“I asked him to,” she said instantly, without taking her eyes off me.
I turned back to Dave. “Walk me through what you’ve done.”
He finally hauled himself out, leaving the engine running. He started explaining, and I let him speak for exactly as long as it took to hear what wasn’t being said. Then I started pointing out the red flags.
I kept my tone even, but my jaw was tight. This wasn’t just about some bad fasteners and lazy math. Ruby hadtrusted this guy—on my recommendation. That part was on me.
Dave tried to defend the setup twice, but after ten minutes of detailed questions, he stopped talking, then nodded stiffly and stepped back. “I’ll see if I can get my guy to come talk to you.”
When he drove off, I turned to Ruby. “You can afford a better plan if you cut the external engineer’s fee and let me do it.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Sebastian ...”
“I won’t invoice you.” I smiled. “Call it a volunteer sabbatical. You get me for free, and I get to stop grinding my teeth when I look at these plans.”
She let out a half-sigh, half-laugh. “You know that’s not sustainable, right?”
“It can be. Do you have a quiet place I can work from?”
“You can use my office.”
“Won’t you need it tomorrow?”
She looked confused.
“If I take this on,” I added, “I’m staying. On-site. Making sure Dave doesn’t improvise again.”
She looked dumbfounded, but the look in her eyes said everything. This was exactly why I’d packed my bag and booked the ticket before I even texted back.
Because she needed someone in her corner.
And I was done pretending I didn’t want to be there.
13
Ruby
I WANTED TO PUSH BACK.
I wanted to ignore the flutter in my stomach and pretend my pulse hadn’t just tripped over itself.
But I couldn’t.
Because from the moment I spotted Sebastian from afar, I knew that, once again, he’d sensed what I needed and come through.
Usually, that happened in bed. He always knew exactly what I wanted, what I needed, and when.
But lately—and I couldn’t pinpoint when thatlatelyhad begun—I had to admit it wasn’t just there. He did it in moments that mattered even more.
But this—this topped everything else.
Which only made me want to resist his entry into a realm that had always been so independently mine.
But I wanted him there.
Worse. Ineededhim there.
Here.
