A Touch of Romance

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  If only there were a fast-forward button. She longed to be past all of what the next few months held. The busy wedding season. The renovations. The move. All of it needed to be in her rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, it was still on the road ahead of her. If her hair didn’t turn gray by the end of the year, it would be a small miracle.

  When her cell rang, shattering the silence of her office, she jumped, but seeing Mitch’s number on the screen set her heart pounding.

  Good news?

  Bad news?

  Good and bad news?

  Only one way to find out.

  “Hello, Mitch,” Belle said when she tapped the screen of her phone where it lay on her desk. She had it on speakerphone so she could keep her hands free to fiddle with her pen.

  “Hey! Hope your day is going good,” he said, his voice holding an upbeat tone.

  Belle didn’t put much stock in that, however, because Mitch seemed to always have an upbeat outlook. At least, from what she’d seen of him in the weeks since they’d first met. His consistently positive outlook was at turns encouraging and annoying. On that day, however, she was hoping it would be encouraging.

  “It will be going better if you’re calling with good news,” Belle told him.

  “Yes, I am. The inspection didn’t reveal anything unexpected,” Mitch said. “However, that being said, some of the things we were concerned about that we’d already discussed with you are, in fact, issues that will have to be addressed.”

  Belle let out a sigh. “Those were already taken into account in the figures you gave for the renovations though, right?”

  “Yep, no worries there. Once the final legal papers are signed, and you take possession, we’ll be starting the renos right away. I know you’re on a deadline, so we’ll be working hard to make sure the place is ready to go in time.”

  “I’ll be glad when it’s all over,” Belle admitted. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to juggle the renovations as well as all the wedding stuff for long-term.”

  “You don’t have to juggle the renovations,” Mitch said, his voice softening. “That’s my job, although I won’t object to having you involved as long as it doesn’t add stress to your days.”

  Though she had vowed to never give a man her total trust again, she found herself wanting to take Mitch at his word. He didn’t seem to be saying she couldn’t handle it all, but instead, that he wanted her to know that she didn’t need to. That he understood she had a job to do, and that he would do his job in such a way so as not to add more stress to hers. His encouragement for Belle to trust him with the overhaul of the new location was all very appealing since the move and all it would entail had already been stressing her out, and the whole process had barely begun.

  “So I can drop by whenever I want?” Belle asked.

  “As long as you’re prepared to wear a hard hat which is a requirement for everyone on our work sites whether a worker or a visitor.”

  “Make sure it’s purple, and I’ll be happy to slap it on my head and deal with the hair mess afterward.”

  “Purple hard hat.” Mitch chuckled, and the sound did funny things to Belle’s stomach. “Noted.”

  “I guess I’ll be hearing from Cassidy soon?”

  “Yep, she’ll be contacting you, and after that, your lawyer will have some papers for you to sign. Then, on possession day, we’ll show up to start the demolition. The fun part. If you have any aggravation you want to get out, that should be when you show up as well. I’ll have a sledgehammer just for you.”

  Belle was surprised by how tempting the idea sounded. On occasion, she took out her frustrations on a punching bag, but that was rare. Maybe taking part in the demolition at her new building would be cathartic. She could take out how she truly felt about the whole process on the building itself. That would be glorious.

  “I’ll be there,” she promised him.

  Two weeks later, everything had been finalized, and the building was officially theirs. Belles & Beaus would have a new address and a home that no one could ever kick them out of. The end result would be good, but in the meantime, there was still a ton of work to be done to get to that point.

  Once she’d heard from Mitch that demolition was starting, Belle had made plans to be there. As she turned onto the street in front of the building—her building—she spotted the large bin that would be used for the debris from the demo. It made it all feel so official.

  It took a minute to find a parking spot, and then she was making her way to the door, hoping her faded jeans and old long-sleeved T-shirt would be okay. It was odd to be out in such casual clothes since normally she reserved that attire for home. When she worked six or seven days a week, casual clothes made a limited appearance. But after another busy weekend of weddings, she was ready to see if pounding holes in a wall would help relieve some stress.

  When Belle opened the door to the building, she was immediately greeted by the noise of things being torn down. She hesitated just inside the door, looking around and trying to imagine what the finished product would look like.

  “Belle!”

  Belle’s gaze zeroed in on Mitch as he walked toward her, his long legs making quick work of the distance between them. He wore a pair of jeans with some rips that she assumed he hadn’t bought that way, along with a dark blue T-shirt that sported the business logo on the front. On his head, he wore a yellow hard hat, and on his face, a wide, welcoming smile.

  “I wondered if you might show up today,” he said as he came to a stop in front of her. “It’s great to see you.” After a moment, he turned and gestured to the wide space. “Are you here to help with step one?”

  “If you were serious about letting me,” Belle said, suddenly unsure if he had been.

  “Oh, definitely most serious.” He held up a finger. “Wait right here.”

  Belle stayed where she was as he jogged off in the direction he’d come from. When he returned a minute later, he held a hard hat in his hand—a light purple one. He held it out to her. “Purple. As requested.”

