Three weeks later

“Sofia, I need your help.” Jake Ryland cornered her in her office and shut the door.

“With what?” She slid her ever-present stack of papers to the side and gave him her full attention.

“It’s your dad.”

Leaning back in her chair, Sofia let out a sharp bark of a laugh. “If you think I’ve got any influence over that man, you’re crazy.”

Jake dropped into the chair across from her desk and handed her his tablet. “This is the sizzle reel.”

Sofia tapped the white triangle and saw their recent construction projects come to life on the screen. Punchy music overlaid the introduction shots of her parents, Frankie, and Enzo. It even showed a clip of her talking with Adrian. Damn, the camera loved him. He looked good enough to eat, and she let her mind wander down that pleasant path a moment.

“Here it comes.” Jake drew her attention back to the opening scene. Her father stood at an angle with the Shahs in his office. Had he tweaked his back again? She’d never seen her father hold himself so still unless he was in pain.

“Hello.” His voice was as flat as paint primer.

“Hello.” The Shahs replied together, all smiles.

“We will give you a great house under budget and on time. Great house. No problem.”

Maybe he was in pain. This was certainly painful to watch. He was reciting the show pitch and stumbling over it. Dom Valenti, family patriarch and veteran contractor, was pale and shaky. He looked seconds from passing out.

“Breathe, Dad,” Sofia muttered aloud.

“I don’t think he did for that entire segment.” Jake braced his elbows on the desk and cupped his head in his hands. “What a mess!”

When the shot shifted to her and Adrian joking, the sizzle reel found its sizzle again. Was the attraction between them that obvious to everyone else, or was she seeing more than she had before? The rest of the extended commercial looked fine, until Dom came on screen again.

“And that’s why I think you should make Million-Dollar Starter Home a show. Thank you.” He sounded like the end of every bad third grade persuasive essay. He did not sound like the confident owner of his own construction firm who deserved to have millions invested in his show idea.

“So he needs some coaching…” Sofia tried to minimize what was clearly a fiasco. If Dom couldn’t perform on camera, this show was going to tank. He was Valenti Brothers. This was his baby.

“That was with coaching. Listen, Sofia, now that you’re doing most of the design work, I think it would be best for you to be the voice of the company. You seem comfortable on camera, and…”

“And anyone would be better than that,” she said.

“I was going to say, and it gives you a chance to showcase your brand. But yes, that too.”

Sofia could see the potential. If she got bumped up to a major role, her designs would have to take center stage. Dom wouldn’t be able to dismiss them if they were key to the show. Plus, she’d be in a better position to negotiate what she wanted in the next contracts if the show got picked up.

“Who’s going to tell Dad?”

“Let me figure that out. But you’ll do it?”

“I’ll do it.”

* * *

“And here is your new kitchen!” Sofia forced enthusiasm into her voice. Why had she agreed to do this? Farha and Gautam Shah sat kitty-corner across the table from her at an awkward angle and oohed and ahhed for the third time as she walked them through the Virtual Design CAD rendering of their new space. Again. Apparently the lighting had been off in the first take, and her hair had looked funny in the second. No wonder, since she’d taken to tugging on it in frustration. Instead of her usual ponytail and basic eyes, they’d gone all out to make her “camera-ready.” She was ready to dunk her head in a bucket of cold water, but she clamped down on that urge and excitedly listed the kitchen’s design features one more time.

They had hustled to reshoot all weekend, and the revamped sizzle reel had been sent off to studio execs. What she had been assured was a “bare-bones” crew had descended into her life bright and early Monday morning to begin filming the pilot. Two camera operators, two sound techs, one lighting engineer, three producers, three furiously scribbling assistants, and a gopher were crowded into the Shahs’ outdated dining room. Dom stood just off camera, attached to Jake’s elbow and scowling ever since he’d been told he wouldn’t be needed for this segment. The only person not in the room was the hair and makeup artist, Natalie, and that was only because her setup was out in the garage. Trina, one of the camera operators, had her large black camcorder up on her shoulder and moved with the grace of an acrobat while she captured their reactions around the framing of the still cameras. Sofia tried to act normal, but the lens zooming to focus on her face made her feel self-conscious. She felt her smile stiffening on her face. She could understand why her Dad had struggled. He was such an honest, straightforward guy. A great trait in a contractor, but not so much for a show where he needed to convincingly fake emotions several times in a row. She was much better at pretending to be happy, and even she was struggling here.

