Elliot gave her hips one last squeeze before dropping his hands to the bed.
‘Sure.’
‘Thanks, Elliot.’
‘Of course, yeah. I should get going, though. I’m supposed to be at the inn in half an hour.’ He glanced down at his rumpled clothes. ‘And I clearly need to shower and change.’
‘You definitely shouldn’t go to work looking like that.’
‘I’ll text you later?’
‘I’d like that.’
The urge to kiss her goodbye was strong enough that he knew he’d just signed on for something that would amount to torture, but he wouldn’t change any of it.
ChapterTwenty-Five
‘Well, would you look who it is,’ Jack greeted him with a smug smile. ‘Elliot Parker…’
Elliot stopped at the check-in desk at the inn like he did every morning and grabbed a muffin from the basket. Banana chocolate-chip today. ‘Why are you being weird?’
Jack waggled his eyebrows suggestively. ‘I heard that you were spotted doing the walk of shame down Main Street this morning.’
Elliot groaned. How was it possible that he had left Daisy’s apartment twenty-seven minutes ago and his short walk home in the same clothes he’d worn yesterday had already made its way to Jack.
‘Not that there’s anything to be shamed about!’ Jack went on, fully grinning now like he couldn’t wait to get all the details. By lunch, Elliot’s night with Daisy would be front-page news. ‘How was your night?’ Jack asked eagerly, leaning his elbows on the desk. Elliot did not have time for this. He’d barely had time to process everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and he definitely didn’t have the brainpower to break it down for Jack right now.
‘It was fine. I’m meeting with the contractor in like two minutes, though…’ He attempted to keep right on walking past Jack’s post, but Jack’s words stopped him in his tracks.
‘No, you’re not.’
‘What do you mean? Yes, I am. He’s starting the demo next week and we need to discuss?—’
‘The meeting was canceled.’
‘What? Why?’ He’d rushed all the way over here and no one bothered to tell him the meeting was canceled? He could have actually used soap in the shower instead of just splashing still-cold water on his body and hopping back out.
Although, after a night spent pressed against Daisy, the cold shower was a must.
‘The contractor quit.’ Jack winced when he said it, his earlier glee wiped out for the moment.
‘He what?!’
‘He quit. He called this morning. Apparently, his pregnant wife needs to go on bedrest for the next six weeks and someone needs to take care of his twin toddlers. And thatsomeoneis him.’
‘Shit.’
‘I know.’
‘How are Mary and Joseph taking it?’
Jack scrunched up his nose. ‘They are not pleased. To say the least.’
‘Say more.’ Elliot ground out. This was not good. They’d already encountered so many delays on this project. Issues with the town board, issues with permits, issues with design changes. Finally, next week they were supposed to demolish the motel-style rooms, and now this.
‘They’ve already stopped booking people in those rooms, and that’s a lot of lost business with the summer months coming. To lose out on the revenueandnot have work being done is not a good thing. They really want this project to move forward. Like now.’ All this Elliot already knew and unsurprisingly hearing it from Jack didn’t change anything.
‘Did they try getting someone else?’