  She took it from him, surprised that he had actually remembered their conversation. She’d just assumed she’d wear one of the standard yellow ones, and she’d been okay with that. This one, in addition to being purple, also had the words Princess in Charge in sparkly letters on the front. Plopping the hard hat on her head, she gave it a tap. “How does it look?”

  “Perfect. That really is a great color for you. I can see why you might object to wearing yellow.” Reaching out, he touched the letters on the hat. “And this way, everyone will know who you are.”

  Belle thought about objecting to the title, but honestly, it was kind of true. And for some reason, she didn’t mind the nickname from Mitch. Other men had used it when they realized who she was named for, but it hadn’t necessarily been a complementary thing. “Are there many women on the site?”

  “Not on this particular site, but we do have them in the company.” He glanced around then turned back to her. “Let me show you around and introduce you to a couple of people.”

  He led her through to the back of the building, guiding her around areas where there was already piles of debris. They came to a stop next to a small group of men who were looking at whatever had been revealed by them ripping out a wall.

  “Hey, Mark!” All the men turned at Mitch’s yell, but only one stepped toward them.

  “Hiya,” the man said with a smile. “Princess in Charge, eh?”

  “This is Belle Jacobs,” Mitch said. “And yes, she’s the Princess in Charge. The boss lady. She owns this building and the business that we’re renovating for.”

  Mark held out his hand which Belle took with a firm grip. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “Belle’s going to give us a hand doing some of the demoing today.” Mitch gestured to a wall not too far away.

  “Well, I’ll let you get to it.” Mark gave her another smile and a nod.

  Mitch picked up a
couple of things from a nearby work table and held them out to her. “You’ll need these as well.”

  Belle took the items and slid the glasses into place then pulled on the gloves. Between her clothes and the safety gear, there wasn’t much skin showing, so hopefully, she would manage to avoid any injuries from flying debris. But it would still be worth the risk if she got to take out her tension on some innocent walls.

  “Here’s a wall that’s safe to work on.” Mitch picked up a sledgehammer. “I don’t want you to run into any wires or pipes, but this wall has neither behind it, so you can just whack away to your heart’s content.”

  As soon as she took the sledgehammer, the head of it hit the floor. Belle stared at it for a moment before laughing. “Maybe I should have lifted a few more weights in anticipation of this.”

  Mitch laughed as she hefted it up in both hands once again. “Are you going to be able to swing it?”

  “I’m going to do it or pull a muscle trying,” Belle told him, unwilling to appear weak.

  “Don’t hurt yourself,” Mitch said. “I’d hate to have to put in a worker’s comp claim for you.”

  “I’ll try to keep that from happening.”

  Mitch held a hand out toward the wall. “Take a swing and see how it feels.”

  Belle lifted the hammer again and pulled back before swinging it at the wall. It hit with a thud that reverberated up her arms and into her shoulders. Sadly, it didn’t make much of a dent in the wall. She scowled at it for a moment before trying again, aiming for the same spot in hopes it would break through this time.

  It actually took her a couple more swings before she finally won her first battle with the wall. Once the hole had grown a bit, Belle rested the hammer on the floor for a minute.

  “After you have a hole like that,” Mitch began as he walked to the wall, “you can pull on the edges to see if you can rip part of it off.” He gripped one edge in his gloved hand and tugged. A section broke free, and he tossed it on the floor. “Your turn.”

  Abandoning the hammer, Belle joined him at the wall and used both hands to rip a piece free. It was a much smaller piece than what Mitch had managed to pull off, but it was better than nothing.

  “You can keep pulling off pieces for now, then use the hammer to make another hole to work from.” His phone rang, and as he fished it from his pocket, he said, “I have to get this, but I’ll check back with you in a few minutes to see how things are going.”

  Belle nodded and watched as he walked away with his phone pressed to his ear. She once again found herself wondering about his relationship status, which didn’t make any sense because she really didn’t care—or at least she shouldn’t care.

  Turning back around and hoping that out of sight meant out of mind, Belle pulled a couple more pieces off before taking the hammer to the wall again. She had a feeling that she shouldn’t use the hammer too much or her arms would be pretty much useless the next day, and while she normally didn’t lift anything heavier than a pen or her tablet during the week, that wasn’t the case on the weekends.

  As she continued to work, Belle found her thoughts going to what the place would look like once all the old stuff was ripped away, and the new design was carried out. It was as if the action of tearing down walls had finally freed her mind to embrace what the future looked like for the business.

  Though she had kind of hoped that hammering down walls might empty her mind of the jumbled thoughts that were constantly present, that wasn’t what happened. But she made the best of the experience. As every thought of something that needed to be done came to mind, she hit the wall with the hammer and knocked the thought aside to deal with later.

  Finally, the hammer hit the floor when her arms couldn’t hold it up anymore. Belle bent over, her hands still gripping the handle, and let out a long breath.

  “Is there something in particular that you’re picturing on that wall?” The sound of Mitch’s voice had Belle straightening and turning around. He stood with his arms crossed, his brow furrowed. “At the rate you’re going, you’re not going to be able to lift your arms tomorrow.”

