Page 30 of The Fixer

“I suppose not,” Bea huffed. “With all that kissing I hear you do, that would be an awful lot of telling, now wouldn’t it?”

He broadened his smile. “You tell your niece I said hello, though, won’t you?” Hopefully, Bea would decide right quick to buy into the false rumors that he was a manwhore, and she’d keep her niece far, far away from trouble and safe from every kind of STD known to mankind—not thathe’d ever had any of those. Once upon a time, though, the talk about him getting around had been true—as Neve loved to remind him and anyone within earshot—but not so this last year. He had more important things to chase. But if that old reputation he had yet to live down could get him out of a date with Bea’s niece? Yeah, he could get behind that, STDs and all.

“I’ll get your file.” Bea’s mouth firmed into a hard line.

“And the application?”

“You can fill it out, but I’m not sure how much ‘speeding up’ I’ll be able to do.” She waddled away.

Fuck!That woman had the power to speed or slow down anything and everything connected with construction in this town. He’d have to figure out a way to butter her up that didn’t include taking her niece out on a date …afterhe had a little “talk” with his new client-who-might-not-be-a-client.

He puffed out a breath and slid his phone from his back pocket, ready to text Noah and prod him to follow up with the Silver Summit guys and find out what the fuck the delay was. As his finger hovered over the screen, he reconsidered. This was as muchhisproject as it was Noah’s. Even though communication typically flowed through Noah, why couldn’t Charlie go directly to the guy in charge? Why give his brother another reason to label him “baby bro”?

He changed course and texted Neve instead to help him with hisotherproblem.

Hey, Plus-1. Wanna go to Doro with me this weekend?

He hated lying, so if he could turn this one into a truth, all the better.

Neve:What’s in Doro besides a few chickens?

Charlie:A battle of the bands at the bar.

There was only one bar.

Neve:Wow. So tempting. Not.

Charlie:I need a reason to not be here.

Neve:Hmm … I’m sure Lauren would go.

Charlie:You’re cruel.

Neve:And unusual. Let me get back to you.

Charlie:You’re going to look for the bigger, better deal, aren’t you?

Neve:You bet your sweet ass, and it won’t take much to outdo Doro.

Charlie shoved his phone into his back pocket. Maybe Joy would give him the green light by then. He could throw himself into rehabbing Crystal Harmony Haven and hide out at the same time. He needed to get herestimates done and try to talk her into the most extensive one, and God, did he dread the sales jobthatwas gonna take.

Then again, she might just fire his ass after their “talk.” He’d have to play that one real cool and not let his temper get the best of him.

“What the fuck wereyou thinking? Excuse my French. What thehellwere you thinking?” Charlie stormed back and forth across her mother’s kitchen, which meant he could only go a few paces before he had to pivot. “You might have just permanently screwed up everything for this remodel! You can’t waltz into a government office and act like the queen bee. Beaisthe queen bee, and she doesn’t share her crown. In fact, I’m surprised she didn’t whack you upside your head with her scepter like she did me!”

Joy cocked an eyebrow. “Was that pun intentional? ‘Bea is the queen bee’?”

He ran right over her. Oh jeez, he was pissed! “Let’s get some things straight. You hired me to do the work, and that includes navigating the building department, so let medo my job.” He fisted his hands on his hips. “Have you ever heard of the homeowner who wanted to ‘help’ his contractor with the remodel, thinking he’d save a few bucks? The contractor says sure, but it’ll cost you extra. Why do you suppose that is?”

“I have no idea. Because the contractor is a jerk?” Joy gave him her haughtiest look, which usually entailed looking down her nose at someone, but unless she climbed on a chair, that wasn’t going to happen in this scenario.

“It’s because the person who has no business sticking their big fat nose in the process does it anyway, and it slows down the whole damn project. That same rule applies here. If you insist on getting involved, it’s going to cost more, whether I charge you extra for the privilege or whether it’s because you’ve just royally fucked up something that’s going to take time and money to unfuck.”

Did she have a big nose? No, she did not. “Is that a real word? ‘Unfuck’?”

He jabbed a thumb at his chest.“Iwill deal with Bea and anyone else in the building department. You will stay away. Understood? And I have no fucking idea if ‘unfuck’ is a real word.”

Eyes burning with steely intensity stared her down. “Do you understand?” he gritted out.

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