Page 5 of I Choose You (Wilder #2)

Reid

The rain was still coming down. The temperature wouldn’t have been bad, but with my clothes absolutely soaked through, the cold was bone-deep.

I woke up in a bad mood this morning—no surprise there—and the weather wasn’t helping.

My team was cleaning out all of the furniture and decor that was left in the library after it closed.

Anything salvageable, we were storing in one of the library rooms; everything else was getting thrown in the dumpster out front.

That meant a lot of trips in and out of the building.

As I exited the building with my current haul, a collection of broken chairs, a silver Audi SUV pulled up out front. The woman from the bar last night stepped out and ran down the walkway toward the entrance. She looked at me with a smile as the rain pelted her.

My hackles rose, my intuition firing off warning bells in my mind. I disposed of the broken chairs and met her in the Delano Library entryway.

“Hey,” I started. “What are you doing here?” I didn’t realize I was staring, but the sound of a throat clearing behind me had me turning my head. With his arms loaded with pieces of broken furniture, Dale, one of my workers, used his chin to point to the door that we were blocking.

I placed my hand on her arm to move us a few feet away, but Dale put his load down and walked over to us.

“Hi, there,” he said to her. Then, turning to me, he said, “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“I didn’t actually get your name, did I?

” I asked with suspicion. That sounded bad, but it wasn’t like I was hitting on her last night.

I didn’t even expect to see her again. Not that I was complaining about that part—depending on her reason for being here.

She was stunning. On the taller side for a woman, her blonde hair a wild mess of waves that framed her face and cut to just below her shoulders.

She had midnight-blue eyes and a sprinkle of freckles, but it was her smile that could stop a guy in his tracks.

If that guy was looking for someone like her.

“No, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.” She smiled and held out her hand to me. “Claire DeLuca, the historical preservation designer for this project.”

Fuck. This was Claire? Was she fucking serious?

I should have fucking known. Tourist season was behind us for the summer, so new faces in town didn’t come about all that often.

My blood immediately started boiling. She didn’t have a chance to introduce herself?

She didn’t think it might have been good information to have before I started tearing into her?

Dale leaned around me and took her offered hand. “Nice to meet you.” He raised his eyebrows at me, probably trying to warn me to play nice. He had no idea that ship had already sailed.

My jaw clenched. Without a word, I turned and walked away. Dale said something to her about “going easy” on me. Fucking traitor, playing all nice with the pretty girl on my jobsite. Not that she was a girl—she was definitely a grown woman. It was hard not to notice that.

I heard her heels click-clacking on the floor, trying to catch up to me.

I turned into one of the reading rooms instead of the storage room next door.

Richie and Shawn were in the storage room working through which items we could keep and which needed to go.

Richie was the first guy I’d hired when I started to get enough work that I needed the extra help.

He asked me to take on his son, Shawn, a year back, and so far, he’d been a good fit.

I didn’t need to bring this conversation to them though.

They had work to do, and I needed to get this straightened out.

Claire turned the corner into the room and rammed directly into my chest. She stumbled back, and my hand caught her around the arm and steadied her as she got her balance. A zing of electricity ran up to my shoulder, and as soon as she was righted, I dropped my hand.

“You couldn’t have said something yesterday, Claire ?”

“I was going to introduce myself, but you started talking, and I thought it was best to just listen. Now, I understand your concerns so much better, and you don’t have to worry about how to explain them to me face-to-face.

Because, you know, you already did.” She was still smiling like this was some fucking joke to her.

“I wasn’t worried about it. And I stand by what I said last night. You don’t know this place. You don’t know its history. You don’t know this town. Your opinions aren’t welcome here.”

Her back straightened, and her chin rose higher, her smile never faltering.

“Understood. I’ll get out of your hair and leave you to work.

If you need me, I’ll be giving myself a tour and familiarizing myself with the layout, construction methods, material, and structural design.

I’ll try not to get into any trouble,” she said, ending with a sly wink.

