My eyes roam over her again and don’t see any evidence of dust or spackle. “You look pretty clean to me. In fact, you look terrific.”
A blush creeps up her cheeks as she holds my stare. Neither of us moves until a throat clears and I’m forced to once again face her brother. This time, the smirk is gone and replaced with a full on smile.
“Grace, you want to introduce me to your friend?” He emphasizes the word friend as if it’s an inside joke.
“Nick, this is my brother, Logan. Logan, you already know this is Nick Bennett.” She waves a finger between us.
He moves first, coming to me with an outstretched hand. Wisely, he offers the hand that doesn’t require me letting go of Grace’s waist.
“Nice to meet you,” I tell him.
“You too. Quite a game yesterday.”
“Thanks. We were pleased with the outcome.”
“Think you can pull that shit off this coming Sunday? I’ve got fifty bucks on the line.”
“LOGAN! That’s rude!” Grace gasps.
“It’s okay, Grace. I’ll do my best.”
He nods his approval, and I notice he’s dressed casually as well.
“What’s happening in here? It looks a lot different. Are you moving?”
“Today is a reset of the entire gallery. We’ve actually closed down until Wednesday. It’s going to take some massive manpower to get this place ready,” Grace answers on a sigh. “Logan forgot to mention he promised some prime viewing space to a new sculpture artist, and unfortunately, this doesn’t mesh well with my fall display plans. So we have to redo all the walls and add a few shelves to get everything in.”
“That seems like a lot of work.”
“Yes, and I didn’t know about it until this morning. Seems it was a bright idea not to tell me with a house full of people last night, so I didn’t kill him.” She shoots a glare his way.
“It’ll come together. I have faith in your skills. This is what it’s all about,” he tells her sincerely. “You always make it happen.”
“Well, start getting those pictures in the back corner wall down. I’ll wrap for shipping later.”
“You now have an extra set of hands. What can I do?” I say with no hesitation. It’s obvious my plans to steal her away for a few hours are not going to happen. But I’m hell bent on spending time with her, even if it means manual labor.
Both their heads swivel to me in disbelief. “Nick, you’re in a two-thousand-dollar suit,” she points out.
“My bag is in the car. If I can use your bathroom to change, I’ll be ready to go.”
“Great! I could use the extra muscle. Grace is a beast when she gets going. There’s a bossiness only a mama could love.”
“LOGAN!” This time she shouts, and I know immediately that Logan and I are going to get along great. He reminds me so much of my own brothers.
“No problem. Give me a second, and I’ll be right back.” Without hesitation, I kiss her forehead and head to the car to get my bag.
The driver jumps out and rushes to the back door, opening it as if we’re ready to leave.
“What’s your name?”
“Rodney, sir,” he answers so professionally I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
Even if I am a celebrity in this town, I prefer normalcy.
“Rodney, my name is Nick, not sir.”
His mouth forms a slim line, and I remember he’s probably required to act with a high level of professionalism at all times.