Page 56 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
“Might as well put all our cards on the table.”
“In that case, as long as you treat me with respect, I promise not to murder you.”
I laughed, enjoying the way Piper’s eyes lingered on my lips while I did. “Deal.”
“See you Monday, Rhett.”
I loved the way she said my name. It sounded softer on her tongue, warmer, gentler. I dipped my chin. “Monday,” I repeated, and I watched her walk out the door and into the crisp fall air outside.
TWENTY-TWO
PIPER
Monday morning,I got the quote and some good news from Eric Nash, the local upholsterer. With my updated design, he’d be able to complete the furnishings for the ski lodge within six weeks. I knocked on Rhett’s doorframe and poked my head into his office.
“Upholsterer is a go,” I reported. “Under budget, too.”
“Good. Fabric?”
“Needs to be sourced by the end of the week. I’ve got a line on a wholesaler outside Denver; I’m about to follow up.”
“Good work,” Rhett said, and I couldn’t quite hide the glow of pride that rose within me.
From there, the madness began. Work at the lodge ramped up, and it was all I could do to work on procuring what we needed in order to hit the opening date at the end of the year. It didn’t help that shipping to a small mountain town wassometimes iffy, and that the holiday season was about to start. But I put my head down and did my best.
Evenings were taken up with the boys, dinner, homework, and housework. Once they were in bed, I gave myself the time to take three deep breaths, and then I dove into the Lovers Lane house design. On the weekend, I took a trip up to the house with the boys and set them loose in the backyard. There was a dumpster sitting out front, which hadn’t been there last time. Rhett had been busy too.
With a spray bottle of water in one hand, I climbed up on the kitchen counter and got to work soaking the wallpaper border. Ten minutes later, with intermittent peeks through the window above the sink to make sure the boys were still both in one piece, I took a paint scraper and got to work removing the softened wallpaper.
That was how Rhett found me an hour later—standing on the counter, clutching the inside of the upper cabinets, reaching up and around to try to get to the faded lemon border, with mixed success. I glanced over at him, but I’d been in such an awkward position with my head stretched as far back as possible that the movement made me dizzy. At the same time, I gripped the vertical support at the front of the cabinet to catch myself—and it gave way.
My arms windmilled, but I hardly had time to make a panicked peep before Rhett’s hands went around my waist, and he plucked me off the counter to set me on the ground. He spun me around so I faced him, warm hands still bracketed my middle.
“You got a death wish, Darling?” he growled.
My heart was thumping hard, and I realized I was still holding part of the cabinet that had snapped off. I set it down on the counter behind me and shrugged off his touch. “Thanks for that. You startled me.”
He dropped his hands but didn’t step away. His scent was all around me, and the intensity of his stare made me want to squirm. “If this is going to work,” he said, “you’re going to need to follow a few safety guidelines. Like using a proper ladder.”
I bit my bottom lip and looked up at him. “I might have gotten carried away,” I conceded. “The boys are occupied, so I wanted to get as much done as possible while I had the time. And I don’t have a ladder.”
“Have you got a phone?” His voice was dark, and he still stood a little too close.
I frowned. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Next time, you use the phone to call me so I can bring you a ladder, Darling.”
“Fine. I didn’t realize you cared so much.”
Rhett’s eyes slid away from mine as he cleared his throat. “If you break your neck trying to fix up this house, it’ll be terrible PR for me,” he said.
“Uh-huh,” I replied sardonically. “That would be so sad for you.”
“I don’t know how I could recover.”
“You’d find a way,” I said, and patted his chest in mock sympathy.
That was a mistake.
