hands into the back pockets of her jeans. The position pushed her chest forward, drawing Ethan’s gaze. Heat flared in his eyes, the kind that made him look like he wanted to pin her to the nearest table. Of course, her traitorous body responded. “Before you leave, we should get your agenda out in the open.”
That brought his gaze back to her face. “Agenda?”
“There were quite a few discrepancies between reality and the information you just delivered. You’re an intelligent guy, and you obviously know your job, which rules out ignorance or mistakes and leaves me with one conclusion: you deliberately misled me. I need to know why.”
He shifted on his feet, resetting his stance as if readying for a fight. “Excuse me?”
“Discrepancies,” she repeated. “Like the electrical service panel outside. It’s completely up to code. Half of the panel was covered because it isn’t being used, but it’s there, powered up, and available to supply electricity to a building twice this size. It’s a little hard to believe you missed that.”
Ethan’s mouth went slack.
“And if you’d looked a little closer at the interior electrical instead of opening up just one box, you’d have figured out pretty quickly that the whole bar, including the kitchen, has superior wiring except for the ten feet along that one outer wall. My guess is that my dad had some planned renovation for that area that he didn’t get around to implementing.”
He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “Delaney—”
“As for the kitchen, you must not have noticed the exhaust hood is a Viking Pro model, which can easily handle the double duty needed for both the fryer and the grill. And you got the exit requirements wrong for the building’s occupancy—I only need two exits, not three, which I already have.
“As for the foundation, you should have been able to see with one look that only a few of the pilings beneath the building are failing, not the entire foundation, which is actually a pretty easy fix with a few hydraulic lifts for support while the bad ones are being repaired and reinforced.”
Ethan squeezed his eyes shut as if he had a headache and ran a hand over his forehead, then scraped it through his hair.
“As for unpermitted construction,” she continued, “there is only one area that’s been added on to the original structure, the back porch, which—”
“Delaney,” he said sharply, cutting her off. “It’s great that you know construction.” He gestured to her clothes. “It looks like you’ve done your share of labor. But in this situation, a little information could be a bad thing. People with a casual working knowledge of construction try to take on bigger jobs than they should all the time. I see it almost every day. Simply working in construction does not qualify anyone to take on a renovation of this size or depth. And if you sub out the work, you’ll be spending as much as you’ll ever get for the place, which, in essence is a waste of your time and effort.”
“My concern isn’t a lack of knowledge, skill, or ability on my part .” She held his gaze. “My concern, based on the information you gave me over the last twenty minutes, is a lack of objectivity and integrity on your part .”
That honest truth hit its mark, and by the frustration rolling across his handsome face, Ethan was trying just as hard to rein in his temper. “Renovating isn’t just about fixing code violations—”
“Here’s the thing.” She was done with the push and pull. Time for her line in the sand. “You may be the only game in town, but you’re not the only inspector in the county. And if I catch you in one more lie— just one —I’ll not only file a formal complaint with the city, I’ll go over your head and demand the city manager bring in an inspector from one of the cities nearby. If I have to, I’ll go over the city manager’s head and bypass the mayor by going to the city council, because we all know
That brought his gaze back to her face. “Agenda?”
“There were quite a few discrepancies between reality and the information you just delivered. You’re an intelligent guy, and you obviously know your job, which rules out ignorance or mistakes and leaves me with one conclusion: you deliberately misled me. I need to know why.”
He shifted on his feet, resetting his stance as if readying for a fight. “Excuse me?”
“Discrepancies,” she repeated. “Like the electrical service panel outside. It’s completely up to code. Half of the panel was covered because it isn’t being used, but it’s there, powered up, and available to supply electricity to a building twice this size. It’s a little hard to believe you missed that.”
Ethan’s mouth went slack.
“And if you’d looked a little closer at the interior electrical instead of opening up just one box, you’d have figured out pretty quickly that the whole bar, including the kitchen, has superior wiring except for the ten feet along that one outer wall. My guess is that my dad had some planned renovation for that area that he didn’t get around to implementing.”
He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “Delaney—”
“As for the kitchen, you must not have noticed the exhaust hood is a Viking Pro model, which can easily handle the double duty needed for both the fryer and the grill. And you got the exit requirements wrong for the building’s occupancy—I only need two exits, not three, which I already have.
“As for the foundation, you should have been able to see with one look that only a few of the pilings beneath the building are failing, not the entire foundation, which is actually a pretty easy fix with a few hydraulic lifts for support while the bad ones are being repaired and reinforced.”
Ethan squeezed his eyes shut as if he had a headache and ran a hand over his forehead, then scraped it through his hair.
“As for unpermitted construction,” she continued, “there is only one area that’s been added on to the original structure, the back porch, which—”
“Delaney,” he said sharply, cutting her off. “It’s great that you know construction.” He gestured to her clothes. “It looks like you’ve done your share of labor. But in this situation, a little information could be a bad thing. People with a casual working knowledge of construction try to take on bigger jobs than they should all the time. I see it almost every day. Simply working in construction does not qualify anyone to take on a renovation of this size or depth. And if you sub out the work, you’ll be spending as much as you’ll ever get for the place, which, in essence is a waste of your time and effort.”
“My concern isn’t a lack of knowledge, skill, or ability on my part .” She held his gaze. “My concern, based on the information you gave me over the last twenty minutes, is a lack of objectivity and integrity on your part .”
That honest truth hit its mark, and by the frustration rolling across his handsome face, Ethan was trying just as hard to rein in his temper. “Renovating isn’t just about fixing code violations—”
“Here’s the thing.” She was done with the push and pull. Time for her line in the sand. “You may be the only game in town, but you’re not the only inspector in the county. And if I catch you in one more lie— just one —I’ll not only file a formal complaint with the city, I’ll go over your head and demand the city manager bring in an inspector from one of the cities nearby. If I have to, I’ll go over the city manager’s head and bypass the mayor by going to the city council, because we all know
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