*****
Amie was on Riviera like ants on honey when she got home.
“Okay, sit your butt down and give me the scoop.”
“Nope, can’t talk about it.”
Amie stuck out her lower lip. “What do you mean? I’m your best friend. If you can’t talk to me, who can you talk to?”
“Dr. Ashworth.”
“Holy h-e-double hell, Riv. That bad, huh?”
“It depends. Could be that good.”
“No kidding?”
Blowing out a lungful of air, Riviera said, “Yeah. It got pretty awkward too. Look, Amie, you know I love you, but this is way too raw for me right now.”
“I get it, Riv. No worries. So, I was headed over to the Shack tonight for some organizing on the auction. Wanna come?”
Riviera thought it would do her good to get her mind out of this funk, so she agreed.
Thirty minutes later, they were on their way to Shelby’s Shack when Riviera’s phone rang.
“It’s Shan.”
“Aren’t you gonna answer it?”
“I’ll call him back.”
Amie gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything. When they arrived at the Shack, Riviera said she’d be in a minute.
She hit Shan’s number and he picked up immediately.
“Well, hello, stranger.”
She laughed a little. “I’m not much of one since you just saw me last night.”
“I was hoping I’d catch you sometime today. Listen, there’s a new job I need to discuss with you.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. It involves something that’s outside of what’s already on your jam-packed schedule. You up for it?”
“Yeah, if they don’t mind taking a back seat to your other clients.”
“I think I can talk them into it. Can we meet for breakfast tomorrow?”
“Yeah, our usual place?”
“That works. How’s seven?”
“Perfect. See you then.”
Riviera walked inside, but the only thing on her mind was breakfast the next morning, and it wasn’t the pancakes she was focused on.
Amie had her organize and catalogue items on a spreadsheet so they could have the booklet printed. The auction was less than six weeks away, so the booklet had to be sent to the printer soon. Amie was waiting on photos of the house from Shan so they could put them in the book and post them on their website.
Amie was in her office, hunched over her computer, organizing things her committees still needed to do when she heard Shan’s voice from the doorway.
“I didn’t expect to see you in here tonight. We need those pictures, Shan. The deadline is looming over my shoulder.”
He held up a flash drive and waved it in the air. “That’s why I’m here, oh pesky one!”
“Pesky? I’m just trying to do my job,” she huffed.
He laughed. “No, I’ve been meaning to get this to you, but I had a slight problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Riviera started doing all that fabulous work, so I wanted to wait until she was done.”
Amie raised her brows and asked, “What are you talking about?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“She said she was doing a little painting in the house, but that’s it.”
Shan shook his head and said, “Wait until you see these, then. Be prepared for the shock of your life.”
He walked over to her computer to insert the flash drive, but she stopped him. “Wait a minute. Let me get Riviera in here. She’s in the other room.”
Amie noticed Shan stiffen as he stopped. “She’s here?”
“Yeah. What’s up with you two, anyway?”
“I wish I knew.” That’s all he said as he rubbed his neck.
“What do you mean?”
He looked at Amie long and hard. “I know you two are close, but I have to say I’m a bit confused. Last night we were talking and I thought everything was going great when suddenly, it was like a switch flipped. She totally shut down on me. I can’t figure her out.”
Amie sighed. “Shan, it’s not you. She does that to me too. Please give her some time. She’s trying really hard to work through a lot of crap.”
“I know, but it’s so bizarre to me. One minute she’s fine and the next, bam! She completely shuts me out.”
“There are a ton of things she keeps buried. Until she lets that stuff out, we both have to deal with those dark spells she has. Don’t give up on her.”
He nodded.
“I’m going to bring her in and let her know you’re here. She needs to see the pictures too. Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
When Amie returned with Riviera, she gave him a slight smile. “Hey. So I hear you have some photos of the house.”
“Yeah, and wait until you see them,” he smiled. It warmed Riviera and she wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around her again, but he stayed next to Amie’s desk and didn’t move close to her.
Shan inserted the flash drive into Amie’s computer and motioned for Riviera to come and stand next to him. When she did, he moved her in front of him and placed his hands on her shoulders, startling her. She turned her head to look at him, but he wasn’t watching her, or at least she didn’t think he was. He saw her turn and quickly averted his eyes to the screen. Shan didn’t care a thing about the pictures. He only wanted to look at Riviera. And he did. Not only did he look at her, he breathed in her fragrance and felt his body respond to her. The urge to slip his arms around her waist and pull her against him was so damn strong, he had to fight the impulse to moan.
Suddenly, Amie exclaimed, “What the hell, Riv! Why didn’t you tell me? First of all, I had no idea you did that kind of work. You are freakin’ off the charts. And second, this house is unreal. When you said you were adding some extra touches, I never thought it would be anything like this.”
