Page 16 of Bargain With the Boss

“Well, isn’t that nice for you. I don’t, and I can’t tell you how often I pick up prepared foods or do take-out orders. This isn’t going to be a sub shop. It’s more of a delicatessen like we used to have over here, only elevated.”

“And what about the families you want this way?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Is this a job interview or something?”

“No, I’m simply trying to understand what my brother has gotten into. He came out here on a lark, then he ends up with a child from a…” She shifted on her chair.

“One-night stand? A hot, inconvenient affair?” I leaned forward. “Ever had one of those, Duchess?”

She lifted her pointy little chin. “You know nothing about me.”

“Oh, so you have? Had that quick, hot moment when you can think of nothing else but stripping someone out of their clothes and see how they taste?”

Her chest lifted and fell with her quick breaths before she swallowed.

I sat back and took a long drink from my soda. “You should try it sometime.”

“As if I’d take advice from a man who’s wearing a Captain America shirt with Hugo Boss pants and a Bulgari watch.”

“Checking me out?” I grinned at her. “I like to call it eclectic.”

“Or that you haven’t grown up.” She stood and picked up the tray, then walked to the large trash bin.

Her walk was different without the heels, but no less alluring. More sporty and intense than the way heels changed a woman’s walk. I could imagine her in sneakers and athleisure wear with a sporty little popped collar as she did a specific five-mile brisk walk.

Unsure why that popped in my head, I made sure not to get caught staring at her ass when she turned back to me. Those big, honey toned sunglasses made her eyes flash gold. Damn, the whole package did something to me.

I shouldn’t be looking. Messing with her wasn’t the smartest idea when she was related to one of my best friends. Jude was nearly as hard to get to know as the fair Sydney, but where Jude was starved for friends, she was so contained. As if there was caution tape all around her.

And I was contrary enough to want to peel every bit of it off her.

Instead of stopping at the table, she kept walking back toward our property.

Shaking my head, I grabbed my laptop, finished my soda and tossed it in the recycler before jogging after her. “Where’s the fire?”

“I need to look over the blueprints you spoke of.”

“Which is in this.” I waggled my laptop.

“It’s too sunny to see the screen. I’d like to see your offices. I need to get set up there for the duration anyway.”

“You make it sound so short term. This place will grow on you.”

“Like a fungus?”

I snickered. “Sometimes it feels like it.” I saw her lips twitch. Not completely frozen over. Her lake was definitely thawing.

She climbed the rise and waited for me. I held out a hand to her to help her down the hill. She looked down at my car then to me before taking my hand.

Soft and nearly fragile.

But her grip was anything but.

“Sandstone steps would look good here,” she said quietly. “Some wildflowers to fill in the patchiness that wouldn’t need so much mowing.”

“Definitely agree on the steps. Didn’t think of the flowers.”

“Easier to use because it’s so sandy. Or long grasses—perhaps a mix.”