Strictly Business (8 page)

She had been absolutely floored over his choice. Now that
she knew she got to build a log cabin, she was beginning to get more excited
about this project. And less angry over being stuck in Wyoming for so long. It
had been years since she'd done a personal residence, though that is what she'd
cut her professional teeth on. She had never done a log cabin. In her
excitement over the project, she hadn't really even minded having to work all
weekend. She was also beginning to get some ideas for the interior. Part of
majoring in architecture involved a little bit of interior design. She had
enjoyed it. Not enough to give up the building and blueprints, but enough that
she had retained some of the knowledge. Though it was not her specialty, and
definitely not her job, it might not be so terrible to see this house all the
way through. Usually she started a project and popped in here and there to make
sure things were moving along and everything met specifications. This could be
interesting. Although, she would have to be careful not to let Jake know that.
No matter how much money one had, they shouldn't be allowed to demand such
special treatment.

Monday morning, Jake was already in his office when she came
in. She was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a lightweight long-sleeve button-up
over it. And she was carrying his shirt, clean and folded.

“So, I’m guessin’ your stuff came?”

“Yes, Saturday afternoon. Thank you for the loan.” She set
his shirt on the desk. “So, are you ready to take a look?”

“Okay, let’s see ’em.”

He had smiled at her. A real smile, not a sneer or a forced
polite expression, but an actual smile. And it took her breath away just as it
had the first time. She looked closer and saw the little wrinkles of laugh
lines at the corners of his eyes. His dark blue eyes lit up when he smiled, and
his whole face looked softer and ridiculously handsome.

“That’s the second time you’ve smiled at me. You should do
it more often. It looks good on you. Comfortable, like something you used to do
more of.” She was annoyed to find her voice sounded a little breathless. She
smiled back then quickly glanced away.

In the quick second she took to compose herself, his smile
had changed back to his normal scowl. “Apparently that stopped when I got
here,” Jess muttered under her breath.

Okay, back to the matter at hand. “So, these are the floor
plans. The total square footage is six thousand three hundred twenty eight.
There are seven bedrooms total, the master is downstairs, like we discussed.
Here is the game room, the family room, formal living. I skipped a formal
dining room and made the kitchen breakfast niche twice as big. You would have
to custom order it, but there is enough room in there for a table big enough to
seat twenty people. Oh, and I added a little surprise. This over here is a
media room. It also seats twenty, with stadium seating. And over here in the
corner, with a separate entrance, is your office. The only rooms upstairs are
the bedrooms and four bathrooms, all done Jack and Jill style. There are dual
master bedrooms downstairs, one on each side of the house, so there is some
separation there. I figured one for you and one for your parents when they come
to town, but I didn’t figure you wanted to be too close to them. Every bedroom
has a walk in closet and all six are roughly the same size upstairs.
Downstairs, there are also five bathrooms. One in each master and one other are
full baths. The other two are only half baths, powder rooms really, but it
means people won’t have to run upstairs to pee.”

When she finally took a breath to look at him, she saw that
his expression hadn’t changed, he was still scowling. But he was nodding his
head.

“So, what do you think so far?”

* * * * *

He looked up at her. She was standing behind him, leaning
over his shoulder as she walked him through the house. He was trying to focus
on what she was saying, but all he could think of was how close she was. When
she'd first walked in, Jake had realized that his first assessment of passably
pretty had been way off base. She was gorgeous. And now he knew she smelled
amazing. Something fresh and clean.
Vanilla
?

He wanted her. While he tried to process what she’d shown
him, he mentally kicked himself for leaving Bethany alone Friday night. She’d
invited him in, like he knew she would, but he hadn’t wanted her. He’d wanted
Jess. Badly.

Wait, had she asked him something? “So far, so good.” His
voice was raspier than he would have liked, but he managed to answer her.

