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Daniel scrubbed his hand over his face. He had work to do. Then he’d design a system to manage the projects filling his plate.
Pulling out his phone, he checked the day’s tasks. He ran his finger through Meet at Fitzgerald House, striking through the text. Done. He skipped ahead two days and added Contact Bess re: Final Drawings CH.
Time to work on the carriage house. Later he would swing by a couple of projects and check in with the job leads.
With the blueprints and his tool belt in hand, he headed to the gate between Fitzgerald and Carleton Houses. As he entered the carriage house, the calming scent of fresh-cut wood greeted him. A saw screeched as Quint trimmed a stud.
The renovation was coming together. He let out a breath. This was his area of expertise, repurposing old buildings to be useful again.
Quint pushed his safety glasses to the top of his head and shut off the saw. “Meeting done?”
“Yup.”
“When do we start on the main house?”
Daniel moved with Quint, nailing the stud into the framing. “Hopefully, next week.” If Bess got back to him with her changes.
He strapped on his tool belt and began framing in the stairs to the second floor, tricky because Gray and Abby had chosen a curved central stairway. If he’d designed the staircase, everything would have been clean right angles, but he wasn’t the client.
He worked until his phone buzzed. Time to check on the Tybee crew. He stood by his car, unstrapping his tool belt.
The gate between the two properties jangled. The sisters came through, their fiery heads tucked together. Abby elbowed Dolley. Bess tipped back her head and laughed, a clear, sweet sound.
Seeing Bess made his mouth water. He could still taste her kisses—champagne and cake. Her breasts bounced as she walked toward him, and his fingers flexed. He’d had his hands and mouth all over her silky skin.
These thoughts had to stop. They had to work together.
His tool belt clanged as he tossed it in the truck bed.
Bess’s head popped up. Her grin withered on her face.
“Been touring Carleton House?” he asked, hands on his hips.
“Yes.” Bess stopped in the parking area. Abby and Dolley waved and headed into the kitchen. “I’ll get the changes back to you tomorrow.”
He opened his door. “What time?”
“Oh. Um.”
He pulled out his phone. “Ten suit you?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll meet you at the house.”
“Good.”
A couple of B and B guests wandered into the courtyard. By the fountain, the man pulled the woman into an intense kiss. Daniel turned his back on the pair.
Bess cleared her throat. Her cheeks were flushed. “Did you...know your father wanted you to manage Carleton House?”
“Why?” He moved to a table shaded by a palm.
“Your expression. It went...well, let’s say they could have chiseled your face on Mount Rushmore.”
“That obvious, huh?”
She sat. “So you didn’t know.”
What should he tell her? “Apparently, Pop hasn’t been feeling well.”
“Oh, no.” She touched his arm. “What’s wrong?”
He wished he knew. “He’s tired.”
“He’ll be fine.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
Heat shot through his groin. He’d nibbled on that lip. “Yeah.”
She stared at her hand on his arm and snatched it away. “Can we do this?”
He rested his fists on the table. “Work together?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve got the same goal,” he said.
She nodded, her ponytail bouncing. “Opening Carleton House by the beginning of February.”
“I’ll make it happen. I don’t want Pop worrying.” He took a deep breath. “I need you to—behave. I don’t have time for any of your shenanigans.”
Her head snapped up. “Behave? Shenanigans?”
“You know what I mean.” He waved a hand at her.
“I don’t.” Flashing green eyes glared at him.
“The stupid pranks you pull.”
“I’m not a teen. I’m a professional.” She straightened. “I outgrew pranks years ago.”
He didn’t believe her. “Then how did we end up in bed together?”
Her eyes went wide. “You think that was my fault?”
He shrugged. “If you hadn’t hopped into the fountain, I wouldn’t have carried you home.” And been turned on by all her curves and hair and legs.
“You are delusional.” She started to leave and stopped. Her chest moved up and down in a big sigh. “Let me know if there is anything my sisters and I can do to help your dad.”
“Keeping on top of the Carleton House timelines would be a good start.”
“I’ll do my part.” She grabbed her blueprints and bag. “You do yours and maybe we’ll get through this.”
