Page 26 of Christmas Home

“I really want another piece of this,” Ruther said and sighed after swallowing the last bite.

“You’ll have to come back tomorrow. Oh, just so you know, I made that one myself. First time Mrs. Cole let me do it.”

“Wait, you made it? You know how to make this?” he asked, sounding almost excited. It was cute.

“Yep, I knew how to make a chocolate meringue pie before coming here, but now I know the secret to making it taste like that,” I said, wagging my eyebrows suggestively.

Ruther grinned. “Okay, that’s it. Who should I ask for your hand in marriage?”

“Hand in marriage? All it takes is a slice of pie to win you over?” I asked, laughing now.

“Pie for life, you mean. I’ve already been courting you like some Victorian gentleman, so should I ask Mrs. Cole for her blessing?”

I was still laughing at the thought when he stood up, acting like he was looking for my boss.

“Stop that. You’re gonna get me in trouble or get the gossipy tongues waggin’. Come on, I’ll walk you home,” I said.

I knew he’d been teasing, but I liked the old-fashioned courting like we were in an old-time novel or something. I shook my head before I got any lovesick notions and led him out the door.

“So, are we still on for tomorrow?” Ruther asked as we walked more briskly than usual did toward his building. “At the hotel’s wine bar, I mean.”

I closed my eyes and let the happy thrill zing through me for a moment before I nodded. “Yep, if you’re still willin’ to waste your money on such things, I’m game.”

“Then let’s meet here around noon. Corey said he’s got his hands full in the morning, which works fine, considering wine for breakfast might be a bad idea.”

I chuckled and smiled. “If this local stuff is as good as you say, drinking wine anytime is probably a wonderful idea,” I said and paused outside the door to his building. “And yes, I’ll be here tomorrow at high noon.”

Ruther leaned forward, and for a moment, I thought he would kiss me. Luckily, or maybe not so lucky, he stopped short and just smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.” Then he turned and walked through the door.

I walked, mesmerized and distracted, all the way to the motel, not doing my usual scan of the parking lot. I’d just gotten to my door when I heard laughter and turned around to see who it was.

The guy from before who’d said he recognized me was staring at me from the parking lot. His buddies were facing him, buthe was ignoring them. When I made eye contact, he winked and gave me an evil grin that, more than anything, told me my happy days here were about to come to an end.

twenty-three

Ruther

So, that almost happened.I stopped myself in time, but I’d certainly wanted to kiss Clyde. The man sparked something inside me that caused me to act like a lovesick puppy.

His reaction when I mentioned I’d been courting him on our walks was priceless. His cute face blushed with pleasure and melted my insides. Yeah, I had it bad for this guy.

He seemed almost willing to let me kiss him too. Almost. I logged that in the back of my mind because now I’d seen how he reacted, I was more determined than ever to taste those pouty lips when the time was right.

I came into the condo whistling, and Corey cocked an eyebrow at me before shaking his head. “So, I have some preliminary numbers on the project. If the costs to build are similar to what we’ve paid in New York, which is unlikely, considering the cost of living here is significantly less, and if we price the homes based on my initial research, we stand to make this much,” he said, swinging his laptop around to show me the numbers.

I laughed before turning the laptop back. “You better double-check those numbers because that’s comparable, if not better than, what we make in the city.”

Corey shook his head and turned the laptop back around for me to see. “The initial investment is significantly less. We’d pay at least ten times the cost for property in the city and at least five times as much if we were building in the suburbs, even if we were building in Jersey.”

I snickered at the joke. Corey was a snob and wasn’t above typical New Jersey jibes.

“What about the development costs?” I asked, looking at his numbers again.

He shrugged but smiled. “I have to assume they will be at least equal to or less than it would cost in New York. Construction supplies aren’t going to be much cheaper here, but labor might be. Regardless, as you can see, building the proposal using our normal cost calculator should be reliable enough to show you this is more than worth the effort.”

The fact he didn’t call me boss went a long way to show he really had faith in the potential of this project. “Well, Corey, I like the idea. I like those numbers even better. We also don’t have to get board approval any longer, not to mention I’ll be footing the costs myself. So, do it. Let’s chase this down and see if, after getting realistic numbers, it could make the money indicated.”

Corey nodded. “I…well, to be honest, I never thought a development project like this would be something to consider, especially with…with your history here. However, it does seem this area is prime for development. I also like Lance’s modernized bungalows idea. This has a lot of promise.”

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