“We’ll knock down this wall and extend the kitchen into this formal dining space, nearly doubling your cabinet space while opening up this whole side of the house. You’ll still have room for the large dining table you mentioned as well. Colorful reclaimed wood cabinets on the large island, midrange rustic for the rest, and a white countertop and backsplash to allow your colorful collection of serving dishes to pop. Antique copper farm sink and fixtures. Eclectic, homey, with splashes of color and fun.”

This design had come together during her conversations with the couple who craved a mix of modern functionality and high-tech amenities, with personal touches from home and their travels. It looked nothing like the cookie-cutter fixes her dad usually slapped on a remodel. Sofia couldn’t be happier with the result.

“Are you sure we can afford this? We only have a hundred thousand dollars to spend out of our home equity loan, and we haven’t even seen the master bedroom, bathrooms, or the nursery…” Gautam’s eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Sofia hesitated a split-second before reassuring them.

“Trust me. We’ll give you your dream house under budget and on time. That’s what Valenti Brothers are famous for.”

Producer Jake Ryland’s head popped up at this, but Sofia held her smile firm and confident. True, she’d cut it close on the budget, and if there were any unforeseen complications, it might be difficult to deliver. But if that happened, she’d handle it. Especially with Adrian on her team.

They’d managed to keep their hands and lips to themselves, but the truce was getting harder to maintain. Sofia spent as much time trying not to think about him as she did failing miserably. But she wasn’t ready to revoke it yet, because she was absolutely getting slammed by the production schedule on top of her regular workload. She needed him focused on the reno. She had no doubt that he would help her make this work. He had the skills and know-how, and she trusted his work implicitly. She just prayed that her strength held, because she was starting the most important project of her career, and she couldn’t afford to be distracted by pretty words and a pair of fine eyes. On that thought, she forced her attention back to the design in front of her.

When she’d first met with the Shahs about fixing up their Cambrian bungalow, the consult had gone well. They had a clear design aesthetic and were eager to work with her. The walk-and-talk session through the house had been very productive. Gautam and Farha had both worked in tech in Silicon Valley for eight years and had been frugal with their stock awards, which put them in position to buy a nice three-bedroom fixer-upper in advance of the birth of their first child.

They still seemed excited with her digital mock-ups in front of them, but the technical glitches of filming were wearing down everyone’s enthusiasm. It didn’t help that they were sitting at a prop table in the still-awful late seventies dining room complete with harvest gold sea-grass wallpaper, surrounded by people staring at them. She knew in post-production they would overlay the decor with her CAD designs for maximum impact, but right now it was just depressing.

Farha was fading and rubbing her belly. When Jake yelled cut, Sofia rose to stretch and casually went to check the take. “How was that one?”

“There’s no sparkle. We lost it after that first take.” Jake grimaced and rubbed his forehead.

“I’ve got an idea.” Sofia said. “You can overlay to any room, right?”

“Yeah, our graphics gal does it in post.”

“And the lights in the rooms are already set for the stills, right?”

“For the stills, sure, but not for people. What are you thinking?”

“Can we have the walk-and-talk camera follow us into the back bedroom? I want to do the nursery reveal in there. Farha needs to get up and move, and I think you’ll get the sparkle you’re looking for.”

“Hmm, it’s not a bad idea, Fi. Give me ten.”

Sofia turned back to her clients with a satisfied smile. “Is she kicking?”

“Like a champion footballer.” Farha winced and pressed on her rounded belly as if she could remove the tiny foot from its spot pressing into her ribcage. “We won’t have to worry about a scholarship.”

Sofia couldn’t help the mushy grin that spread across her face. She’d always loved children and hadn’t quite given up hope that she’d have some of her own someday.

“I’m sure all of this sitting isn’t helping. We’re going to try something else for this next shot. I’m going to show you the design on my laptop in the room, so you can picture it in the space. They’ll do some cool graphics work later that will make it look magical, and most importantly it gets us up from this table.”

Gautam laughed and rubbed a hand across his wife’s lower back. The way Farha leaned into his touch with relief came perilously close to pushing Sofia’s envy button.

“Anything to stretch a little. I’m game.”

“Okay, folks. Let’s head to the back bedroom. Trina will lead with the camera rig.” Jake rounded them up and expertly placed them where he wanted them.

