Page 6 of Surrendering His Heart (Buena Hills #4)

“Likewise,” Christian said, returning the handshake. Standing next to each other, he was only an inch or two shorter than Mitch’s six-foot-four.

Mitch was one of the most charismatic people Hallie knew. His natural ability of making everyone feel like a million bucks minutes after meeting them had been the main reason he’d succeeded in winning McKenzie’s quiet heart. But even he couldn’t crack Christian’s icy exterior.

Maybe he was one of those strong, silent types. There was nothing wrong with that. But he didn’t intend to stick with one sentence answers the whole time, right? That would make things difficult once they got down to business.

“We were hoping to work in here where there’s more space,” Hallie said, swallowing her frustration. “But it seems you’ve beat us to it. We’ll go somewhere else.”

McKenzie scooped up a stack of invitations from the counter.

“No, no. Stay. I have to get to work anyway.” She dropped the pile into the box at the corner of the island before removing one from the top and handing it to Hallie.

“It’s just a formality since you’ll be in the wedding, but this is for you.

I hope you don’t mind sharing with Kendall and Beej. ”

“Of course not.” Hallie slipped the matte invitation out of the unsealed envelope, studying the photo of the happy couple snuggled together under a maple tree amidst the setting sun. “Ugh, you both are so photogenic. This will go right next to Elise’s.”

She set the invitation on the counter behind her before turning back to Christian. “Have a seat. Do you want anything to drink? Water? Juice? I think we have some coffee around here somewhere.”

“Uh, no. Thanks.” He sat down, sliding the final stack of envelopes off the counter and handing them to McKenzie. At least he has some manners .

She thanked him with a smile before easing the invitations into the only space left in the box.

Lifting it from the counter, she dropped it into Mitch’s open arms. “Will you mail these on your way to practice? I have to get to the gym. There’s a group of overly excitable three-year-olds waiting to be molded into cute little gymnasts.

” After retiring from competitive gymnastics following the Global Elites, she’d slid right into her role of coaching beginning classes at her old gym.

“I’m on it.” He shifted the box to one arm and placed his free hand on her back, allowing her to lead the way from the kitchen.

Before passing through the swinging door, McKenzie turned back. He’s cute! she mouthed, pointing discreetly in Christian’s direction and wagging her ginger brows. Thankfully, her fiancé’s tall body hid her from his view.

Hallie rolled her eyes. The assessment was accurate, but she’d never been one to go gaga over attractive men. Christian’s good looks didn’t mean anything. No love match would develop in this kitchen today.

“Was that McKenzie Bowman?” Christian asked once they were gone.

“You know Zee?” Surprising. Neither of them had shown any indication they’d recognized each other.

Christian coughed. “No, I remember her from the Global Elites. My … uh … I watched the US win the team finals.”

Gymnastics was one of the most popular events so that tracked. “Have you heard of Mitch too then? He’s also a Global Elite champion. In beach volleyball.”

Christian blinked twice. “No.”

Okay, so he was back to the one-word answers. Great. A few beats of awkward silence followed, and Hallie rushed to fill it. “I left my laptop in my room. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

“We can use mine.” He bent toward the messenger bag he’d set on an adjoining stool.

Hallie hesitated a few seconds before sitting. She watched him type in the password to unlock the screen. Could he sense the tension swirling in the kitchen right now? Because she was practically drowning in the thickness of it .

“Go ahead and pull up your site,” he said, turning the laptop toward her. “I’ll take a look.”

As he removed his hand from the keyboard, she noticed a small black heart at the base of his right thumb. Interesting. A flirty token from a girlfriend, perhaps?

It doesn’t matter, Hal. You’re not the nosy type.

“Right. I’ll do that,” she said, shaking the thought from her head. “Because that’s why you’re here. To look at my website.” She groaned at herself for stating such an obvious fact.

Clamping down on her jaw to stop herself from continuing this string of ridiculous comments, she navigated to the admin dashboard for Hallie’s Cakes.

“I’ve been working on this for weeks and it still looks like something a first grader came up with. I’m afraid I’m hopelessly lost when it comes to technology.” She glanced at him nervously, unsure what he’d think about the amateur drivel on the screen before him.

But his brown eyes weren’t on the computer. Instead, they scanned the kitchen, slightly narrowed. She couldn’t read much in his expression, though it didn’t look good. What about her home did he find so lacking?

“Is something wrong?” she asked, unable to keep the frustration from her tone.

His gaze snapped to her, his brows jumping toward his forehead. “No. The house … It just looks … different since the last time I was inside.”

“You’ve been here before?”

“I used to live here.”

Hallie gaped at him. “You did?”

He blinked at her, his judgy expression replaced with confusion. “Yeah. For part of my sophomore year. I thought you knew that.”

She shook her head. “I knew my brother and cousin had another roommate for a while, but I still lived in Florida back then, so I didn’t know who it was.”

“It was me,” Christian said with a shrug. “I had the bedroom at the top of the stairs. ”

“Wait! That’s mine.” She gave an ironic laugh. “How crazy is that? So, you must be the one responsible for the disco ball hanging from the ceiling when I moved in. Do you have some weird Saturday Night Fever obsession I should know about?”

He barked out a laugh. A small one, but definitely a laugh. So, he was capable of displaying some positive emotions.

“I swear that was Brad.” A light shade of pink stained his tanned complexion.

Hallie bit back the urge to smile. “Oh, it was Brad, huh? You’re saying he was responsible for damaging the ceiling and lighting the microwave on fire?”

“He wasn’t very bright back then.” The corners of Christian’s mouth twitched up as he delivered the assessment of his former roommate.

Hallie’s laugh bubbled from her throat. “Actually, I believe you. Was the fire really as dramatic as Tyler and Brad made it sound?”