Amie went on and on about how unbelievable the house looked with Riviera’s talented hand added to it. Shan was in a trance, staring at the top of her head, and Riviera was lost in the feeling of his hands on her shoulders. Amie finally glanced up at the two of them and the realization of what was going on slammed into her.
“Excuse me, I need to take care of something.” She exited her office, closing the door behind her.
Shan turned Riviera around and said, “Are things okay between us?”
He waited for her to say something. “Yeah.” She licked her dry lips. “Shan, there are so many things about me that I need to share with you. You only know the tip of the iceberg. I just need to find the damn courage to tell you.”
“We’ll take baby steps, Riv. We can do that, you know. Just don’t run from me every time something comes up that makes you uncomfortable. We can talk this out and maybe you’ll work up to getting that courage.”
“Yeah, I hope so.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. He wanted to do more than that, and Riviera wished he had, but Shan knew this wasn’t the time or place.
She put her hand on his arm and said, “I’m sorry for the way things ended last night. Sometimes when things get a little deep, I have a tendency to withdraw.”
“I won’t betray your trust in me.”
“That’s not it, Shan. It goes way beyond that. It has to do with whether I’m brave enough to bare my soul to you. Sometimes I can’t even admit the truth to myself. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah. I’m here for you, Riviera.” He tucked her hair behind her ear.
She smiled at him. “Thanks for putting up with me.”
Shan and Riviera walked out of Amie’s office and found her standing in the reception area.
Amie looked at Shan and announced, “Benjamin Shandon, whatever you’re paying that girl, you need to double it. She’s worth a million bucks.”
“Amie, after everyone sees this house, she’s gonna have to hire a crew.”
“Do you hear what he’s saying, Riv? He’s not kidding.”
Shan looked at her. “I’ll get you some help, Riviera. Don’t worry about it. I can already see those wheels spinning.”
She released a nervous chuckle and rubbed her hands together. Shan reached over and took a hold of one. “So, I think you need to consider a crew. You’re going to be way too busy to keep up with everything on your schedule. I’d like to help. We can work out all the details of that tomorrow.”
“That would be really nice.”
Chapter Fifteen
Pancakes
Riviera’s heart pounded as she slid into the seat across from Shan. Her nerves were raw for several reasons. The whole idea of starting a business and running one set her on edge. But the idea of being alone with Shan again had her body doing all sorts of crazy things. On one hand she wanted to throw herself at him and strip off her clothes, but on the other, she wanted to scurry away and hide. She didn’t know what the heck to do.
“Good morning,” he smiled.
“Morning,” she stammered.
While they waited on their food to arrive, Shan didn't waste any time in jumping to the heart of the matter.
“So, I think it’s time you set up a business.”
“Yeah, but this seriously is giving me the heebs. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”
“It doesn’t matter. You can’t do it all anymore. Janet is getting more and more calls every day about the girl who paints for me. You could expand this thing into something really big. May I make some recommendations?”
“Sure.” Riviera was happy to listen to what he had to say.
“All of your base techniques are fairly simple and could be taught to several reliable painters. What you could do is get a few folks working for you and then all you’d have to do would be the really difficult stuff, the murals and trompe l’oeils. You would make all the calls for what the bases and colors would be, with the permission of the owners, of course, but it would relieve you of the more tedious tasks.”
Riviera smiled as she listened. “That does make a lot of sense. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about all the small stuff. Do you know anyone who would want to work for me?”
“I could ask some of my painters. My guys don’t do anything like that, but they probably know people who do.”
“You know, there’s a woman from Shelby’s Shack who helped me in the auction house. I wonder if she’d want to work.” Her face beamed.
“Check with her.”
Riviera’s face fell. “I don’t know if I can afford to hire anyone, though.”
Shan knew how nervous she was over this and her inexperience in business was adding to it. “Let me outline how this is all going to work.” Shan launched into an explanation of how Riviera’s workload would expand, due to her additional employees and her ability to get more accomplished, which would equate to more earnings. “You can more than afford this. In fact, if you don’t, you’re basically cutting off your foot, Riviera. This is how businesses grow. I can assure you that you’ll get all of my business. Here’s the other thing … the reason I wanted to meet with you today. High Country Homes wants you too.”
“What?”
Shan grinned. “That’s right. They’ve seen and heard about your work. They called me and asked if you were available. Riviera, I want you to expand. I want you to go for it.” High Country Homes, while not as huge as Shandon Homes, was another large construction company of million-dollar homes in the Vail/Beaver Creek area. “And there’s one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I want to hire you to do my house.”
“Your house?” Riviera was stunned.
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about making some changes for a long time but didn’t know what. When I saw your work, I knew immediately it was you I wanted to hire. Are you game?”
“Well, yeah, but I won’t do it for a fee. You’ve given me so much already. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been out on my butt after I quit Marsha Sue. So, I’ll do it under one condition—you won’t pay me for it.”
“Well, then, forget it. I can’t ask you to give up your days to come in and work on my house.”
