Page 45 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

FORD

A week after Eliza had ditched Lila as her designer, I pulled up to Heritage House, feeling much better than I had last weekend. I was back to going through the motions, tying up loose ends on all my summer projects and working hard on sorting out my head.

Structural work on Heritage House was almost complete though, and that would be a big day for me.

Soon, the general contractors would be taking over to finish up, and since CE was nearly done with this job, Lila had decided to hang back at the office, choosing instead to work on some of my other projects rather than coming out here with me.

I didn’t blame her. I loved this house and my team had done an excellent job, but I was more than ready for it to be over. Even Eliza had removed herself from actively working on the house, evidently choosing peace in her marriage over getting involved anymore. I didn’t blame her, either.

While work had continued as originally agreed from a CE perspective, the project had turned into an insufferable shit show as a result of Rodrigo’s grandstanding. Frankly, the roof could fall on his head at this point and no one would give a damn.

After crunching up the drive, I parked in a spot next to the front steps and sighed as I looked up at the grand old manor. It really was a beautiful place. Pity it belongs to such a prick now.

Shaking my head at the injustice of the fact that a historic masterpiece like this was now in the hands of a person who would never let the public come near it, I opened the door and climbed out of the truck.

Rook had come with me, and as soon as Rodrigo appeared on the porch to welcome us, Rook growled.

His hackles rose and he bared his teeth. I slid my hand onto his neck, gently holding him as I muttered under my breath, “Easy, boy. I don’t like him either, but we can’t attack him. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way life goes sometimes.”

Rook whined like he understood what I’d said, settling down. He trotted up the steps at my side. Rodrigo didn’t smile or offer me a handshake when I reached him. “This is our final walkthrough together, right?”

I nodded. “The general contractor will be here in a few days to start his phase of the project. I’ll sign off on the work my team has done and that’ll be the end of our involvement.”

“Well,” he said gruffly, leading us in and immediately pointing up at the roof. “Those ceiling boards aren’t the same color as those in the older parts of the house.”

“They’re new,” I said slowly, but then I realized that he was just going to nitpick the whole way through. “You know what? I’ll make a note of it. Maybe the contractor can paint them for you.”

He grunted and kept walking without looking back to check if Rook and I were following. “Some of the floorboards squeak.”

I didn’t bother telling him that we hadn’t repaired the floor in the area where we were walking right now, simply jotting down the concern. Rodrigo jerked his chin at a wall in the kitchen. “I don’t like that one. We should’ve moved it. You should’ve told us to move it.”

“It’s load bearing,” I reminded him not so patiently. “I’ll knock it out for you right now if you’d like, but you may not appreciate the consequences, so I’ll need you to sign several waivers before I do it.”

He muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes, motioning for me to follow him again. As we walked down a hallway that had been completely caved in between two wings of the house, he sighed. “This could’ve been wider.”

“We were instructed to work according to the original blueprints, but I’ll make a note of it.” We kept going, but most of his gripes seemed to have to do with things we’d specifically discussed and Eliza had made the final decisions about.

At the end of our walkthrough, he smirked at me. “We’re flying in an interior designer from Italy. He’s won a bunch of awards and?—”

“Thank you for your business,” I said, abruptly shutting the conversation down. “I’ll be sure to send my notes through to the general contractor. Perhaps he can rectify some of these issues you’ve got. Good luck with the renovations.”

Rodrigo gaped when I spun and walked away without saying goodbye or offering him a handshake this time. I was so fed up with the guy that I couldn’t wait to put him, his house, and his fancy Italian interior designer in my rearview mirror.

Rook, however, wasn’t quite done with him yet. As I jogged down the steps, he stopped next to the expensive sports car parked in the drive, Rodrigo’s, I assumed, and took a leak on its tire. I smirked as I watched him, not doing a damn thing to stop nature from running its course.

Rodrigo cussed from the front door behind me, but I whistled to Rook to call him over and opened the back door of my truck for him. It’s karma, bro. You got the least of what was coming to you.

Rook practically grinned as he ran up and jumped into the truck. I chuckled, shutting the door behind him before I got in behind the wheel. I twisted to face him as I started the engine. “Good boy, Rook. That was awesome. Thank you.”

