Before sitting again, he pulled his sweatshirt over his head, leaving him in a plain black tee, and tossed the sweatshirt on the chair between them. It was dusty after a day at the jobsite. Sierra wouldn’t call herself clean either, but that was status quo and a sign that they’d worked hard.

“So what’s up?” he said as he sat across from her.

She flipped back several pages in her notebook to some notes she’d jotted down late last night. “Chances are good you’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Sounds like a normal day.” Cole wasn’t one to smile a lot, but the tips of his lips tilted up slightly now as he pulled his legal pad and carpenter pencil closer.

Sierra leaned back in her chair and pulled her cargo-pants-clad legs up to sit cross-legged, took in a deep breath as she chose her words carefully. “Are you familiar with William Eldridge?”

“I’ve heard the name. Is he the guy who owns a bunch of TV networks?”

“Networks, newspapers, magazines, websites, who knows what else,” she said, brushing back a long strand of hair that’d come out of her ponytail hours ago. “Originally from Tennessee.”

“Richer than God if I remember right.”

“You do. Also egotistical, from what I’ve heard, and loves being in the spotlight. Anyway, I saw something on his home remodeling network last night between shows. He recently bought a mansion here in Nashville. An old Italianate-style house built in the early 1900s. He got it for a steal because it’s a mess—”

“And he needs a remodeler,” Cole said.

“He needs a remodeler, but he’s not going about finding one in the usual way. He’s holding a competition and putting it on a TV series.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Cole sat back in his chair.

Sierra’s heart sank the tiniest bit at his tone, but she reminded herself it was exactly the reaction she’d expected from him. “When you own one of the top networks devoted to remodeling, what else are you going to do?”

“And you want to get into the competition, just like that? Because you saw an ad on TV?” Cole said, his eyes narrowed at her.

“Of course I do. But I wanted to get your opinion on it.”

He studied her with the look in his eyes that she’d expected—as if she hadn’t given it enough thought. Yes, it was sudden, but how could she not try? As soon as she’d gone to the website and read the details, she’d known she had to enter.

“This is your company,” he said. “You make the calls.”

“Yes and yes.” She kept her voice firm.