Once he’d confirmed his email address, she made him promise to let them know right away which screen door he preferred. “And if you want to book us to install a shower you can control with a literal word, we’ll be here!”
She ended the call and sagged into the chair with an exhale. “Andthat’show you do customer serv…” When she looked up, she discovered two pairs of hazel Murdoch eyes staring at her. Her pulse ratcheted up. “Um, hipuddin’. Been there long?”
“Long enough,” Aiden said.
Her shoulders tensed. He lookedpissed. Well hell. She’d bulldozed her way into his business when she had no right to, and he was probably counting all the ways she’d crossed all kinds of lines in their “agreement,” whatever that meant anymore. She opened her mouth to apologize, but just then the phone rang. Horrific timing, that. She raised her brows at him in a question, and he gestured for her to go ahead with a sharp motion of his hand. After a quick exhale, she picked up the handset.
“Murdoch Construction, this is Thea. How can I help you?” She kept her eyes on her fake boyfriend’s unreadable face as she listened to the caller. “That’s a good question, ma’am.Willsomeone be here at seven a.m. on Thursday to accept delivery of a shipment from Calloway Granite Countertops?”
He nodded once, and she shot him a thumbs-up. “Absolutely. Please schedule delivery for that time, and I’ll be sure to add it to the work calendar. Thanks!”
When she hung up, she asked, “Have you guys ever considered upgrading to some kind of online project-management system for the company? No offense, but searching through Excel sheets and physical files for dates and phone numbers is a literal nightmare.”
Even though she’d just given them useful, actionable advice, Aiden continued to stare at her stone-faced. “We’re not making any changes until we know what’s happening in the long run.”
She laughed, shooting for breezy and landing on nervous as hell. “Gotcha. It’s not in the plan yet, so of course you’re not ready to jump. I was just thinking that the most efficient places I’ve worked all had some kind of synced, app-based program.” God, what was shedoing? She and Aiden had spent an incredible weekend together and then he vanished, and here she was babbling about software.
Aiden turned to his brother. “Can I steal my girlfriend, or do you need her to keep doing your job for you?”
Her heart sank. His voice was as hard as the side of a mountain, and the brothers glared at one another until Trip pivoted to stomp around the counter.
“She’s a hell of a lot better at it than I am,” he grumbled. She moved to stand next to Aiden as Trip’s suspicious eyes landed on them. “I don’t buy it, by the way.”
She laughed nervously and snaked an arm around Aiden’s waist, shocked at the tension she felt in his back. “Don’t buy what?”
“Any of this.” He folded his arms over his chest, his jaw set. “For one thing, you’re way too nice to be with him.”
The urge to defend Aiden rose up hot and fast, even though he’d kind of been an asshole this week. “I’ll have you know your brother is one of the nicest men I’ve ever met.” She rested her hand on his chest and glanced up at Aiden to see his lips tighten, but she forged ahead anyway. “And I’m not nice. I’m bossy.”
Aiden finally stirred to life. “Aaaand that’s enough of that.”
He took her hand and started heading down the hall, but she dug in her heels long enough to ask Trip, “You’ll email Mr. McConnell? I left all the links up in the browser.”
His grunt sounded vaguely affirmative, so she let Aiden tow her behind him. Once they were alone in his office, he slammed the door shut and stared at her long enough that she squirmed under his gaze.
“I’m sorry,” she said at the same time that Aiden said, “I can’t believe he—”
They both laughed weakly, and he spoke first. “I’msorry. He shouldn’t have asked you to cover the phones for him. He knows that’s his fucking job while Mom’s away.”
Wait,that’swhy he was mad? She waved a hand from her head and down her body. “Hello. Bossy, party of one. I basically ordered him to hand the phone over. I couldn’t stand watching him butcher customer relations like that.” She nervously twined her fingers together, worried that she’d made the situation between the two of them even worse. “I tend to take over when I shouldn’t. I won’t do it again.”
“Are you kidding? You were great. If McConnell calls back to buy that shower, I’m giving you a finder’s fee.” He smiled at her for the first time since he’d entered the building, and everything inside her unclenched a little.
“Yes!” She gave a comical fist pump, then let her hand fall. “But why the hell would Trip say I’m too nice for you?”
“I wish I knew.” Aiden’s shoulders slumped as he jammed his hands in his pockets. “He’s been a dick for months now. Between him and Dad, it’s been…” His eyes fell on a framed photo on the wall, and Thea followed his gaze to see a photo of him, his brother, and his father posed in front of their trucks, each with aMurdochlicense plate. “My mom’s big idea for company branding a few years ago. I swear it’s one of the last times I remember the three of us getting along.”
His jaw bunched, and he looked so sad that Thea’s heart squeezed. Last week at this time, she’d have rubbed his arm or maybe even pulled him into a hug, but she wasn’t sure how he’d react to that now. Thanks to the past weekend, they now shared an intimate language all their own, one made up of sighs and gasped breaths and one-word commands. How was she supposed to come back to touches-for-show and kisses-for-an-audience after that?
“I’m sorry.” She clasped her hands behind her back so she wouldn’t be tempted to reach for him. The warm, laughing guy who’d melted seamlessly into her friend group on Saturday was nowhere to be found in this office, and for an absurd moment, she battled back tears. She’d known there was a chance she was risking triggering his fuck-and-run impulse by sleeping with him, and now here they were. He could barely look at her. Even though she knew damn well they had an expiration date, this unexpected distance pained her.
“Thanks.” He sighed and dropped into one of the chairs in front of his desk. “My mom called on Monday. Asked if Trip and I could come this weekend for an update on Dad.” He dug his thumb into his forehead like he was looking for a pressure point to release all his tension. “So I guess I’m driving to Chicago with Trip.”
She cautiously took a seat next to him. “Sounds awkward.”
“You have no idea.” He finally looked at her. “It’s why I sent you Danny. I was planning to finish your kitchen this weekend, but since I won’t be able to, I thought you might appreciate having the damn thing done already.”
Ah. Well, that explained why she’d had a worker in her house all week. “Thanks.”
