Page 13 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“It could be a little nicer.” She had been impressed by it, truth be told. It was a full bath with both a freestanding claw foot tub and a shower. But the appliances were a little old-fashioned, a little out of date. “And we should see how old the furnace and water heater are. Maybe they could use an update.”

“What about the wallpaper?” She could see that he was getting into the spirit of the thing now. “It’s peeling in some places.”

“Yeah, I think we should get rid of that altogether. Apply some fresh paint instead. That will be much more modern.”

“I know some contractors we can call for all this.”

She laughed. “I’m a real estate agent, Charlie. I have contractors.”

“Well, mine might be better.”

“They’re not. You have to trust me, Charlie. I’ve worked with all the contractors in the state. I know who’s good. I don’t know who your family usually deals with, and maybe it’s the same people, but I know who can do the best job at the best pace for the best rate. This is the first massive beachfront estate I’ve listed, but it’s definitely not the first home renovation I’ve handled.”

He gave her a skeptical look.

“You said you were going to let me handle it,” she reminded him. “Did you mean that, or were you just blowing smoke?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay,” he said. “We’ll give your contractors a shot. We’ll see if they’re up to the job or not. But if it doesn’t go well, then we’ll switch to my people.”

“You’re on,” she told him. “I know the contractors I work with well enough that this isn’t a gamble for me.”

“Okay, good. I hope you’re right!”

“I think we should bring in an HVAC person first,” Olivia said. “Have them do a full diagnostic, and then we’ll figure out what new systems we ought to put in.”

“You think we need a new AC system too?”

“I have no idea. It depends how old the one we’ve got is,” she said. “These are things that should be replaced periodically, so if that hasn’t happened in a while, it might be time. But we’ll see what the technician says about it. We’ll follow his advice. These aren’t the kind of decisions we have to make on our own.”

“All right,” he agreed.

“And I’ll pick up some interior home magazines while I’m out today,” she said. “That way you can look them over and see what the latest trends are. When we decide what we’re going to do in terms of things like paint and new furnishings, we should take inspiration from those pages. We can look through them tonight and see what you like.”

“It doesn’t matter what I like, does it?” Charlie asked. “It’s not like I’m going to be the one living here.”

“I guess not,” she said. “But renovating can be fun, you know. It could be a good time, if you let it. You could spend this time choosing things you like, or things you think your aunt would have liked. Some people see it as a good way to honor a loved one — remodeling a house in their honor before selling it. It would be a kind of way of spending time with her once more before you part ways.”

“That’s a little silly,” Charlie said. “She’s already gone. It’s not as if I’d really be spending any time with her.”

“Okay, Charlie,” Olivia said with a sigh. “You can do whatever you want. This is your house, after all. If you don’t care what it looks like, I’m happy to make the design choices for you.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Charlie said. “Just pick whatever you think will make it easiest to sell the house and get a good amount of money.”

“Because all you really care about is sticking it to your brothers and your sister?”

“That’s why we’re doing all this,” he said. “That’s the end goal here.”

“Okay,” she agreed, getting up from the table. “I’m going out.”

“Going where?”

“Just out.” She didn’t want to spend the rest of the day in this house with him, struggling to get along, trying to deal with the fact that he seemed so dispassionate about what lay before them. She particularly didn’t want to be with him while she tried to sort out her feelings about the turn their deal had just taken.

How long are we going to have to do this? What had she gotten herself into?

The thoughts plagued her as she got into her car and drove away from the estate, hardly able to believe how little time had passed since the day she had driven over here to take a look at it. It had been less than ten days since the first time she’d laid eyes on Charlie, and now she was married to him. And though it was supposed to be a temporary situation, she had no idea when she would be able to get out of it.

She should have made him commit to a firm date before she had gotten involved in all this. That would have been the smart thing to do. And for the first time since it had begun, she wished she had thought to tell her family what she was doing. They would have told her not to, but once they accepted it, they would have helped her to prepare.

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