Shawn walked by with a few pieces for the dumpster in his arms. He looked into the room to see who I was talking to and nearly tripped over his feet.

“Eyes straight. Keep it moving,” I yelled to him before I turned and eyed Claire skeptically.

My shoulders slumped as I let out a heavy breath.

“Let’s go. We’ll do the first and second floors today.

Tomorrow, bring work boots. This is a construction site.

Even in its preliminary stages, you won’t be allowed on the premises if you can’t follow the safety rules. ”

She nodded and wrote something down in the digital notepad she was carrying.

As we walked out the door, I had to stop myself from putting my hand on the small of her back. What was my problem? I didn’t want her here, and I’d made that very clear, but my skin tingled when we touched. I hadn’t had that feeling in a very long time. Didn’t need it now either.

Claire stopped in the middle of the foyer, her head tipped back, taking in the vaulted ceiling and the mezzanine balconies above. Spinning in a slow circle, she made a little hum of appreciation.

“Wow. This really is marvelous.” A wide smile lit up her face.

Her eyes locked on mine for a second but then slipped away quickly as she continued to scan her surroundings.

I watched her expression change, becoming more somber.

“I don’t want to ruin this, Reid. I only want to help make it better.

Bring it back to life,” she said softly.

“We’ll see about that,” I grumbled. “Come on. I’ll show you around.

What I can anyway.” My gaze landed on her choice of footwear.

“The basement is wrecked. Wear something you won’t mind getting dirty when you go down there.

And the third floor is a bit sketch. It’s safe as long as you know where to go and you don’t put any faith in the railings doing their job. ”

Walking in front of her was probably for the best. Those heels she had on were paired with a tight pencil skirt that hit right below her knees.

It was a very professional outfit, but my eyes tracking her ass as it swayed in front of me was anything but.

Keeping her behind me should make it less distracting.

The clackity-clack of her heels stopped before I even had a chance to start the tour. I turned around in time to witness her veer off into the storage room, where the guys were still sorting through the remnants of a time long past. Something crashed to the ground, and I heard Richie swearing.

“Sorry, Dad. I lost my grip,” Shawn said. He was holding one side of a desk, Richie on the other. Richie had his back toward me while Shawn faced the doorway, his cheeks pink with embarrassment.

“Are you hauling this to the dumpster? Hi, by the way. I’m Claire.” She reached out her hand, and Richie quickly pulled his glove off to shake it.

“Richie, and this is my son, Shawn.”

“Hi.” Shawn’s face got even brighter as he stared at Claire like she hung the moon.

I cleared my throat, pulling his attention away from her .

Claire smiled warmly at them, then ran her hand across the top of the desk. It had seen better days, but it wasn’t in terrible shape.

“No, this is going to the salvage pile,” I answered her.

“We can restore this and reuse it somewhere in the design.” Richie nodded at me and got in position for the team lift.

Shawn was looking at Claire again, and I didn’t think he was looking at her face, until Richie yelled for him to pay attention.

I would have a talk with him later. Yes, there was a pretty lady on the jobsite.

No, he couldn’t stare at her like a fool all day.

I didn’t want her involved on this project, but that didn’t mean I wanted her to think we were all a bunch of dirty creepsters.

I pulled Claire away from the doorway to allow the guys to keep working and led her back into the foyer to start the tour.

Her back stiffened beneath my hand, which I only just realized I had placed on her lower back.

I immediately pulled it away and shoved my hands in my pockets, where they would, hopefully, stay put.

The floors in the entryway and the individual rooms off to the sides were wide-plank hardwood.

Stained, and possibly moldy, but definitely salvageable.

As we made our way into the heart of the library, the flooring changed to carpeting.

If it were up to me, which it wasn’t, I would rip all of the carpeting out and replace it with a new, dark-colored Turkish design.

As it was, all of the carpeting would need to be ripped out regardless.

The soft carpeting meant that I couldn’t hear Claire’s heels clacking across the floor anymore.

I looked over my shoulder to make sure she was still with me and caught her checking out my ass.

