Sweet Obsession: Windy City Kink, Book 1 (7 page)

Jack nodded slowly. “What did your parents think of that?”

“They thought I was nuts.”

“Yeah. That wouldn’t have been what they wanted for you.”

He apparently remembered them pretty well.

“They hated it. They still think I’m crazy, especially starting my own business. After a few years of working there and taking courses, I got the opportunity to start doing design work, and when that was going well, I decided to strike out on my own.”

“She’s very talented,” Kevin said. “But I’m sure you know that from whatever research you did before contacting her to work for you.”

The two men exchanged a look and Jack nodded. “Yeah, I know she’s talented.”

“I’m right here,” she muttered.

Jack smiled at me. “Your parents have to be proud of how successful you are.”

For a moment she thought an expression crossed his face that almost looked…wistful.

“Not really.” She rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to mention that at the moment her business was not exactly on solid financial ground, so there wasn’t as much for her parents to be proud of as one might think. Except she didn’t know if they would have been proud of her, no matter
how
successful she was. Maybe if she was asked to do landscaping at the White House, they’d be proud.

“Seriously, though,” Jack said. “You have a great reputation, especially when it comes to rooftop garden design. Your name was the one that kept coming up when I was looking into things.”

Her cheeks heated and pleasure warmed her inside. “Thanks.” If only that would translate into more business. She pushed away her doubts. It would. This was just a dry spell.

“So what else?” Jack leaned back in his chair to finish off the last of his cone. “You’re not married, obviously. Ever been?”

“No. You?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been kind of busy the last few years.”

“Speaking of doing well,” she murmured. She wiped her hands on a napkin and crumpled it. She looked at Kevin. “We should go.”

Kevin nodded agreeably and Jack rose too as they did, accompanying them outside.

“Good to meet you,” he said again to Kevin, and then he turned his penetrating gaze on her. “Thanks again for thinking about the job, Sasha. I’d really love for you to do it rather than a stranger.”

She nodded, even as she reminded herself she wasn’t going to take the job, but his warm words and earlier praise eroded her resolve.

“I’ll follow up with you in a few days,” he said.

She and Kevin walked down the dark sidewalk in silence, only the noise of passing traffic surrounding them, the street lamps casting round pools of light interspersed with shadows. She tugged her scarf right up to her chin and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

“Well,” he finally said, when they’d rounded the corner. “He definitely wants you.”

Chapter Five

Sasha spent the rest of the week pounding the pavement, so to speak, and working the phones, trying to drum up business. She’d never had to do this. Even when she’d first started her business she hadn’t had to search for clients. She wasn’t sure why it was. Yes, the economy was slow, but there were still a lot of wealthy people in Chicago buying and building big houses who needed landscaping done. Maybe the niche market she’d carved out for herself doing rooftop gardens had been a mistake. That was a small market and if people thought that was all she did, she was seriously limiting herself.

Ah ha. Maybe that was her problem. So she got to work redesigning part of her website and enhancing her portfolio to include some of the other jobs she’d done. This was
not
going to keep her down.

Of course at the back of her mind was Jack’s offer.

“He wants you,” Kevin had said.

She’d punched his shoulder at that, her stomach doing a little flip at his words.

“For landscaping,” Kevin had added, but she’d caught the evil teasing glint in his eye.

“I don’t need his job, or his money,” she’d replied, tossing her hair back.

She was counting on finishing the Frasier job soon, which would mean she’d get paid and have some cash to play with for the next little while. But on Friday, she learned that the stone masons she’d contracted to lay the patio at the Frasier home weren’t able to get there until the end of next week. Which probably really meant the beginning of the week after. Which meant that everything else had to be put on hold while they waited for that to be done, which meant that getting paid for completing that job was still many weeks away.

Shatner.

Flo popped her head into Sasha’s office. “I’m really sorry to bother you with this,” she began. “But the printer’s not working again. The repair guy came and…” She hesitated. “He was a little snarky about how long it took to pay him last time, but he said he can’t fix it anyway. We need a new printer.”

Sasha stared at her. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not. I know those printers are expensive, but you kind of have to have one to print off drawings. If it was just invoices we could get something cheap at Wal-Mart, but…”

“I know.” Sasha rubbed her forehead. “I know. Okay, I’ll get on that.”

Flo paused. “Things gonna be okay?”

“Yes! Of course.”

“Because, no offense, I love you and all, but I can’t work for nothing.”

“I know! It’s not that bad, Flo.” It almost was, but she didn’t want Flo walking out. “Don’t worry, I’ve got some things lined up.” Not.

And then she got a call from a supplier tactfully inquiring about when they might expect payment for the materials she’d purchased from them for the Eckhart job for which she was never going to see a dime.

Humiliation burning inside her, she promised them a payment Monday morning and then laid her head down on her desk. She’d never in her life had to deal with that kind of phone call and it was mortifying. Even worse, there were other suppliers she also owed money to, and if she didn’t make some payments fast, her reputation was going to be in shreds and then finding work would be even harder.

With a groan, she reached for the business card tucked under her computer keyboard. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she gazed at Jack’s name. CEO of Anzen Security, the company name in large, scarlet font. She turned the card over and saw his cell phone number scrawled there in a backhanded style that reminded her he was left-handed. For some reason she’d always found that very sexy.

Sexy? Gah! She should not be thinking about sexy, she should be thinking about money and all the millions of dollars Jack apparently had. Holy Shatner. She could do a few designs and in a matter of days have a check in her hands as a down payment for what would be a very large job.

