Chris looked at his brother with an overly wide gaze. “Aren’t you looking for a designer?”
“Chris.” Noah all but growled the word, making Grace’s back stiffen.
“No luck?” she asked with more of a bite than she intended.
“Something will work out,” Noah said.
Cue awkward tension. She was planting herself firmly in the “don’t like him” camp at the moment.
“Sorry, just to clarify, you’re a designer; Noah, you’re looking for designers, and Grace is doing your office for you?”
“That’s right. Grace is doing my office because all it has to do is be functional and because she lost a bet. I’ll be going with a professional firm for the rest of my house.”
Did he realize how insulting he sounded?
“You sound like a dick,” Chris said.
Grace coughed to cover her laugh.Well, he knows now.
“What?” Noah looked completely confused. “What did I do?” He stared at Grace.
“Nothing. Just stop saying I’m only doing your office because you’d trust a blindfolded toddler to do it. It wasyouridea. Maybe you’re just too lazy to pick out your own furniture, I don’t know. It might surprise you to know, but I have serious skills. I’m top in my class.”
His frown deepened. “That doesn’t surprise me. I wasn’t slighting your skills. I didn’t mean to.”
Noah’s genuine tone shifted the tide in his favor. What was it about this guy?
“This is why you have tothinkabout what comes out of your mouth,” Chris said, teasing. Everly leaned into him, rolling her eyes adorably, because clearly she was beyond smitten, even when the brothers acted like this.
Noah ran his hands through his hair. Something he did when he was nervous or unsure. “We’re going to BBQ some burgers. Why don’t you come over and join us?” Noah said.
Exam. Painting. Planning her life. Plenty of reasons not to.A girl’s gotta eat.“I need about a half hour. Can I bring anything?”
“Just you,” Noah said, stepping closer to the fence.
She looked at his brother and Everly, noting the way they stared curiously. “You sure?”
“Join us, please,” Chris said.
She could drop off his office ideas, double-check the room, and get a meal out of it. Those were her reasons.Not because you’re curious about him and his family.“I’ll see you in a bit.”
She heard their murmurs behind her as she let herself into her house. She wouldn’t show up empty-handed. Inside, she changed, praised herself for picking up wine andnotdrinking it, and started to tidy up before leaving. Her mother’s letter slipped out of the pile of papers she was moving. She stared at it, tapped it against her palm.
She could take Noah’s offer and cut ties to her past. Her mother wanted a piece of what her grandparents had left despite wanting nothing to do with them when they were alive. Grace looked around the kitchen. It needed updating, new appliances. She wanted to put in a barn door to separate the laundry/mudroom area. The irony was, if she took Noah’s money, she could make the house exactly what she wanted.
You’ve never needed the quick fix before.The truth was, she liked coming home to this house. She felt like she belonged here insome sense. Even if her mother felt like she hadn’t. She set the letter down.
She’d worked her ass off, gotten out of the trailer, away from her mom’s life and toxic brand of parenting. She’d done all of that without Noah’s help. It might take a lifetime but she could make this place her own. Make her own path in the design world. Hell, she’d even found a way to make corporate badass Noah Jansen back off on asking her to sell. From what she’d read, that was a contradiction to his sharklike business nature. She didn’t need to sell to grow. She needed to plant roots.
Grace got caught up in Chris telling stories with the sole intent of embarrassing Noah. Over burgers, salad, and ice-cold colas, Chris did everything he could to turn Noah’s cheeks red.
“He did not,” Grace said, glancing around the table for confirmation.
Everly shrugged her shoulders. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”
Noah’s scowl deepened. “Next time, I’m only invitingyou,Everly.”
Chris tossed his napkin onto his plate. “Don’t be a suck. He absolutely did, Grace. Instead of admitting he didn’t study for the exam, he went ahead with the experiment and set the chem lab on fire.”
