Page 59 of One and Only

Cameron sighed. “I don’t have time for a woman. I work too much.”

“I have been telling you for the last two years that we need an office manager. Maybe if we had someone else besides my intern helping with the admin stuff, you’d have time to date.”

“I know, I know.” He gestured back toward the plans. “Speaking of work, we need to get this figured out, if you don’t mind.”

I left them alone, tuning out their conversation while I pulled open my laptop and got to work. I answered a few calls, spent about an hour on emails, tweaked a few design renders for potential clients, and then walked through the site when Cameron had a question on light placement.

The three of us stood in the middle of the large room and measured out some options for placement of the dining room table in relation to where we’d hang the massive light fixture.

“If you face it this way, it might obstruct the natural flow of the room,” I said.

“But the light placement will make more sense with the pendants we have over the island,” Cameron pointed out.

“What do you think, Jax?” I asked.

He’d remained quiet during our discussions, as he often did, but he backed up to view the room from farther back, eyes narrowed as he imagined the space.

His back was to the front door, and because he was so big, I couldn’t see who walked in when the door swung open behind him.

“Oh!”

At the sound of Poppy’s exclamation, Jax turned. Her eyes were wide, clearly surprised at the sight of him, and in that surprise, she didn’t watch where she put her next step. Her toe hooked on a coil of tubing that was connected to the nearest air compressor, and she pitched forward.

Jax’s hand shot forward, snatching her underneath the arm before she fell face-first into the unfinished house.

Her face was bright red, his was furrowed in a furious grimace, and I sighed at the painfully obvious crush my little sister had on Cameron’s best friend.

“Oh boy,” I breathed.

Cameron made a noise of assent. “I know. I told her to get over it because he’s more than a decade older than her and … kind of a dick.”

I glanced over at him. “He’s your best friend.”

“My best friend who’s occasionally kind of a dick and thankfully has no interest in younger women becausethenit would be a problem.”

I smothered a smile.

Jax pulled his hand away when Poppy was back on two feet, and she gave him a stilted smile in thanks. He walked away from her without a backward glance.

“Pops,” I said, glad to interrupt the heavy cloud of awkward hanging over the entire thing, “didn’t know you were coming by today.”

I eyed Jax meaningfully once he’d passed, and she gave me a hard look in return. “I didn’t expect to see you either, brand-new Mrs. Coleman.”

The name was jarring because for a moment, I had to think about who she was addressing.

I exhaled a weak laugh. “Right.”

“I figured you’d be in bed fordays,” she said.

“Poppy,” Cameron groaned.

I stifled a laugh, imagining my beige comforter in the beige guest room. “Too much to be done for that, my darling little sister. Beckett is at the team facilities today, and I was hoping to pick out a few last things for Olive’s room.”

“I’m surprised you’re not at the team facilities,” she said, glancing absently around the room. “Oh wait, that thing is tomorrow.”

I blinked. “What thing?”

Poppy’s forehead creased. “He didn’t tell you? It’s all over their social media this week. How have you not seen it?”

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