Page 10 of Everything I Promise

I walk toward the back of the space and call out to Lacey. “Hey, Lace. This space is great for you.”

She jumps in the air, clearly not hearing the door close. “Jeeze, you scared me,” she says covering her chest with her hand.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think I was that quiet of a guy.” I reach out a hand to steady her.

She looks me up and down while biting her bottom lip and it sends tingles down my spine. Maybe this is going to be harder than I thought.

She shakes her head as if snapping back to reality, “No sorry, I was lost in thought, my mind is just exploding with ideas. I have been sketching out some of them to show you what I'm thinking for the space. I think it should be fairly easy. It’s the apartment upstairs that will give us trouble, I think.” She’s busy biting herlip and I’m using all my willpower to focus on what she is saying instead of her plump, pink lips.

“There's an apartment upstairs too?” I put down what she's drawn out for me, and look at her.

I knew there were apartments above the shops, but I didn’t know that this was sold as a package. Maybe she would be willing to let me live here, but I bet she probably plans to live here to get out of her mom’s house. Lorelei is great, but I’m sure it’s hard to move back home and live with your mom and your child.

“Yeah. Don't get too excited though. It's in rough shape. Want to head up there first or talk about down here?” She points to a door on the side of the salon, and I assume that’s the entry to the apartment.

I’m not sure I really like the idea of her living in a space with so many access points. I make a mental note to talk to her about security systems.

“Show me what you want done down here first.” I point to more of her drawings.

She shows me her sketchbook and I love the ideas she has. She wants to add two sinks in the back, with three booths, and a couple offices on the side with a waiting and reception area in the front. She shows me some photos of the finishes she wants and I think it’ll be easy and quick to get done. With the right subcontractors I could be done before Christmas.

“Alright, this seems pretty straight forward and doable. It actually shouldn’t take that long, provided we can get all the materials quickly." I tap on the cover of her sketchbook. "Let’s go see this apartment you seem so nervous about.”

She cringes at the thought of the apartment and heads to the door at the back of the salon. I follow her, chuckling, but preparing for what I might see. Lacey doesn’t seem to beinto dramatics, so the fact that she is acting like it’s the most disgusting thing she’s ever seen actually has me a little nervous.

“So, I’m thinking that Oliver and I could move in here maybe in like 6 months or so. I want to give him time to get settled at Mom’s without moving him again right away. So I don’t really care about the timeline on fixing it up.” She puts her hand on the doorknob and looks back at me, those green eyes staring right into mine. “Are you ready?”

“Always.” I place my hand on the small of her back. I know instantly that small touch was a mistake, I don't want to stop there.

She opens the door and I’m greeted with a pungent odor, killing any thoughts I was just having. Smokers definitely used to live here. That smell can be hard to get rid of.

I step further into the apartment and survey the more obvious work that needs to be done. The carpet is stained beyond recognition. The wood flooring in the kitchen and dining room is actually beautiful, it just needs to be re-stained. Hopefully.

“Do you mind if I pull some of this carpet up? I want to see what is under it.” I point to the corner of the room with my pocket knife in hand.

“Oh sure, do whatever you need to. Not like you could make it any worse.” She crinkles her nose at the dirty carpet as I kneel down. I pull out the knife from inside itself and start to pry up the carpet at the corner.

“Well you’re in luck here, Lace,” I say, pointing to the spot I’ve ripped up. “The wide wood planks continue in here and as long as they’re in good condition we can just refinish the wood.”

She lets out a breath and smiles. A smile that has my cock straining to stand up. Ugh, this is so hard. No pun intended.

“Well, that’s great to hear. Hopefully there is wood in the bedrooms, too.” She walks back toward the bedrooms.

I take out my phone to take some photos of what we are working with as I step into the kitchen. I make note of some water damage under the sink, and the cabinets look like they’re in decent condition too, just need some touch ups. The bedrooms are actually really big and I’m surprised at the space.

“So I am kind of hoping we could do a master bath and a walk in closet here in this room?” She sounds hopeful.

I walk in and out of the second bedroom and the one she wants as a master, eyeballing space and measurements.

“Well. I think if you don’t mind us taking some space from the second room and using a stand up shower we could probably do it.” I add some information to a note on my phone about the new bathroom.

Lacey claps her hands together and smiles so big. It’s addictive knowing that I was the one to put that smile on her face.

“I knew you were the right guy for the job!” My chest puffs with pride to have her think that of me.

Elizabeth has never, not once, told me she was proud of me, or thought I was good at my job. Yet here Lacey is, beaming at me about just the thought of my ideas for a crappy apartment.

“Now that you’re going to make my master bath dreams come true, I think you should see the regular bath.” She glances back at me, giving me a look that says she's sorry for what is about to come.

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