That Night with You (15 page)

Emma tipped her head to the side. “I’m
his secretary. I overhear everything that goes on in his
office.”

The short ride ended and the doors
opened on the reception area of the administrative offices. Emma
walked from the car on her sturdy black heels, headed past the
double doors, and moved quickly down a hallway until they came to
Hayden’s office. Smiling at Madison, Emma knocked once and waited
until Hayden’s voice called, “Yes, come in.”

Madison scooted in the doors and her
stomach sank when she saw Hayden sitting behind his wide black desk
in front of the massive picture window. His unnerving eyes were all
over her, and her thoughts immediately went back to the last time
they had seen each other. Heat rose to her cheeks, and she lowered
her eyes to the dark blue carpet.

The doors behind her closed and a soft
whoosh of air tickled against her back.

“
Madison, come
in.”

Glancing up, the first thing she
noticed was the way his tailored black pinstripe suit accentuated
his firm body, and how his dark brown wavy hair was still damp from
his morning shower. Thinking of artic winters to cool the inferno
in her belly, she approached his desk.

“
I want to discuss your
design for the Martin house.” He came up to her while waving to a
computer table shoved against a bookcase in the corner of the room.
“We have a lot of work to do to get these plans ready before I can
send them on to the engineers.” He placed his hand behind her back
and guided her to the corner of his modest office.

“
Yes, Mr. Parr.”

“
I know the Martins loved
your design, but I spent the day yesterday going over some changes
I think we need to make.” Pulling out the chair before the table,
he waited as she took a seat.

On the computer screen her design was
already up, with twenty yellow Post-It notes attached to the border
of the screen. She was reading the scrawled handwriting on the
notes when Hayden came up behind her and rubbed against her
shoulder as he leaned over the table.

The swell of molten lava that shot up
from between her legs was devastating. Her hands gripped the edge
of the desk as she closed her eyes.

“
Here,” he said, his mouth
inches from her right ear. “I think you need to expand that center
beam in the atrium.”

She opened her eyes to see his finger
pointing at the large atrium she had designed as the focal point of
the home.

“
You’re also going to have
to thicken up those walls to take the weight of that wide ceiling
you have drawn,” he added, teasing her ear with his
breath.

“
Yes, Mr. Parr.” The smell
of his cologne was making her dizzy.

“
Then there is the whole
issue with the second story. We’re going to have to fix
it.”

Her mind woke up, and she glared over
her shoulder at him. “What’s wrong with it?”

His face was inches from hers. She
could smell the hint of coffee on his breath and see the slight
ridge of his thick brow shadowing his eyes. Up close, he appeared
less overwhelming and for an instant he was
almost…tender.

“
The second story needs to
be balanced with the lower floor of the home.” Hayden veered his
gaze to the computer screen. “You drew it shorter and we’re going
to have to figure out the dimensions of these second-story rooms so
they don’t end up being tiny bedrooms.” He stood back from her, and
the rush of cold air that took his place made her shiver. He
paused, observing her. “You all right?”

She glanced over her plans. “Just
chilly.”

He patted her shoulder. “I’ll get you
some coffee. I’m in need of another cup myself.” He strolled to the
office doors. “How do you take it?”

A memory of standing in his kitchen as
he made her coffee during their first night together came back to
her. “Black,” she answered, blotting out the pictures from the
past. “I always take it black.”

At the office doors, he stuck his head
outside. “Emma, can you get us two coffees? Black,
please.”

When he came back to the table, he
stood to the side and pinched one of the yellow notes from the
computer screen. “This is something we have to address…this wall of
windows.” He motioned to the long row of high windows she had
covering the back of the home. “You’re going to have a real
structural problem with the support of the second story here. Those
beams running across the top of the windows are going to have to be
at least eight inches to take the weight.”

She sat back slightly in her chair.
“My calculations are six.”

After he crumpled up the yellow note
in his hand, he threw it into the black wastepaper basket beside
the table. “Your calculations are wrong.”

“
You do realize I put
several additional cross sections in the joists to offset the
additional weight, right?”

He stared at her design on the
computer screen. It was several seconds before he spoke again. “So
you did. Do you think it’s enough?”

She could sense that he was testing
her. The first lesson she had learned in design class was always
stand behind your design, no matter what. “Yes,” she confidently
expressed. “It’ll support the weight.”

The smile he gave her was absolutely
enchanting. “Glad to hear you remember rule 101 of
design.”

“
I remember a lot of
things.”

His smile fell a little and she waited
to see what his response would be, but he said nothing. Frustrated,
she focused her attention on another note stuck to the corner of
the computer screen. After reading his almost illegible
handwriting, she pulled the yellow paper from the
computer.

“
You should have been a
doctor; you write like one.”

That made him laugh. “How would you
know what a doctor’s handwriting is like?”

“
My father is an orthopedic
surgeon. His writing is almost as bad as yours. At least that’s the
way it looked on the birthday cards he sent me.”

“
Are you two
close?”

Madison’s heart hardened at the
thought of her father. “No. He has a new family in California. He
forgot about me and my brother almost as soon as he left. I haven’t
seen him since I was thirteen.”

“
You’re lucky that you
didn’t have a father to live up to. Try following in your old man’s
footsteps and see what it’s like being compared to him at every
turn.”

Madison took in his profile and noted
the quivering muscles of his clenched jaw. “I would rather have too
much of a parent in my life than never have them at all. We can
always forget what we don’t wish to remember, but we can never
forget what we never had.”

He eased closer to her chair. “I’m
sorry. You’re right, I should be thankful I had a father who played
an important role in my life. Forgive me for being
so…callous.”

