Page 60 of Just Do It
The lift arrived, the doors opening with a sigh. Finn waited for me to step in first, followed me in and pressed the button for the basement. After my meltdown last time, I trusted him to let the thing proceed on its way this time. In theory, getting stuck in a lift, which I knew had no cameras, with this man could have been undeniably hot and sexy. I really needed to do something about my claustrophobic tendencies.
‘I know.’ He took a step closer but without touching me. I tilted my head back to meet the blue gaze. ‘I’m sorry if I over reacted last night. I had some stuff on my mind and—’
‘You didn’t. Once I considered it from your perspective, I could see how it might have looked.’
‘Yeah, but stuff like that doesn’t usually bother me. People can take or leave me. I don’t really care either way.’ His chest expanded with a breath. ‘Until I met you.’
The lift pinged to announce our arrival and Finn stepped back, his eyes still focused on me.
‘So you’re saying this is my fault?’
One side of his mouth quirked up. ‘Entirely.’
‘Hmm,’ I said, heading out of the lift. ‘I’m not sure I agree. Perhaps we could take up this discussion later?’
‘I’ll have to check my diary.’
‘You do that.’
We walked together into the building site which would eventually be the new exhibition area. Scanning over the state of it right now, it was hard to see how the mess would ever transform into the sleek, clean vision that the digital pictures displayed upstairs for visitors promised.
‘Don’t look so worried, love,’ Mike said with a wide grin as he approached us. ‘Our Finn here’s got it all under control, haven’t you, lad?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘I’m sure he has. It’s just…’
‘A little hard to picture right now?’
‘Exactly.’
Mike shoved a stubby, flat carpenter’s pencil behind his ear and surveyed the scene. ‘Yep. I can see why. But it’ll be grand, don’t worry.’
‘That’s great.’
The fact that there was a hefty penalty for any delay in the completion of the project went some way towards assuaging that fear. But even meticulous planning couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility of a rogue spanner in the works.
‘Come on,’ Finn said, ‘I’ll show you how the space is coming together up the other end.’
To my eyes, the other end looked as much of a tip as this one but Finn assured me it was ahead of schedule.
‘That’s good to hear. Inis will be pleased. Any positive news I can report back to her is appreciated.’ A gentle ring echoed around the site as I finished speaking and I pulled my phone from my pocket. ‘Speak of the devil.’ I showed him the screen with Inis’s name displayed. ‘Thanks for the update here. I’d better take this.’
‘No problem. I’ll catch up with you later.’
I nodded as I pressed answer at the same time and made my way back out into the main building. ‘Hi, Inis.’ I took the stairs back up, chatting as I did so.
‘Did you know?’ Inis said. Preamble had never been her way.
‘I assume we’re talking about Bella?’
‘Yes. Did you know?’
‘About which bit?’
‘There’s more than one bit?’
Bugger.
