Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires #1) by Lauren Asher

So, despite my reservations, I show up Monday morning at the Founder’s house to speak with Ryder personally.

“Hey, boss. Didn’t expect you to be joining us today.” He shuts the back of his truck.

“There’s been a few changes to the original plan.”

The sun reflects off his brown eyes. “Like what?”

“We need this project done within the next three months.”

His brows rise toward the edge of his hard hat. “What?”

“Do you think it can be completed by the end of January?”

Ryder’s gaze bounces between the decrepit house and me. “Depends on what we find on the inside.”

“We can modify schedules and postpone other projects if it means getting this one done faster. I want all hands on deck here.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the rush?” he asks.

The answer to his question drives up to the house, blasting Ozuna loud enough to be heard through the sealed windows.

Dahlia climbs out of her sister’s car in a pair of leather boots, a thin sweater that can’t do much to fight the late October chill, and a designer skirt custom-made to drive me crazy.

God give me the strength to make it through this meeting with my team while fighting a hard-on.

A flicker of hesitation crosses her face before she props her sunglasses on her head and holds her hand out for Ryder to grab. “Hi, I’m Dahlia.”

“Ryder. I’m the project manager.” His gaze doesn’t drop from her face.

Dahlia introduces herself to the engineer and architect next, both of whom check her out.

Are you seriously going to get jealous of your own employees?

With the way Dahlia looks up at them with her big brown eyes and wide smile, hell yeah I am.

“Let’s start,” I lash out, wanting to get this walk-through over with before I fire someone.

At first, Dahlia was hesitant to speak up, allowing me to take the lead, but after ten minutes, she warmed up to my team and started acting like her typical self.

I find myself at a loss for words as I watch her collaborate with my team like she’s spent years working with them rather than an hour. I’m impressed with her wealth of knowledge, and Ryder seems equally blown away by her experience with Victorian homes.

He scribbles something down on his clipboard. “With the changes you want, I feel like we could definitely have this thing done within the three months Julian requested.”

“Three months?” Dahlia glances over her shoulder. “I thought you said it could take six to eight.”

I tip my chin. “Change of plans.”

Her eyes narrow. “How fortunate.”

Except since Dahlia crashed back into my life, I’ve felt anything but.

She carries on, and my men do everything they can to support her. I take a step away from the team to answer a call, only to come back to the crew laughing at something she said.

“What’s going on?”

Ryder grins. “Dahlia was telling us a story about the difference between real-life home renos and the ones she did on TV.”

“And?”

“Turns out production filmed another construction worker’s hands for certain scenes since her fiancé had no idea what he was doing.”

“Ex-fiancé.” I have no idea why I choose to clarify, but I regret it the moment I say the word.

Dahlia’s hands clench by her sides. “Julian. A word?”

My stomach drops as she storms off toward the kitchen, leaving me alone with my crew.

Ryder winces. “Damn. Was it something we said?”

“Just me being a dumbass. Carry on.” I turn in the direction Dahlia headed. It takes me a minute to find her outside, staring out at the lake with her good arm tucked against her sling.

“What was that back there?”

“A mistake.” I’ve been stumbling my way across a tightrope of emotions, and one mention of Oliver had me tumbling straight into a pit of jealousy.

Her eyes remain focused on the view. “Do you like trying to make me feel small?”

My head rears back. “Of course not.”

Dahlia turns. “If this is your plan to run me out of town, you better try harder than that. I didn’t spend the last five years of my life dealing with internet trolls and a future monster-inlaw to back down at the first sign of adversity. That much I can tell you.”

“I’m not—” I try to center myself. “You’ve got this all wrong.”

Although I want her to leave Lake Wisteria, I wouldn’t embarrass her in front of my team to speed up the process, especially not when I see how much she struggles around people lately.

Her eyes narrow. “Then feel free to explain.”

Thing is, I don’t want to explain because then I would need to admit I’m still jealous of Oliver after spending years convincing myself I was over everything that went down between him, Dahlia, and myself.

So, instead of admitting the truth, I stick to my comfort zone.

I tuck my hands into my pockets. “I could have gotten rid of you weeks ago instead of going through the trouble of working together.”

Her head tilts to the side. “Oh, really?”

“The mayor still has a reward listed for any information about who egged his Jaguar twelve years ago.”