Only in My Dreams (7 page)

Interviews for those wouldn't take place until later next month, but Dylan would start his hard sell today. They might not think he was ready for such a large commercial job, but he absolutely was, and he would prove it to them.

He was ready with a great presentation, and he was going to win them over with the fact that he and his crew were Ribbon Ridgers. Screw whatever larger firms they might interview next month. They couldn't do better with cost, accountability, and delivery than Dylan and his guys.

He pulled his work truck into the parking area, which was little more than a large dusty square. He stepped out with his laptop and materials just as the first fat raindrop struck his truck. The second one landed squarely on his forehead.

There were two other cars. Hayden and who? Damn, he really hoped it wasn't Sara. Seeing her again would be fine. But seeing her for the first time at a crucial business presentation with her brother in the same room, not so much.

Dylan jogged to the wide oak front doors of the main building, which somewhat resembled a stone church. As he pulled one of the doors open and stepped inside, the rain began to fall in earnest. He'd cut it close in more ways than one, apparently. But a glance at his watch said he still had four minutes to spare.

With a smile that suddenly felt like dried mud on his face, Dylan froze. The cavernous room was mostly empty, save a long, folding table with a handful of chairs scattered around the perimeter. Seated behind it were three people: Hayden Archer, a woman he was pretty sure was Hayden's sister Tori, and Sara.

Shit
.

She looked great. Her blonde hair fell against her shoulders and framed her face—a face that was bent down toward the table. She appeared to be perusing some documents. Or maybe just avoiding his gaze.

Double shit
.

He swallowed anxiously as he stepped forward. “Good morning.”

Hayden stood and came around the table to shake his hand. “Hi, Dylan. Do you remember my sisters, Tori and Sara?”

One of them better than Hayden would probably like. “Yes.” Dylan went and shook Tori's hand. “Good to see you.” He moved to Sara, who looked up at him, her eyes inscrutable.

She held out her hand. “Good morning.” Very formal. Very unlike their last meeting.

He was so screwed.

Or maybe not. She was trying to be businesslike, right? He could absolutely do the same. He shook her hand and masked the jolt of desire that raced through him. Maybe they shouldn't touch.

She snatched her hand back and put it on her lap where he couldn't see it. Yeah, definitely no touching.

“Thanks for coming up here today,” Tori said. She tucked her straight auburn hair behind her ear. “Have a seat.” She gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the table.

“My pleasure.” Dylan took the seat while Hayden moved around to the other side of the table. “I'm excited to be considered for this project. This old monastery is part of the local landscape.” Careful to avoid looking at Sara, he glanced up at the beamed ceiling with the dull, round pendant lights and let his gaze wander to the high, arched windows against which sluiced thick rivulets of rain. The windows and beams would be striking design elements to work around. He envisioned an elegant space with chandeliers and gleaming hardwoods. “I'm so glad someone is finally going to put it to use again.” The monks who'd inhabited it had vacated the premises nearly a decade before.

Hayden smiled. “Alex had quite a vision for this place.”

Dylan realized he'd been half holding his breath, waiting to see if they would mention their brother. He was glad Hayden had so that he could say something without having to awkwardly bring it up. “That's great that he'll have this tremendous legacy. I'm just sorry it came about the way that it did.” He couldn't help but look at Sara, but she kept her head bent.

“Thanks,” Hayden said. “It's tough some days to work on this without him here, but we know it will be worth it.”

Tori touched her brother's arm and gave him an encouraging smile before looking to Dylan. “Looks like you brought a bunch of stuff with you today.”

“I did.” Dylan opened his case and withdrew his laptop as well as the presentation he'd put together. It included the phase-one proposed construction schedule, letters of recommendation, and before-and-after photos for a handful of his projects, some of which were commercial and some residential.

He booted up his laptop and handed the hard copies over to Tori since she was in the middle. She glanced over them briefly before passing them to Hayden. “After going to the University of Washington, you were an engineer in the army, right?”

