Читать книгу Passion's Song - Farrah Rochon - Страница 12

Chapter 3

His hip perched upon the wide windowsill, Damien rested an elbow against the double-paned glass as he read over the purchase agreement for the row of craftsmen duplexes he’d just acquired in the Broadmoor neighborhood. He had contractors on standby, ready to convert the three houses into office spaces. He even had a small law practice on tap to move into the first one. He’d emailed the lease agreement to the personal-injury attorney as soon as the sale had gone through.

That was the kind of deal he lived for: quick and uncomplicated. Unlike the deal he’d made with April yesterday.

Damien tossed the purchase agreement on the credenza and turned to the window. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the thick glass. He softly tapped his head against it in an attempt to knock loose some of his common sense. Apparently, it was lodged somewhere up there.

How had he allowed himself to be coerced into spending his Saturday mornings in the Lower Ninth Ward? He’d spent the past two years since his return to New Orleans actively avoiding his old neighborhood. Yet he’d volunteered to teach a bunch of kids from the area about money management? Was he crazy?

But being forced to spend time in the Ninth Ward on a weekly basis for the next month and a half was only one part of it. In the hours since April left his office yesterday, Damien had discovered the other thing about this deal that had him on edge.

When he looked at April, he no longer saw the beanpole girl with braces and the thick French braid she used to wear in high school. To be honest, he hadn’t seen her that way in a long time, but their get-togethers had been few and far between over the past decade. Usually, Damien saw her for only the length of one dinner, or sometimes just a quick coffee.

That was about to change. Drastically.

When he’d first devised this plan to use April as a deterrent for eager women wanting to get closer to one of New Orleans’s top ten bachelors, Damien hadn’t considered what it would be like to spend hours upon hours with her in a situation where they would be expected to be more than just friendly. He was about to find out just what that would entail, and it made him nervous.

Yet, at the same time, he was intrigued as hell.

There was a knock at his door only milliseconds before Clarissa’s voice called, “Hey, are you ready?”

Damien’s mind instantly switched back to business mode as he turned away from the window. “Yes, I’m ready,” he said. “Is everyone in the conference room?”

“Everyone but Mei. She’s checking out that building at the corner of Clearview and Veterans. She texted to say that it looks good so far.”

“Yes,” Damien said with a fierce whisper, giving his fist a small pump in the air.

He’d had the old Horizons Bank and Trust building on his radar for months. Damien had a specific purpose in mind for it. With all the new films being shot in this area—which had been dubbed Hollywood South in recent years—he thought that building would be the perfect place for a new sound studio. His plans were to section it into various suites. One for audio and visual, another for editing, and the others for whatever else the film industry needed. He’d hired Mei Lui, a veteran of the film industry, to figure that out for him. He didn’t care how it happened, as long as it did.