"Just when I have guests." So far, that had only been Emery.
I passed Aspen the bowl of pasta, and she scooped some onto her plate.
"What are you working on for the next few months?" I asked, plating the fish.
Aspen's eyes widened. "Eve entrusted the holiday season to me. It's a little scary. And she wants me to work closely with you on the schedule of repairs and renovations."
"I usually keep her apprised of our plans."
"I think she wants me to be more involved since one of the shops flooded, and then there was a fire in another one."
My stomach twisted. "You don't think she's going to want to go with another contractor?"
She pursed her lips. "I don't know."
This was worse than I thought. I needed to ensure that nothing else happened on my watch. "I'll speed up the timeline of repairs. Hire extra crew."
She frowned. "She didn't say anything about that."
I cut a bite of fish, not feeling very hungry. "I don't want her to be concerned that we're not doing a good job."
Aspen covered my hand with hers. "I'm sure she doesn't think that."
My heart skipped a beat at her touch. "You can't know that."
She pulled her hand away and smoothed her napkin over her lap. "I didn't get the impression that Eve wanted to go with another contractor. She just wants someone to keep an eye on things while she's pregnant."
"Right." But that didn't alleviate my concerns. Eve wasn't happy with the way things had been going. I needed to step up, hire more men, and get the repairs completed on time. "She doesn't have anything to worry about," I said firmly.
"That's because we're going to handle everything for her,” Aspen agreed.
"That's our only option." We both had something to prove, and we needed to show Eve that we were good at our jobs. Our little disagreements had no place at work. Neither did this draw I felt toward her.
I'd have to be careful around her. Maybe even avoid any more one-on-one evenings like this one. I thought it would make things better, but it only heightened everything.
Chapter 3
Aspen
Dinner was different from what I'd imagined. The flowers on the table were fragrant; his home was neat and organized. The food was delicious. Who knew that Cooper could wine and dine a woman? The only thing was, I didn't trust myself to drink around him.
Not since I'd discovered this stirring of an attraction for him. It had thrown me completely off guard. It must have something to do with spending more time with him than I ever had before. I'd never truly been alone with him. He was usually with one of my brothers, and I tended to push him away with sharply placed words.
But now, it was just us, and I was having a hard time remembering that this wasn't a date. The evening was intimate. When I'd arrived, he'd been cooking in his kitchen, giving me all sorts of fluttering butterflies in my stomach.
Then the wine bottle and the vase of flowers had thrown me off too.
I'd even made an attempt to get to know him better. But he hadn't shared much. The only thing he'd revealed was that my family was fun to be around, and his was different. Whatever that meant.
Mom always told us not to ask why he spent so much time at our house. She didn't want to scare him away if he needed the reprieve. And I'd always respected her wishes. But he wasn't a kid anymore.
He seemed to be worried about losing the contract with Eve and the town. He felt responsible for this job going well. I'd have to remember that. He had as much to lose as I did.
My brothers had taken a chance on him. He didn't have any prior experience running a project, much less a business. He'd always worked for someone else, always part of a crew. I remembered my brothers mentioning that he wouldn't have been promoted because the construction companies he'd worked for were all family run.
When Cooper came up with the idea of the business, my brothers wanted to give him a chance to run theirs. It was a gamble not to keep it in the family. But they'd always been close, and they wanted to provide Cooper with a different life. I respected that and didn't want to screw anything up for him.
I was aware of this weird crush thing I had going on for him, and I wanted to get rid of it. As if I could just order my body and mind not to betray me.