Page 28 of Accidental Proposal

“Technicalities.” He waved me off. Chuckling, I looked down at my hands.

“Okay, I like these two. Which one?” I held out a deep rusty red color and a little brighter one toward him. “I don’t want something too bright or to dark.” He sent me a look but glanced down at them.

“The darker one.” Grinning, I nodded.

“Okay, now what?” I looked around.

“Have you never done this before, Jenna? You have to get a worker to mix the paint.” Okay, I should have thought about this a tad more instead of diving in headfirst. But that was why I brought Garrett along.

“Okay, onward, my noble steed!” I pointed my finger forward.

“You are so fucking weird,” Garrett muttered under his breath. Grinning, I followed after him. After we tracked down several employees, someone finally was able to help us. The guy asked me how much I needed, if I wanted a glossy finish, etc. I stared at him, confused, not knowing what he was talking about. Thankfully Garrett cut in, answering them for me. I smiled thankfully up at him, and we headed to get paintbrushes while the paint mixed.

“You really should have thought this through,” he commented.

“I know, and thank you for helping me. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea,” I admitted, looking at all the different brushes.

“You’re welcome, and yes it wasn’t the smartest idea. But, if you want, I can help you.” He leaned down and grabbed some brushes.

“Yes, thank you!”

Fifteen minutes later, we finally got all the things we needed. Armed with paintbrushes, tarps, tape, and paint, we went and checked out. Thankful that Liam put money in my account, I swiped my card before leaving with Garrett.

“Are you going to paint right away when you get home, or tomorrow?”

“Maybe later this afternoon. I mean, it’s only ten.” I shrugged. “It’s probably going to take a while to tape the room off, though.”

“If you do it this afternoon, I won’t be able to help. I have class at noon,” Garrett said, shooting me an apologetic look.

“That’s okay. If I decide to wait until tomorrow, I’ll text you so you can come and help. Class comes first.” I shot him a smile. I was really glad I had someone like Garrett as my driver. He was nice, smart, cute, and made a great friend. After helping me bring everything inside, Garrett had to leave to go to class. I grabbed something quick for an early lunch and ate while thinking over everything I had to do for the room.

Deciding to start taping the room like Garrett said to, I washed my dishes and left the kitchen. I wasn’t too worried about Liam coming home and seeing the room. I bet I would have it finished by the time he even thought about coming home. I started taping off what I could before standing in the middle of the room. Okay, this was going to be a lot harder than I originally thought. I had only the lower half of the walls taped off because I couldn’t reach any higher, and the desk was in the way and was too heavy for me to move.

Yeah, this was not as easy as I thought it would be.

***

Liam

“Sir, Mr. Mathews is here,” my receptionist, Mary, said over the intercom.

“Send him in,” I replied. Leaning back in my chair, I turned and looked outside my window. I had the second best office in the building, my father having the first. My window overlooked the busy streets of New York, but in the distance you could see the river running its course through certain parts of town. Nowadays, this place was more of my home than my actual home. I’d spent many nights here working late when I didn’t feel up to driving home.

I wasn’t this busy at work in the beginning, but now my father was slowly giving me more duties before he passed the head CEO position to me. Work just kept piling higher and higher every day. There were other CEOs and workers that helped with some of it, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. You wouldn’t think running and owning hotels would be so hard, but it was.

“Liam, my boy,” a familiar voice said, making me turn toward the door. In walked one of my father’s most trusted partners, Brian Mathews. He and my father have been by each other’s side for many years. Brian was always the one to make sure everything was going smoothly and things got done correctly. I’d known him practically my whole life and considered him my second father. He had salt and pepper-colored hair and a pair of kind brown eyes. He was my father’s age, fifty-seven.

“Brian,” I greeted him, standing up and coming around my desk. He shook my hand and pulled me into a hug. “What are you doing here? I just saw you three weeks ago,” I said, gesturing for him to take a seat.

“This isn’t a business call. I heard from your parents that you are engaged. How the hell did that happen?” he asked, smirking at me. “Last I heard, you were off serious relationships and were going to live the bachelor lifestyle for a while.”

“It’s fairly recent.”

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone this seriously.”

“I kept her a secret. I wanted to see where we were going and didn’t want anything to get in the way of it. You know the press and everyone else would have made a big deal out of nothing. It would have made her run away,” I lied.

“If your face didn’t run her away, then I don’t know what would.” He laughed, grinning at me. I shook my head at him but smiled. “When will I be able to meet your lovely fiancé?”Lovely? More like weird and complicated.“If I had known you were introducing her to your parents, I would have come over.”

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