Page 62 of Reclaiming Home

“I need someone to help me with the house renovations. Everything that goes with it, really. I can teach you a lot, I’ve worked in the business for fifteen years. Your father said you might be interested?”

Trying to hold back her excitement which I could see even with the gear covering her, she tilted her head a bit. “For how long?”

“A few months, at least. If your father won’t need you and we get along well, then I’m sure there’s enough work here for until the summer.”

“Paid or not?”

“Paid, absolutely. We can figure out what your hourly rate will be, but I will pay fairly and teach you everything I can.”

As if she wasn’t vibrating with sudden joy, she nodded. “Okay. I can work with that.” Then she looked at her father. “Dad, you sure you can spare me?”

I liked that she would check with him. It showed her character.

“I reckon you’ll be happier here than doing the hotel and everything else with us.” He glanced at me. “There’s this old hotel about forty-five minutes from here. Someone bought it and needs changes and renovations made during the winter months. Lots of tedious stuff with no personality at all, which is a shame.”

“Ah.” I understood his point.

“You’re really sure?” Lina asked him.

“When do I ever say things I don’t mean?” He raised a brow at her, then oomphed at the impact when she flung herself at him for a hug.

“When can I start?” She looked expectantly at me and her dad both.

I shrugged. “I’m going to work on the house today, so whenever you want is fine by me.”

She turned her baby blue eyes at her father who was helpless and shooed her off toward the house.

“Yay!” She took off her coveralls there and then, tossing them into one of the trucks they’d arrived in.

Holding onto the rest of her gear, she walked up to me. “So hi, I’m Lina, and it seems like I’m gonna be working for you now.” She held out her hand, beaming at me.

I chuckled as I shook with her. “I’m Brodie, the Alpha of this pack.”

We’d said hi casually when they arrived, but this felt like a proper greeting. Her dad wandered to the barn to oversee his workers, and Lina followed me inside the house.

“I’ll grab the iPad and I’ll show you our plans while we tour the house first,” I told her as we got inside.

She took off her thicker fleece jacket she had on and rubbed her hands together. “Can’t wait!”

She came with me into the kitchen where Carys was doing something on Kye’s computer while Kye had his breakfast.

“Oh hi,” Kye said brightly. “I see you’ve been roped into the indoor work?”

“Hi! Yeah, apparently you guys need help for the winter and my dad said it was okay, so here I am!” Lina grinned widely.

Carys’ whole body had tensed minutely, but she tore her gaze off the laptop and gave Lina a nervous little smile. “Hi, I’m Carys.”

“I’m Lina, nice to meet you,” she replied, then both of them blushed lightly.

Oh.

I grabbed the iPad and found the right file, then gestured for Lina to come with me. We had plans to talk over.

Having Lina on the team proved to speed our immediate renovations up by a half. She was so damn efficient and always great to be around. She had great ideas that impressed us all, and by the time her dad’s team was done with the barn, she was fully integrated with our tiny pack, whether any of us realized that or not. She joked around with Kye, listenedcarefully to everything I said and asked questions if she had them, and always insisted on clearing the lunch table since Carys had cooked for us.

The two of them started to befriend each other, and after a few weeks, they were thick as thieves. None of us mentioned the clear attraction between them, because it was, well, betweenthemand none of our business.

Rian started to do better with regular sessions with Moses, and was wrapping up his things in Seattle in preparation for the guys getting out of rehab. They had thrown themselves into recovery, and suddenly we got word that they’d be ready to leave the rehab place in two more weeks. That put a bit of a fire under the rest of us, because now we needed three rooms to be ready, in addition to the one bathroom and the family room.

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