“Yes,” she agreed, her tone hesitant.
I glanced at her. “You have ideas?”
She didn’t meet my eyes. “Maybe.”
Recalling the way I had snapped at her last night, I couldn’t blame her reticence. Except I wanted to hear her ideas. See the place through her eyes. I knew she had good taste—I had seen her home. And despite my better judgment and our angry words yesterday, I knew I could trust her. It was disconcerting since I rarely trusted anyone, but with Ava, it felt right. There was something so different about her—what it was, I didn’t know, but it was there.
I stood and faced her. She looked up, her lovely eyes bright in the sun. I leaned down so my face was level with hers. I tucked a strand of loose hair into the baseball cap on her head and rested my cheek against hers so my mouth was close to her ear. “The moon is rising on the Seine despite the clouds,” I whispered conspiratorially.
She giggled, the sound infectious.
“Show me your plans, and I’ll show you something else rising over the Seine later.” I pressed a kiss to her cheek, then the side of her upturned mouth.
The giggles became laughter, which became guffaws. I had to join in her amusement, once again filled with wonder at how she made me feel this way. Light. At ease.
I held out my hand. “Come show me your ideas.”
She let me pull her up, still smiling and amused. I led her inside and waved my hand. “Talk.”
Chapter 10
Hunter
I shook my head in astonishment, staring at her accurate and detailed drawings. I tapped her forehead. “You had all that up there after only seeing this place for a few hours? You should be in design, not running the show.”
She smiled, her cheeks flushed, her eyes dancing. “No, I like my job. But I’m around all the areas so frequently that I know just enough to be dangerous. A good designer like Liv or Heather could do better.”
“No one could do better. Your ideas are amazing. I really like the concept for the kitchen. And reusing the wood panels.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Use drywall in the guest room and reuse those panels in the master bedroom addition.” She ran her hand over the thick mahogany boards. “It’s beautiful. Lighten up in here but strip it in the master and leave it natural. Seal it, but let the grain and color be the star.”
All her ideas floored me. Pushing out the back wall and adding to the kitchen. Repurposing the cupboards and cutting out the center panels in the top doors and replacing them with glass. Adding shelves and a new island.
“Stock cupboards can be easy on the budget but painted and arranged to look custom,” she offered.
“Stone work tops?”
She nodded. “You get more bang for your buck. But you might be able to find a deal on those too. Something with movement but not overly busy. I’d go darker since you’re lightening up the walls.” She glanced up. “You said you were doing a new roof. Maybe add in a skylight? Let in more light.”
“Your ideas will give it the whole cottagey-but-modern look I wanted. It would appeal to renters looking to get away but who don’t want to rough it.”
For a moment, she looked sad, then nodded. “Exactly.”
“I’ll need to replace the furniture and rugs.”
“There are always garage sales, Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji. We have…” She stopped talking, her cheeks flushing a dull red.
“We have?” I prompted.
“We have warehouses full of furniture, doors, windows, everything. Bentley’s first passion was flipping houses. The company still does it. Liv is always staging places. She thins out the inventory and sells and donates things all the time. She keeps architecturally nice doors and newer windows.” She didn’t meet my eyes. “It might help the budget, but I realize you’re probably not interested if it comes from my family.”
I wasn’t. Or at least, I hadn’t been yesterday. But I didn’t want to hurt her. She was too amazing to do that. “Little Dragon,” I said, waiting until she looked up. “Thanks for the offer. I’ll think about it, okay?”
She smiled so widely, it made me want to smile back at her. It felt as if the sun had just come out of the clouds and was blinding me with its brilliance. All because I hadn’t rejected her idea. She was so easy to please.
“We can poke around places too,” she said. “You never know what you’ll find.”
“Sounds good.” I held out the thick pad of paper. “You want to take some measurements and jot down your ideas?”
She took the pad eagerly, settling at the table, and immediately began working. I watched her for a moment, then, without thinking, bent and kissed her head. She looked up with another smile, and I couldn’t resist kissing her.