Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Trying to visualize, Jordi picked up some pieces of copper piping, fit them together, and held it against the wall above the connections. “You mean like this? Using elbows to crook the pipes to the connections? That could be funky looking.” Hope sprang into her heart. Could that work?
“Let me hold them, and you step back to see what you think,” Callen proposed. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head before she stepped away.
“That looks amazing. I love it. So, I just need some fancy piping and connections.” Her mind ran a thousand miles a minute. It could work!
“Need me to run over to the store and bring you some supplies?”
“No. I want to design this right. The sinks weren’t on my to-do list today. I’ve got time to think about it. If you’ll help me with other tasks, that will help me get ahead.”
“Point me toward the first job,” he said with a smile.
Within minutes, they were both focused on different tasks. She loved having company. Working by herself was great. Jordi didn’t have to rely on anyone other than herself, and she did everything her way. But… she really liked having Callen there.
Chapter Four
Four hours later, Jordi stood in the middle of the salon, spinning in a slow circle, grinning. “I can’t believe how much we got done. I can’t thank you enough.”
Callen caught her shoulders to stop her. “You’re going to get dizzy, Little girl. Do you know how many times you spun around?”
She shook her head, feeling a bit off balance like he suggested. “Oops. I just wanted to be able to see it all. I wish I had eyes in the back of my head so I could always see every aspect of the space I’m working on at the same time.”
Callen chuckled. “That would be cool. Maybe if we also had eyes in the sides of our head and some lower, like on our hips.”
“Oh. I could fit a lot of eyes on my hips,” she commented, glancing down.
Callen’s gaze was narrowed when she looked back up. “Did you just insinuate your hips were too big?”
Jordi winced. “Uhhh. Just pointing out the facts.”
He shook his head. “Nope. That’s not a fact at all, and I don’t want to hear you demeaning yourself, understood? Your body is perfect just the way it is.”
She swallowed. He was serious. She felt all warm and tingly from his insistence too. He thinks I’m perfect?
She thought about how she looked right now. Her wispy, straight brown hair was in a high ponytail, even though several strands had escaped to hang around her face—as usual. She had on jeans, work boots, and a formless T-shirt with her Cross Remodeling logo on it.
As she thought further, she realized this was basically what she’d been wearing every time she’d seen Callen. And yet, he thought he was her Daddy?
She eyed him suspiciously, narrowing her gaze as her mind went haywire. Why was he here?
Jordi set her hands on his shoulders and tried to push away from him. He was crowding her as she started to doubt his motives. Maybe he was a spy for a competitor or secretly had his own remodeling business, and he was trying to steal her ideas. It had to be one of those things. Otherwise, who dedicated half their day to helping someone out for no compensation?
“Jordi…” he warned in his deep Daddy voice. Was he even a Daddy at all? Maybe he was an imposter.
She broke free and took a step back, looking anywhere but at the gorgeous man in front of her.
“What’s going through that pretty head of yours, Little one? I don’t think I like it.”
She took another step back. “Thanks for helping me today. I’m sure I can manage from here.” She needed to get rid of him and extricate herself from this situation before she got hurt.
Already, she could feel her Little side creeping to the surface, threatening to bring tears with it. Why did her darn Little have to be teary?
“Jordi… The point of me helping was so that you could get off earlier and I could spend some quality time with you. I’d like to take you to dinner. Talk to me. You look spooked.”
She drew in a breath and forced herself to be brave. “I don’t really know you. Maybe you’re a bad guy who’s spying on me.” She felt ridiculous as she blurted that last part. It sounded sillier out loud.
When she glanced at him, his brow was furrowed. “You’re right. I probably came on pretty strong with you, Sunshine. I didn’t mean to scare you though. Sometimes you meet someone, and you just know you’re meant to be with them. That’s what happened when I saw you. Now I feel like I want to spend all my free time with you. I want to get to know you. I want to make you laugh and find out who your Little is. I want to hold you when you’re sad and help you solve problems when you’re frustrated.”