Chapter 3
“What’s the hold up? You wanted access to my money so you could get started. Why haven’t you started?”
Heather placed her hands on her hips, staring at Scott’s gorgeous ass in nicely fitting olive Carhartt’s as they walked up the stairs inside the mill building. Stopping abruptly, he turned and she plowed into him, her face close to the waistband of those pants. Seeing where her eyes lingered he moved down a step andglared at her.
“Listen, Xena, this is why real estate agents shouldn’t try to renovate buildings. Stick withselling them.”
“Can we go up to the third floor before we debate our merits?” Staring at the snug gray T-shirt covering his broad chest wouldn’t help keep her mind on business. “It might be too tempting to push me down the stairs.”
His eyebrow rose as he glanced at the three-inch heels she wore. Okay, not the smartest footwear for construction work but he’d said they made her legs look amazing. Scoreone for vanity.
Sighing, he walked the rest of the way up and into the center of the large dilapidated space. Looking around her heart fell, fears of failure filling her mind.No, you can do this. You only need Scott to start doing what he saidhe’d be doing.
Straightening her shoulders, she cocked her head. “So, my question?”
His eyes roamed the room, his mind seemingly elsewhere. “There’s this little issue of a building permit. You can’t start doing any kind of renovations until it’s been issued.”
“You took the money out of the account for it. Why don’t we have it yet?”
Moving closer, perhaps too close, he narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you research at all what’s needed for a building renovationof this size?”
“Yes, I did.” All right, she could have done more. “I was planning on hiring a contractor and figured they’d walk me through most of the red tape stuff.”
Scott slipped his hands into his front pockets and rocked back on the heels of his steel-toed work boots. “Let me take you for a walk then. First, when you apply for the permit, you need to submit three sets of the plans by an architect or engineer.”
“But you already had plans drawn up. You showed them to me weeks ago when we decided to do this.”
“Whenyoudecided to do this and dragged me in with you.”
“You were dragging yourself in. I only joined the fun.”
His crooked smile drove her crazy and his blue eyes grew intense. “The plans I had aren’t accurate anymore. Not since you wanted to put retail space on the first floor. The walls are all different, the front windows needed adjusting, plumbing, electric, you name it. Everythingis different.”
“Yes, I know. We sat together for almost a week getting the details right.” And her vibrator had gotten a good workout each night they’d been together. Shit, the man got her ladyparts singing.
“I needed to work with my architect, have him draft the official blueprints. It takes a while to draw up plans of this magnitude. I submitted the plans and the application two weeks ago. It can take up to thirty days for the permitto be issued.”
Damn, that sounded familiar. Probably read it while she’d been researching the project. “Sorry, I’m just anxious to get these renovations goingand finished.”
“Did you need this completed by aspecific date?”
Kind of. “Not really, but there is a fund-raiser in a few months where I thought I could entice investors or business owners. I can’t very well get them interested if the building still looks like this.” She waved her hand around theneglected room.
Scott’s expression softened and he slung his arm over her shoulder. “It’s going to be outstanding, you’ll see. It’ll take time though. You needto be patient.”
Rolling her eyes, she pointed to the pile of rubble in the corner. “Okay, tell me all about the great transformation that will take place.”
As they walked through the space, Scott highlighted where each condo would start, end, and how he envisioned the final product. It came to life as his excited voice described the woodwork, cabinetry, and fixtures.
“Let’s go upstairs. The fourth floor condos will have cathedral ceilings and we may be able to put a few loft spaces in as well.”
As they entered the stairwell, her heel stuck on a loose board and she stumbled. In barely a second, Scott had her in his arms, her feetoff the floor.
“What are you doing?” she squealed as he trotted up the stairs, her arms around his neck for balance.
“You’re going to kill yourself in these shoes. I’m merely protectingmy investment.”
He was also copping a feel on the side of her breast. Not that she’d complain. A girl had to get her thrills someplace. Scott Holland was definitely thrilling. The strong arms that held her were the result of years of hard labor. It was like she weighed nothing as his muscled legs jogged up the stairs. At the top floor he didn’t put her down, simply gazed at the space.
