Page 40 of The Focal Point

He was already half out of his chair and reaching for his jacket. “Come with you where? Liam, what’s going on?”

“I’m in trouble,” I answered, already out the door.

“What kind of trouble?” My best friend hurried to catch up, his concern deepened. “What did you get yourself into? Does it have anything to do with the company?”

“I told Bailey I had another house for her to design,” I replied, keys already in my hand. I was halfway out the door before I realized Tom wasn’t by my side anymore. He had stopped in the doorway, his expression turned to disbelief.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” he asked. “This is about a house for Bailey? I thought you guys went on a date.”

Of course, I had told him about last night. And the hospital, although I’d waited to finish my story until he stopped laughing about the incident to tell him about the kiss.

“I did. We did. But she called and was upset because she doesn’t have another client lined up. I couldn’t sit there and let her business go down.”

Tom was still staring. “Are you insane, dude? This is unbelievable. This is not normal. You need to go talk to a shrink.”

“Please, Tom? Help me out. Help me find another house, and I’ll owe you bigtime.”

My friend’s eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. But then he shook his head, and I knew he would help me.

“You’re an idiot, Liam,” he growled as we got into my car. “This is stupid. She will find out, and it will not end well.”

I was already dialing the realtor who had helped me find the last house. “I know” was all I said, hoping he was wrong but feeling more unsure than before.

Chapter 16

Bailey

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“SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?”

Liam’s gaze was on me, his expression somewhere between hopeful and a wince.

“Umm—” I started, trying to pick my next words carefully.

In all honesty, the place would need a ton of work. The project could last well into the spring, possibly early summer. I suspected Liam would need to hire a contractor in some places before I could start to work on them myself. Well, more than suspected—I knew without a doubt.

Why in the world did Liam have this house? I had been confused about the second home, but it was in a good neighborhood and hadn’t needed much work to make it look good. Aside from billionaire eccentricities, I thought maybe he was adding it to his portfolio as a rental.

But this? This place was honestly a dump. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood, either and was close enough to the hospital that I’d already heard a handful of sirens in the short time we had been there. I didn’t see him being able to charge a lot of rent for this one or getting too many possible renters if he did.

Liam must have taken my silence for my answer because he chuckled and shook his head. “That bad, huh?”

“It’s not great,” I answered honestly, trying not to wrinkle my nose at whatever had created the smell wafting through the hallway. “I can start on a few rooms, but you’ll have to call a contractor before I can get to the rest. This is going to be a long project, Liam.”

Normally, a client would cringe at those words, but Liam only shrugged. “Whatever it takes.”

I could have sworn I caught a small smile on his face. There was no way he was excited about the project, was he? I couldn’t think of a single reason why.

I, on the other hand, could feel my anticipation growing with each peek into the run-down home. It was a “fixer-upper” in the truest sense, but it also followed that other buzzword: good bones. I could already see the flooring, the wall colors, the trim, and the built-in bookshelves' color once I stripped off that terrible white, so old it was yellowing and peeling.

“You like it, though, don’t you?”

My gaze slipped toward the floor before returning to Liam. “Am I that easy to read?”

Liam threw back his head and laughed. “I don’t think you realize how your entire being radiates excitement when you’re looking at a project.”

The words made me stop because, from Russ, that would have been an insult. But Liam was still looking at me with that wide smile, a soft light in his eyes that made warmth swirl in the center of my chest. He honestly meant what he said, and more than that, it seemed as though he enjoyed watching me.