In fact, she would be asking for a bigger down payment than she usually did. Not that she didn’t trust Jack, but she’d learned that lesson. And, well, she wasn’t
sure
if she trusted Jack. He was, after all, a virtual stranger now.

She was being ridiculous about this. It was a job, with a wealthy businessman who had money to spend and wanted to hire her. No going through the whole proposal thing and all that work and then having him choose someone else.

It was too easy and she was crazy to turn it down.

She picked up the phone and punched in his cell phone number.

“Jack Grenville.”

“Jack. Hi. It’s Sasha.”

His crisp tone immediately softened. “Sasha. Hi. I’m happy to hear from you.”

“Um. Good.”

“I hope it’s good news.”

“Well, I guess it is.” Nerves tightened in her stomach. What if he’d changed his mind? “If you’re still interested in having a rooftop garden designed and built, I’ve decided I’m interested in doing it after all.” She seized onto an idea. “A bit of a hole came up in my schedule due to a contractor delay, so it looks like I could take it on.”

“Awesome.” He sounded so young, almost like the Jack she’d known, when he said that. “When can we get together to talk about it more?”

“Well, I… need to work up a proposal and contract for you. I mentioned feasibility studies, and then…well you mentioned that budget wasn’t an issue, but I’ll need to talk to you about the concept development and then do some preliminary designs and estimates.”

“Okay. That sounds like it’s going to take a while. I’ve never been good at waiting.”

“I can work on it right away,” she said. “As I mentioned, my schedule opened up.”

“We could have dinner tonight.”

“Oh.” Her heart leaped into her throat. “Tonight? I’m afraid I can’t. I already have a date.”

After a brief, thick silence, he said, “Oh. I see. What about lunch tomorrow then?”

“It’s Saturday, but…okay.” It wasn’t as if she never worked weekends. When they were on a deadline, long hours and weekends were fair game. “I’d like to come and take some photographs of your space, if that’s okay.”

“Yeah. Great. How about you come for lunch, take your photos and see the patio again, and we can talk about all that stuff.”

Lunch. At his place. Oh boy. “Sounds good,” she said crisply. “What time should I come?”

“Noon is fine.”

“See you then.”

She hung up. She really did have a date that night, a second date with Eric. They’d had a pleasant evening last weekend, so why not? He was taking her to a Blackhawks game and she loved hockey so it should be another fun evening.

Except somehow she was disappointed that she wasn’t going to be having dinner with Jack.

Jack had grown up a Blackhawks fan and had attended a few Sharks games when he lived in San Jose. Having a private box was a business expense and he’d found it a great way to schmooze with potential clients. Here in Chicago, he’d love to be able to do that, but he was going to have to wait for next season to see if he could snag a suite. In the meantime, he bought tickets to individual games and invited clients or staff to attend. Tonight he had two tickets, but no plans, so it was just he and Adam.

“Why didn’t you invite someone from Michigan Trust?” Adam asked as they settled into their seats in the United Center.

Good question. “I want to keep a low profile on this deal,” he said. “That’s why you’re handling everything.”

“I could have invited someone. In fact…” Adam grinned, “…their VP of Operations is a pretty hot babe.”

Jack lifted an eyebrow and drank his beer. “Oh yeah?”

“Definitely rideable.”

Jack laughed. “Wait until the deal is done, at least.”

“You know I’d never jeopardize business.”

The music of Nirvana blasted over the sound system as the two hockey teams warmed up on the ice and Jack studied the players. He’d loved hockey as a kid, but it had been too expensive for his uncle to pay for, so he’d settled for basketball. He’d been captain of the senior team even though he hadn’t been the best player, although he’d been tall and relatively coordinated. But he liked to take charge and the coaches had seen his natural leadership. Of course, that all got yanked away from him near the end of his senior year.

The bitterness over what had happened had long since faded, but there were still scars there. They’d always be there, but that was okay because they served to remind him where he’d come from and what his goals were.

“Fisher is having a crap year,” Adam said, pointing with his beer. “They think he’s injured. Some kind of wrist thing.”

“Huh. Maybe.” They talked about players and the team and then a little business as the game got underway. By the end of the first period, the Blackhawks were up two-nothing.

“Good game,” Adam said, standing. “Let’s go find more beer.”

Jack followed him up the stairs in the slow-moving crowd and onto the concourse. They waited in line for drinks then stood to one side as crowds of people mingled and mixed, drinking and talking about the game.

“Hey, there’s Jamal,” Adam said, lifting a hand. One of their newest Chicago clients, he owned a marketing business. Jamal greeted them and stopped to talk.

No sooner had he moved on, than Jack was greeted by someone else he knew. The realtor who’d sold him his condo, Eric Roscoe.

“Hey, Jack,” Eric said, shaking his hand and clapping a hand on his shoulder. “How’s the penthouse?”

“Good. Great.” Jack smiled. “Pretty much all furnished. You should come see it sometime.”

“Yeah, I should. Hey, did you ever do anything with that rooftop?”

“Just working on it.”

“If you’re looking for a good designer, the girl I’m dating does a lot of rooftop gardens. She’s pretty amazing and she’s looking for work right now.”

“I just hired someone,” Jack said with a wry smile. “Sorry.”

And then his eyes went wide as Sasha appeared at Eric’s side. When she saw him, she blinked. Their eyes met and it felt as if there’d been a small electrical current pass through the air, which grew charged and heavy.

“Hey, Sasha,” Eric said, drawing her closer. “I was just trying to get you some business. This is Jack Grenville. I sold him a condo a few months ago and…”

“We’ve met,” Jack murmured. “She’s the designer I just hired.”