I nodded, and an unexpected smile crossed my face. Before I could say anything else, Teagan appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Knowing her, she’d been eavesdropping.
“Quae Lo, are you and the guys staying for lunch?” she asked, eyes bouncing between us. We both looked up in her direction.
“Can’t. We’ve got a busy day today.” Quade shook his head.
“Mm-hmmm. Okay.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow so we can talk about a schedule, measurements, and all the good stuff.”
“Okay,” I replied, trying not to smile like a fool. “See you tomorrow.”
He nodded, then turned to leave. I followed him to the door.
“What time will you be by tomorrow?” I asked.
“First thing in the morning, around nine,” he said as Teagan opened the door so he and his crew could leave. I watched as he and his crew made their way out of the front door and down the stairs.
“Thank you!” Teagan called as she shut the door behind them. I sat there, staring at the door, listening to the sound of boots on the porch fade, and then the low rumble of thework truck eventually disappeared down the street. The house suddenly felt quiet without him in it.
“That man is fine as hell, and he was feeling you.” Teagan spun around, grinning.
“Girl, no he is not.” I laughed, shaking my head.
“Yes. He is,” she insisted, pointing at me. “You think I didn’t see the way he leaned in when you talked? That man was hanging on every word like he was daydreaming about kissing you.”
“He was just doing his job.”
“If you say so.” She folded her arms, eyes narrowing like she didn’t believe me for a second. “I still can’t believe Quae Lo is the one fixing your house.” She shook her head. “You think this is part of his sentence, or is he actually working a regular job now?”
I rolled away toward the window, staring out at the spot where his truck had been parked minutes ago.
“I don’t know,” I said, quieter than I meant to. I didn’t know how he had ended up here, but what I did know was the way my chest had felt lighter with him in the room, the way his eyes didn’t dart to the chair before they found mine, and that he made me feel like tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.
By the timethe crew and I rolled back into the shop, I’d already run through a billion excuses why I couldn’t get Noa Green out of my head. I was lonely. I’d only been out of jail for four months. I’d been with a few women, but she was the first woman who didn’t look at me crazy. I told myself it was just me—a horny man fixating on her kindness. I told myself maybe it was the chair, the way her condition tugged at something soft in me. But the truth was I didn’t pity her, and I wasn’t just some thirsty nigga.
It was her. The way her skin glowed, even under the dull lighting in her house. Her smile, the way her eyes stayed on mine as if she could see past all my demons. Noa Green was a dangerous beauty, and no matter how many excuses I tried tocreate in my head, none of them explained why she already had me wanting to permanently invade her space.
“Alright, fellows, same time tomorrow.” I dapped up Rico and James before I headed to my office. I needed a quiet minute to map out Noa’s floorplans. Maybe that would slow down seeing her every damn where I looked. I slipped past Ron’s office and into my own. I immediately spread her file across my desk and started scribbling measurements in the margins.
I needed to figure out what all needed to be done so the supplies could be ordered. We were going to tackle this thing one project at a time so she wouldn’t have to be displaced. The easiest thing to repair was going to be her ramp, and then I’d move on to the dining room. Noa deserved a paint studio big enough for her talent. I was already thinking about knocking out a wall and adding a storage area for her paint.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you work this hard.” Jess’s voice came sailing through my office, shaking me from Noa’s floorplans.
“It’s called doing my job.” I looked up at my sister as she leaned on the doorframe with her arms crossed, smirking.
“Well, it looks good on you.” She took a step inside. “I heard you’re leading a project. Why haven’t you said anything? We could have gone out to eat or something to celebrate.”
“It’s no big deal, Jess.”
“Bullshit. You’ve only been working here for four months, and you are already leading projects. That’s a big deal.”
I shrugged and put my eyes back on the paper. It didn’t feel that way to me. When you’d had half the world screaming your name, this kind of success seemed small.
“I’m only lead because everyone else is booked.”
She waved me off. “Doesn’t matter how it happened. We’re celebrating.”
“Please don’t.”
