Page 25 of The Single Dad Project

But of course, when he’d accepted the contract, he hadn’t calculated in the presence of a beautiful, distracting woman.

Shit. What were the odds?

He could count on one hand the number of women he’d been involved with since his divorce, and none of them had met Justine. How was it when he’d indulged in his first and probably only one-night stand, she had somehow ended up being his daughter’s new best friend?

Like father, like daughter.

He mentally winced. How could he blame Justine for being drawn to Flo? Sure, it’d been for vastly different reasons, but hadn’t he just as quickly been attracted to her? But unlike his daughter, he didn’t want a friend. Didn’t want any kind of...relationship. History had shown he was bad at them.

Like father, like son.

Only he wasn’t in denial about it like his father. He didn’t need to repeatedly go down that dead end to figure out a truth that blinked like a neon caution sign.

While he’d learned that lesson, Justine hadn’t. But at five, how could he expect her to? Still, he worried about her becoming attached to women because of her mother’s absence. Justine didn’t ask about Jennifer much, but the way she latched on to the women in her life screamed volumes. Women like Addie were fine; his sister wasn’t going anywhere.

But like Flo? Women who were transitory and would only disappear from Justine’s life in a few short months? That presented a problem. Their absence would rip off a barely healed scab and leave his daughter hurt all over again.

And it scared the shit out of him wondering how often that particular wound would be inflicted before the damage to his daughter was irreparable.

Locking down a sigh behind clenched teeth, he redirected his attention to the room that would be the focus of the first couple of episodes and the woman currently walking a circuit of the space.

“I have a shooting schedule, but to make sure the renovation finishes on time, construction will continue even after filming has ended for the day,” Mira said, stopping near the bank of bay windows.

“That’s fine. I’ll occasionally drop in during those hours to make sure everything is as it should be, though,” he warned her.

She flashed him a smile over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” She turned and headed toward the foyer. “The rest of the crew is arriving along with a couple of visitors. The mayor of this town, if I’m not mistaken.”

In moments she opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Adam moved across the floor to the window. Mira descended the steps, approaching a group of about twenty people carrying equipment in large cases as well as tripods, microphones and reflectors. And those were just the things he recognized.

Here we go.

Inhaling a breath, he held it, then deliberately exhaled. And followed in Mira’s footsteps toward the home’s entrance. Familiar nerves jumbled and snarled in his stomach. They visited him at the beginning of every project, and he welcomed them. What did his grandmother used to say?

If you’re not nervous, you’ve lost your passion.

He never stopped trying to better himself; he was his own competition. And that meant doing the best for all his clients.Beingthe best for them...and for Justine.

This job wasn’t his first restoration or his biggest. But it was his most important. This house in the small town of Rose Bend truly was the opportunity of a lifetime.

And he couldn’t fuck it up.

As he stepped onto the porch, he spotted the person who could be a threat to that vow.

Florence Dennison.

Look away, goddammit. Look. Away.

The order from his brain ricocheted off his skull, but he couldn’t cooperate. Couldn’t snatch his gaze from the woman who already had his cock thickening beneath his zipper from just a glimpse of her.

One glimpse.

Damn. How was he going to survive several months working with her?

Because you will. Because you have no choice.

Because you have to keep your dick in your pants.

With this warning ringing in his head, he forced his attention away from her and concentrated on the crew gathered on the walkway and lawn. Yet, even as he went to meet them, he couldn’t burn away the image of Flo Dennison from his mind’s eye.

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