Grace sent a look of triumph Noah’s way. Their gazes held too long. Josh cleared his throat.
“Speaking of your best friend, Rosie and I have a date tonight so I’m going to head out. Good luck, you two. Try to keep the fighting and flirting to a minimum.”
It was Grace’s turn to blush.
“Please don’t,” Emily said.
“Be good to my girl. I truly don’t want to have to hurt you,” Grace said.
Josh laughed, squeezing her shoulder on his way by. “Promise I won’t make you need to.”
How could he promise that after no time at all? She always wondered about people who seemed so sure. So certain. Maybeshe was missing that piece. The chip that made her one hundred percent positive she could trust her feelings.
After he left, Emily, Noah, and Grace settled on folding chairs in the wide-open living space.
“I really love that window seat,” Emily said, pulling a notebook from her bag.
Grace glanced at Noah, startled that he was already staring at her.
“That was Grace’s idea. She’s got a great way of mixing comfort with class.”
“Oh, I like that. Thanks for the opening line,” Emily said, her smile widening.
When Noah’s gaze met Grace’s, he looked away, crossed one ankle over his knee, tapping his calf.
Emily looked back and forth between them. “Okay. I have ten questions; I’ll jot down both of your answers. Say the first thing that comes to mind. We want to give readers an impression of who you two are, how this is different from what we’ve done before.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Noah said, clearly not picking up on Grace’s nerves. Maybe it was easy for someone who was in the society pages, but all of this was new to her. If she focused too much on the fact that she’d be under the microscope for her very first job, she might hyperventilate.
“Hope so,” Grace said quietly.
“Taking on a project like this is like entering any other kind of a relationship. There are risks and rewards for both parties. Name one risk, one reward you think you’ll get out of this,” Emily said, her gaze locking on Grace.
Twisting her fingers in her lap, Grace sucked in a breath. Wow.Be yourself. Just answer the questions. Go with your gut. Risk? My heart.Could they hear it stomping around in her chest like an angry toddler? “The risk is misreading Noah’s tastes and style. Creating a look he isn’t happy with. The reward is the opportunity to do this project at all.”
Emily’s hand flew across the page. “Excellent. Noah?”
She felt his gaze but didn’t look up. Which didn’t matter when his voice slid over her like a caress. “You know my tastes well. That won’t be a problem. I think my risk and reward are two sides of the same coin. I want to be more involved but I don’t have the same know-how as people I hire. It’s one thing to know all the right people to make it look like you want it to. Quite another to have a hand in the final result.”
“Great. Favorite style?”
They answered at the same time, Noah saying, “Modern,” while Grace said, “Classic.”
“Guess we’ll see a blend of the two,” Emily said. “Color you’d never allow?”
“Pink,” Noah said, just as Grace answered the same. They laughed, which helped loosen the knots in her stomach.
“Room you’re most looking forward to redoing?”
“This one,” Grace said.
Noah nodded. “And the master bathroom. I want absolute luxury.”
She could do that. Spending other people’s money was way more fun than spending her own.
“Favorite room in a house?”
“Kitchen.”
