Free Destiny by Design by Wylie Kinson

Simon couldn’t believe his ears. How could she go from jerking him off to louvers in less than twenty seconds?
     
    “It feels it would be better as a sports closet instead of—”
     
    “Oh my God, Ellis! Are you out of your mind? With everything we’ve been through, that’s all you can say?” He glared at her, bewildered. He drove his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “It’s a closet! It’s a fucking CLOSET!”
     
    Taken aback by his outburst, Ellis turned on her heel without another word and went to finish the job she’d come here to do.

 
    Chapter Six
     
     
     
    When Ellis woke up it was after ten, and she couldn’t remember if the events of the night before were real or just another dream. The paint on her hands confirmed that she had indeed been working at the house well into the night. She had worked and fumed—angry at thieves for breaking her tile, angry at whoever told them to do it, angry at Simon for scaring her, making her lose her head to lust then making fun of her. She was angry at Simon for making her talk to his detective friend until four a.m. and finally, angry at Simon for being such a beefed-up sexy beast.
     
    She was no calmer this morning. She doffed her cotton khakis before even doing up the fly and tugged at the buttons of her white blouse. She searched with frantic abandon through her wardrobe, angry at Simon for making her want to doll herself up. With a measure of self-disgust, she donned a camel-colored skirt, black short-sleeved sweater—showing an extraordinary amount of cleavage—and knee-high black boots. She positively hated herself for digging out the studs that matched her single-strand pearls.
     
    Ellis entered the show house much later than her usual time and passed two workmen removing the coat closet door. She noticed the electrician standing by to rewire for an overhead light. Ellis smiled.
     
    He was waiting for her when she entered the office. He leaned casually against the built-in, wearing the same clothes as the night before. He hadn’t shaved, his hair was a tousled mess and he looked completely exhausted. My God he’s beautiful , she thought, regretting what she needed to do.
     
    “Close the door,” he said in greeting.
     
    “Hey, yourself,” she replied coolly, kicking the door shut with her boot and setting down her Starbucks cup on the worktable. “You look worse than I feel. Sleep badly?”
     
    “No, in fact, I didn’t sleep at all. After the walk-through I did with Detective Novak to see what was missing, I ended up going to the station to file a formal report. Then she let me go with her and her men when they picked up Jim at dawn. They found a ton of our stuff in his garage but so far the little bastard is not cooperating. He won’t identify Thug or the person who’s paying him. Novak said to play it cool. Whoever is behind this doesn’t know that Jim’s been arrested and they’re going to hold him until Thug is picked up.”
     
    “Do you know if they found Valentina’s wall border?” Ellis asked, handing Simon her coffee, which he finished in three large gulps.
     
    “If they did find it, it’s evidence. She’s won’t be able to use it, at least not in this competition. Ellis, don’t tell anyone what we know, what we saw. Keep your eyes and ears open and tell me if you see anything suspicious. Novak is going to quietly check out the designers who are doing rooms upstairs. Cynthia, Karen, Valentina, all of them. Someone will be linked to Jim. There’s got to be phone records, past relationships, something.”
     
    “Not Valentina.”
     
    “Everyone up there is a suspect at this point. Ellis, look at me. Do not tell anyone. Not even Remi.”
     
    “Okay, okay. I get it.” Man, Remi was going to be pissed when he realized she’d held out.
     
    “Anyway, I didn’t have time to get home so I came back here, replaced some tools and sent Marco to pick up more tiles. They’ll be doing your bathroom this