Opened Up

by Eva Moore

  “It’s going to be beautiful. Thank you, Sofia. It’s exactly what I wanted.” Farha wrapped Sofia up in a hug made awkward by her large baby bump, and Sofia beamed.

  “Cut! That was great, everyone! Let’s try the same format in the master. Archie, help me get the lighting set up in there.”

  Sofia grinned at the now glowing couple. Maybe this TV thing wasn’t so hard after all.

  Adrian frowned at the blueprints in front of him. This TV show was going to kill him. He could see Sofia’s vision quite clearly, but he had serious concerns. As he walked through the house, he tapped walls, pulled up carpet, and peeked into attics. Trina was following him with her camcorder, filming his every wince. She’d told him he wouldn’t have to speak since she was just filming for background and he wasn’t miked for sound, so he didn’t, but this was still going to look bad on screen. The good news was that the Shah family hadn’t moved in yet, so he had plenty of room to explore and work. This wasn’t always the case on their renovation jobs. The bad news was that the Shahs had ignored a lot of warnings from their inspector when they bought the house, and he wasn’t a good enough actor to hide his concern.

  Housing was so scarce and so overpriced that he couldn’t fault them for pouncing on the fixer-upper, but a house in this condition always had hidden problems. Sofia’s complicated plans didn’t have a shot in hell of becoming reality on time or under budget. If he was going to convince Dom to trust him with his company, he couldn’t deviate from their mission statement: make the house comfortable and safe on time and under budget. There simply wasn’t money for all of the fancy extras she wanted to incorporate.

  He hadn’t even opened any of the walls, and he could already tell that most of the electrical would need replacing, which meant extensive drywalling, not to mention the cost of the wiring and electricians. While they had the walls down, it made sense to pull out all of the old galvanized plumbing and replace with copper, too. Galvanized pipes were only meant to last forty years, and this house was going on fifty. It wasn’t as sexy as Carrera marble, but it was a hell of a lot better use of the money. He couldn’t in good conscience let this family move their new baby into a pretty house just waiting to break down. To add insult to injury, the wall she wanted taken down in the kitchen was load-bearing. The header they’d need would eat another five thousand from her budget, not to mention the cost of installing it… What a mess.

  And he’d promised his crew he’d try to avoid having them work unscheduled hours. He’d also promised Sofia he’d do what he could to help her make this a success. He could see a lot of late and lonely nights in his near future.

  As Trina ducked out for uploads, he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and called the office.

  “Hello?”

  It was ridiculous that the sound of her voice made everything go still inside, quiet and waiting for more. The rest of the world fell away as he got lost in her voice, which was a problem because she clearly expected him to speak.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  Get it together, man. You called her, remember? Bad news? Right.

  “Hi, Sofia. It’s Adrian. I’m over at the Shah project… Have you got time to talk about these plans?”

  “I’m still stuck at the office. Is there a problem?”

  “Why are you still at the office?” He glanced at his watch, wondering how he’d missed that it was six o’clock, well past his usual knock-off time.

  “Surely this doesn’t come as a surprise to you, but I had to get caught up on all the order forms after a full day of filming design reveals.”

  “Shit. They’ve already seen your plans?”

  “Yes, and they got final approval, too. You’re starting to scare me, Adrian. What’s wrong?”

  “We should get dinner.”

  There was a pause on the line. Adrian tried to figure out why his brain wasn’t putting the right words in the right order… He’d been careful to keep his longing concealed at work, and they hadn’t had much time to be together outside of work because of the crazy prep for the TV show on top of their full client load. His filter was clearly slipping under the strain.

  “The truce is still on. We just need to talk with the plans in front of us. I haven’t eaten yet, and I assume you haven’t either if you’re still there. Let’s meet in San Jose at Vino Vino in half an hour? Does that give you enough time to wrap up?”

  “No, I was planning to stay late tonight. But as you say, I need to eat. I’ll meet you and come back.”

  “See you soon.”

  Why on earth had he named a date restaurant? He knew she preferred wine to beer, but she wasn’t even going to be able to enjoy herself if she had to go back to work. Idiot. His stubborn subconscious was leading him astray, and he couldn’t afford to follow. This was a work dinner. He had bad news. This was NOT a date.

  His pep talk worked through the drive, into the restaurant. He chose a larger brushed aluminum high-top inside. No intimate table for two on the fairy-lit patio. He set the tube of prints in the middle of the table. All business. Up to the moment she walked in the door, he believed he could keep their precious truce. Then, all hope was lost.

  She’d done something different with her makeup, likely for the filming, but her usually beautiful face was stunning. The teal sweater made her eyes glow a brilliant blue, and sweet Jesus, it didn’t hide a single curve. The pencil skirt was new, too. He knew she’d never worn it before. He’d have remembered. And heels. She never wore high heels, but tonight she was, and as she made her way across the room to him her hips swayed and swung in the tight skirt, hypnotizing him. With her hair twisted up into a bun, and her glasses pushed up on her head, she was his librarian fantasy in the very tempting flesh.

