Page 28 of Bear's Heart

Bear shook his hand and then, as Cormac opened the door, wheeled out with Josie at his side.

She’d been unusually quiet during the half hour spent exploring the Farrell Building and Bear was curious to get her thoughts now.“Have time for a coffee?”he asked.

She nodded.“An iced one,” she said.“It was hot in there.”

“It was warm,” he agreed.“I have a feeling there’s no air conditioning.”

They walked the three blocks to Java Café, and it was relatively empty as it was four o’clock now and nearing the end of the business day.

“What did you think?”he asked as they settled at a table with their beverages.

“It’s a big building.”

“I know, but I liked that.I could see dividing the space into private offices at the back, with the front being the facility for the clients.”

“You’d have to offer plenty of accessible bathrooms and those would eat up space.”

“How many do you think are necessary?”

“It depends on how many clients would be training at the same time, but you might want two large private bathrooms, plus an additional private bathroom with a shower.Just in case.”

Not following, he lifted a brow and then understood what she was saying.“That’s probably smart.Accidents happen.”

“Someone might also need to go straight to another appointment, and I imagine it would be easier to shower here than go home, clean up, and head out again.”

“Maybe two regular bathrooms, and two bathrooms with showers,” he said.

“Or one regular accessible bathroom, and two accessible with showers.”

“Would you be interested in being the designer?”

“For my design projects for school?”

“For projects for school and as a job.I’d pay you—”

“I’m not supposed to take paid outside work.Its part of my contract with the design firm.I can do jobs that meet the requirements of my school projects.”

“We don’t have to tell anyone.”

“Yes, we would, including the government.I pay my taxes, Mr.Anderson.”

He lifted his hands in surrender.“I do, too.But I’d love to have you work with me on this, and my house—”

“You don’t have either, yet.”

“I will soon,” he said confidently.“It’s just a matter of getting the numbers to line up, and they will.Now, will my house and the SCI facility work for your projects?What is the criteria?”

“It can be residential or commercial, or both.The objective is to create a universal space in each, with strong, commercially appealing design elements.”She smiled, expression hopeful.“I would love to work on both your projects.I love that they’re different from the other.It’s pretty exciting.”

“It is,” he agreed.

“But you don’t have an agreement for either one, so I don’t want to get excited only to be disappointed.”

“The house isn’t an issue.It’s very plain which makes it very affordable,” Bear said dryly.“I’ll have Rye send me the owner’s info tonight and get that one squared away.”

Josie frowned.“But if it’s a rental property, do you really want to put money into it?The owner is the one who’d benefit—not you.”

“I’d benefit.I’d be living in a considerably more stylish home.”

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