We all dug in. Harry cooked like he’d been doing it for centuries—which, he practically had—and it was delicious. The cheesy goodness of the lasagna rolls was next level. Chance had inhaled two before he took a sip of his iced tea and gestured the glass my direction.
“We totally have to talk about the RIPP podcast and get caught up on the episodes we’ve missed after dinner. But in the meantime, why don’t you share the big news about your next client?”
Unable to contain my excitement, I set my fork down and wiggled in my seat. “You guys are never going to believe this.”
“Is it cooler than RIPP coming here?” Scotty asked. “Because I’m not sure you can top that.”
“I guess that all depends on how you feel about Ego.”
Kingston scrunched his nose. “As in the word? Like, what we think about the definition of ego?”
Jetty tossed his napkin across the table at Kingston, hitting him right in the face. “Dude, you need to stop spending so much time researching the dead and stay up on who’s currently trending.”
“I’m lost,” Scotty admitted.
Stevie floated up and over the table to peer at me. “Are you talking about pop sensation, Ego? Like, the hottest singer since…since…Rihanna?”
“Ah.” I waggled my finger at him. “I knew I liked you. Great taste in music. And yes! I’m talking about the one and only Ego.”
Kingston’s nose wrinkled again. “That’s someone’s name?”
Chance shook his head and turned to Jetty. “I blame you.”
“How is his lack of social awareness my fault?”
“You’re his best friend. You know he gets lost in his head. It’s your responsibility to make him listen to some good music, watchYouTube, maybe scroll social media.”
Kingston frowned. “I do all of those things. For example, I knew who you were talking about when you mentioned RIPP because I watch their podcast.” He nodded his head like he’d proven his point. He was just the cutest.
I patted his thigh. “That’s good, big guy. And you’ll get a chance to meet Ego since he’ll be staying right here at the B&B while we work on his new house. He’s legit one of the biggest clients I’ve ever had.”
Wanting to impress him with my business prowess, I jumped into a big explanation about Ego’s career and his rise to fame. “And he picked to buy in Willowhope just so he could work withme. I feel like I’ve arrived. As long as I nail this, I’ll never have to worry about attracting quality clients again.”
A complicated mix of emotions chased each other across his face. He didn’t look quite as impressed as I’d hoped, and my hopes and dreams that this would be the thing to really snag his attention fell.Dammit.
“So he’s what? Moving here to be with you?” he asked.
“Not with me, with me. But to work with me. He was looking for a retreat between tours where he wouldn’t be in the spotlight. His business manager reached out to me because she’d seen some of my work and was interested in me designing his dream sanctuary for him. I sent him what we did here since he was looking for an older place too, and he fell in love with how it ended up.”
“And,” Chance said. “Skylar made it clear that he’d travel to wherever Ego bought, but he wouldn’t be on-site for the whole renovation because he didn’t want to be away from home.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve lost some potential clients lately because I’m not willing to travel too much. I like being in Willowhope.” I batted my eyelashes at Kingston. “With my people.”
“Huh.”
That wasn’t the reaction I was going for. “I also stipulated that I’d prefer working with Jetty.” Maybe scoring business for his bestie would give me brownie points.
Jetty smiled at me gratefully. “This contract gave me the final push I needed to hire more qualified labor. I wasn’t necessarily trying to grow my business, but if I can give more people around here jobs, I won’t complain.”
Stevie, who’d floated back down next to his brother, sighed dreamily. “Ego.TheEgo. I can’t believe he’s going to be here, and I’ll get to?—”
“You won’t meet him,” Mr. Harry said. “I forbid it. You can stare at him all you like, but we’re not going to be revealing ourselves to some star who might spread our secrets.”
“Unfortunately, I have to agree with Harry on this one,” Chance said, looking forlorn.
Stevie cut his gaze to his little brother. “You’re gonna have to take one for the team and flirt with him for me.”
Scotty held up his hands and shook his head, staring down at the table. “That’ll be a hard pass. I’m done messing with cocky men who think they’re better than me.”