A gentle knock on the door made him
leave her side and head across the plush carpet. Behind the door
Emma was waiting, holding two white mugs of coffee in her hands.
Taking the coffee from her, he returned to the desk and handed
Madison a mug.

“
That should warm you
up.”

She watched as he avidly took a sip of
his coffee; his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.
For a second, she wished she could glide her lips along his neck,
and tease that Adam’s apple with her tongue.

Desperate for a distraction, she took
a gulp of the coffee and winced, having burned her tongue. Plopping
the mug on the table, she raised her hand to her mouth.

“
What is it?”

Fanning her face, she stood from her
chair. “That was…really hot coffee.”

He rested his hand against her cheek.
The cool touch of his fingers only made her feel even hotter than
the coffee.

“
I’ll be back,” she
muttered, and then dashed for the office door.

Swerving to the left as she bolted out
his office door, she found the ladies room at the end of the short
hallway and ducked inside. Hoping to cool her torrid desire, she
went to the sink and flipped on the cold water. Patting the back of
her neck and cheeks, she slowly reined in her emotions.

“
You snuck past me,” Emma
stated as she entered the restroom. Her dark blue eyes drew
together. “You okay?”

Madison turned off the water. “I just
got a little dizzy.”

“
Are you getting that flu
going around?” Emma came up to the sink, swaying her ample hips.
“Everyone is getting it in the office.”

Madison reached for some paper towels.
“I just haven’t been sleeping very well. Must have caught up with
me.”

Emma leaned against the sink next to
Madison and flicked her shoulder-length blonde hair with her hand.
“I’m sure it’s all the excitement about having your design chosen
for the Martins’ house. Mr. Parr was very excited, too. He said you
wowed the Martins.”

“
Really? He said
that?”

“
Yeah, he was telling me
about the party until his bitch of an ex-wife called him.” Emma
checked over her pink-painted fingernails. “She usually calls about
once a week to complain about something. I hear yelling from his
office, and that’s how I know it’s her. She drives him
nuts.”

“
His sister told me a
little about her. Apparently, no one likes her.”

“
Can you blame them?” Emma
checked her reflection in the mirror. “I’ve heard Mr. Parr say time
and time again that he will never remarry. That woman turned him
off completely. He always says he’ll never trust another woman.
He’s been too badly burned.”

Emma’s words resonated with Madison.
The difficult distance between them suddenly made sense. It was not
her, it was his past. Funny how the cruelty of someone she had
never met could impact her life. Kindness from strangers had to be
experienced directly, but suffering could impact her no matter the
degree of separation. It made Madison wonder if the human heart was
not the resilient rock reported throughout legend, but a fragile
crystal more easily shattered than sustained.

Wiping her hands on the paper towels,
Madison gave Emma a half-smile. “I should get back.”

“
Sure, thing.” Emma fluffed
her blonde locks as she stared in the mirror. “Can’t keep the boss
waiting.”

***

Back in her office, Madison sat at her
desk and dutifully incorporated the boatload of changes Hayden had
suggested into her design. But as she worked on her computer, her
thoughts kept returning to what Emma had told her in the bathroom.
Maybe it was time to give up on her fantasies about her boss. Some
men, no matter how enticing, were never meant to be.

“
Hey, I’m glad the Martins
liked your design,” Adam remarked from his desk.

Madison had forgotten about his
disappointment after meeting with Hayden earlier that day about the
Martins’ decision.

“
Thanks, Adam. What you
came up with was really beautiful, it just wasn’t what they were
looking for. But you’ll find a client that wants it. I’m sure of
that.”

“
I know that. I’m not
worried,” he cockily asserted. “There will be no shortage of
clients looking for that design at this firm. I’m sure before the
year is out I’ll be working on construction plans like
you.”

Madison sat back in her chair and let
out a long sigh. “Yeah, well, you may not be too happy about it.
Mr. Parr made a ton of changes. It’s gonna take me another week to
work all of this out, and then I still have to get started on the
construction plans, engineering prints, and all the other designs
required for the permits.” She rubbed her hands along her temples.
“It’s giving me a headache just thinking about it.”

“
You need a break.” He
stood from his desk and came over to her side. “Leave that stuff
for tomorrow and go home. You look beat.”

Despite his arrogance, there were
times when she felt Adam could be genuinely kind. Right now,
Madison didn’t want to go home to an apartment full of boxes. What
she needed was a few hours to forget everything.

“
Adam, how about that drink
you promised me? Are you up for that, or do you need to get
home?”

“
No, ah….” His eyebrows
went up in surprise. “We could go to Rory’s and grab some beers if
you’d like.” He studied her eyes, appearing slightly concerned.
“You all right, Madison? If you need a friend, you know I’m here
for you. No strings or anything, just friendship.”

Madison turned his words
over in her head, and she was reminded of something Mike had said
to her the night of the party. “Don’t you need a friend,
Madison?”
Perhaps she had been right. If
there was no hope of having the man she wanted, then what
difference would it make if she ended up with someone else? Even
someone like Adam was better than being alone.

“
I’m fine, Adam,” she heard
her voice say. “Rory’s sounds great.”

Chapter 9

Rory’s Bar was a restaurant and sports
bar that many of the employees in the surrounding buildings went to
for a quick lunch or much-needed after work drinks. The dimly lit
décor was a mixture of posters of famous Dallas sports teams and
sports paraphernalia. Framed team jerseys, trophies, autographed
photographs, and a collection of baseballs, footballs, and
basketballs cluttered the paneled walls.