Page 18 of His Hot Mess

Save the errant panties, of course.

“Sounds quick enough—a couple of weeks if all the material is in stock?” he’d said as we stood on the steps of what would be another gorgeous Jewel Lakes lake house build.

“Yeah,” I’d agreed. “If that.”

“I’ll put Dean on it,” Graydon said.

Dean was one of the new guys on the crew. He’d just moved to Jewel Lakes County last fall and was already proving to be one of Graydon’s best hires in the past year. The one before that too.

Dean was on this job with us—leading the siding work at the moment. He must have sensed us looking at him because he gave a little nod as he hefted a piece of planking onto his shoulder.

Dean was quick, smart, and strong. Homebuilding wasn’t his first occupation—we found out after he got a stalled front-loader running again on a job last summer that he’d worked in a garage in his hometown. But he was sharp: he picked things up fast and took to building like he’d been doing it his whole life. He was also covered in tattoos and bore a striking resemblance to a certain handsome movie actor, as my Mom had pointed out when visiting last Christmas. We’d run into him at the grocery store getting stuff for dinner at Graydon and Lucy’s.

“Ma’am,” Dean had said, and Mom had actually blushed like a schoolgirl.

“It’s about time I try him out as a project manager,” Graydon said. “Plus, I need you to oversee the Ruby Lake job. If that works.”

My first thought washell no, that doesn’t work.

“Well,” I said, hedging.

Being around Sadie messed with my head, and a woman messing with my head was miles away from what I needed, or wanted. Plus, Graydon was right—the job on Ruby was complex—a sprawling bed and breakfast on a giant rocky outcropping. It needed oversight and someone with local connections for all the sub support.

The photo album in my living room flashed in my head, making my stomach twist. That should have clinched it.

But I couldn’t stand the thought of someone else working so closely with Sadie. Especially not Dean. As I stood there hedging, he held the plank up to the sheathed wall of the lake house with one hand, using his other to say something instructive to one of our summer hires.

The thought of him watching Sadie skip around her shop made me puff out my goddamned chest like some kind of animal.

I wanted it to be me.

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind taking this one,” I said. “We haven’t done much retail space like this and…” I fumbled for the words, even though he knew Graydon would let me do what I wanted. Technically, I was his deputy, but in practice I was closer to partner. He rarely second-guessed my opinion.

But I didn’t want Graydon thinking I just wanted the job to be with Sadie. Besides, that wasn’t the only reason I wanted it, right? I really did think adding some retail to our portfolio was a good idea.

“The landlord’s bought up this whole block,” I said. “Could mean a ton of new commercial business if this one goes well.”

Yeah. Commercial. Retail. Not the effervescent, sexy as hell, pain in the ass woman who made my whole body light up like a Christmas tree when she was around.

Not her.

Graydon seemed to consider. “Charles does have a ton of property up in Millerville,” he said.

“Plus,” I added, in deference to all my brain’s logic, “you probably want your fiancé’s sister’s job to go off without a hitch, given the wedding’s just around the corner.”

Graydon looked at me, and I knew I’d hit it home.

“Okay, yeah,” he said. “I’ll cover the Ruby site for now given how quick this one should be.”

“I’d say ten days max, especially if Sadie’s lending a hand.”

Even if I wanted to spend all summer with Sadie—which of course wasn’t the case—I drew the line at stretching a job out longer than it needed to be. I wouldn’t waste Grayscale’s time. Even if I was lying to myself about why I wanted this job, integrity was at the top of my personal values. If Graydon asked me point blank if I wanted this job because of Sadie, I would have said yes.

God, what the hell am I doing?

“She’s keen, huh?” Graydon said.

“Extremely.”

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