.

I stepped intoBean There, Done Thatand found Riley wiping down the counter, her head bobbing to a jazzy cover of a pop song playing over the speakers.

She glanced up and grinned. “How’d it go?”

I narrowed my eyes. “You sent me into the lion’s den on purpose.”

The contractor walked over, and I handed him the correct key.

“Imight’ve,” she said, totally unrepentant. “But tell me it wasn’t entertaining.”

“It was infuriating.”

“Same thing.”

I dropped onto the stool by the window and sighed. “He’s so—”

“Tall?” she offered, pouring me a cup of coffee.

“—insufferable.”

“Mm. And broad-shouldered?”

“Obstinate.”

“With those big, rough hands?”

I glared at her.

She just handed me the mug, laughing. “I’m just saying. He’s cranky, sure. But also not the worst view on Main Street.”

“You people areunwell.”

“I call it optimistic.” She smiled happily. “I like to look at the bright side of things.”

I took a long sip of coffee and stared out the window, watching the wind push through the hanging flower baskets. “He’s impossible. Whenever I talk to him, it’s like stumbling through barbed wire.”

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