“Okay, so, the kitchen is laid out at an angle, right here,
in the corner. With an island coming off the corner, diagonal to the family
room and niche. There’s a bar on the far side of the island. It only seats
four, maybe five if you squeeze, but that’s enough for just the people that
will actually live here.”

She leaned over farther, showing him the diagram of the
kitchen. He got another whiff of her perfume. It
was
something vanilla,
but fresher. He made his hands into fists in his lap so he didn’t reach up and
touch her.

“Okay, and then there’s this one feature I am really excited
about, although it’s going to be pricey, but I think it would be worth it. I
just don’t know what your budget is, so if it’s too much we can go with a
regular door. I was simply told to spare no expense. I was thinking a huge
fourteen foot double entry door, with a stained glass window above it. What do
you think? Do you like it?”

She glanced over at him and caught him watching
her
,
not the plans. Luckily, she misinterpreted the scowl he knew he was still
wearing.

“You don’t like it?”

Her voice didn’t sound right. Too breathy, too deep. His
hands shot out, grabbing her around the waist, and pulling her onto his lap.
Before she could react, his lips were on hers. At first she froze, going
completely stiff, but within seconds he felt her body melting, relaxing into
the kiss. Her fingers made fists in his T-shirt and hair. Holding him to her or
pushing him away, he couldn't quite tell.

God, she felt good. Her mouth was sweet and soft, pressing
against his. He could feel her full breasts pressing tight against his chest,
her nipples making hard little peaks. He slid one of his hands up, unbuttoning
that ridiculous over-shirt she wore. Once he had that loose, he slipped his
hand up inside her T-shirt, feeling the soft, warm skin of her stomach. She
wiggled against him, moaning softly and causing his already hard shaft to throb
and pulse against her hip.

He pulled his mouth away, making her to whimper, and began
kissing a trail, across her neck and over to her ear. When he ran his tongue
around her ear, gently taking the lobe in his teeth, she whimpered again,
arched her back and pressed against him. He answered her silent request,
sliding his hand up to her breasts, rubbing his thumb along the bottom, feeling
the silky lace of her bra.

* * * * *

She couldn’t take any more, she needed him to touch her,
needed his hand to ease the ache in her nipple. She grabbed his head and
pressed her mouth back to his, gently sucking his tongue into her mouth.

He groaned, thrusting his hips against her, bringing his
hand up to cup her breast. She stretched into his palm. He ran a thumb
teasingly across the peak, dragging out another soft sigh.

“Jess, you’re so beautiful. Your breasts, your body…so
amazing. Never cover it up.” Finally, with a growl, he took her tight little
nipple between his thumb and forefinger, gently rolling it.

She wiggled her hips again, pressing even more tightly
against him. She could feel him, hard and pulsing against her hip. She wanted to
turn and straddle him, rub herself against him, feel him slide in and ease this
horrible ache. She’d never understood why women slept with men they barely
knew, but right now, it made perfect sense. She needed him to fill her. “Jake,
please…”

“Please what? Tell me what you need.”

Trying to form the words to tell him, how to explain what
she wanted, when she didn’t even know herself, was like a glass of ice water
poured over Jess. This was her client. He didn’t even like her, for God’s sake.
What was she doing?

She jumped off his lap, backing up a couple of steps,
horrified by her behavior. How could she do that? She was still trying to pull
herself together when he spoke. While she was humiliated, he was clearly
furious.

“What, not good enough for you? You seemed pretty into it.
Or has it just occurred to you that you shouldn’t two-time people with their
best friends? Don’t worry about it. Cody doesn’t stay true to anyone, anyway. I
doubt you’ll be any different.”

Her first response was confusion.
What about Cody? He
thought they were together?
She opened her mouth to correct that
assumption, and then she realized what he’d really just said. He thought she
was with his friend and he’d kissed her anyway. And he thought that she would
be sprawled in his lap if she were seeing Cody. She turned and walked slowly
back to the door.

