Page 8 of From Grumpy to Forever
My head snapped away from the inn to see Avery nodding. “No.”
“Yes.” Her hand reached out to squeeze my arm. Her touch was hot on my skin, sending sparks through my bloodstream directly to my dick that still hadn’t received the message that this woman was off-limits.
“No.” I pulled my arm back and instantly regretted it. “I’m not the man for this project.”
“But why not?” Avery stepped back and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Your brother said you were the best handyman in town, and I need the best for this. The inn deserves the best. Besides, didn’t he say you were looking for work?”
It was tempting. Working on a project of that size and quality would be amazing. Something I could really sink my teeth into. But… “No,” I said again. “I won’t be a part of the destruction of this town.”
Avery took a sharp step back as if I’d slapped her. “The destruction…what are you talking about?”
“The last thing this town needs is more tourists coming in here and destroying everything that’s special about Trickle Creek.” My thoughts flashed back to my clients from earlier and their determination to strip every single piece of uniqueness and charm from their property. I’d be damned if I would be part of that very thing happening to the Tamarack Inn.
“Look.” I put my hand on the gear shift. “I know your type, Avery. And I might not be able to prevent the destruction of this town, but I sure as hell am not going to be a part of it.”
“Reid, I?—”
“Find someone else,” I said, and like the asshole I am, I put the truck in drive. “Good luck, Avery.” And I drove away.
Chapter Five
Avery
“It’s incredible. I can’t wait to see it in person.”
The virtual tour over, I laughed and flipped the screen on my phone around so I could see my best friend, Carrie. “It’s pretty great, isn’t it?”
“It looks like a lot of work.” Carrie pressed her lips together and shook her head.
Carrie and I had been best friends most of our lives. We’d been through pretty much everything together. But where I was an infallible optimist who could always see the bright side of every situation, Carrie was more of a realist. She’d tried to bring me back down to earth on more than one occasion in the past. But when it came to the inn, I refused to entertain any thoughts that weren’t one hundred percent positive.
I couldn’t afford to let any bit of negativity—or realism—in.
“I’m up for it.” I took my cup of tea out to the front porch, which had very quickly been my favorite place in the few days I’d already been in town. Probably because from the vantage point of the old swing, with the building at my back and the street in front of me, I could pretend—at least for a few minutes—that I didn’t have an overwhelming amount of work in front of me.
The swing creaked under my weight when I sat, but the rusty chain held. For now.
I added it to my mental list of things to fix.
“And I’m going to hire a handyman,” I told Carrie once I was safely settled in the swing. “Reid Lyons is the best in town.” It wasn’t just his brother, Grayson, who’d told me that, either. I’d been asking around, and everyone had said the same thing.
“Is he cute?” Leave it to Carrie to need the details. “He is, isn’t he? I can see it on your face.”
It was true. Reid Lyons was very cute. And strong. And he made me feel things I hadn’t felt in a very long time just by looking at me. But he was also the grouchiest man I’d ever met, completely unreasonable, and—probably most notable—he didn’t seem to like me at all.
“Oh my God, Avery. You are totally living in a Hallmark movie.”
“A what?”
“You are. You’ve moved to a small mountain town to fix up the old inn you inherited and you’re going to fall in love with the sexy local handyman.” She laughed. “It’s just like every single holiday movie ever.”
“Except it’s not Christmas time.”
“Details, details.” Carrie waved her hand.
And then there was the other, not-so-small detail that I still hadn’t fully resolved about the fact that my grandparents’ will had clearly stated I needed to be married in order to inherit the inn and the healthy savings account they’d left me to fix it up.
“You forget that I still haven’t figured out the rest of my situation.” I bit my bottom lip and blew out a breath.