“Oh yeah.” Christian drummed his fingers against the island’s granite countertop. “The whole chili can burst into flames. Luckily, we had the extinguisher under the sink, so he was able to put it out before it ruined the whole microwave. Is the burn mark still there?”

Hallie nodded. “My uncle put in a new stove and countertops, but he left the microwave. Something about wanting it to be a lesson for young tenants. I guarantee Brad never made that mistake again. He’s grown up a lot since then. You know that he’s going to be a dad in a few months, right?”

Christian’s face clouded over, a noticeable sadness marring his eyes. “No, I didn’t.” At Hallie’s confused look, he added, “We don’t talk much anymore.”

That’s odd. Tyler had mentioned the three of them used to be close. But it was none of her business, so she didn’t press.

Christian turned back to the computer. “So, what’s this problem you need me to look at?”

“Right, the website.” Gah, why am I being so weird right now? “I’m trying to make it look similar to the demo, but I seem to have bitten off more than I can chew. Why do you people make website design so hard?”

Oh great, now she sounded whiny.

The quiet chuckle emerging from Christian’s chest surprised Hallie, and it made her feel a little better about her petulant comment.

“If it were easy, anyone could do it,” he said, keeping his attention on the computer while he scrolled through the homepage.

“I knew it. Is it job security you’re worried about? Or do you people just want to prove that you’re smarter than everyone else?”

Warmth trickled down her spine at the look on Christian’s face when his attention shifted to her.

She couldn’t put a finger on it, but for a split second, that hint of a smile stirred something inside of her.

Like butterflies in her stomach without the nerves that usually accompanied them.

Or a warm jacuzzi with bubbles and all. Whatever it was, she found herself leaning closer to him as he turned back to the screen.

Except this only brought her into smelling range of his sharp scent.

It was like mint with a hint of something spicy she couldn’t identify.

Which was weird since she loved working with spices when she baked.

No dull flavors allowed in her kitchen. But spices often took on different smells when mixing with the oils on a person’s skin.

Whatever it was, this particular ingredient worked really well for Christian.

Excuse me? Time to come back down to earth now, Hal. She backed up a smidge before he caught her crowding his personal bubble.

“You did this yourself?” he asked, clicking onto a different page.

Hallie leaned forward, placing her elbow on the counter and resting her chin on her palm. Unfortunately, that brought her back in range of his yummy scent.

Yummy? She’d never used that word to describe a person before.

Stop being ridiculous.

“I know. It’s terrible.” She squirmed a little on her stool.

She’d tried her best to create a clean, professional interspace, but looking at it now made her want to scrap it all and not try again.

“I don’t have the money to invest in something better right now.

My business brings in enough revenue to cover only my basic costs, but nothing more than that.

And I’d really like to start saving for a downpayment on a traditional bakery. ”

Christian bobbed his head once in acknowledgment before clicking to another page and scrolling to the bottom. “Actually, it’s not bad for someone who doesn’t know a lot about website design.”

Were they looking at the same website? “Thank you?”

He stopped scrolling and directed his focus to her. “I’m serious. It’s clean and organized and easy to navigate.” He slid the laptop further away from him before clasping his hands together on the counter.

Hallie’s attention again dropped to the heart on his thumb. Why did that symbol capture her interest so much?

But Christian’s next comment pushed that little heart to the furthest crevices of her mind. “I could make it better, though.”

Her brows drew together. “What?”

Christian appeared equally as surprised, like he couldn’t comprehend the words coming from his own mouth. After a long second, he said, “Yeah, if you’d like me to.”

Did he have some ulterior motive she hadn’t picked up on before now? She didn’t think Tyler would intentionally volunteer his friend if he’d thought Christian would try to lure her into using his services. But maybe her brother hadn’t known either.

“That’s okay,” Hallie said. “I wouldn’t be able to pay you.”

Christian shifted on his stool, not looking her in the eye. “I don’t expect payment. Let’s just say Tyler has helped me out a lot in the last few years. I figure I owe him some favors.”

Not that her brother would ever consider taking any kind of payment when aiding a friend.

Even in the form of favors. Accepting Christian’s help still felt like taking advantage of him, though.

But delegating this task would free up her time to go back to the part of her job she loved the most. She’d be an idiot to refuse his offer.

“Thank you,” she said finally, giving him a genuine smile. Maybe he wasn’t the grump she’d originally pegged him to be .

“Sure. Do you have a piece of paper?”

“Uh…” Hallie looked around, spotting Mitch and McKenzie’s wedding invite resting on the counter.

Rising from her stool, she picked up the envelope and slid the invitation back out, once again admiring the gorgeous photo before sticking it to the fridge with an I heart Miami magnet.

She handed him the envelope with a pen. “Here you go.”

Christian started scribbling on the paper.

“Here’s my email. Send me all the pictures and graphics you want included.

I’ll need yours as well, if it’s okay with you.

The company I work for has a questionnaire we send to all our clients to fill out during the onboarding process.

It helps me get an idea of what you want as far as color schemes, vibe, and all that.

I’ll get that to you within a few days.” He tapped on the mouse pad before turning the computer and gesturing for her to add her address into the blank contact form he’d pulled up.

“Wow, you’re really thorough,” she said, filling out the form.

“It makes the process a lot simpler.” He closed his laptop and slid it into his messenger bag.

With their task out of the way, Hallie walked with him to the entryway and said goodbye. As she shut the door behind him, she leaned her back against the white wood, puzzling at the change that had come over him toward the end of his visit.

Christian likely didn’t realize how much of a burden he’d taken off her shoulders. He’d mentioned doing it as a favor to Tyler, but could he really be that altruistic? What was the real reason he’d offered to help her?

And why did his intoxicating scent linger in her memory long after he was gone?