He heard some rustling, a muttered curse. He heard—and saw—her office window open. She leaned out—pretty as a sunflower—and made his grin widen.
“Hi, Beckett,” she said in his ear.
“Hi, Clare.”
“You must be on top of the world.”
“On top of Main Street, anyway. Come on over, see it from here, because it’s pretty damn terrific. And you’ve got to see downstairs, the tile work.”
“I can’t this morning. I’ve got a ton of paperwork I didn’t get done last night due to a history project, multiplication tables, a science quiz, and a bad dream.”
“Science quizzes give me bad dreams, too.”
“It wasn’t that. It was the aliens with octopus arms.”
“That’d do it, too.”
“Liam. He was freaked enough to wake his brothers, and Murphy decided that made it a fine time to play. Anyway, I have to catch up this morning. Then we have a bus tour coming in, so I’ll just have to admire the fabulous Inn BoonsBoro from here.”
It just wasn’t enough, he realized. Seeing her, talking to her, with Main Street between them. “Tell you what, bring the kids in after school. We’ll give them a tour, then take them for pizza.”
“Homework.”
“You’re such a mom. After homework.”
“They’d love it, but the way things have been going, it could be around four thirty before we make it.”
“I’ll wait.”
Ryder’s voice boomed up the stairs. “Beckett, goddamn it, where are those measurements?”
“Looks like we both better get to work. Thanks for the great view. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Clare. It was nice seeing you.”
HE SPENT THE entire day on a high, and the high kicked up a notch every time he had to go out and someone stopped him to talk about the inn. He continued to ride it at the end of the day when the crew knocked off.
He held the usual end-of-day meeting with his brothers to confirm the next day’s business and strategies.
“Let’s take this over to Vesta,” Owen suggested. “A day like this deserves pizza and beer.”
“Can’t. Clare’s bringing the kids in to take a tour, then we’re heading over for pizza.”
“See what happens when you get hooked up?” Ryder shook his head, sadly. “No more time for pizza and beer with your brothers.”
“Beck’s a family man now,” Owen said soberly. “You’d better start thinking about beefing up your retirement plan and life insurance.”
“Kiss my ass. And I’m not a—”
“No more poker tournaments, no more partying.” Ryder gave Beckett a sympathetic rap on the shoulder. “And you can forget the tittie bars, man. It’s all about saving for that vacation at Disney World now. Poor bastard. Come on, Owen, we’ll eat and drink his share.”
“His oats.” Owen sighed as he walked out. “They have all been sowed.”
“Assholes,” Beckett called out, laughing it off. But the ragging comments gave him a little twinge between the shoulder blades.
“Just jealous because I have a woman.”
He looked down at his clipboard, tried to concentrate on what needed to be done the next day, and through the week.
He wasn’t a “family man.” Jesus. He liked the kids, a lot. They were great—interesting, fun, smart—and he liked hanging out with them. But he didn’t know anything about being a family man. He knew about being a brother, a son, so he knew about family, and how vital it was. But he didn’t know anything about being, sort of, in charge of one.
He was just seeing Clare, just in the beginnings of a relationship with Clare. Sure, her kids were part of that—he wasn’t an idiot. But they were just pals, he and the kids.
Just pals.
And making him chew over it was exactly what his brothers intended when they’d started poking at him.
He told himself to put it away, forget it, but was grateful for the knock on the door of Reception for distracting him.
He went out, passed the kitchen area, saw Clare and the boys through the door—which he opened with a flourish.
“Welcome to Inn BoonsBoro. Do you have a reservation?”
“We have a personal invitation from the owner.”
“In that case—” He stepped back, gave a sweeping gesture that made the boys laugh.
“You said to come to this door, right? I’m so used to—Oh, the tiles are just great! It’s all right to walk on them?”
“Here, and through the kitchen and down the hall. Lobby’s off-limits. They’ll grout that tomorrow.”
“It looks so big. Don’t touch anything,” she added quickly. “Remember? And stay with me. We can only go where Beckett says we can go.”