  She walked in as if she hadn’t just stolen all the air from the room. She was speaking, and he could barely drag in a breath. He could hear her voice, but the words weren’t making any sense. She stepped too close, and his brain slammed to a halt and his hands reached for her of their own accord. With a quick jog step and some heavy side-eye, Sofia avoided his hug and put a table between them. He still hadn’t managed to say a word.

  “Hello?” She waved a hand in front of his face to break the trance. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “You look different.”

  It was as close as he could come to the truth and maintain their truce. He was pretty sure that telling her she was a walking wet dream would cross her invisible line in the sand. And the discussion they needed to have was difficult enough without bringing his sexual tension into it. But when she licked her lips and rubbed them together self-consciously, his mind helpfully supplied the memory of their soft and supple texture. He could swear he smelled chocolate.

  “Ugh. It’s all the stage makeup. I feel like I’m wearing a mask. So what’s so bad we had to talk in person?”

  She grinned playfully at him, and Adrian struggled to remember what he needed to say. Work. It was something about work…but it was bad news, and he didn’t want to chase away her smile so quickly. Thankfully, the waiter came at that moment and interrupted for their order, giving him a few precious minutes to wrangle his brain cells and get his priorities in order. They agreed to share a flight of local red wines. She ordered the garden salad and the burrata, and he settled on the chicken pesto panini and the bold truth.

  “Your plan is not going to work.”

  There, he’d said it. Like tearing off a Band-Aid, sometimes it was best to say it fast, even if he did come off sounding like an ass.

  “My design is great. It got approved by the homeowners and the network’s design consultants.”

  “It didn’t get approved by me.”

  “I wasn’t aware I needed your approval.” Her tone went ice cold, and her walls came up.

  He couldn’t blame her for being pissed off, but he had to get it all out. He laid the plans on the table between them. “There are structural concerns. We need to replace all the pipes with copper. I’m sho
cked the galvanized is still holding. That means kitchen and both bathrooms. Easy enough to do while we have the walls opened up, but copper is expensive.”

  “How expensive?”

  “Ten thousand dollars expensive.”

  “Do we have to use copper?”

  “It’s the better choice, but we could also go with PEX flexible plastic piping. That would bring it down to five, but it’s not as reliable as the copper long term. But that’s not the only hurdle. I found Romex wiring that had been chewed by rodents in the attic. I think we need to rewire with BX to make it safer for the Shahs down the line.” He watched her absorbing his words like individual punches to the gut. He hated hurting her. Band-Aids. All at once. “And then there’s your wall.”

  “My wall?”

  Her face went gray. Or he imagined it had from her expression because he couldn’t actually see her real skin beneath the makeup. He wondered if he’d be able to see her blush through it.

  “Which wall?” she asked again.

  “The one you want down between the kitchen/living/dining room. It’s load-bearing. To get rid of the entire length you need a special timber header to maintain the stability of the house. But it’s going to cost you as well. Less if we can keep the portion of the wall that goes around the corner, but still a hefty price tag.”

  She dropped her glasses to her nose and leaned forward to peer at the blueprints as if she could magically find the savings she needed to keep her designs intact. The motion pressed her gorgeous tits into the table, putting them on display. He leaned closer, ostensibly to point out the wall in question, but really because he was helpless to stop himself from getting a better view of heaven. Keeping this truce was getting harder and harder, along with another pertinent part of his anatomy. He was having a real difficult time remembering why dating the boss’s daughter was such a bad idea.

  “How much?”

  “A lot.” He wanted her a lot.

  “Specifically, for all of those things you mentioned?”

  God, he had to snap out of it. “Ten for the pipes, eight for the wires, five for the header, a few other little fixes, minimum twenty-five K if there are no other surprises.”

  “Fuck me.” His cock leapt at the suggestion even though he knew it was metaphorical. “What are we going to do?”

  He couldn’t deny he liked the way that “we” sounded.

  “We’ll have to get creative. This is why we keep things simple. It’s easier to handle any surprises.”

  “Easier is not always better.”

  “Well, next time, we plan together, after I do my inspection. But these fixes are non-negotiable. I won’t put them into an unsafe house.”

  “Agreed. But shit, how creative can we get and still deliver?”

  “I guess we’re going to find out.”

  While they sipped their Pinot Noirs, they tossed ideas back and forth. Adrian pushed to downgrade the door package, and Sofia countered with swapping concrete for the counters. When she suggested changing the wall removal to a cased opening, he wanted to kiss her. Maybe, just maybe, they could make this work.

  By the time their dinner arrived, the conversation had turned personal.

  “So you grew up here?” Sofia took a sip of her wine, and Adrian watched her lovely neck as she swallowed, wanting to press his lips just there. His throat had gone dry, so he took a sip of the Petite Syrah sampler, and managed to answer.

  “I was born at Good Sam, grew up in San Jose. My mother still lives with me in the house downtown.”

  “And you have sisters right?”

  “Yep. Three.”

  “And your dad?”

  “He’s gone.”

  She set down her wine with a clink and grabbed his hand across the table.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. It’s a long story, but he got deported my senior year of high school. I was seventeen when I started working for your dad to help support the family. The separation was stressful on everyone. He had a heart attack about three years later, before his appeal was even processed, and he died because he was too far from a hospital to get help. I never even got to say goodbye.” Her hand squeezed his tighter, and he wondered if she realized it. She usually went out of her way not to touch him.

