Page 27 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

“Now who’s changing the subject? I’ll deal with the bathtubs once you’re ready. I’ll bring a few guys and we’ll take them all out at once.”

“Great.” She shot me a bright smile. The weird energy from before dissipated and my shoulders relaxed. “That would be great, Holden.”

She flicked through her photos and showed me the watercolor renderings she had done over the past few days, alternating with inspiration photos and examples from her previous projects. Her paintings were beautiful.

“Can you send me some of those?” I asked, jerking my chin at the watercolor renderings, folding my arms over my chest. “For my records,” I added.

She shrugged. “Sure.”

When she told me about her plan for the bedrooms and bathrooms, her eyes lit up and her hands moved fast in the air, gesturing.

Sadie Waters was illuminating when she talked about interior design. I couldn’t tear my gaze away. When I studied the demo photos, there was a weird tug beneath my ribs.

Her eyes were on her phone as she flipped past photos. “I want to nail this renovation.”

Her comment before about men nagged at me. “Tell me more about this repressed anger of yours.”

She chewed her lip, eyes still on the photos. “It’s complicated.” She ignored me staring at her. Her jaw tensed, and for a moment, she looked pissed.

“You were in jail, weren’t you?” I asked.

She glanced up with a relieved grin. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“Who did you kill?”

Her grin widened. “My elderly husband. I did it for the money, and I wore one of those long, scary robes that villains wear, with the fur on the cuffs.” She shrugged and studied her nails in an exaggerated way. “I loved jail.”

I snorted. “Yeah?”

She leaned forward like she was confessing. “I was the queen in there. I madesomany friends, Holden. I read a hundred books and did three hours of pilates every day.”

My mouth lifted into a smile and I hid it behind my water glass as I took a sip. “Bet you did.”

Her gaze lingered on me for a moment and my heart flipped over in my chest.

The server swung by and we asked for the bill.

“One or two checks?” the server asked.

“Two,” Sadie said.

“One,” I told the server. Sadie opened her mouth to argue but I silenced her with a look. “You’re helping me.”

She shrugged. “Okay. Thanks, buddy.”

I frowned. I didn’t like her calling me buddy. We weren’t buddies. We weren’t… anything. We weren’t even friends. Olivia called me buddy all the time. So did Avery. Hannah just called me Holden. I normally didn’t care, but I didn’t like it when Sadie called me that.

After I paid the bill, she finished her drink. “This was a dud. Sorry for wasting your time.”

I shook my head as we stood. “It’s fine. You didn’t know.”

She did waste my time tonight, and I should be pissed. I had a mountain of work to do, and I could have used the time tonight to catch up.

I wasn’t pissed, though. I had fun. I didn’t mind watching Sadie stuff her face with tacos, chatting about renos and asking about the best place for bathroom tiles.

Irritation tightened in my shoulders at that thought.

“And you didn’t tell me, either.” She shot me a suspicious grin. I held the passenger door of my truck open and she hopped in. “It’s okay, though. I’ll do my homework for the next one.”

---