Page 62 of Unexpected Forever
His eyes cling to mine, analyzing my reaction.
There’s a lightness in my chest as I smooth a hand down my thigh, keeping my eyes averted from him. It takes all my control to tamp down the glee I feel.
“Well, if that’s what you want, I think buying this house would be a great investment.”
“Good.” I find it impossible not to return his infectious grin.
The man will be the death of me with his smiles and grins.
“Ready to talk bars?” he asks.
“Ready.”
For the next hour or so, we look over the blueprints of the old oceanside restaurant he purchased last year. The layout is already pretty good, but I give him some additional ideas of where he could do things without compromising the integrity of the building.
“See, it would be better to open this up over here,” I say, pointing to a side of the drawing. “but this column right here is probably load-bearing so you can’t remove it without replacing it with a structural beam.”
“Hmmm…” Nate stands next to me, looking down at plans on his desk. One hand rubs his chin, while the other crosses his broad chest, his face contemplative. “Yeah, my contractor mentioned that.”
He taps his finger on his jaw before sliding his gaze to me. “But you think it would flow better without it there?”
“Yes.”
His brow furrows as though not convinced. A thought hits me and I hold up a finger.
“Okay, how about this then? You could add a support beam here,”—I point to a place on the blueprint—“and then have some structural columns but in different places that won’t hinder the flow but will keep the integrity.”
He tilts his head, staring at the drawing. Then he nods, that smile I love slowly forming on his lips. “Yeah, it could work.” His eyes meet mine. “How do you know so much about this?”
“You’re forgetting who my family is, Gentry.”
“No, I just didn’t realize you’d been exposed to so much of the business.”
“When I was little, my dad would take me to job sites sometimes. I was only five or six at the time so I didn’t really understand what was going on, but it seemed so exciting whenever he took me.”
My mind wanders back to being held in my dad’s arms, feeling so safe and protected, wearing a yellow hard hat way too big for my head. I blink back tears.
“Anyway, I also worked with Noah when he needed help in the office. And then of course, Del’sProperty Aceshow ran for ten years. I guess I picked up a few things along the way.”
“I’d say you did. Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime. I’m here to help you bring your inner Sam Malone to life.”
He turns to face me and blinks. “Did you just referenceCheers?”
“Where everybody knows your name? Of course,” I say, scoffing.
Shaking his head, he laughs. “You never fail to surprise me, Charlotte Reynolds.”
I shrug, ignoring the thrill running through me at him using my full name. Something no one else does unless I’m in trouble.
“Marcus, the owner of the Silver Moon, used to have it on at the bar. Not sure I’ve ever caught an entire episode at one time, but I’ve seen enough to know what’s going on.”
He nods. “On the rare occasion my uncle and I sat down to watch TV, he would watch classic 80’s television.Cheerswas one of his favorites.”
“Norm!” we both say at the same time before laughing.
“Okay, who did you crush on? Diane or Rebecca?” I ask him, leaning against the desk.