“Yeah, I was ROTC at U-Dub. Then I did four years in construction engineering.”

Tori made a face. “Demerits for being a Husky.”

Hayden gave Tori a sidelong smile then looked at Dylan. “I'll give you bonus points for
not
being a Duck.” He was a Beaver from Oregon State, a chief rival of the Ducks from Tori's alma mater, the University of Oregon. He was apparently willing to forgive Dylan for being a Husky since it meant he wasn't a hated Duck. Hayden continued, “No combat engineering?”

Dylan shook his head. “No, nothing that sexy.” Bad word choice. His blood heated and he fought not to glance at Sara. “Just boring construction—building barracks, repairing stuff, total snoozefest. But I'll take that over serving in combat. I mean, I would have if it had come to that, and it almost did given the timing. It was a great opportunity to serve my country in a necessary job in my chosen field.” He'd spent most of his time stationed in craphole bases stateside, which his ex-wife had hated.

Dylan pulled up his presentation on his laptop. “You guys ready to rock 'n' roll?” He looked at each of them in turn, but Sara still didn't make eye contact. That was good, he told himself. Yeah, it might be a little awkward, but at least she wasn't glaring at him.

He flipped the computer around so he could talk them through the slides outlining his proposal. “I've reviewed your plans for the cottage, and we'll have no problem meeting the August deadline for the wedding.” They'd informed him their brother-from-another-mother, Derek Sumner, would be getting married there. “In fact, my schedule puts the end date right around the first of August.”

Hayden studied the hard copy of Dylan's schedule. “Looks great.”

“I also included a mock-up of a schedule for phases two and three.” All three pairs of eyes looked at him in surprise. “I know you aren't hiring for that yet, but it doesn't hurt to get a leg up on the competition, does it?” He smiled, his gaze lingering on Sara, who quickly averted her eyes to his laptop.

“Very enterprising of you.” Hayden nodded. “We'll take a look, thanks.”

“We're really only hiring for phase one right now, though,” Sara said, the familiar tone of her voice gliding over him.

“I get that, but think of how smooth things could be if you hired us to do all of it. We'd be here from the beginning, and we'd know all the ins and outs.”

Tori took the presentation back from Hayden and flipped to where he'd run hypotheticals for phases two and three.

“Since I don't know exactly what you have planned, I just made some estimates,” he explained.

Tori glanced up at him. “We don't know what we have planned yet either. I've been focusing on phase one. I'll start drafting plans for phase two, the restaurant and brewpub combo, after we start demo on the house.”

They were converting the church portion of the property into the restaurant. Dylan's schedule was built around that renovation and also adding on the brewing facility to the small chapel that, in his vision, would be a great expanded bar for the restaurant—a sort of hybrid brewpub. “Well, my schedule is adjustable. I just wanted to show you that we can handle larger, commercial scale.”

Hayden smiled at him, seeming impressed. “Great to know.”

Tori nodded in agreement. She flipped back to the front of the book. “This phase-one proposal looks great. I think you've got a terrific grasp on what we're trying to do, and it certainly looks as though you have the right team to deliver the project. Plus, you're under budget, which is most attractive of all.”

“If you were awarded phases two and three, would this be your first large-scale commercial project?” Sara asked. She glanced at him, but for the most part kept her gaze fixed on his laptop.

“It would, yes,” Dylan said. “We've done several smaller build-outs, as you can see, but this will be my first job as general contractor over a large project.”

“I see.” Sara sounded doubtful.

Dylan wondered if her skepticism stemmed from his lack of experience or from their one-night stand. No, that wasn't fair. She wouldn't judge him because of that. It had been mutual
and
her idea.

“I understand your hesitation,” he said slowly, trying to choose the right words to win them over. “You might get a more qualified and experienced bid, but you won't find a crew who will work harder or people who will care about this project the way you do. This is our town, and this property will be a signature location. We'll do everything to deliver superior work.”

