Page 10 of His Hot Mess

Hisbutt chin.

That was ungenerous. But it made me feel a tiny bit better about seeing Sadie so charmed.

“Chris, nice of you to come,” Sadie said. “This is Charles Haverford. He owns the building. Half the block, actually.”

So, he was rich too.

I’d only been in Jewel Lakes for three years, but I knew most of the business owners around here.

I didn’t know Charles.

Cool fingers of jealousy spread along my ribs. Trying to shake the feeling off, I gave him as polite a nod as I could muster.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” I said, striding forward and holding out my hand.

My handshake wasn’t anywhere near limp. But Charles’s grip was so tight I barely concealed a wince.

Jealousy grew to irritation. I could have crushed his hand too if I’d wanted to. I just didn’t want to intimidate the guy.

“I understand you work with Graydon Mitchell,” Charles said.

“I do.” I made a mental note to ask Graydon about this guy. I was surprised he’d never come up before.

“Mitchell does excellent work. I was at Alfred Jones’s property last month—never seen a Miyazaki rendered quite so skillfully this side of Tokyo.”

My smile, already faltering, threatened to crumble right off my face. The guy knew his architects, too.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to Japan,” I said. “But I’m sure you’re right.”

Sadie was looking between the two of us with the slightest wedge between her eyebrows. When she landed on me, she gave a little twist of her mouth.

Jesus, Slade. She can see right through you.

“How’s it looking?” I asked Sadie, my voice as neutral as I could manage.

She smiled, looking over at Charles, who smiled benignly. Obliviously.

“Very good.”

Sadie knew exactly what she was doing.

It took the effort of a goddamned god to keep my eyes from narrowing.

She had the audacity to wink at me.

I almost choked.

“Chris?” Sadie asked. “You okay?”

I looked up, my eyes landing on a small brown stain on the old drop ceiling. It was so tiny I would have missed it if I wasn’t staring up there on purpose.

“Glad I came, actually.” I looked back down at Charles. “You’ve got a leak.”

I wasn’t proud of the way I got the tiniest bit of enjoyment seeing the handsome man’s face fall. But there it was, and it felt like I was finally back in control of the situation.

When Charles turned his face up to look, I gave Sadie a wink.

SADIE

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