“I have no freaking clue.” She laughed. “There’s so many of them. Every time I think I narrow down which ones are going to get the budget, I walk into another room and see something worth saving. Another killer view, another piece of trim that somebody carved by hand. Another chunk of history of a family who hasn’t lived here in decades.”
“Hard to walk away, leave things unfinished,” he mused.
She gave him a good glare. “Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing.”
They were back in the rotunda, where the once-grand staircase curved behind her, corkscrewing its way up through two more floors. Waiting to be made grand again. They were standing at the very beginning of something great. And he wondered if she could feel it, too.
“Fine, as long as you don’t think you’re going to get away without hearing my safety lecture.”
“You already checked every possible entry point on the first floor. What are you going to do next? Scale the side of the house and try the second floor?”
“I’m merely going to point out that you should consider being more careful about ending up alone in a house with a man you barely know.”
“You insisted on coming in,” she argued.
“A bad guy would be pretty damn insistent, too.”
“I appreciate your concern, Mr. Wright,” she said, a pretty pink flush working its way over her cheeks. “But I did my research and not just on crime statistics. I looked into you, too. I look into everyone I hire. I’m careful. And just because you don’t see my due diligence happening, it’s always a safe bet that I’ve done it. I don’t make snap decisions. I weigh my options. I do my legwork. So when I decide to do something, you can bet that I know what I’m doing. Second-guessing me is never in your best interests unless you enjoy wasting time. Got it?”
“My mom is going to love you,” he told her.
The look she shot him could have frozen lava into an iceberg. “If your goal is to annoy me, it’s working.”
“I’m just trying to get to know you and look out for you at the same time. I’m multitasking.”
She didn’t look impressed. “Go home, Silas, so I can get back to work.”
“I’ll go. And I won’t even comment on how you seem to do a whole lot of working and not much playing.”
“I appreciate you not pointing that out.” She gave him a shove toward the front door.
He gave the knob a hard jerk, unwedging the door from its frame. “Full disclosure, Mags?”
She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
“I believe in signs. A few weeks back, I ended a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere no matter how many times we tackled it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said dryly.
“See, we should have worked. But something was fundamentally wrong.”
“I don’t need to hear the details of your love life. We’re working together, not living together.”
“Here comes the sign part,” he warned. “I’m pretty sure we’re meant to be.”
Her eye roll was extravagant. “Now you’re really making me regret letting you in.”
“I’m not saying we should get married.”
“Oh, good.”
“Yet.”
Her eyebrow-raise was perfection.
“But I am saying I see the two of us getting along real well. There’s a hell of a lot of potential standing right here,” Silas said, pointing back and forth between them.
Maggie tapped a finger to her chin. “Hmm.”
“What?”
“I’m trying to remember the last time a contractor proposed marriage this early on. I’m going to have to update my background checks to include workers who are too easily dazzled into monogamous fantasies.”
“See? That right there. Anyone who doesn’t fall hard for you is a damned fool.”
“I agree. Now, go home. And don’t come back tomorrow all puppy-dog-eyed and mopey.”
He leaned against the jamb. “I know I’m coming on strong, and I know a lot of it’s just flirtatious fun. But when I look at you, Mags, I see something I’ve been waiting for.”
“And when I see you, I see someone I hired to do a damn good job. Regardless of any personal feelings—one-sided or other—I expect you to deliver what you promised.”
“Oh, I’ll deliver,” he promised. “You and me, Maggie. We see things the same way. You don’t look at this place and see the flaws, the hundreds of hours of labor it’s gonna take to make her shine again.”