Brushing Off the Boss: A Half Moon Bay Novel (Entangled Bliss) by Annie Seaton

to their original problem and ignore the crazy feelings racing through her from where his fingers were touching her skin.
    “Yeah, but you can only have the studio for two weeks. Do you think you could be ready by then?”
    She looked at him thoughtfully and tapped her finger to her lips. “Maybe.”
    “You have to.”
    Sienna looked at him. He had let go of her and had an intense look on his face. He was flexing his fingers as he walked around. “Okay. If I work every night, I can do it in two.”
    Jack stopped in front of her and held his hand out. “We have a deal then.”
    Sienna took a deep breath and took his hand as relief zinged through her.
    Maybe this will work out okay. After all, Jack owed her nothing really, and he was letting her have the studio in town and hold her exhibition. The only thing in it for him was having someone to manage the gallery for him just like she’d been doing already.
    “Come on. I’ll show you the garage. There’s room in there if you want to store your stuff when it arrives.” Sienna stepped away from his loose hold and headed back through the house and out onto the porch, conscious of him close behind her. God, she was acting like a teenager. She’d never let a man affect her like that before, and she wasn’t about to start now. Men had a role in her life. She went on dates, she had the occasional fling, and she didn’t let any of them close enough to hurt her. She swallowed and straightened her shoulders.
    And I won’t now. I’m not Georgie.
    Between Georgie and their mother, there was enough hurt to last them all a lifetime. Sienna didn’t intend on adding to it.
    “In here,” she said briskly as she opened the swinging wooden doors to the empty garage. “Can you fit all your stuff in here?”
    Jack walked in, his thumbs tucked into his jeans, and looked around. “It’ll be fine. I’ll put my personal stuff here and the big stuff can go into the space at the back of the gallery.”
    He must be planning on storing his furniture too? Sienna didn’t care what he put in there as long as it meant she could use the studio.
    Sienna went inside to get the spare key to the front door and the padlock for the garage, while Jack walked over and waited by the car.
    God, she hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake. Working with him and living in the same house meant she would have to try twice as hard to keep him at a distance. She’d had a lot of practice being tough, and she was about to invoke it now. That soft feeling that had crept through her bones earlier was banished to a place she never let see the light of day. She hadn’t been out with anyone for a while. She’d have the same reaction to any good-looking guy who came along.
    Yeah, sure.
    The little voice in her head let the doubts creep in. It had been in the back of her mind since she’d first met Jack, and now the attraction whooshed straight back in with a vengeance.

    As soon as they got back to the gallery, Jack packed up his bag, ready to head out to the apartment. He said he had some calls to make to get the delivery address for his gear changed. Sienna drew a deep breath of relief when he finally roared off on his bike. Her mind was in turmoil, and she needed to get into the studio and do what she loved.
    And figure out what I’m going to do . How to fit the gallery in through the day and get four weeks’ worth of work done in two. She couldn’t understand why he would only give her the two weeks? Maybe he was just being ornery and had to show her who was the boss? But that didn’t fit what she’d seen of Jack’s casual character.
    Sienna lifted a drop sheet and picked up a plastic crate full of her copper frogs. They were shaped and ready for enameling. She lifted the roller door at the back of the gallery and walked down the ramp to the bricked-in room beneath, and she wondered if Jack knew the room with the kilns was there.
    Sienna shrugged and tried to clear her mind as she fired the kiln and