Falling For You by Julie Ortolon

Author:Julie Ortolon [Ortolon, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
Published: 2011-04-01T09:17:23.484000+00:00

Chance wasn't quite sure what had possessed him to become business partners with the St. Claires—or why they'd agreed. None of them seemed particularly thrilled with the arrangement. The day they'd met at the lawyer's office, Adrian and Allison had been cordial, but cool. As for Aurora, she'd acted so nervous, he'd half expected her to call the whole thing off. But she hadn't. They'd signed the papers, he'd handed them a substantial check, and the deal was done.

Crossing the bridge to the island Saturday morning, he tried to sort it all out. He had no idea where he stood with Aurora. He wanted the friendship they'd shared while they'd been working on the business plan, minus the attraction. The friendship had been fun, exciting—and a large reason why he'd just invested a considerable amount of money in a risky venture.

Apart from that, or perhaps added to it, he wanted to be involved with a project for once, not just hear about the ups and downs through his accounts at the bank. Building a business from scratch was new to him. A challenge. He hadn't had enough challenges in his life.

When the house came into view, his pulse quickened. If he wanted a challenge, he'd picked a big one.

He found a place to park amid the pickup trucks that crowded the area behind the house, where they wouldn't be visible from the dock. Being Saturday, there would be another lunch run at noon, and none of them wanted the guests to see a construction site parking lot when they arrived.

Lifting the box he'd brought from the passenger seat, he made his way to the front of the house. There was a back entrance, of course, but he preferred the full impact of entering through the front. They'd finished painting the trim, a deep burgundy that provided a pleasing accent to the pink stone. The outside was nearly finished. The inside was another matter entirely.

A table saw buzzed in the central hall, producing a steady stream of boards that were carried off in every direction. Hammers pounded out an offbeat rhythm, the sound attacking Chance's ears as he made his way to the back of the house. He found Adrian in the kitchen helping one of the men install a commercial-grade vent.

"Did they deliver the restaurant equipment already?" Chance asked.

"Not yet," Adrian said, straining to hold the massive copper hood in place while the construction worker bolted it to the red-brick walls.

"Here, let me help." Setting the box down, Chance grabbed one end of the vent.

"Thanks." Adrian spared him a puzzled look, as if surprised by the amount of weight he took. "I heard the steakhouse over on Market was going out of business, and couldn't resist this baby." When the hood was secure, Adrian stepped back, dusting off his hands. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"That depends. How much did she cost?" Chance cringed, waiting.

Adrian laughed. "You don't want to know."

"You're probably right. I'll just close my eyes when I enter the expense.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.