“Let me show you the new bathroom!” she trilled, adopting his strategy of overly loud talking to try to alert the lovers to their incoming visitors. She opened the door to the second bath, which had the toilet and vanity installed but no tiling or finishing done, and waved inside like a game show model. The gesture must have looked as exaggerated as it felt, because Sawyer muffled a snicker. She stepped inside and played up her Price Is Right–style arm waving.

His eyes danced. Those eyes. The laughter in them was contagious. “Two bathrooms side by side? My, what an interesting choice.”

“Yes!” she practically shouted. “Ideally I’d put a bathroom in each room. I’m going to do that on the second floor, but it’s not going to work up here for complicated plumbing reasons that made sense to me at the time but I can’t explain now. But we worked out a way to squeeze in a second hallway bathroom.”

“That was a good compromise.” Sawyer winked as he resumed his overly loud speech. “Having more than one bathroom up here will definitely make it easier for guests.” He was hovering in the doorway, one hand on either side of the frame. He leaned back and glanced down the hallway. When his attention returned to her, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, indicating that the lovebirds had not vacated.

Eve swallowed another giggle. “Exactly. Consumer expectations around privacy have changed since the early days of this inn.” Maya should see them. They deserved Academy Awards.

“Yes. Consumer expectations. Very important.” He made a silly face.

She shook with silent laughter. When she recovered herself, she waved dismissively. “Okay, they’re not getting the point,” she whispered. “We’re going to have to go in there.”

She made to move out of the bathroom, but Sawyer stuck out an arm, blocking her way. “Wait. They’re making a break for it,” he whispered as he pushed farther into the small room, pressing close to her with his stupid chest and his stupid jeans and his stupid beard. He stroked the sink. “Hmm. Marco did a great job here. I knew these tiles would work for a kitchen, because—”

She suddenly realized what had been happening. The truth arrived in her head so fully formed that she felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner. He was why everything was going so smoothly with the reno. He hadn’t seen Marco Garretson’s truck parked outside; he’d sent her Marco Garretson. And the “leftover” tiles that were now magically being used in her kitchen? She’d bet the farm they were also his doing. “Sawyer.”

He held a finger to his lips and gestured behind him with his other hand. Sure enough, she heard whispers, followed by the creak of footsteps on the exposed underfloor of the hallway. The tryst was over.

“Do you think they heard us?” Jamila whispered.