Page 8 of I Choose You
“Hi, there,” he said to her. Then, turning to me, he said, “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“I didn’t actually get your name, did I?” I asked with suspicion. That sounded bad, but it wasn’t like I was hitting on her last night. I didn’t even expect to see her again. Not that I was complaining about that part—depending on her reason for being here. She was stunning. On the taller side for a woman, her blonde hair a wild mess of waves that framed her face and cut to just below her shoulders. She had midnight-blue eyes and a sprinkle of freckles, but it was her smile that could stop a guy in his tracks. If that guy was looking for someone like her.
“No, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.” She smiled and held out her hand to me. “Claire DeLuca, the historical preservation designer for this project.”
Fuck.Thiswas Claire? Was she fucking serious?
I should have fucking known. Tourist season was behind us for the summer, so new faces in town didn’t come about all that often. My blood immediately started boiling. She didn’t have a chance to introduce herself? She didn’t think it might have been good information to have before I started tearing into her?
Dale leaned around me and took her offered hand. “Nice to meet you.” He raised his eyebrows at me, probably trying to warn me to play nice. He had no idea that ship had alreadysailed.
My jaw clenched. Without a word, I turned and walked away. Dale said something to her about “going easy” on me. Fucking traitor, playing all nice with the pretty girl on my jobsite. Not that she was a girl—she was definitely a grown woman. It was hard not to notice that.
I heard her heels click-clacking on the floor, trying to catch up to me. I turned into one of the reading rooms instead of the storage room next door. Richie and Shawn were in the storage room working through which items we could keep and which needed to go. Richie was the first guy I’d hired when I started to get enough work that I needed the extra help. He asked me to take on his son, Shawn, a year back, and so far, he’d been a good fit. I didn’t need to bring this conversation to them though. They had work to do, and I needed to get this straightened out.
Claire turned the corner into the room and rammed directly into my chest. She stumbled back, and my hand caught her around the arm and steadied her as she got her balance. A zing of electricity ran up to my shoulder, and as soon as she was righted, I dropped my hand.
“You couldn’t have said something yesterday,Claire?”
“I was going to introduce myself, but you started talking, and I thought it was best to just listen. Now, I understand your concerns so much better, and you don’t have to worry about how to explain them to me face-to-face. Because, you know, you already did.” She was still smiling like this was some fucking joke to her.
“I wasn’t worried about it. And I stand by what I said last night. You don’t know this place. You don’t know its history. You don’t know this town. Your opinions aren’t welcomehere.”
Her back straightened, and her chin rose higher, her smile never faltering. “Understood. I’ll get out of your hair and leave you to work. If you need me, I’ll be giving myself a tour and familiarizing myself with the layout, construction methods, material, and structural design. I’ll try not to get into any trouble,” she said, ending with a sly wink. Shawn walked by with a few pieces for the dumpster in his arms. He looked into the room to see who I was talking to and nearly tripped over his feet.
“Eyes straight. Keep it moving,” I yelled to him before I turned and eyed Claire skeptically. My shoulders slumped as I let out a heavy breath. “Let’s go. We’ll do the first and second floors today. Tomorrow, bring work boots. This is a construction site. Even in its preliminary stages, you won’t be allowed on the premises if you can’t follow the safety rules.”
She nodded and wrote something down in the digital notepad she was carrying.
As we walked out the door, I had to stop myself from putting my hand on the small of her back. What was my problem? I didn’t want her here, and I’d made that very clear, but my skin tingled when we touched. I hadn’t had that feeling in a very long time. Didn’t need it now either.
Claire stopped in the middle of the foyer, her head tipped back, taking in the vaulted ceiling and the mezzanine balconies above. Spinning in a slow circle, she made a little hum of appreciation.
“Wow. This really is marvelous.” A wide smile lit up her face. Her eyes locked on mine for a second but then slipped away quickly as she continued to scan her surroundings. I watched her expression change, becoming more somber. “Idon’t want to ruin this, Reid. I only want to help make it better. Bring it back to life,” she said softly.
“We’ll see about that,” I grumbled. “Come on. I’ll show you around. What I can anyway.” My gaze landed on her choice of footwear. “The basement is wrecked. Wear something you won’t mind getting dirty when you go down there. And the third floor is a bit sketch. It’s safe as long as you know where to go and you don’t put any faith in the railings doing their job.”
Walking in front of her was probably for the best. Those heels she had on were paired with a tight pencil skirt that hit right below her knees. It was a very professional outfit, but my eyes tracking her ass as it swayed in front of me was anything but. Keeping her behind me should make it less distracting.
The clackity-clack of her heels stopped before I even had a chance to start the tour. I turned around in time to witness her veer off into the storage room, where the guys were still sorting through the remnants of a time long past. Something crashed to the ground, and I heard Richie swearing.
“Sorry, Dad. I lost my grip,” Shawn said. He was holding one side of a desk, Richie on the other. Richie had his back toward me while Shawn faced the doorway, his cheeks pink with embarrassment.
“Are you hauling this to the dumpster? Hi, by the way. I’m Claire.” She reached out her hand, and Richie quickly pulled his glove off to shake it.
“Richie, and this is my son, Shawn.”
“Hi.” Shawn’s face got even brighter as he stared at Claire like she hung the moon.
I cleared my throat, pulling his attention away from her.
Claire smiled warmly at them, then ran her hand across the top of the desk. It had seen better days, but it wasn’t in terrible shape.
“No, this is going to the salvage pile,” I answered her. “We can restore this and reuse it somewhere in the design.” Richie nodded at me and got in position for the team lift. Shawn was looking at Claire again, and I didn’t think he was looking at her face, until Richie yelled for him to pay attention. I would have a talk with him later. Yes, there was a pretty lady on the jobsite. No, he couldn’t stare at her like a fool all day. I didn’t want her involved on this project, but that didn’t mean I wanted her to think we were all a bunch of dirty creepsters.
I pulled Claire away from the doorway to allow the guys to keep working and led her back into the foyer to start the tour. Her back stiffened beneath my hand, which I only just realized I had placed on her lower back. I immediately pulled it away and shoved my hands in my pockets, where they would, hopefully, stay put.
The floors in the entryway and the individual rooms off to the sides were wide-plank hardwood. Stained, and possibly moldy, but definitely salvageable. As we made our way into the heart of the library, the flooring changed to carpeting. If it were up to me, which it wasn’t, I would rip all of the carpeting out and replace it with a new, dark-colored Turkish design. As it was, all of the carpeting would need to be ripped out regardless.
