Although not really, given what I’d now dubbed “our horny clause.” Could I be satisfied with faux intimacy?
I watched Emilia pluck off an artichoke leaf, put it to her mouth and drag it out slowly with her eyes closed in ecstasy.
Hot damn, she could make eating an artichoke sexy. I shook my head. I had no choice but to make it work. Both our reputations and the hotel’s depended on it.
11
EMILIA
Irushed around my house trying to tidy up the un-tidy-able. I’d learned to navigate the dumpster fire that was my home, but trying to view it from an outsider’s perspective – a very rich, very judgmental outsider – made me understand just how upside-down my living arrangement was.
Would it be rude to make him hang out on the front step?
Actually, that wouldn’t work either, because the front was just as torn up.
Whyhad I agreed to let him meet me at my place for the ring handoff?
Then again, there was a chance he wouldn’t even be the one to show. Maybe he’d have a courier drop the thing off? Here’s hoping…
I looked around the house again. Did I have time to stack up the boxes of kitchen tile that were blocking the doorway? I’d been stepping on top of them to climb over whenever I needed to access my makeshift food prep area. I leaned down and tried to lift one.
Nope. No way.
I sighed. Okay, there was no sense in doing anything to try to make my borderline condemned home more presentable, because until the reno was done it would continue to look this bad. I was fine with it, and bossman would just have to be careful where he placed his Gucci loafers.
It was then that I heard a thump on the front door.
I peeked out the side window. Darn.Nota courier.
It was an insanely attractive, scowly man palming a ring box.
“Hey,” I opened the door so abruptly that he jumped.
“Do you live in a war zone or what?”
I scowled back at him. “Uh, come in?”
He stepped past me, moving gingerly like he was trying to avoid mud puddles. “Seriously, what’s going on in here?”
“Have you never seen renovations? Or do you relocate to one of your other palaces when you need to have repairs done?”
Drew looked around frowning, then pointed at an exposed circuit breaker. “That’s not up to code. And it’s a fire hazard.”
“And how would you know that?”
He paused to glare at me. “Anyone with eyes can see that it’s a problem. My question for you is why are you living like this?”
I sighed, my frustration with the construction process outweighing my need to make it seem like Everything Is Fine, Nothing to See Here.
“I’m on top of absolutely everything when it comes to my work. You’ve seen it yourself,” I said, feeling the need to make that clear. “Nothing gets by me. But this?” I gestured around. “I guess project management isn’t my thing, because there’s nothing I can do to motivate these guys. They see one drop of rain and they postpone for theday. Or they order the wrong Schluter strip and they absolutelycannotcontinue tiling the rest of the room. It’s ridiculous. They could learn a thing or two about customer service.”
“Construction is a beast that won’t be tamed,” he agreed. But this entire place is one giant building violation.Howare you even living here?”
“It’s not like I have any options with Winston,” I glowered at him. “He needs his habitat. And besides, once everything is done it’s going to be perfect. I love this place.”
Drew bobbed his head once. “It has good bones, I’ll give you that. It’s a wonderful example of a Craftsman home. But your current scenario won’t do at all.”
He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and made a call before I could respond.
