“Must be nice.”
“He earned his trip. But he went off grid for two weeks. I’ll check in with him when he comes back online.”
“Off grid as in...”
“No phone. No electricity.”
I turned to Nolan. I couldn’t imagine not having my creature comforts, let alone no access to my iPad or phone. I’d die. “How?”
“For Archer, it’s easy. He hates the phone more than I do. He much prefers working with his hands and the quiet.”
“No wonder you’re friends.”
“Sometimes I don’t mind noise.”
Even with his eyes hidden behind the dark shades, I could still feel his gaze on me. “Could have fooled me.” And I tried not to think about all the noises I’d made for him.
If I still didn’t have an aftershock or three during the quietest parts of the night, I’d be embarrassed.
But that kind of connection was rare. Even if it was only one time.
I wouldn’t be mad at it, even if the man made me want to slug him more than half the time.
“Shelby is on her way.” TJ’s voice broke the tension between us. “Oh, man. These drawings are amazing, Dahl. This house is truly special.”
I cleared my throat. “I think so too.” I glanced up at Nolan. “We’re all excited to work on it. I hope you’ll take us into consideration.”
Nolan crossed his arms over his chest. “I appreciate the visuals of Miss McKenna, but the real question is time frame and numbers.”
“Depends on how generous your budget is, Mr. Devereaux.”
If he was going to use my last name, I could do the same to him. As if I didn’t have carnal knowledge of his body. Well, sort of. He hadn’t allowed me to see much of him. Or even touch any of him, to be truthful.
And I didn’t need to go down that road again, dammit.
I was a professional and this house was important. Not my newly activated libido. She could go back on ice where she’d been for the last...well, I wasn’t going to think about how long that had been.
I was already ramped up.
“We can give you some preliminary numbers, but we’ll need to do that inspection to truly know where we’re headed.” TJ held her arm out. “Let’s go back over to the conference table and we can show you our standard contract.”
Nolan glanced at me, then he nodded. “Sounds good.”
I grabbed my coffee and added ice cubes since it was already cold. I was already burning up, anyway, so I could use the cooldown time. TJ went over the initial details as I pretended I was working on my iPad—when, in fact, I was just coloring the same section of the stained glass I’d envisioned for the waterfront side of the house.
The side that faced the road and driveway would hold onto the stark Victorian Gothic tone.
I listened with half an ear as Nolan asked questions, but for the most part, he just let TJ run-through her spiel.
The bell over our door jangled lightly, pulling me out of my drawing.
Shelby came through with a tired smile. “So sorry I’m late. My stomach was a little off and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t sick. Wouldn’t want to get anyone infected with something.” She held her hand over her middle.
I stood. “We can handle this if you’re not feeling up to it. Do you want some coffee?”
Her skin actually paled to gray. “No, definitely not on the coffee. I’m pretty sure that’s what started this. But thanks. Maybe I should just go into my office, in case it’s something worse.”
“Sure.” I glanced at Nolan. “That all right with you?”
“I would imagine we’ll be working together the most, Miss McKenna.”
Again, with that full name. What the hell was going on there? Were we really going to go full-on strangers?
“I would be lead on the project. Shelby is heading a large project, but she’d be my second.”
Shelby smiled at Nolan. “I’d shake your hand, but...well, let’s just stay on the safe side.” Suddenly, she went from gray to downright pale as she darted to the back of the studio where our bathroom was.
TJ popped up, pressing her lips together with worry.
“I’ll go check on her.”
TJ’s face smoothed in relief. She didn’t do well with stomach issues. Sympathy spewer, as she called it.
“Go on, Hellcat. We’ll be fine.”
TJ’s attention swung to Nolan then to me. I gave her a don’t you start look then headed to the bathrooms to check on Shelby.
“Okay, Mr. Devereaux, what kind of down payment were you looking for to retain our services?”