  “Oh my God! I had no idea.”

  “You were just a kid when I started working for your dad.”

  “So were you.”

  “Yeah, not for long. At least I got my GED. My mom, even though she’s got her green card now, has anxiety so bad she’s afraid to leave the house. Someone had to make ends meet. I’m proud to say I paid off the house and helped all three girls get through college. My baby sister is finishing next year.”

  He looked up from his plate and found her staring at him, eyes warm with…admiration?

  “No wonder,” she murmured.

  “No wonder what?”

  “No wonder Dad respects the hell out of you. You’re a modern-day superhero.”

  He couldn’t find the words of denial when she was looking at him like that. Like she believed the words she said wholeheartedly. Like she saw him as a hero. Like he could be her hero.

  “What are we doing here?” The words were out before he could think better of spoiling the mood.

  “Having a nice meal and talking shop?”

  “This feels like more. I know we’ve been pretending it didn’t happen, but I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it, too.” Excellent. “I don’t know what to do with you. This doesn’t make sense.” Not excellent.

  “What about attraction needs to make sense?”

  “Adrian. Look at you. Tall, dark, handsome, body made of steel.” She ran her hand down his arm, tracing the curves of his bicep, so lightly that he shivered. “A literal Superman.” He felt his own blush starting, before her next words killed it. “Then look at me. I used to be okay, but now I don’t even recognize myself in the mirror.”

  “Hey, I can see you clear as day, and I like what I see. I thought I made that obvious in your office when I couldn’t keep my hands off your ass. More than that, I like who you are. Dedicated daughter, smart and sexy, willing to compromise and problem-solve when others would have thrown a tantrum. There’s a lot to like.”

  Her face remained pale, but he watched the flush spread downward from her neck toward her cleavage. He had his answer about that blush. God, he wanted to see how far it spread. Turning her hand over in his, he traced her palm, marveling at her softness against his rough calluses.

  “Just think about it, and next time you look in the mirror, try seeing the person I see. When you walked in here, I lost my words.”

  She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull her hand back either.

  Chapter 7

  Sofia was knee-deep in discount websites, trying to pull off her looks at a fraction of the original cost. In the last day and a half, she’d called every marble supplier in a hundred-mile radius and had tracked down an off cut large enough to do a modified island. She hoped Adrian could help her get it here from Fremont. She’d downgraded the cabinets from custom to prefab, and she’d replaced the original countertops with poured concrete, but she’d still only managed to trim about ten grand. At least that would cover the pipes.

  When Jake popped his head in her doorway, she quickly put on her “Me stressed? Never!” face. She couldn’t let him see the extent of the problems, or this pilot might crash before it even got off the ground. She refused to be the weak link that made the project stall out.

  “Hi, Jake. What can I do for you this fine Wednesday?”

  The classically handsome man, with perfectly coiffed hair and a smile an orthodontist would love, came farther into the room. Why didn’t her heart go pitter-pat for him? He was every bit as attractive as Adrian, albeit in a different way. She had a feeling she wouldn’t like the answer, so she pushed the unspoken question aside.

  “I just spoke to the Shahs. Is there room
in the budget to touch up the curb appeal? I know you were close to their upper limit, but I think it would be great to highlight Enzo’s talents a little in the pilot so we can build it into future episodes.”

  “I’ll be honest. It’s tight, but I’ll see what I can do.” She scribbled the note in her project binder.

  “I may be able to get another thousand out of the production budget.”

  “That would go a long way.” She’d twist Enzo’s arm to do it cheap anyway. But that extra grand might save her light fixtures. “I’ll talk to him about it.”

  “I’m really glad you’re here on the ground, doing the design and helping manage the team. I don’t think things would be flowing as smoothly without your guidance. Watch! This pilot is going to get snapped up in a heartbeat!”

  Sofia soaked in his approval and hoped he was right. If this whole thing tanked because she screwed up the budget, she could kiss her chance at designing full-time goodbye.

  Not to mention, she’d screw up her dad’s plan to retire. She didn’t think her mom would forgive and forget that level of mistake. Jo hadn’t spoken of Dom’s crazy TV plan with anyone since the awkward announcement meal, which had to be some kind of record. Sofia had never known her parents not to talk about a problem. Bicker, argue, yell? Sure. But silence? Never. Even when they fought they managed to come out the other side laughing and in agreement.

  For the first time she could remember, she was worried about her parents’ marriage. They’d always been her rock, her role models. She’d often judged her own relationships against theirs and found hers wanting. How would a relationship with Adrian compare?

  She shook her head. Well, I made it a whole half hour without thinking about him. Call the Guinness people. We’re setting records left and right this week.

  What would a relationship with him look like? Given the way he talked about her body and her personality, she’d built up some pretty high hopes. The fact that she did indeed hear his voice in her head, telling her all manner of lovely things, when she looked in the mirror had her absolutely considering asking for a real date. She was still nervous and not at all confident after three years out of the dating game, and this was the most professionally stressful moment of her career. She had every reason to wait.