“A very compelling argument,” Tori said. “I love that you guys are local. You know Ribbon Ridge and how to make this part of the community.”

Sara gave a slight nod, but any other reaction was impossible to read.

Hayden watched her for a moment then turned to Dylan. “You've given us a lot to think about. Thanks for coming. We'll be making a decision—on phase one—very soon.”

Dylan shut his laptop and slid it back into its case. “Great, thanks again for the opportunity. Talk to you soon.”

He would've shaken their hands, but he didn't want to touch Sara. That wasn't exactly true. He did want to touch her. But knew it wasn't a good idea, not if they were going to be working together.

With a final glance at Sara, he strode outside, where the rain had ceased and the sun had broken through the clouds again. He climbed into his truck and set his laptop on the passenger seat.

Instead of firing up the engine, he stared at the monastery, or at least the church portion where they'd held the meeting. The presentation had gone as well as he could've hoped, despite Sara's presence. But really, why did her presence matter? They'd had a mutually agreeable one-night stand. Couldn't they also be coworkers?

Except they wouldn't be coworkers. She'd be his boss.

Holy hell
.

He ran his hand through his hair. He was overthinking this. She wouldn't hold the one-night stand against him. She might, however, deem him unqualified. Of the three of them, she'd seemed the most skeptical, the most concerned with his lack of experience, at least with the larger phases two and three. Maybe he should've worked harder to convince her.

Yeah, he should do that. He climbed back out of his truck and started toward the monastery, his shoes squishing in the soft mud and making him wish he'd worn his work boots. The door opened and Sara walked out toward him. They both slowed, blinked at each other.

Unlike him, she was dressed for their surroundings: knee-high black and pink rain boots—of course; dark blue skinny jeans; and a long, khaki sweater belted at her waist. She came toward him. “Hey.”

“Hey.” He turned, taking a couple of steps until they stopped a few feet apart. “I wish I'd known you were going to be here today.”

She tipped her head to the side. “Would that have affected your presentation?”

“No. It was just a surprise to see you.”

“Sorry, I didn't mean to ambush you. I figured you knew. Hayden's been handling the communications aspect with the bids.” She fiddled with a pair of bracelets that fell over her hand, reminding him of the bangles she'd been wearing that night at Sidewinders. Which in turn reminded him of the necklace . . . Damn, he needed to clear those thoughts right out of his head.

“It's fine,” he said, now wondering why he'd climbed out of his truck in the first place. To convince her to hire him. Right. “Listen, I wanted to come back and tell you that I'm the best guy for this job.”

She nodded slowly. “We still have another presentation tomorrow, but you're a great candidate. For phase one.”

He gritted his teeth in frustration. “Are you even going to consider me for the other phases?”

“I don't know. We're not quite there yet.”

“Listen, I don't want what happened—”

“It won't.” She cut him off, color highlighting her cheeks. “Any decision I make won't be personal.”

He was relieved their . . . indiscretion wouldn't affect her judgment. But it didn't change his resolve to win her over. “You'll have our undivided attention. I can guess who else will bid, and while they have proven track records, they'll be slower because of their infrastructure. They're going to promise you eighteen months and stretch toward two years. I'm promising fifteen months—depending on your schedule—and I'm going to deliver. My guys and I will work the extra time, put in the added effort, we'll give a whole level of attention and commitment those firms won't—or can't. Plus, we're here. If there's a problem, I'm only a five-minute drive away.”

Her nose scrunched up forming a little pleat at the bridge. “You live that close?”

“Off Sebastian Hill Road.”

“I didn't realize. You
are
close.”

“I could walk, in fact.” He glanced up at the sky. “Though I think I'd get drenched. Rain's coming in again.”

She looked up. “I better get back inside.”

He tried to read her expression, but she didn't give a thing away. “Did I sway you at all?”

She twirled a bracelet around her hand and then ran her thumb across the flat side of it. “A little.” She smiled. “You're very passionate.” The color returned to her cheeks, but this was a deeper pink than before.