“I don’t know, but I’m willing to venture a guess. She’d never ask me to do it, but I want to start spreading the word about her business. She deserves to have her name in the mix whenever anyone who’s anyone is thinking about renovating.”
“You’re willing to venture a guess,” he mused. “Okay, I’ll start spreading the word because I believe in her talent as much as you do, but if it blows up in our faces that you didn’t talk to her about it first, it’s on you.”
“Coward.”
He laughed. “Hey, man. I’m just here to tell you that women usually don’t like it if you meddle without their knowledge.”
“I’m not meddling,” I protested. “I’m giving a recommendation to my peers. Isn’t that what people do when they’re happy with the service they’ve received?”
“If that’s the way you want to play it,” he said. “Just know that she might be pissed off when she finds out.”
“It’s just a recommendation,” I repeated. “Nothing to get excited about.”
As I was ending the call, Larisa walked into the room sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she stretched and looked at me. “Who was that?”
“Jeremiah,” I said honestly, but I didn’t want her to know what I’d talked to him about. She would view it as getting business she didn’t deserve just because of who she was with, but that wasn’t what it was about.
I’d been around the absurdly wealthy for long enough to know that word of mouth was how they found services and businesses they liked and supported. Someone always knew a guy or girl one could call for just about anything, and I wanted Larisa to become one of those girls who was mentioned. I’d have spread the word about her sooner if I hadn’t been too distracted by my feelings for her.
She definitely deserved the boost of business a recommendation from me would bring in. I didn’t need her doubting that I’d given it for the right reasons, which were that she was awesome at her job and that anyone would be lucky to have her as their designer.
Glancing lazily at her watch, she frowned at me. “What did he need to talk to you about this early?”
“You,” I said, again being honest but omitting some of the details. “He wanted to ask about where I was and told me that Steph was going to cut off my balls if I wasn’t with you. They know I didn’t come home last night, and she’s still feeling protective of you.”
Larisa chuckled, coming over to wind her arms around my waist and press herself into me before she tipped her head back to look into my eyes. “Does she have any reason to be threatening your balls for me?”
“Nope, but she seems fond of threatening them,” I said before lowering my head to drop a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “Especially when it comes to you.”
A knock at the door made her frown again. Since no one had buzzed her intercom meant delivery service must have been let in by another tenant, and she pushed away from me to get it. When she saw the breakfast service on the other side, she turned to face me with a disbelieving look on her face. “Really? When did you do this?”
“Earlier,” I replied. “The timing’s perfect, though. I’m glad I could surprise you.”
“You and your surprises,” she mused again, accepting the order before shutting the door once it was delivered to her kitchen. “Are you going to join me?”
“If you’ll have me.” I padded over to her and laid a kiss on her lips as I passed her. “There’s enough for two, but I don’t know how hungry you are.”
“Starving, but I’ll definitely have you.” She laughed and got plates out for us while I unpacked the food. We ate breakfast together, and much too soon, I saw her glance at her laptop and I knew it was time for me to leave.
After getting my stuff together, I took my takeout coffee and grinned as I went to give her a hug. “I’ll see you later?”
“See you later,” she said. “We’re not just saying it, though, right? We’re actually going to see each other later?”
“We are,” I promised. “Just let me know when you’re winding down with work for the day, and we’ll decide what to do from there.”
If I had anything to say about it, what we did from there would involve falling asleep together again later, but we would cross that bridge when we got to it. For now, my girl needed to work and I was going to get out of her hair so she could get to it.