Page 27 of Built to Last

“And then comes the fun part.” Marco rubbed his hands together, eyes shining. “Decorating and stocking the place.”

“When is your grand opening?” Angela asked, peeking suspiciously between me and Marco.

“October fifteenth,” Marco said. He held up his hands as he rushed on with, “I know it’s coming up super fast, but I have most of my orders already placed and waiting for delivery. Some friends are going to come in and help set the place up as soon as we get the greenlight.”

I nodded. “I can lend you a hand with that.”

Marco beamed. “I’d love that. I really want to find a place in this awesome community.”

He moved closer to me and, if I wasn’t mistaken, swept me with a head-to-toe look. The perusal had heat rushing to my face, but more because I instinctively worried what Gilbert would think than because I was self-conscious about being checked out.

I ignored it all and began my inspection. It was a formality, really, since I’d checked out the work each of my crew teams had done in detail as they’d finished each job. I was thorough when it came to finishing projects. I pretended I was the county inspector and ran through the same checklist they would be using. I hated any sort of surprise once the officials came in, and checking new builds myself was the best way to make sure everything was ship shape.

“I’m really impressed with the work you’ve done,” Marco said, his manner somehow softer as he complimented me. He remained close as we walked around the space, and once when I’d stepped back suddenly, he touched my arm.

Angela noted the whole thing with a poorly concealed grin.

My skin started to prickle.

“Thanks,” I said. “The whole team has done an amazing job. Pending that final inspection, the shop is yours now.”

“Well, ours,” Marco said, lowering his head a tad and looking up at me through flirty lashes.

“Why don’t I take that checklist back to the office and get everything in order for Monday,” Angela said in a hushed voice, plucking the clipboard out of my hands.

I winced. For someone who was clearly convinced she’d figured something out, she sure was barking up the wrong, gay tree.

She wasn’t the only one.

“I hope you’re planning to come around now and then once you wrap things up here and move on to your next project,” Marco said once Angela was gone, making even softer eyes at me. “I would hate for this to be the end.”

“You’ll still owe me rent,” I pointed out, squirming as I raced to figure out how to deal with the come-on. I’d already told Marco I wasn’t interested, that I was interested in Gilbert.

But had I? The conversation had happened more than a week ago. I couldn’t recall the whole thing, but I was pretty sure he’d asked point blank if I was interested in Gilbert, and I’d said no before rushing on to some other excuse of why I was out of sorts.

So, yeah, maybe I hadn’t been clear with him.

“We’ve got direct deposit set up for the rent, right?” Marco said, inching closer. “That’s pretty impersonal. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m something of a people person. I love a little face to face contact.”

His wide eyes and flushed cheeks were an open invitation. One I didn’t think many men could resist.

I wasn’t many men, though.

“Hey, Marco, look,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. “I really appreciate your friendliness and your flirting. It’s always an ego boost when someone as cute as you shows interest.”

“Ah ha,” Marco said, taking a step back. His expression turned sweetly apologetic. “I thought so, I just wanted to check.”

“Thought what?” I asked, sounding like a big dummy.

Marco’s cheerfulness was indomitable. He’d just been shot down, but he bounced right back with his beautiful smile. “I thought that your interests were focused elsewhere,” he said. “Next door, to be precise.”

So he had clocked that bit of our conversation the other day.

“Yeah,” I admitted slowly, glancing around like I had something to inspect when the only thing under scrutiny at the moment was my feelings.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have come on so strong just then,” Marco said, surprising me. “I kind of did it on purpose because I wanted to be crystal clear about where I stood relative to, you know.”

I let out a breath and stared at him, at a loss. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”