Page 68 of Daddy By Design

“Good. Great.” I moved to the side so his voice wasn’t right behind me. I was trying to be strong, for heaven’s sake. And he was the one who’d said he wanted us to be only professional. “If you’d have a seat, I’m almost done.”

“I’m good.”

I gritted my teeth and tacked up my paint samples as well as shingles for the roof. “Have you spoken to your friend about the stonework?”

“Not yet. He’s in Aruba.”

“Must be nice.”

“He earned his trip. But he went off grid for two weeks. I’ll check in with him when he comes back online.”

“Off grid as in...”

“No phone. No electricity.”

I turned to Nolan. I couldn’t imagine not having my creature comforts, let alone no access to my iPad or phone. I’d die. “How?”

“For Archer, it’s easy. He hates the phone more than I do. He much prefers working with his hands and the quiet.”

“No wonder you’re friends.”

“Sometimes I don’t mind noise.”

Even with his eyes hidden behind the dark shades, I could still feel his gaze on me. “Could have fooled me.” And I tried not to think about all the noises I’d made for him.

If I still didn’t have an aftershock or three during the quietest parts of the night, I’d be embarrassed.

But that kind of connection was rare. Even if it was only one time.

I wouldn’t be mad at it, even if the man made me want to slug him more than half the time.

“Shelby is on her way.” TJ’s voice broke the tension between us. “Oh, man. These drawings are amazing, Dahl. This house is truly special.”

I cleared my throat. “I think so too.” I glanced up at Nolan. “We’re all excited to work on it. I hope you’ll take us into consideration.”

Nolan crossed his arms over his chest. “I appreciate the visuals of Miss McKenna, but the real question is time frame and numbers.”

“Depends on how generous your budget is, Mr. Devereaux.”

If he was going to use my last name, I could do the same to him. As if I didn’t have carnal knowledge of his body. Well, sort of. He hadn’t allowed me to see much of him. Or even touch any of him, to be truthful.

And I didn’t need to go down that road again, dammit.

I was a professional and this house was important. Not my newly activated libido. She could go back on ice where she’d been for the last...well, I wasn’t going to think about how long that had been.

I was already ramped up.

“We can give you some preliminary numbers, but we’ll need to do that inspection to truly know where we’re headed.” TJ held her arm out. “Let’s go back over to the conference table and we can show you our standard contract.”

Nolan glanced at me, then he nodded. “Sounds good.”

I grabbed my coffee and added ice cubes since it was already cold. I was already burning up, anyway, so I could use the cooldown time. TJ went over the initial details as I pretended I was working on my iPad—when, in fact, I was just coloring the same section of the stained glass I’d envisioned for the waterfront side of the house.

The side that faced the road and driveway would hold onto the stark Victorian Gothic tone.

I listened with half an ear as Nolan asked questions, but for the most part, he just let TJ run-through her spiel.

The bell over our door jangled lightly, pulling me out of my drawing.

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