Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
She arched a dubious brow and annoyance flashed through him. She thought he couldn’t afford it. If she knew he had a half million dollars sitting in the bank and close to another two-and-a-half million currently tied up in properties, she might not act so snobby around him. But he didn’t want to impress her with his money, mainly because she was exactly the type who would be impressed. Somehow, her superficial snobbiness made him want to be relentlessly himself—rough, crude, and blue collar.
“Aren’t you worried about me being seen out?”
He held open the front door. “A little. But I’ll be with you.”
She walked past him and turned up her little button nose. “You have a pretty high level of confidence in yourself, don’t you?”
He slapped her ass as he followed her out. “That’s why I’m alpha, baby.”
She snorted, then halted on the sidewalk, staring at the CJ Steele Construction lettering on his pickup. “You work for CJ Steele?”
He only hesitated for a moment before answering smoothly, “Yep.” It was not a lie. He was Cody Jack Steele—only he went by Cody, not CJ. So, yes, he owned the company and certainly worked for himself.
She swiveled her gaze to him, something akin to awe shining in her eyes. “Really? You restore the Old North End houses?”
He tried to ignore the fierce pleasure her admiring tone stirred. It must be his inner wolf, still angling to get laid by the leggy human. “Yeah.”
“Wow. What’s it like? Does he direct the vision and his workers execute? Or is there a formula… like a stylebook you use? How long have you worked for him?”
Annoyance over the fact that she assumed he was some menial laborer on the projects warred with appreciation for her excitement. He thought his company did good work, and the market seemed to think so, as well, but the reverential way she spoke made him feel like a goddamn hero.
“I’ve been with the company pretty much since the start.” He held the door open for her, mainly because he knew she didn’t think he had it in him. “Steele directs it all, I guess.”
He walked around and sat in the driver’s seat.
“My first deal as an agent was with CJ Steele.” She sounded rueful. “I got my ass handed to me.”
Her uncharacteristic humility fascinated him and he watched her flush at the memory while he started the truck. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I lost the deal. A huge one—a half a million dollar home. It was horrible—I’d been so proud of getting my license and thought I was finally going to make something out of myself and then I totally screwed it up.”
He didn’t like hearing her talk that way about herself. Finally going to make something of herself? She didn’t strike him as a fuck-up like he’d been. Apart from her poor choice in a boyfriend, that is.
He struggled to remember a deal falling through, but there’d been so many and he didn’t know the time frame.
“I missed the inspection and Steele yanked it from us. He probably had a better offer and was just waiting for me to mess up.” Again, she sounded rueful, rather than bitter. He definitely didn’t remember yanking a house from a buyer because he had a better offer, but a deal had fallen through six or seven months ago due to an inspection.
“Steele yanked it?”
She shrugged. “That’s the tough thing about real estate. You can never tell if it’s the agent who’s the hard-ass or the guy behind him. I like to think it was the agent.”
His lips twitched. “Why’s that?”
“I love Steele’s work. I admire the hell out of him and what he’s done in this town in just a few short years.”
“Huh.” Irrational pleasure spiked through him.
“I’m dying to own a CJ Steele home—they’re so beautiful.” The respect and awe in her voice made his chest ache, which didn’t make any damn sense. It couldn’t be because he wanted her to feel that admiration for him, Cody, instead of the Steele she’d put on some pedestal.
He parked at the Promenade Shops at Briargate and looked balefully out at the scene. He’d rather have tacks shoved under his fingernails than go clothes shopping. He wished he could just hand Melissa a wad of cash and wait in the car for her, but that wouldn’t be safe. He glanced at the clock on the dash.
“You have forty-five minutes to find what you need.”
Her eyes widened as if shopping that quickly was an impossibility. “Why? What’s the rush?”
“That’s when my patience for this,” he made an irritated gesture toward the shops, “expires. And believe me, you don’t want to find out what happens when I expire.” He figured he sounded like a grumpy asshole, but Melissa giggled.
Seeing the brightness of her smile nearly took his breath away. Angelic. It made him want to make her laugh again, but he couldn’t think of anything funny to say. Instead his lips surprised him by stretching into a matching smile.