He let out a soft yelp and settled down for the drive back to the city, spreading his body out on the seat and almost instantly closing his eyes for a nap.

Deciding for a change that I didn’t want to drive in complete silence, I turned on the radio and found a station I didn’t hate, not quite singing along but tapping my thumbs to the beat on top of the steering wheel.

By the time I got back to the office, it was only mid-morning and I headed directly to Lila’s desk. She was seated behind it, her loose red hair shining in the sun streaming in through her open windows and her fingers flying across her keyboard.

Today’s colorful outfit was a bright pink cotton sundress with wooden beads around her neck and leather sandals on her feet. She looked like the happy, sunny person she was and it seemed like she’d finally accepted that what had happened with the Fierras wasn’t a reflection of her talent.

“Can you take on a new project for me?” I asked as I strode in. “Our busy season is starting to taper off and my time is opening up, so I thought it might be a good time for this.”

Her hands stilled on the computer and she looked up, her eyes finally alive and sparkling again. I’d hated seeing the disappointment and uncertainty in them that had been there when she’d told me she was wondering if pursuing this dream of hers had been a mistake.

All week long, something else had been bothering her too. She hadn’t told me what it was, but there had been something dimming her shine that had remained well after the shock of Eliza’s email had faded.

Relief snaked through me when I looked at her now and realized that she seemed more like herself again. I grinned and reached for the tube I’d dropped off in her office before I’d left. “Here are the blueprints for the client’s house.”

She took the tube from me but didn’t open it yet. “When you say you want me to take on this project, what exactly do you mean?”

“I mean the client doesn’t need any structural work done. The interior of this place is a mess, though.” I mulled that over for a beat and then shook my head. “No, that’s not really accurate. The interior isn’t a mess. It’s just virtually nonexistent.”

She held my gaze, suspicion starting to brew behind her eyes. “You’re saying you want me to be the designer for a client who doesn’t really have their interior done right now?”

“Exactly.”

“Are you the client?” she asked, a slow smile starting to spread on her lips. “You are, aren’t you?”

“I am. I would very much like to hire you as my designer. Will you take the job?”

She laughed. “That depends. Are you paying me in money or attention?”

“Both.” I took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching us or coming down the hall. Then I walked around her desk and lowered my head to hers.

The last few days had been strained between us, but she’d been letting me hold her hand and pull her closer. I was hoping she’d let me steal a kiss too.

Our gazes locked as I slowly moved my lips closer and she tilted her head back to give me easier access. Her eyes darted to my mouth just before I pressed it to hers. The effect on my body was instantaneous, my libido roaring to life and my pulse suddenly hammering under my jaw.

I pulled away before it could go too far and grinned as I straightened up. “We’ll stop at the hardware store after I take you out to dinner tonight.”

“All of this depends on whether I get the final say in paint colors.” She looked up and batted her lashes at me innocently. “Do I?”

“As long as it’s not yellow, I’m willing to give you the freedom to decide.” I smirked, but watching her light up as I said it rewired something in my brain.

Something that made me want to tell her that she could paint the entire damn house yellow as long as she kissed me again and kept doing it.

I held back, though.

We were a thing but not a thing to be shared with the office just yet.

A thing I wanted to be more than it was, but it felt like it might be wrong to tell her that.

My head was a complete mess and I didn’t know if I would ever be able to change.

That chat with Dan had given me a lot to think about and I’d been doing it, but I still wasn’t at a point where I felt like I’d turned a corner.

Yet I was on the verge of telling her that I loved her too. Because I did. I was in much too deep and I hadn’t realized it until right now.

Jared’s voice rang out from the hallway then, completely ruining the moment.

“Ford, have you got a minute? I just need to talk to you about something real quick,” he said as he appeared in the doorway. He glanced between us before he smiled at Lila. “I’ll give him back to you in a few. We just need to go over some stuff for a project I’ve got coming up.”

And just like that, I swallowed the words that would’ve been so damn selfish to say and waved Jared toward my office. It was better this way, even if it didn’t really feel like it right now.