“I hope that’s true.” For more than one reason. “Let me show you around.”
And then later I would ask the questions I really wanted to know.
Like why every contractor in the fucking city was an asshole or stupid…and if he was honestly as good as everyone claimed he was…and why everyone I’d talked to called him CB instead of using his actual name.
I hadn’t realized who Premiere Construction belonged to, but the hot-tempered man I’d been told ran the company definitely sounded like my birdie. Especially when they’d said he was passionate about his job…but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to hate him like everyone had predicted.
Clearly, I’d seen a different side of my birdie than they had.
“I have the code from the real estate agent, but it’s just as big and empty inside as it looks, so that might not be necessary.” My crack about the slightly ugly building had him chuckling as he pushed away from his truck and studied the outside like I was supposed to just ignore his painted-on jeans.
“It seems sturdier than I expected and the neighborhood isn’t bad.” He gestured down the street. “There are actually somegood restaurants down that way and I’ve heard there might be some boutique stores moving in. I don’t think you’ll have any issues with crime, and from what I’ve seen, the neighbors arelive and let livekind of people.”
That was good to know…all of it was good to know, honestly.
Including that he seemed to actually know his shit.
Thank god.
“I’ll have to check out the restaurants and eat in a few to see what they’re like.” And if they were all raging homophobes.
Conner…not my birdie, he was now Conner…was still studying the building, moving slowly as he took it all in, so I tried not to disturb him or his coworker. It was harder than it should’ve been, but in my defense, I still had questions.
And I’d never had to behave myself around my…nope, around Conner.
God, that was going to be hard.
I was going to call him something stupid in a meeting down the road if I wasn’t careful, but he didn’t even seem to notice as he started mumbling to himself. Before I could figure out what he was saying, he headed down the long side of the building, leaving me to follow and the other guy to ignore us as he seemed to look at more specific parts of the building close up.
They obviously had their own specialties or had already gone over their plan, so I just followed along after Conner, watching his ass as he mumbled. When he started making notes in a little pad of paper he’d pulled out of somewhere, I realized some of the mumbling had been numbers.
Huh, he really was a contractor.
He was fascinating.
And I realized I needed to stop ogling him and treat him like a contractor, so I started making notes in my phone and doing my best to let him do his thing.
By the time we’d walked around the building and I’d learned to ignore his ass for the most part, we were back at the front door and I let us in.
The building was…
“It’s big, empty, and boring.” Conner’s coworker chuckled at my comment as he started to wander off, this time giving me a nod and a grin before he headed to do his own thing.
“Yeah, but it’s got good bones.” Turning in a circle before we made it too far in, Conner looked so smart as he studied the room, I had to remind myself that wasn’t supposed to be sexy. “From what you’ve said, I think you have enough room for a private reception area and an office or two as you walk in. Then the lounge you mentioned as you head deeper into the space.”
Frowning at the back of the building, he cocked his head before gesturing at the different corners. “Bathrooms and changing rooms. The smaller private rooms you mentioned over in that corner. There’s plenty of room on just this floor to do everything you talked about, but we’ll have to iron out the plans to make sure.”
This floor?
I looked up and decided not to be stubborn and just ask. “This floor?”
He nodded, walking deeper into the open space. “The ceiling is high enough to do a second floor if you want.”
Frowning again—in a way that I had to remind myself wasn’t sexy in the least—he paced off something in his head until he made it about a third of the way into the space. “Yeah, you could do higher ceilings in the lounge if you wanted and then lower them for the more private areas. Acoustics, you know. Then you have a second floor with your own apartment.”
I hadn’t realized there was that much space.
I was still trying to visualize that part when he started pacing off steps again and nodding to himself. There was a method to his madness, but I wasn’t sure what it was. “Yeah, couple of bedrooms and a reasonable kitchen…do you want a big living room up there or would you entertain in the club?”