Sofia snagged her laptop and followed Trina. More setup. More fidgeting. More tedium. This was going to get real old, real quick. She hoped this was just beginning-of-production kinks getting worked out. If everything took this long, there was no way they’d stay on track. At Jake’s nod, Sofia opened her laptop and began again.

“This is going to be the nursery. By the time you’re ready to bring your little girl home to this room, it will be completely transformed. I worked with the corals and neutrals you chose as the color scheme. Over here,” she gestured to the longest wall, “we’ll have this beautiful crib and the reading nook here in the corner with a comfortable rocker for bedtime stories. I can already picture you cuddled up with Goodnight Moon.”

She could tell by the glowing look on her face that Farha was picturing the same thing. Sofia grinned in response. Nailed it.

“The changing table and custom toy chest will go here under the window, and we’ll be swapping out this carpet for the darker hardwood you’ve chosen for the rest of the house…” She trailed off as Farha and Gautam looked back and forth from her laptop to the dirty white walls with tears welling in their eyes.

“It’s going to be beautiful. Thank you, Sofia. It’s exactly what I wanted.” Farha wrapped Sofia up in a hug made awkward by her large baby bump, and Sofia beamed.

“Cut! That was great, everyone! Let’s try the same format in the master. Archie, help me get the lighting set up in there.”

Sofia grinned at the now glowing couple. Maybe this TV thing wasn’t so hard after all.

* * *

Adrian frowned at the blueprints in front of him. This TV show was going to kill him. He could see Sofia’s vision quite clearly, but he had serious concerns. As he walked through the house, he tapped walls, pulled up carpet, and peeked into attics. Trina was following him with her camcorder, filming his every wince. She’d told him he wouldn’t have to speak since she was just filming for background and he wasn’t miked for sound, so he didn’t, but this was still going to look bad on screen. The good news was that the Shah family hadn’t moved in yet, so he had plenty of room to explore and work. This wasn’t always the case on their renovation jobs. The bad news was that the Shahs had ignored a lot of warnings from their inspector when they bought the house, and he wasn’t a good enough actor to hide his concern.

Housing was so scarce and so overpriced that he couldn’t fault them for pouncing on the fixer-upper, but a house in this condition always had hidden problems. Sofia’s complicated plans didn’t have a shot in hell of becoming reality on time or under budget. If he was going to convince Dom to trust him with his company, he couldn’t deviate from their mission statement: make the house comfortable and safe on time and under budget. There simply wasn’t money for all of the fancy extras she wanted to incorporate.

He hadn’t even opened any of the walls, and he could already tell that most of the electrical would need replacing, which meant extensive drywalling, not to mention the cost of the wiring and electricians. While they had the walls down, it made sense to pull out all of the old galvanized plumbing and replace with copper, too. Galvanized pipes were only meant to last forty years, and this house was going on fifty. It wasn’t as sexy as Carrera marble, but it was a hell of a lot better use of the money. He couldn’t in good conscience let this family move their new baby into a pretty house just waiting to break down. To add insult to injury, the wall she wanted taken down in the kitchen was load-bearing. The header they’d need would eat another five thousand from her budget, not to mention the cost of installing it… What a mess.

And he’d promised his crew he’d try to avoid having them work unscheduled hours. He’d also promised Sofia he’d do what he could to help her make this a success. He could see a lot of late and lonely nights in his near future.

As Trina ducked out for uploads, he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and called the office.

“Hello?”

It was ridiculous that the sound of her voice made everything go still inside, quiet and waiting for more. The rest of the world fell away as he got lost in her voice, which was a problem because she clearly expected him to speak.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

Get it together, man. You called her, remember? Bad news? Right.

“Hi, Sofia. It’s Adrian. I’m over at the Shah project… Have you got time to talk about these plans?”

“I’m still stuck at the office. Is there a problem?”

“Why are you still at the office?” He glanced at his watch, wondering how he’d missed that it was six o’clock, well past his usual knock-off time.

“Surely this doesn’t come as a surprise to you, but I had to get caught up on all the order forms after a full day of filming design reveals.”

“Shit. They’ve already seen your plans?”

“Yes, and they got final approval, too. You’re starting to scare me, Adrian. What’s wrong?”

“We should get dinner.”

There was a pause on the line. Adrian tried to figure out why his brain wasn’t putting the right words in the right order… He’d been careful to keep his longing concealed at work, and they hadn’t had much time to be together outside of work because of the crazy prep for the TV show on top of their full client load. His filter was clearly slipping under the strain.

