She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,32
connecting with Piper, and he’d like to keep that line of communication open.
Jolie shrugged.
“I could use you both.” He pulled the beer from his pocket and said, “I would rather send the alcohol up with you since you’re older.”
Jolie grinned. “Okay.”
“Great. Soph, you carry the plate and tell Piper it’s a peace offering. She’s going to give you one of these looks.” He wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brows, making the girls laugh. “When Piper does that, Jolie, you hand her the beer and say, ‘Enjoy!’ and then come down and finish dinner. Sound good?”
They both nodded, and he said, “Okay, go ahead.”
“I hope it works!” Sophie said excitedly as she headed for the steps.
“What works?” Jolie asked.
“I think Uncle Harley wants to ask Piper to be his girlfriend.”
Jolie looked over her shoulder at Harley wide-eyed and smiling. Harley shrugged, palms up, and the girls giggled the rest of the way upstairs. He grabbed his crutches and limped up behind them. He listened to them delivering Piper’s dinner, and they came out laughing. Sophie high-fived him on her way downstairs.
He found Piper sitting on his bedroom floor, hunkered down over a pad of paper, the beer and nachos on the floor beside her. She’d worn her hair down today, and it curtained her face.
She looked up with a furrowed brow, her hair dusting her shoulders. “The girls were cute, but what was that all about?”
“I figured I pissed you off earlier and needed a peace offering.” He lowered himself to the edge of the bed.
“Forget that.” She grabbed the plate of nachos and sat beside him on the bed, with the plate on top of the pad. “I want to show you something. I hung your shower curtain a little higher temporarily, so I could patch the holes in the wall, but that bathroom is way too small for you. Why haven’t you ever renovated it?”
“I don’t know. I guess I never really noticed it until I hit my head.”
“You’re such a guy. I had an idea. I checked out your unreasonably large walk-in closet to see if you could expand your made-for-tiny-humans bathroom. It looks like you only use about a quarter of the closet, which is great because I have not-so-nice thoughts about guys who have more fancy clothes than I do.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Because you know me.” She popped a nacho in her mouth. “These are delicious. Thank you.”
She lifted the plate and set the pad on his lap. He scanned it and quickly realized that while he’d been worried that she was upstairs stewing, she’d been redesigning his bathroom. As if she weren’t already doing too much for him? He wanted to wrap his hands around her and kiss her to show her how much she amazed him, but he knew better.
“I think we can use several feet from your closet to create a much bigger shower.” She pointed to the design. “See this alcove? That’s where the new shower would go, with glass doors so you’re not messing with a shower curtain. We can expand your single pedestal sink to a vanity, which would give you storage space. By moving the original shower, we gain enough space to put a small linen closet in this corner of the bathroom. That way you won’t have to keep your extra toilet paper and towels in your bedroom closet.”
Her expression was serious as she studied the design he should be looking at, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her. God, she was beautiful, speaking passionately about doing the work she loved.
She tilted her head to meet his gaze, catching him looking at her instead of the designs. He’d never met a tougher woman, or a smarter one than the green-eyed stunner looking at him like he’d grown a second head. She had such delicate features, she could be a model. Without thinking, he reached up and tucked a lock of her silky hair behind her ear.
“Don’t get weird on me,” she said a little shakily, which surprised him.
The last thing he wanted was for her to pull away, so he said, “I just wanted to see your face while we’re talking. You can do whatever you want to my bathroom, as long as you do the work, not one of your guys.”
Her gaze rolled slowly over his face, and then she looked down at the drawing and said, “My guys are very good at what they do.”