  Never mind tomorrow, Belle wasn’t sure she’d be able to lift her arms enough to grip the steering wheel when she left there. As usual, her thoughts had taken over everything else, even to the extent of blocking out the physical toll her actions were having on her body.

  Belle turned back to the wall, not caring for the concerned look on Mitch’s face. Though she didn’t want to be thinking about Mitch in a personal way, she didn’t want him thinking of her that way either.

  “Just checking off the things on my list,” Belle said as she tried to pick up the hammer again but discovered she couldn’t even get it an inch off the floor.

  “Your arms are already hurting, aren’t they?” Mitch said as he came to where she stood. “I should have known you’d overdo it.”

  Scowling, Belle turned her head to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Surprisingly, Mitch met Belle’s gaze head-on, apparently not anywhere near as intimidated by her fierce frown as her employees were. “It means that you have a tendency to throw yourself into everything you do without caring about how it impacts you.”

  “Wait,” Belle said, finally managing to lift her hand. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

  “Well, it is. Or it can be.” Mitch paused. “When you’re so busy taking on all the responsibility for the world, who takes care of you? Who makes sure that you don’t overdo things?”

  Belle bit her tongue. She wanted to tell him to mind his own business, but she also needed to work with him. “I have people in my life who make sure I don’t go too far.”

  Or they tried to. Usually, Rory had the best luck reining Belle in, but even she didn’t always succeed. Jasmine had given up trying except for the odd gently worded suggestion when Belle was really pushing it. Ariel wasn’t around to see how she chose to live her life, but every once in a while, Belle would answer her phone to find her other older sister on the line. Most often, the conversation began with a big sigh, then a comment on how Rory was worried about her and had asked Ariel to call.

  “Well, I think you’ve probably done enough for today,” Mitch said. “The lower half of the wall is pretty much all gone.”

  Belle turned to look at it, a bit surprised to see that he was right. And though she wasn’t all that keen on calling it a day already, she was pretty sure she couldn’t lift the hammer for another swing. “Do I need to clean this up?”

  “Nope. We’ll be cleaning it all up at the end of the day, but how about we grab a bite to eat?”

  “Are you kidding?” Belle asked. “I’m a mess.”

  “So am I. That’s why we’ll find a food cart somewhere nearby.”

  Belle couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten from a food cart, but she was hungry enough to consider it right then. Normally keeping busy meant she didn’t have much time to eat, but the physical activity had used up whatever energy her breakfast had given her, and she needed something more.

  “Okay. Food cart fare it is.”

  Mitch gave her a smile of what looked like approval. “Sounds good. Let’s get out of here.”

  As they walked toward the entrance, Belle pulled off the gloves and safety glasses. At the door, Mitch took them from her. “If you want, you can keep the hard hat and bring it with you any time you come to visit the site. That way you have it even if I’m not here.”

  Belle took the hat off and ran her fingers through her hair, wincing at the dampness present around her roots. Suddenly she wasn’t sure she was even up to food cart dining standards. “Ugh. Sweat head.”

  Mitch laughed as he held the door open for her. Thankfully, there was a breeze that lifted strands of her hair, helping it to not stick to her head. Still, she was pretty sure she was looking more than a little worse for wear. She went to her car and unlocked it to put the hard hat inside.

  “Do you wa
nt to just ride in my truck?” Mitch asked. “We aren’t going too far away, so I can bring you back to your car afterward.”

  Belle hesitated then grabbed her purse from where she’d tucked it under the edge of the passenger side front seat. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure going with Mitch was a good idea, so if this time together went awry, she was going to blame it on hunger.

  She stepped back from the car and closed the door. “Sure. That works.”

  “Great. I’m parked just down here.” Mitch pointed to a large truck with the business logo on the side.

  Belle wondered if there would actually be room for her in the vehicle. She knew that when she was on a job, her car tended to overflow with all the things she needed. All the extra, just-in-case items that she brought with her to a wedding. Some might say it was excessive, but all it took was having one thing that someone had forgotten, whether it was hairspray or tissues or pens for the guestbook, that reinforced that having it all on hand was a good plan.

  When Mitch opened the door, she saw that at least the front seat was free from debris. She reached for the handle above the door and used it to pull herself up into the high truck. After Mitch closed the door, Belle glanced over her shoulder. Not surprising, there was a bit more junk on the seat behind them, but still not as much as she had thought there would be.

  “Are you okay with a hotdog or should we look for a different type of food truck?” Mitch asked as he settled behind the wheel of the truck.

  He pulled off his hard hat and ran his hand through his hair before grabbing a ball cap that was sitting on the dash and settling it on his head. He reached over to put the hard hat on the back seat. When he turned back around, he had another ball cap in his hand. “Would you like one?”

  Belle eyed the hat with what she was sure looked a bit like disdain—because it was. She had never worn one in her life, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to start now. Instead, she flipped down the visor and peered at her reflection in the mirror. And conceded defeat.