Page 13 of Flippin' Cowboy
Most people shrank and cowered when Nick yelled at them. He might’ve felt guilty about that, except he wasn’t the type to yell and intimidate unless it was called for.
And it was mostdefinitelycalled for in this situation.
Mrs. Snowberry surprised him.
“Oh, there you are!” she exclaimed and smiled at him, apparently unbothered by his unintentionally dramatic entrance, his scowl, or his raised voice. “I was hoping you’d be able to join us in time for the initial walkthrough.”
Nick’s face heated. He forced himself to apologize. “Sorry I’m late.” He couldn’t help adding, “But you can’tseriouslybe considering a complete demolition of this historic house!”
“My general contractor and I were simply discussing all of our options, now that she’s had the opportunity to tour the property. We haven’t decided on anything yet,” Mrs. Snowberry said smoothly. She smiled, her bright blue eyes glowing with amusement. “Nick, have you met my GC?” She turned to the young woman at her side. “Winter, this is Nick Evans, my partner investor in the Snowberry Springs Inn, and a passionate historical preservationist.”
Winter?Nick was beginning to have a bad feeling about this too-good-to-be-true deal.
It can’t be, he told himself. For one thing, the woman at Mrs. Snowberry’s side wasn’t wearing that fucking pink hard hat and the matching pink tool belt he despised. And her face looked different, too, from the person on TV.
“I know who he is,” Winter said, her tone clipped.
Mrs. Snowberry’s smile didn’t falter. She looked like she was enjoying herself. “Nick, this is my granddaughter, Winter. You may have seen her on TV.”
Nick blinked at her in disbelief.
“Winter…WinnieSnowberry?” he croaked, hoping against hope it wasn’t true. “TheWinnie Snowberry? From Seattle?”
Fuck, he thought. This couldn’t be happening. The Renovation Channel’s producer couldn’tseriouslybe thinking of pairing him withher,of all the general contractors featured on their network!
Nick wasn’t a religious man, but he was praying hard right now.Please no, God. Let this be a different person.
But how many female GCs with the last name of Snowberry could there be?
And now that he looked more closely, her shining brown hair was about the right length, though the star ofRestoring Seattlenormally wore it down around her shoulders on her show.
Winnie grinned at him, but her eyes were cold.
“The one and only fake celebrity flipper,” she said in a snarky tone. “Nice to meet you, Nick,” she added in a way that made it perfectly clear she wasn’t any happier about this than he was.
In despair, he turned to Mrs. Snowberry. “Thisis the ‘experienced and trusted contractor’ you and Karla Jones want me to work with? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Hold on,” Winnie interjected. “Like I’m thrilled to be working with Mr. Tall, Dark and Snarky!” Her dark, finely shaped brows drew together in a frown. “I mean, this guy’s never seen a restoration he’s liked… except for his own, of course.”
Nick rounded on her. “Oh, yeah?I’mnot the one who painted the original mahogany wainscoting and trim work in a Victorian! That was really fuckingunforgivable!”
Winnie crossed her arms and glowered at him. “You remember that, but you’ve forgotten that I argued against painting over that woodwork?” She shook her head. “All it needed was a bit of sanding and staining.Geoffwas the one who insisted on painting it, and as the show’s designer, he got the final word on design decisions.”
Her mouth twisted on that last sentence, as if she’d bitten into something sour.
“Yeah, well, aren’t you glad you two aren’t working together anymore?” Nick sneered.
A spasm of pain crossed Winnie’s face, and Nick instantly regretted his words.
“I’m sorry,” he said, as she was drawing an outraged breath, probably intending to read him the riot act. “That was a low blow. I shouldn’t have said that.”
She released her breath in a long exhalation. Her shoulders slumped. “Damn right you shouldn’t have. But apology accepted.”
Then she turned to Mrs. Snowberry. “Time for me to going to get going, Grandma.”
“Did you get everything you needed?” Mrs. Snowberry asked.
“Yeah, I’ve seen everything I need to see in here,” Winnie replied, carefully not looking at Nick. “I’ll draw up an estimate for the repairs and upgrades we talked about, and then you, Karla, and me should sit down and hash out a restoration plan that fits within your budget. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
