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“We’re very romantic, aren’t we? Is this a mistake?”

“No. I don’t think so. Our younger selves were smarter cookies than we are now, and they knew what we should do. Where should we meet?” His voice was husky, and I wished I could see his face to better read his emotions. But this wasn’t a video call, and I didn’t want to make him self-conscious.

“Have you heard of Animals?”

Chapter Four

Chip

I woke up much earlier than I thought I would after seeing the sun as I fell asleep. My excitement over the project was 100 percent to blame. Not only was it the last thing I thought about as I fell asleep, I dreamed about it, too.

Technically, I wasn’t supposed to meet with Karma for another day, but I had to get back there. If she could talk with me, that would be fine. If not, that would be, also. Mostly, I had to look at the space again with my designs in hand, and make sure I got everything right.

Of course it was all contingent on getting the permits needed. From everything any of us could tell, the wall we wanted to get rid of wasn’t load bearing, but someone with more knowledge than us was going to need to confirm that. The last thing I wanted to do during the most important project of my career so far, was to have a ceiling collapse.

I grabbed a quick shower to try to wake up fully and headed over. I brought my suitcase with me. The front desk said that I might need to switch rooms today, and I wasn’t about to rush back so that could happen. I didn’t get it. All the rooms appeared identical from what I could tell, but they weren’t being jerks about it, and it didn’t really matter to me where I slept.

The parking lot was pretty full for the time of day. People were there for an early happy hour or a late lunch—I wasn’t sure what you’d really call it. It was nice seeing how, no matter the time of day, the place did well.

“Did I miss our meeting?” Karma asked as I walked in. It felt like she had been waiting for me, but that didn’t make sense given I wasn’t supposed to be there yet. Had she seen me coming? That must’ve been it.

“No. That’s tomorrow.”

I suspected she knew that. It was just her giving me a way out in case I messed up. She seemed like the type to think of things like that.

“I was hoping to go back and look at the space,” I said. “Match it up with what I’ve been working on.”

“Did you get some done last night?”

I just nodded, not wanting to info dump the entire project on her. She had much more important things to do than listen to me babble about something we had a meeting about the next day. If the budget was as flexible as they had indicated, this new space was going to be epic, but I wasn’t exactly sure if I’d gone a little overboard. There were definitely ways I could tame it if I had to. I really hoped I didn’t have to.

“Why don’t I see what you’ve done? I’ve got time before things get busy.”

She showed me the closet that they’d already emptied. It was huge. I knew the dimensions, but seeing it made me very sure that my plan was doable if the money was there. The space didn’t have the windows, but they did have the high ceiling. It would work well as the coldest of the spaces.

I explained everything I was planning in less detail than I would the next day. It was difficult to hold back. Never in all my years doing this, had I come close to being this excited about a project.

“I knew we picked the right person for the job. But it looks like you stayed up too late last night.” Which was a nice way of saying I looked like shit. It was true. I couldn’t even be mad about it.

“If by ‘too late’ you mean until this morning? Yeah, I did.”

“Was it the motel? Because the offer still stands. You can stay here.”

“I was thinking I’d take you up on that in a few days.” Or maybe sooner. I didn’t love the idea of potentially moving rooms nightly. The motel was fine, but it was a distance to get here. Being able to get to the project by walking down some hallways would work better and based on my current plans, I would be in the area for a while.

It would also mean I could get rid of my rental car. I was sure Animals would cover it in the budget, but if we were going to spend money, I’d much rather it be spent on cool plants.

“Why don’t you relax? Maybe have a swim.” This woman spoke my language.

“That does sound wonderful.” My capybara was in complete agreement.

“Don’t forget, we’ve got amazing food. Maybe…who knows? Maybe you’ll meet someone.”

She sounded like my grandmother every time she hinted that I should settle down and get mated. It wasn’t that I was not wanting to settle down. I did. But I refused to settle for anyone other than my true mate and, so far, I hadn’t met them.

She began to leave but then turned back. “How about I show you the apartment first and get you a key.”

My capybara was not impressed. He didn’t care whether it had granite countertops or a window, a rug or tile. He didn’t care about any of that. He cared about getting in that water, but we followed her down the hall instead to look at our short-term digs. My beast could be mad about it.