“The truce is still on. We just need to talk with the plans in front of us. I haven’t eaten yet, and I assume you haven’t either if you’re still there. Let’s meet in San Jose at Vino Vino in half an hour? Does that give you enough time to wrap up?”

“No, I was planning to stay late tonight. But as you say, I need to eat. I’ll meet you and come back.”

“See you soon.”

Why on earth had he named a date restaurant? He knew she preferred wine to beer, but she wasn’t even going to be able to enjoy herself if she had to go back to work. Idiot. His stubborn subconscious was leading him astray, and he couldn’t afford to follow. This was a work dinner. He had bad news. This was NOT a date.

His pep talk worked through the drive, into the restaurant. He chose a larger brushed aluminum high-top inside. No intimate table for two on the fairy-lit patio. He set the tube of prints in the middle of the table. All business. Up to the moment she walked in the door, he believed he could keep their precious truce. Then, all hope was lost.

She’d done something different with her makeup, likely for the filming, but her usually beautiful face was stunning. The teal sweater made her eyes glow a brilliant blue, and sweet Jesus, it didn’t hide a single curve. The pencil skirt was new, too. He knew she’d never worn it before. He’d have remembered. And heels. She never wore high heels, but tonight she was, and as she made her way across the room to him her hips swayed and swung in the tight skirt, hypnotizing him. With her hair twisted up into a bun, and her glasses pushed up on her head, she was his librarian fantasy in the very tempting flesh.

She walked in as if she hadn’t just stolen all the air from the room. She was speaking, and he could barely drag in a breath. He could hear her voice, but the words weren’t making any sense. She stepped too close, and his brain slammed to a halt and his hands reached for her of their own accord. With a quick jog step and some heavy side-eye, Sofia avoided his hug and put a table between them. He still hadn’t managed to say a word.

“Hello?” She waved a hand in front of his face to break the trance. “What’s the matter with you?”

“You look different.”

It was as close as he could come to the truth and maintain their truce. He was pretty sure that telling her she was a walking wet dream would cross her invisible line in the sand. And the discussion they needed to have was difficult enough without bringing his sexual tension into it. But when she licked her lips and rubbed them together self-consciously, his mind helpfully supplied the memory of their soft and supple texture. He could swear he smelled chocolate.

“Ugh. It’s all the stage makeup. I feel like I’m wearing a mask. So what’s so bad we had to talk in person?”

She grinned playfully at him, and Adrian struggled to remember what he needed to say. Work. It was something about work…but it was bad news, and he didn’t want to chase away her smile so quickly. Thankfully, the waiter came at that moment and interrupted for their order, giving him a few precious minutes to wrangle his brain cells and get his priorities in order. They agreed to share a flight of local red wines. She ordered the garden salad and the burrata, and he settled on the chicken pesto panini and the bold truth.

“Your plan is not going to work.”

There, he’d said it. Like tearing off a Band-Aid, sometimes it was best to say it fast, even if he did come off sounding like an ass.

“My design is great. It got approved by the homeowners and the network’s design consultants.”

“It didn’t get approved by me.”

“I wasn’t aware I needed your approval.” Her tone went ice cold, and her walls came up.

He couldn’t blame her for being pissed off, but he had to get it all out. He laid the plans on the table between them. “There are structural concerns. We need to replace all the pipes with copper. I’m shocked the galvanized is still holding. That means kitchen and both bathrooms. Easy enough to do while we have the walls opened up, but copper is expensive.”

“How expensive?”

“Ten thousand dollars expensive.”

“Do we have to use copper?”

“It’s the better choice, but we could also go with PEX flexible plastic piping. That would bring it down to five, but it’s not as reliable as the copper long term. But that’s not the only hurdle. I found Romex wiring that had been chewed by rodents in the attic. I think we need to rewire with BX to make it safer for the Shahs down the line.” He watched her absorbing his words like individual punches to the gut. He hated hurting her. Band-Aids. All at once. “And then there’s your wall.”

“My wall?”

Her face went gray. Or he imagined it had from her expression because he couldn’t actually see her real skin beneath the makeup. He wondered if he’d be able to see her blush through it.

“Which wall?” she asked again.

“The one you want down between the kitchen/living/dining room. It’s load-bearing. To get rid of the entire length you need a special timber header to maintain the stability of the house. But it’s going to cost you as well. Less if we can keep the portion of the wall that goes around the corner, but still a hefty price tag.”

