Page 94 of Second Chance at Sunshine Inn

“I think you look perfect, darlin’.” The hint of a smile played over his lips.

The sound of that nickname made her insides melt. For a moment she allowed herself to imagine what it would have felt like if hehadkissed her last night.

Down, girl!

“Let me see how the roof and the walls look first,” he said. “I can’t risk you getting hurt.”

“Okay.” His concern for her sent a warm glow through her.

“I’ll call the insurance company too.”

“We should take the inn off the market while we’re working on repairs, right?”

He nodded. “Probably.”

She hesitated for a moment. “But then we’ll relist it when construction is done?”

He opened his mouth to say something just as her phone chimed with a text. She pulled it from her pocket.

Trevor: That storm was bad last night. You okay?

Everleigh studied the text and then lifted her eyes to Cade’s. His lips had turned down, and his eyes focused on her phone. She could feel his irritation from across the table.

“Trevor?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He nodded toward her phone. “What does he want?”

“He asked if I was okay after the storm.” She locked the screen and took a bite of bacon.

“You going to answer him?”

“Later.” She nodded. “Maybe he can help with the cleanup.”

His eyes narrowed. “We don’t need his help.”

“From what I could see through the dark last night, that entire tree broke in half and flattened the sunroom. I think we need all the help we can get.”

“We have insurance.”

“And how many other people sustained damage last night?” she asked. “We’ll have to wait our turn in line to file a claim and then have a crew come out to clean up the mess. The more people who come out to help us in the beginning, the better.”

Cade pushed his chair back, his blue eyes suddenly frosty. “We still don’t needhishelp.”

“I don’t understand why you hate him so much. He’s been nothing but nice to me.”

“Because he wants something, Everleigh. You can’t possibly be that naïve.”

“Stop calling me naïve,” she insisted. “Just because I’m younger than you doesn’t make me naïve.” She stood and stacked their plates. “I’ll do the dishes. You can get dressed.”

Cade hesitated for a moment, his jaw set in a stubborn line, but then he stalked toward the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Everleigh plopped down onto the chair and rubbed her forehead as frustration rushed over her. This was exactly why she and Cade could barely be friends. It seemed like every one of their conversations ended in an argument. Why couldn’t they just stay civil?

She pulled up Trevor’s text and poised her thumbs over the phone. Then she drooped back on the chair and let out a frustrated huff. She could answer him later, she supposed. But she was still unsure of why her friendship with Trevor made Cade so angry.

Shoving away her annoyance, she headed to the sink and began washing the dishes. They needed to focus on getting the sunroom repaired no matter how much they bickered.

---