Read Online Deconstructing Lila (Entangled Select) by Shannon Leigh - Free Book Online Page A

the sides to the cabinets below. Sturdy pillars graced each side, framing the shattered mirror spanning the twelve feet between.
    The bar could be saved, only because it would take an F5 Texas twister to do it damage. She could have the mirror replaced easy enough and, well…the rest would take hard work and skilled contractors. She’d seen worse in Dallas. She could handle one little old candy store.
    “I want it.” She turned to Rose, who cleaned dust off her ballet flats with a wet wipe. Her head shot up at the Lila’s confident tone.
    “You do? You haven’t even seen upstairs!” Her eyes were wide with surprise. “Don’t pull my chain. I’m already going out on a limb by opposing Howard on this.”
    “Yes. Definitely. I want it. Do you have the paperwork with you?”
    Rose glanced away, avoiding eye contact. She swallowed and licked her lips, and then swallowed again. “I guess now would be a good time to tell you the only contractor who can do work on the building is Reverie Construction.”
    Lila’s breath left her chest in a giant whoosh. “What?”
    “When the city condemned the building, the contract for demolition was awarded to Jake. But it’s been stalled for months and months. Reverie Construction has a lien on the property. The buyer will have to negotiate with Jake first. It’s that or nothing, Lila.”
    Jake. She had to go through her husband if she wanted the building. If they worked together daily, it would provide an opportunity for them to renew the relationship, learn to trust each other again. He would be forced to look at her, talk to her, stand side by side without running the other direction.
    Would he do it?
    She simply had to convince him.
    “It’s mine. Don’t you dare sell it to one of those other interested buyers, or let the mayor send a demolition crew down here. I’ll talk to Jake and get this whole thing straightened out.”
    Rose escaped to the front door with Lila close on her heels. Once outside, she pulled a manila folder and a pen from her briefcase. “Let’s get your signature before you wake up and change your mind.”
    Lila’s head spun with the reality of taking on the neglected building as she watched Rose drive away. She didn’t have her regular crew of restoration specialists with her in Hannington. They were on other jobs back in Dallas. She’d have to improvise.
    Contemplating her options, she rushed over to the IGA to get Granny’s supplies before it closed for the evening.

    S oda machines greeted shoppers outside the double doors of the grocery, acting as sentry for random bicycles stacked against their dented exteriors.
    Lila bypassed a group of overall-clad farmers deep in conversation near the machines. She caught the final volley to what must have been a heated political debate. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what school Sheriff Williamson hails from, the man can’t continue to act like Clint Eastwood on a mission and hope for reelection.”
    The doors swung closed behind her and the smell of cabbages and fresh meat besieged her senses. Founded by immigrant cattlemen in the 1850s, Hannington stuck to old-world traditions, which meant fresh greens at every meal and the choicest cuts of meat.
    Grabbing a handbasket from the carryall stand, she headed to Produce.
    “Mrs. Winter?”
    Lila heard a deep, masculine voice coming up behind her in the aisle.
    “Mrs. Winter?” The voice, more insistent and closer now, stopped directly behind her.
    She turned, realizing she was Mrs. Winter. Nobody had called her by that name in, how long? Ten years?
    Lila looked up into the deepest brown eyes she’d ever seen. He had a tan face with sharp, high cheekbones marking his Native American ancestry. His straight black hair was pulled severely back into a ponytail and dropped behind the width of his shoulders. Shoulders that blocked the entire aisle and anyone attempting to get by. The man was a wall, a human barricade.
    “Ah, I think that’s me.”
    He