She headed to Fitzgerald House. Her body was long, muscled and gorgeous. He ripped his gaze away and headed to his truck. Ogling Bess wouldn’t get his work done. Admiring Bess’s strong body wasn’t the problem. It was the out-of-control feelings that went along with her craziness.
A childhood spent waiting for Nathan’s next catastrophe had taught him to stay away from situations he couldn’t control. Bess was one of those situations.
He rubbed his hand on his neck. Only for Pop and Forester Construction would he work the next five months with Bess.
* * *
BESS WHIPPED HER hair into a ponytail, grabbed another binder and wrapped the mass into a bun. She was ten minutes early for her meeting with Daniel. The ass. Thinking she would pull pranks. She wasn’t a lovesick teen anymore. She wasn’t trying to get his attention—at all.
The Carleton House kitchen door slammed. Bess straightened. She could do this. She could work with Daniel. All it would take was a lobotomy. Or maybe Daniel could get a personality transplant.
“Hey.” Daniel nodded. His brown eyes did a hit-and-run with hers.
Right. Hard to believe they’d ever gotten naked with each other.
Bess got down to business. “How do you want me to walk through our changes?”
Daniel blinked. “Show me what you want.”
She led the way to the dining room. “We’d like a pass-through between the butler’s pantry and the dining room.”
Daniel knocked on the wall and checked out the room from the pantry. He came back. “Okay.”
He made notes on his copy of blueprints.
“Here are the notes I worked up.” Bess held out a copy.
“This will help.” He moved closer.
She caught a whiff of his woodsy aftershave. Like Pavlov’s dog, her body flashed with unwelcome heat. Thrusting the paper at him, she hurried to the library.
His footsteps echoed behind hers.
At the exterior wall that looked out on the backyard, she waved her hands at a tall window. “We’d like double French doors here.”
Daniel moved around the room. He shook his head. “That’s a lot of structure work. Why not change this window—” he pointed “—and this into single doors? We’d make the doors as tall as the current windows, and the lines from outside will match.”
She frowned. “Double doors would be elegant.” And it would bring the garden into the room.
“But you’ll change the lines from the outside. You want the height of the windows and doors to stay the same and keep the room’s symmetry inside and out.”
She chewed on her thumbnail. “Could each window be changed into a door?”
He examined all four windows.
“For balance I’d suggest two doors.” He pointed. “One on each side of the room.”
Bess pulled out another set of sketches and set them on a library shelf.
He leaned close. His breath made the hair escaping her bun dance on her neck. “Did someone else do architectural sketches?”
“These are my garden plans.” She’d sketched the combined Fitzgerald and Carleton House courtyards. “You’d recommend the doors be here—” she drew a circle “—and here?”
He took her pencil, his golden head dipping next to hers. “Is this to scale?”
She nodded, clenching her fingers to keep from brushing the silky hair that slipped across his forehead.
He measured the windows and drew in the doors on her layout. His shoulder bumped hers, and another flash of heat zipped through her. “There.”
“Good.” She rolled up her work, planning to escape.
“Can I get copies of those?” he asked.
“Why?” The gardens were her concern.
“I like a complete picture of everything happening on my projects.”
“So you have total control?” she asked. “You really do have a control hang-up, don’t you?”
“I anticipate problems.” A lethal smile broke across his face. “And that requires absolute control.”
“I’ll send you copies, but these are preliminary sketches.” Sometimes the land didn’t conform to her drawings. She pointed at him. “I have absolute control of the patios and gardens.
“Sure.” He laughed. “Anything else in this room?”
She checked her list, avoiding his eyes. “All doors need card readers.”
“That’s the plan.”
“We can head upstairs.”
They moved to the main staircase. Bess stared at his butt. The work of art was right in front of her as they climbed. The two times she’d seen him naked, she hadn’t truly appreciated it. She regretted that almost as much as sleeping with him.
At the top of the stairs, she pointed to the first bedroom. “We’d like to open this bedroom to adjoin with the old music room.”
He flipped between the pages. “You’ve got a furnace run between these rooms.”
“Is it in right now?”
“If the plans are right, it’s already there.”
“Can you work around it?” She chewed on her thumb.
He tapped at her hand.
