Page 104 of The Fixer

Her fists went to her hips. “Why are you tellingmethis and not Charlie? He’s the one that worked up the bill of materials.”

“Because you’re one half of the project’s partnership, and if the other half is dipping into the till, it’s probably not a good idea to tip him off, am I right? Anyway, I just thought you should know. Just doing my civic duty.” The smirk widened. The guy was a Class-A jerk.

“You don’t like Charlie, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Why is that, Cully?” She cinched her arms over her chest.

He shrugged and pursed his bottom lip. “He and his entire family came into this world with silver spoons in their mouths, and they like to lord it over everyone else in this town. Starting with his parents, when they decided the whole goddamn place should be a historical landmark. What the hell? Why? So bureaucrats can tell us how to live our lives and tourists can climb all over the place and jam up our sidewalks and streets? Conceited assholes.”

She wasn’t sure if the conceited assholes he referred to were the tourists, the bureaucrats, or Charlie’s parents. Probably all three. No matter. There was no point in getting into this with him. Even if she had valid points to counter with, he would believe what he wanted to believe and to hell with the truth. But that didn’t address the pile of lumber she was staring at.

“So what do you suggest we do about the discrepancy? If it’s crap, I don’t want it in my mother’s place.”

“I don’t have a suggestion ’cause I ain’t in charge. You’ll have to take it up with the guy who did the ordering. Like I said, I just thought you oughta know what was going on behind your back.” With that, he pivoted on his heel while he pulled on his work gloves.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to get to work. This place isn’t going to remodel itself.”

She fell in beside him. “What are you working on today?” No idea where the question came from, but she sort of coughed it out there.

He stopped and glared down at her. “Why do you need to know? Checking up on me?”

She pulled herself to full height. “As you pointed out, I’m one half of this project’s partnership.” In a more conciliatory tone, she added, “I’m curious. I haven’t been through anything like this before, and I’m trying to learn the process.”

He blew out a loud breath and raised his eyes to the sky as if begging the powers that be for patience for this annoying woman asking him a simple—and completely appropriate—question. His bloodshot eyes crashed back down on her face. “Electrical work, all right? I have some follow-up to do to make sure everything’s a go for our inspection today.”

“Oh. I hadn’t heard about that.”

“Yeah, well, the state inspector is coming to make sure our rough-in is up to snuff. Maybe Charlie forgot to mention it, just like he forgot to mention there was a change in the framing lumber.” He huffed away.

Right. Fine. Guess I won’t be asking you any more questions today.In fact, she planned to steer as far away from the sullen man as she possibly could.

She rubbed her forehead to stave off a headache that was building behind her eyeballs. First order of business would be to talk to Charlie and find out what was going on with the materials. Did he even know about the difference? And while it wasn’t crucial, she was curious why he hadn’t mentioned the electrical inspection to her. It had probably slipped his mind.

A tiny seed of doubt sprouted in the back of her mind, and she didn’t like it. Didn’t want to consider what it implied, but she had to.Verify. Fulfilling her duties as executor meant she also needed to be vigilant. She’d been skeptical of Past Perfect when she’d first arrived in town, but she’d become lulled by the integrity she’d perceived in its owner—not to mention her hormones had hijacked her brain when said owner devoted himself to delivering as many orgasms as she could take. And it turns out she could take a lot.

He’d been accused of swapping materials before, but he’d come clean with her about that right from the start, hadn’t he? That was his integrity in play. She was sure there was some kind of misunderstanding this time around too.

Right?

God, she hoped she hadn’t let herself be duped by a handsome face, a charming personality, and a talent for taking her to heights she’d never been before.

Charlie’s blood pressure puncheda hole in the sky when his eyes landed on the electrical inspector’s note. “Fail,” was scrawled in bold letters across the inspection card, as though the guy had a new Sharpie he’d been eager to test out.

“I don’t fucking believe this!” He ripped the paper from where it was taped to the outside of the front door. “The inspector’s fucking blind, or he wrote up an inspection from a different job,” he railed. “Nothing else makes sense.” He waved the sheet in the air in pure frustration. “What he’s calling out here wasn’t the way I left it.”

Joy stood straight as a two-by-four beside him. “Why? What happened?”

“He failed us based on … Never mind.”

“What do you mean, ‘never mind’?” she barked. “I’m an equal partner in this. I’d like to know.”

Why was she being so snippy?Probably for the same reason you’re pissed off, dumbass.“It’s technical.” Charlie looked up to see Cully watching intently from about ten yards away.

Joy propped her hands on her hips. Her voice was on the icy side when it came out. “I can do technical.”

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