“Mitch designs killer offices,” Cecily announced. “You should see what he helped turn the old train depot into for me.”
“That was a fun project. And yeah, I could work something up for you, once you settle on a space.” He was already turning over concepts in his mind, thinking about what he’d learned about how she worked over the past week.
“I don’t know that I’m ready to actually buy and renovate something. That seems an unnecessary expense until I know I’m here for the long haul. Honestly, I’ll take a lot of my meetings on-site, so it’s just a work space for me. Probably best to keep things all in one place. My stuff is split between Denver and London right now. Does anybody do fully-furnished rentals in town?”
“What about here?” Grammy asked.
“Say what now?” Mitch stammered.
“You’ve got this gigantic house, and you’re just rattling around in it alone.”
“Oh, I couldn’t impose—” Tess began.
“Nonsense. We’re all family now, and family helps out.”
“Helen, I’m not sure that’s the best—”
Grammy cut Trey off. “It’s a fine idea. Tess is a good girl. She can rub off on our Mitch.”
That sent his brain down yet another highly inappropriate path. “I’m sorry?”
Liz pursed her lips in consideration. “Helen might have a point. With Tess here, it’ll keep you from shoving two weeks of dirty laundry in the hall closet five minutes before family dinner.”
Mitch felt the back of his neck heat. “Mom! You went into my closet?”
“I was just looking.”
For what?
“It could be a good thing.” Reed grinned. “She could tell us about all the women you’re ‘not dating.’”
He opened his mouth to insist he didn’t bring women here, then promptly closed it again. That would make it sound like he took them somewhere else, and he wasn’t doing that either.
“Or teach him to cook for the ones that he does,” Uncle Jimmy mused, tongue tucked firmly in cheek.
“It would certainly streamline planning for the incubator to both be in the same workspace,” Norah added. “And don’t you have that second office in the guest suite upstairs?”
Mitch shot her a look, wondering what the hell she was up to. “Well, yes.”
“See there?” Grammy said. “All joking aside, Tess isn’t ready to buy something and probably doesn’t want to be locked into any kind of a lease until her plans are more firmly settled. This is the ideal solution until she makes up her mind. Office and living space in one.”
Don’t look too eager. He shifted his attention to Tess, doing everything in his power to keep his expression dialed to I’m-just-humoring-my-grandmother. She looked a little like she’d been flattened by a steam roller. “You are in love with my kitchen.”
“Any food-loving person with a pulse would be in love with your kitchen. Is this your bid for me to move in and take over cooking duties?”
“You can hardly blame a guy for dreaming after this meal. But only if you want to. Either way, you’re more than welcome. I’m not using the space.” He could see she was overwhelmed.
“I’m not sure this arrangement is…appropriate.” Trey’s face was set in the kind of careful expression Mitch bet he used in sensitive negotiations. He could only imagine what was going through the other man’s mind.
Grammy cocked her head, all innocence. “Why’s that, Trey? His issues with laundry aside, I know my grandson was raised to be a good host and a gentleman.”
A muscle jumped in Trey’s jaw and they all waited to see if he’d say what he was really thinking—that he was worried Mitch would debauch his daughter.
Way too late for that.
In the end, Trey said nothing, and Mitch struggled not to let his sigh of relief rush out in a gush.
Tess finally lifted her eyes to his. “If you’re sure I wouldn’t be in the way—”