I completed at Clayton Walker Architecture and Design, Inc.”
“I thought you said you have nothing to do with him or his business.”
“I’m on my own now,” he said simply. “I learned a lot from working with my father’s company, paid my dues, and sat for one of the licensing exams. Then…” Another way-too-casual shrug. “Anyway, the exam was in planning and design, which, you have to admit, is a great place for us to start. Listen, Strawberry—”
“Did you just call me Strawberry?”
He smiled and plucked another curl. “My favorite fruit. I’m telling you, tests don’t make you an architect.”
She tried to take a breath but got a lungful of man again, the smell of someone who did not take no for an answer. And called her
Strawberry
.
“Life gives you enough tests,” he said.
Like how long could she sit here, inches from the sexiest man she could remember meeting in her life, and not kiss him? That right there was a real test.
“True success comes from meeting and beating every one of the challenges you’re thrown.” He inched a little bit closer with every word.
Words that, she realized as she stopped inhaling and admiring and started listening, were as hot as he was.
If
he meant what he said and wasn’t just handing her a load of BS.
“Let me ask you something, Clay.”
“Anything.”
“Do you always get everything you want?”
Something flickered over his features. A memory, maybe. But it was gone in an instant. “Everything,” he assured her. “Even if I have to change what it is that I want.”
She smiled, totally understanding that.
“Here’s all you have to know about me, Lacey.” He brushed her knuckles with his fingertips, ostensibly to underscore the point he was about to make, but the touch sent chills over her skin and made her curl her toes around the bar stool just for something to hang on to. “I don’t believe in obstacles, brick walls, barriers, roadblocks, or anything else that says I can’t. There’s a way around everything and everyone, and I find it. I get what I want and I don’t quit until I have it. I give you my word on that. Now, can I have the job to design and build your resort?”
Oh, boy.
Casablanca
was a turn-on, but someone who didn’t quit? Didn’t give up? Didn’t find excuses? Wasn’t that exactly what she needed?
“I suppose we could meet at the property.”
He put one finger under her chin and tilted her face toward his. “Just say yes.”
Like a living, breathing human female could say anything else. “After you’ve come up with some ideas. Right now I can’t—”
“Let’s agree not to use the word
can’t
. Ever. Let’s just call it a four-letter word we don’t use.”
She smiled. “I can’t.” Then laughed. “You don’t know me. I’m… cautious.”
He ran his thumb across her bottom lip, a move that, seriously, just ought to be outlawed. “If you were cautious, you wouldn’t have followed me in here.”
“My friends talked me into it,” she admitted.
“Then send them the finest bottle of nail-polish remover. When do we start?”
When do they start what? That was the question.
Come on, Lacey
.
“We’ll finish this interview tomorrow morning at ten o’clock at Barefoot Bay,” she said, searching for the strength to escape his lethal touch and coming up with nothing. “Bring your drawings and your imagination, samples of your work, and references.”
And, for the love of God, don’t bring that thumb that’s turning me into a puddle of hormones
.
For one more suspended second, they stayed two inches from each other, sparks and heat arcing between their mouths. If he had kissed her, she’d have kissed him right back.
But somehow, she found the strength to walk away.
Chapter 6
L acey pulled into the Super Min wishing she could fill her tank without having to go inside. The Sisters of the Holy Super Min, as Charity Grambling and Patience Vail were known around town, would surely
“I thought you said you have nothing to do with him or his business.”
“I’m on my own now,” he said simply. “I learned a lot from working with my father’s company, paid my dues, and sat for one of the licensing exams. Then…” Another way-too-casual shrug. “Anyway, the exam was in planning and design, which, you have to admit, is a great place for us to start. Listen, Strawberry—”
“Did you just call me Strawberry?”
He smiled and plucked another curl. “My favorite fruit. I’m telling you, tests don’t make you an architect.”
She tried to take a breath but got a lungful of man again, the smell of someone who did not take no for an answer. And called her
Strawberry
.
“Life gives you enough tests,” he said.
Like how long could she sit here, inches from the sexiest man she could remember meeting in her life, and not kiss him? That right there was a real test.
“True success comes from meeting and beating every one of the challenges you’re thrown.” He inched a little bit closer with every word.
Words that, she realized as she stopped inhaling and admiring and started listening, were as hot as he was.
If
he meant what he said and wasn’t just handing her a load of BS.
“Let me ask you something, Clay.”
“Anything.”
“Do you always get everything you want?”
Something flickered over his features. A memory, maybe. But it was gone in an instant. “Everything,” he assured her. “Even if I have to change what it is that I want.”
She smiled, totally understanding that.
“Here’s all you have to know about me, Lacey.” He brushed her knuckles with his fingertips, ostensibly to underscore the point he was about to make, but the touch sent chills over her skin and made her curl her toes around the bar stool just for something to hang on to. “I don’t believe in obstacles, brick walls, barriers, roadblocks, or anything else that says I can’t. There’s a way around everything and everyone, and I find it. I get what I want and I don’t quit until I have it. I give you my word on that. Now, can I have the job to design and build your resort?”
Oh, boy.
Casablanca
was a turn-on, but someone who didn’t quit? Didn’t give up? Didn’t find excuses? Wasn’t that exactly what she needed?
“I suppose we could meet at the property.”
He put one finger under her chin and tilted her face toward his. “Just say yes.”
Like a living, breathing human female could say anything else. “After you’ve come up with some ideas. Right now I can’t—”
“Let’s agree not to use the word
can’t
. Ever. Let’s just call it a four-letter word we don’t use.”
She smiled. “I can’t.” Then laughed. “You don’t know me. I’m… cautious.”
He ran his thumb across her bottom lip, a move that, seriously, just ought to be outlawed. “If you were cautious, you wouldn’t have followed me in here.”
“My friends talked me into it,” she admitted.
“Then send them the finest bottle of nail-polish remover. When do we start?”
When do they start what? That was the question.
Come on, Lacey
.
“We’ll finish this interview tomorrow morning at ten o’clock at Barefoot Bay,” she said, searching for the strength to escape his lethal touch and coming up with nothing. “Bring your drawings and your imagination, samples of your work, and references.”
And, for the love of God, don’t bring that thumb that’s turning me into a puddle of hormones
.
For one more suspended second, they stayed two inches from each other, sparks and heat arcing between their mouths. If he had kissed her, she’d have kissed him right back.
But somehow, she found the strength to walk away.
Chapter 6
L acey pulled into the Super Min wishing she could fill her tank without having to go inside. The Sisters of the Holy Super Min, as Charity Grambling and Patience Vail were known around town, would surely
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