A Baby for the Boss(28)

“Okay, what else?”

“After all the positive stuff, there’s a downside.”

“Naturally,” Mike said on a sigh. Easing one hip down onto the corner of his desk, he waved a hand. “Let’s hear it.”

“Jacob—wow, I’ve talked to him a lot this week—says there’s a problem with the pipes.”

“Great. What kind of problem?”

“The kind that means laying down new pipe. Mainly, the problem is the kitchen and the pool area. He says they’ll probably last another five years, but after that, you’ll need to redo the whole thing.”

He laughed shortly, a scrape of sound with no trace of humor behind it. “Brady redid an entire fifteenth-century castle and those pipes were fine. I’m in charge of a hotel built in the 1950s and it’s crap. What’s up with that?”

Jenny shrugged. “Apparently castle pipes are made to last?”

“Apparently. Okay, what else does Jacob say?”

She winced a little. “He says to remind you that if you wait to do it, you’ll have to pull out all the new tiles in the pool surround and take out a wall in the kitchen to get to everything. He suggests you do it all now.”

“Of course he does,” Mike said on a laugh. Then he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “How the hell did we not find out about this problem during the inspection?” he muttered.

“Jacob says it’s impossible to find stuff like this until you start getting beneath the surface.” Jenny took a breath. This was going pretty well. They were in the same room and not sniping at each other. All she had to do was keep the focus on work and they’d be okay.

Of course, looking at him, it was hard to keep thinking about work. What she wanted to do was reach up and smooth his hair off his forehead. Step closer and feel his arms come around her. Lay her head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat.

And oh, dear God, she was sliding into a pool of something warm and tempting and way too dangerous. With that thought firmly in mind, she lifted her chin and stuck to business. “He says they didn’t find the problems until they ripped out the kitchen floor to lay down a new subfloor before the tiles.”

Mike nodded thoughtfully but didn’t speak so she kept going.

“It’s like all those rehab shows on HGTV. Couples buy this great house and they’re redoing it and they find hideous things under the floor and behind the walls.” She shuddered. “Makes you want to build new and avoid any old houses like the plague.”

One dark eyebrow lifted and his mouth quirked. “Your apartment is an old one,” he reminded her.

“Don’t think I don’t worry about that every time I see the people on TV finding mice and who knows what behind the walls.” She shook her head hard and shivered again. “I try not to think about it.”

“Don’t blame you.” Briefly, his eyes were warm, nearly friendly. Then it was as if a shutter dropped down and suddenly, those blue eyes were cool and dispassionate again.

Jenny smothered a sigh.

“Jacob’s right,” Mike said finally. “We do the work now, make sure it’s right. I want this hotel to be top-of-the-line all the way. No holding back. I’ll call him, take care of it.”

“Okay, good.”

“Anything else?” He reached behind him for a bottle of water. Uncapping it, he took a long drink.

Jenny swallowed, too. Ridiculous that watching a man taking a drink could make her palms sweaty. Clearing her throat, she checked the tablet again. “Oh. Yeah. I talked to the interior designer you hired to furnish the hotel. She’s not sure if you want contemporary furniture or something more—and I quote here—‘antiquey’ for the bedrooms.”

“Antiquey?”

She shrugged. “Her word. I told her I thought you’d want something that feels old, almost otherworldly if she can manage it, but that I’d talk to you to make sure.”

“You’re right,” he said and pushed off the desk. “I’ll talk to her, but yeah, that’s just what I want. Nothing fancy or fussy, but solid, heavy pieces that could be from the past or from the fantasy world we’re re-creating.”

“I think that’s perfect.”

Again, his mouth curved slightly and Jenny’s heart did a slow tumble in her chest. It was ridiculous just how susceptible she was to this man.

“Good to know you agree,” he said. “Because I need you to go with me to look at some furnishings. The designer’s going to do most of it. She’ll text me pictures of what she finds for approval, but Brady told me about a few places near here that had some great stuff he actually bought and had shipped to Ireland for the castle.”