Without turning around she said, “Look over the plans, let
me know if you need anything changed. Check the kitchen plans with Marsha. My
foreman will be here Thursday morning and we break ground next week, as soon as
the permits clear. And, by the way…go to Hell.” She was actually too angry to
yell, so that all came out sounding disturbingly calm.

She walked straight through the house, directly to the
stables, and saddled up Lady, hoping a ride might calm her down.

Jess decided once again that avoidance would be the best
course of action. She couldn’t do or say anything else she’d regret if she
simply didn’t see him. That unfortunately meant avoiding everyone though,
including Cody, since they were usually working together. She came out for
meals, grabbed a plate and headed back to her room, which meant that's where
she spent most of her time. Either there, or riding. She would sneak out and
saddle up Lady while they were all in at lunch. She knew Jake was aware that
she did this, but since he never tried to stop her, she figured he didn’t mind
her taking the horse out.

By Thursday morning, knowing Mike was due in around ten,
Jess was so excited to have a friend coming in she could hardly sit still. She
headed outside after breakfast, hoping to track down George and see if she
could get the keys to the truck. She would rather be the one to pick up Mike.
She really needed to get out of here for awhile.

George didn’t have any problem with it, as long as she
cleared it with Jake first.
Fabulous.

On a sigh, she headed over to the barn, Jake was checking on
a couple of the mares that were due to foal sometime soon. When she saw him, he
had just finished scrubbing his hands at the sink in the corner.

“Excuse me, Jake. I need to clear something with you.”

Jake stiffened at the sound of her voice. She watched his
spine go hard and his shoulders seemed to climb up his neck. Slowly he turned.
His face was schooled into some attempt at neutral. It failed miserably,
instead looking somehow both angry and constipated.

“What can I do for you?”

“I told you my foreman was due in today? His flight lands at
ten. I was hoping I could take the truck and go pick him up. Instead of George
going. George said to clear it with you.” She waited patiently, her arms
crossed over her breasts.

“Fine, don’t get lost. Marsha will get you directions and a
map.” He stomped off faster than she'd ever seen him move.

She turned to stare after him. She had never in her life met
anyone as insufferably rude as Jake Morgenstern. She could actually visualize
herself slapping his too-handsome-for-his-own-good face. Maybe even throwing in
a good punch or two.
She really
needed to get out of there. She got the
info from Marsha, grabbed the keys off the hook and headed off that stupid
ranch and away from that stupid man. He would be lucky if she came back at all!

By ten she felt a little better. Just driving away from that
place had helped calm her down. A bit of hard rock blaring soothed a little
more. She grabbed a Starbucks and headed to baggage claim to meet Mike. As soon
as she saw him walking toward her, she felt just the teensiest bit of a
meltdown coming on.

As the tears started to fall, despite his obvious confusion,
Mike ran to the rescue. Within seconds he had his arms around her, gently
offering a shoulder until she could pull herself together. This just made Jess
cry harder.

Jess never cried. Never. She really didn’t know why she was
crying now. It just felt really good to have someone here that was indisputably
on her team. The fact that it was Mike, one of her best friends, just made it
that much better.

Mike, Cindy and Jess had formed a bond almost immediately
within the first week of school. They’d all been running from some sort of
family pressure, although it was different for each of them. But they’d quickly
started spending holidays together and making their own little family. Mike and
Cindy had even dated for a while, although it had never seemed real serious. And
then of course she and Mike dated, for less than two weeks. But mostly, he’d
always been a friend. Now, he just let her cry all over him and held her close.
When she finally dried up and pulled away, he grabbed his bags and followed her
out to the car. All without saying a word. This was why she loved him.

When they reached the truck, he loaded his stuff in back
then they made a bunch of small talk; “how are you”, “what have you been
doing”, that kind of thing. Then she told him about the log cabin and how excited
she was about it. He seemed to perk up a little with that. After almost forty
minutes, he got around to the questions she'd known would be coming.

“So, babe, want to tell me what’s really going on?”