Riviera chewed on her lip. “What about this? What if I got Jenny Lynch, the woman I was telling you about, to do the basics? You could pay her and then I could come in and do the more technical stuff … sort of like I did for the auction house.”
Shan nodded. “Yeah, I can go with that. You and I can get together to make a plan and then we can bring her into the mix. Sound good?”
“Great! I need to see if she wants to come to work for me. But what should I pay her?”
The two of them discussed options and Riviera was very surprised at how much money she was going to be earning and was sure Jenny would agree to the terms she would offer.
They were walking out of the diner when Shan asked, “I’m doing the final walk-through on the auction house this afternoon at four. Would you like to join me?”
Riviera jumped at the chance. She’d never done anything like that before. “Absolutely! I’ll see you there.”
“I want to warn you. The evil one will be present.”
She laughed. “Thanks for the warning.”
As she turned away to walk to her car, Shan asked, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She looked at him with a furrowed brow. “What?”
“This.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. Running his finger down the side of it, he whispered in her ear, “See you at four.” She stared at him as he walked to his truck. Shan noticed her standing there, even as he drove out of the parking lot. He smiled all the way to his job site.
*****
The day sped by as Riviera painted in a state of bliss. Her mind buzzed with the possibilities of her new business. She’d called Jenny and was excited to hear her acceptance of her new role in Riviera’s company. As she thought more about it, she figured she could make Jenny her lead painter. She’d been a quick learner and was easy to train. In no time at all, she’d learned the basics, so Riviera was sure she could teach her the more complicated skills. If Riviera could find two more Jennys, she’d be in perfect shape to launch her business. Now all she needed was a catchy name.
Playing with a few names—A Thousand Walls, WallArt (which she immediately discarded because it was too close to Wal-Mart), and Great Walls of Riviera—she hummed as she drove to the auction house. It was four o’clock on the dot when she pulled in the driveway. Shan’s truck and Marsha Sue’s car were already there, along with another truck that Riviera wasn’t familiar with.
As soon as she walked in, she heard Shan’s raised voice. Something was wrong. She ran up the steps into one of the children’s bedrooms and Shan was yelling at Phil.
“You told me all systems had been tested and we were good. That was over a month ago. How did this happen?”
“I don’t have an answer for you. All I know is that we ran a test thirty minutes ago and the entire alarm system failed.”
“Tear it out. Everything.”
“We can’t do that, Shan! The wiring, everything is impacted here.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass. I want someone in here who can replace the entire thing. This house will not be sold until this alarm system is fully functional. Are we clear on this?”
“Yes! But you’re not listening to me. I ran a check on everything and nothing is adding up.”
“What are you saying?”
“Someone has tampered with this too.”
“Well, I think you’re jumping the gun on this, Shan,” Marsha Sue chimed in.
Shan glared at Marsha Sue. “Marsha Sue, someone has definitely screwed with this house.”
Riviera didn’t know what was going on. She’d just walked into the middle of a crapstorm.
Not really wanting to butt in, she took a chance and asked, “Wh
at’s happened?”
Shan blew out his breath and shrugged. “Fuck if I know. Maybe Phil can explain. But that’s not the worst of it. Come here.”
He latched onto her arm and dragged her across the room. When she saw where he was taking her, she gasped. Her beautiful fantasy mural, the first one she’d painted, had been destroyed. Someone had taken black spray paint and completely ruined it by covering it up with slashes and other marks.
“Oh my God! Who would do such a thing?” She moved to the wall and ran her hands across it, not really believing what she was seeing. “Why would anyone want to destroy this?”
Shan scrubbed his face. “I think the same assholes who fucked up the security system.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know,” he said, disgusted.
Riviera walked out of the room and went to look at her other murals in the house. As she had suspected, every one of them had been destroyed. Someone had sabotaged this house, in a terribly cruel way. But why? Why would they want to do that when it would ultimately hurt Shelby’s Shack? Who would want something like that? The thought of all the hard work she’d put in here and how someone had purposely ruined it sickened her.
Deciding she couldn’t stand to see those walls in their current state, she marched out to her car and toted all her supplies and tools inside. While the others remained upstairs debating what to do, Riviera got to work. She was furious not only that someone had marred her work but also that someone had destroyed something that had been built for a badly needed cause. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
It only took her about forty-five minutes to have the mural in the kitchen painted over. Realizing Shan and everyone were still upstairs, she went to check on things.
When she rounded the corner in the room, Shan’s voice was as loud as she’d ever heard it. “I will never take the chance again of someone dying in one of my homes. Do you understand me? Now get it fixed or we’re done with this piece of shit house.”
He stomped out of the room, passing Riviera as he did. She followed him, wanting to find out what was going on.
“Shan!”
“Not now, Riviera.”
She stayed on his tail, not willing to give up, all the way out to the driveway. He was moving so fast, she had to jog to keep up with him. When he made it to his truck, she grabbed his arm to stop him from getting inside.
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