Billionaire Love Games

Ch. 4: Construction Worker Ken Doll

It's eight o'clock in the morning, and Val is standing at my door. Beside her is a striking woman with a silver, asymmetrical bob and eyes bluer than the ocean. She's small and wiry, and judging by the flowy blouse and cardigan, she cares about her appearance. Val, as I've come to expect, scowls at me. She's dressed in the same outfit I saw during our first encounter.

"Can I help you?"

"You can let us in," Val says, crossing her arms.

I blink, the hackles already rising. "Well, that's a little forward, don't you think?"

"Not if it's our place, it isn't," Val remarks.

The words fall into place one by one like a puzzle. I clutch the door handle until my hand aches. Val owns this cottage?! "Oh."

"Come on, Val, be civil," the other woman sighs, resting a hand on Val's arm. She turns to me with a bright smile. "We're here to fix the deck."

"Right, yes, of course." I step out of the way and let the two women inside. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"You think I'm too old to tend to my property?" Val grunts, her eyes narrowing on me.

Be cool, Aubrey, be cool. This woman is one of the votes needed for that land. I plaster a smile that hurts my mouth as I shake my head. "No, of course not. That was a slip of the tongue. Nerves, perhaps."

"You see," the petite woman says, smacking Val playfully on the arm. "You make her nervous." To me, she says, "Val can be a bit cantankerous. She means well, but she's rough around the edges."

"Why does this feel like it's my fault?" Val sighs and stomps to the deck. "What on earth did you do?"

We crowd around the hole. In Liam's attempts to free me, he had to make the hole bigger, which, now that I'm looking at it, is quite a big hole. "I did nothing. Your deck broke, and I got injured. You're lucky I don't intend to sue for poor maintenance."

"Oh, well, thank you for being so generous," Val replies coldly, earning her another smack on the arm. "Evelyn, stop hitting me."

Evelyn. The principal of Hunter Bay School. I consider the two in a new light, wondering how they both met.

"We're both sorry that happened, Miss Rose," Evelyn says, resting a hand on my arm. "We'll give you a week's stay for free and have this patched right up as soon as Liam arrives with the equipment."

My stomach drops to the floor. "Harding's coming here?"

"He told us all about the incident. He felt awful about cutting open the floor and insisted on helping us repair the damage." Evelyn grins and nudges Val. "He's such a lovely young man."

"How wonderful." I can barely breathe. Liam, weaseling his way into everyone's good graces while I look like a property-wrecking diva. I'm willing to bet Liam has never even held a hammer in his coddled life.

"I have an idea. How about I pay for repairs? You could hire a professional and won't have to worry about this happening again. You do not want Harding getting his hands on this deck."

"Thank you, dear, but we cannot let a guest pay for this," Evelyn smiles, though her tone invites no room for arguing. Oh, yes, she most certainly is a teacher. "And there he is, now. Liam, don't you look—ahem, professional."

Professional is the polite way to put it. Liam took his role seriously when shopping because he looked like Construction Worker Ken. A plaid, button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a pair of Levi's overalls and steel-toed boots. And, sitting on top of his pretty hair is a pristine, yellow hard hat, fresh off the shelf. He even has a toolbelt with a hammer, a screwdriver and a measuring tape.