Page 43 of Lonely Heart
Ivy nodded. “Yes, I just wanted to come out and check on the progress of the villas. I know the tiles arrived this week, so I wanted to see if they looked good. I didn’t know if you got around to installing them, though.”
It was one of the first things I’d done as soon as the tiles arrived. “I did,” I confirmed. “I finished the ones in this villa last night before I left.”
She bit her lip excitedly. “Would you mind if I go take a peek?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. In fact, I could use a five-minute break. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Waving my hand in front of me, I urged Ivy to walk ahead of me toward the bathroom. And while it hadn’t been my intention, my earlier suspicions had been confirmed. Ivy’s pants did wonders for her ass. My hands balled into fists at my sides as I swallowed down the groan and fought the urge to pull her into my arms.
We made it to the bathroom, and Ivy didn’t hesitate to share her thoughts. “Wow, Marco. This is beautiful.”
“Yeah, it really does look nice. I think you selected an excellent pattern.”
Her eyes shot to mine. “I wasn’t necessarily talking about the pattern itself; although, I will admit it’s pretty. I just meant that you did an incredible job with all the work. This looks stunning. I could never do this.”
“Well, I might be handy, but I could never do what you do,” I reasoned. “The number of details you must have running through your mind at any given time would send me into a panic. The normal hotel operations would be enough for me. You’ve got that, managing the staff, and prepping for events as well. I’m sure there’s more that I’m missing. Plus, despite all of that, I’m not entirely sure I believe you couldn’t ever do this. I’ve seen you at work.”
She swept her hand out in front of her, indicating the bathroom. “The job I do at the hotel doesn’t equip me with the skills to tackle something like this. I promise if anyone was ever foolish enough to entrust me with a project like this, it would fall apart before the first guest could walk through the front door.”
Laughter spilled out of me. “Maybe not right away. But I was referring to your other skills, not the ones you use to run that hotel.”
Ivy shot me a confused look. “What skills?”
My lips twitched. “I’ve seen the determination you have when it comes to woodcarving. Sure, you’re not where you might want to be with that, but I have faith in your ability to get to a point where you can be great at it. In fact, I think it’s purely your desire to acquire new skills all the time that would lead you to be successful.”
“Who said I had a desire to acquire new skills?”
I sent a dubious look her way. “Uh, well, for the last year, you’ve been taking all sorts of classes, haven’t you? All year long, at every gathering I was a part of with your family, I heard about a new thing you were trying out. Woodcarving just happens to be the most recent.”
Ivy didn’t respond. She merely stared at me with questions swirling in her gaze.
When she made no move to ask me those questions, I went on. “Honestly, after joining you on Monday for that class, I can’t say I don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
I shrugged. “I never really thought about it too much until after that class, but you were always trying something new. I can recall you talking about pottery, musical instruments, and calligraphy. If you had asked me why I thought you were taking those classes before Monday, I wouldn’t have come up with a good answer. Now, I know differently.”
“And? What is it you know?”
My eyes roamed over her face, wondering once more why I’d never noticed her before the way I noticed her now. Years. God, there were whole years I’d spent not realizing what had been right in front of me this whole time. I hated to think about all the time I’d wasted.
“That you’re the kind of woman who enjoys learning new things, and taking these classes was fulfilling for you.”
I barely got the words out when Ivy blurted, “I did not take the classes to learn new things.”
I jerked back, surprised by this news she’d just shared. “What?”
As soon as I pressed her to explain, Ivy seemed to realize what she’d said, and I was certain I saw regret wash over her expression. She shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing, that was stupid.”
Did she think I could just pretend she hadn’t said what she did? “Why else would you take all of those classes if you weren’t trying to learn new things?”
She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. The reaction had caught me by surprise. What had I missed? It couldn’t have just been me. I had to believe that everyone else, especially those in her family, thought she was taking those classes for the same reason that I had believed was the case. How could she say now that it had nothing to do with wanting to learn new things? What other reasons could she have had?
“Ivy?” I called.
Her shoulders fell, and she let out a sigh as her eyes met mine again. “Yeah?”
“Tell me what’s going on,” I urged gently.