She dropped her glasses to her nose and leaned forward to peer at the blueprints as if she could magically find the savings she needed to keep her designs intact. The motion pressed her gorgeous tits into the table, putting them on display. He leaned closer, ostensibly to point out the wall in question, but really because he was helpless to stop himself from getting a better view of heaven. Keeping this truce was getting harder and harder, along with another pertinent part of his anatomy. He was having a real difficult time remembering why dating the boss’s daughter was such a bad idea.

“How much?”

“A lot.” He wanted her a lot.

“Specifically, for all of those things you mentioned?”

God, he had to snap out of it. “Ten for the pipes, eight for the wires, five for the header, a few other little fixes, minimum twenty-five K if there are no other surprises.”

“Fuck me.” His cock leapt at the suggestion even though he knew it was metaphorical. “What are we going to do?”

He couldn’t deny he liked the way that “we” sounded.

“We’ll have to get creative. This is why we keep things simple. It’s easier to handle any surprises.”

“Easier is not always better.”

“Well, next time, we plan together, after I do my inspection. But these fixes are non-negotiable. I won’t put them into an unsafe house.”

“Agreed. But shit, how creative can we get and still deliver?”

“I guess we’re going to find out.”

While they sipped their Pinot Noirs, they tossed ideas back and forth. Adrian pushed to downgrade the door package, and Sofia countered with swapping concrete for the counters. When she suggested changing the wall removal to a cased opening, he wanted to kiss her. Maybe, just maybe, they could make this work.

By the time their dinner arrived, the conversation had turned personal.

“So you grew up here?” Sofia took a sip of her wine, and Adrian watched her lovely neck as she swallowed, wanting to press his lips just there. His throat had gone dry, so he took a sip of the Petite Syrah sampler, and managed to answer.

“I was born at Good Sam, grew up in San Jose. My mother still lives with me in the house downtown.”

“And you have sisters right?”

“Yep. Three.”

“And your dad?”

“He’s gone.”

She set down her wine with a clink and grabbed his hand across the table.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s a long story, but he got deported my senior year of high school. I was seventeen when I started working for your dad to help support the family. The separation was stressful on everyone. He had a heart attack about three years later, before his appeal was even processed, and he died because he was too far from a hospital to get help. I never even got to say goodbye.” Her hand squeezed his tighter, and he wondered if she realized it. She usually went out of her way not to touch him.

“Oh my God! I had no idea.”

“You were just a kid when I started working for your dad.”

“So were you.”

“Yeah, not for long. At least I got my GED. My mom, even though she’s got her green card now, has anxiety so bad she’s afraid to leave the house. Someone had to make ends meet. I’m proud to say I paid off the house and helped all three girls get through college. My baby sister is finishing next year.”

He looked up from his plate and found her staring at him, eyes warm with…admiration?

“No wonder,” she murmured.

“No wonder what?”

“No wonder Dad respects the hell out of you. You’re a modern-day superhero.”

He couldn’t find the words of denial when she was looking at him like that. Like she believed the words she said wholeheartedly. Like she saw him as a hero. Like he could be her hero.

“What are we doing here?” The words were out before he could think better of spoiling the mood.

“Having a nice meal and talking shop?”

“This feels like more. I know we’ve been pretending it didn’t happen, but I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.”

“I’ve been thinking about it, too.” Excellent. “I don’t know what to do with you. This doesn’t make sense.” Not excellent.

“What about attraction needs to make sense?”

“Adrian. Look at you. Tall, dark, handsome, body made of steel.” She ran her hand down his arm, tracing the curves of his bicep, so lightly that he shivered. “A literal Superman.” He felt his own blush starting, before her next words killed it. “Then look at me. I used to be okay, but now I don’t even recognize myself in the mirror.”

“Hey, I can see you clear as day, and I like what I see. I thought I made that obvious in your office when I couldn’t keep my hands off your ass. More than that, I like who you are. Dedicated daughter, smart and sexy, willing to compromise and problem-solve when others would have thrown a tantrum. There’s a lot to like.”

Her face remained pale, but he watched the flush spread downward from her neck toward her cleavage. He had his answer about that blush. God, he wanted to see how far it spread. Turning her hand over in his, he traced her palm, marveling at her softness against his rough calluses.

“Just think about it, and next time you look in the mirror, try seeing the person I see. When you walked in here, I lost my words.”

She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull her hand back either.