She quickly glanced away, pretending to take in the rows and rows of empty bookcases, but I knew what I saw.

I held back my grin as I started to explain the history of the building.

“The library was built in 1792. It’s actually one of the oldest libraries in the US.

It was privately owned back then, and they made a bunch of renovations over the next hundred years or so to maintain and modernize it.

The town took over ownership in the early 1900s, and that’s pretty much what you see here.

I think the last time it saw any upgrades was in the 1940s, and by the ’90s, it was starting to fall apart.

It’s been closed now for almost twenty years.

I don’t even think anyone’s been in here in that long.

There was a water leak that destroyed the basement, and animals have gotten in and made themselves at home.

My guys and I did a sweep yesterday, but this place is huge, so I can’t promise we found everything. ”

“I can see why you said it made you feel like you were in a different world.” She had walked over to one of the bookcases and was running her hand along the ornately carved trim. “I can only imagine how enchanting this was when it was new.”

Her face was alight with excitement, her eyes bright.

“Tell me if you can picture this… a cozy, dark carpet, maybe burgundy, chandeliers along the center aisle, just a few spaced far apart, sconces on the side of each of the bookcases for ambient lighting. We will probably need track lighting for the rows, but we can make that discreet so it provides visibility while being invisible itself. The windows, oh my God, those windows are to die for. We’ll clean them up and replace the broken panels.

I can start looking up glazing companies, see who can make replica stained glass like this. ”

Her digital notepad was out again, and she started writing down her ideas. “These are just ideas. A starting point to jump off from. Don’t go getting all broody on me.”

“I’m not broody.” I wasn’t. I was impressed and maybe a little irrationally irritated that her vision sounded fucking great.

The sound of a phone ringing filled the cavernous space, amplifying the sound.

“Oh, it’s my boss. Do you mind if I grab this?”

I nodded at her to go ahead and take the call. She walked down the row of bookcases, her hand trailing over every surface. She was further away now, but I could still hear her side of the conversation.

“Andrew, hi. I’m glad you called me back…

Yeah, the drive in was fine. Rainy, but otherwise pretty easy…

I’m actually on-site now. I was just… Of course, I’ll make sure to keep you updated…

Well, it’s only the first… Right, absolutely, I’ll get on it right away…

Oh, just one more thing before you go. Um, could you look into the lodging arrangements?

I’m sure you didn’t realize when you approved it, and I don’t mean to sound negative, but it’s really not great.

Is there anywhere else you could have Nia book me a stay at?

… Budgets, right. I completely understand. ”

She walked back over to me, and I watched as she transformed from disappointed and glum to sunshine and happiness, but this time her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Accommodation’s not up to par?”

“No. I think maybe it was a mistake. Andrew’s assistant, Nia, must have made the reservation without paying attention, but Andrew said that it was already paid for and he wouldn’t be able to get a refund, so it isn’t in the budget to change to a different hotel now.”

“Why don’t you just commute? You said you were what, three hours away?”

“More like four.” Her nose crinkled in a cringe.

“Well, you could always set yourself up at another hotel that’s more suitable for you.”

“I… can’t really afford that.” Her gaze darted away before she clapped her hands once. Her smile was back in place, although I was starting not to trust it. “Enough about my trouble. Let’s get back to the tour.”

We walked the entire first floor, including the reading rooms, technology room, study group rooms, and children’s section. The second floor was purely rows and rows of empty bookcases. Because it was more of a mezzanine than a floor on a floor plan, it was open to the ground floor below.

Claire stopped at the railing and looked to me for confirmation that it was stable before she leaned over to look below. The railings were an intricately designed cast iron. I really wanted to reuse them, but they weren’t high enough to meet the safety codes.

They were so short that watching Claire lean over them, with her heels making her that much taller, caused my heart to race. I reached forward and tugged her back. “Don’t need you tumbling over the edge. I’ve already complained about you to enough people; it would look too suspicious.”

She laughed loudly, the sound resonating in my gut. She thought I was joking. Little did she know there was more truth to that comment than she thought.