Strictly Business by Strictly Business

Author:Strictly Business [LS-268] (epub)
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: urn:ean:9780307798916
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept
Published: 2011-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

Ten

“I really can’t do the decorating for the house.”

Nick didn’t blink at Jess’s statement. He was only surprised it had taken her twenty-four hours to make it. He leaned back in his office chair and motioned to the one on the other side of the desk.

“Sit down, Jess.” When she did, he added, “Of course, you will do the decorating.”

“But I can’t.” She hopped out of the chair and began pacing the tiny trailer. “I’m really sorry about that other decorator. It was all my fault—”

“No, it wasn’t,” he said. “Decorating may not be my forte, but I know I didn’t like what that woman had in mind for the house.”

“Nick,” she said impatiently, “why did you have her come in originally?”

“Because her firm was recommended to me,” he said, frowning in puzzlement at her odd question.

“And if they were recommended, then it’s because they’re good! But I made you question her judgment—”

“You stopped me from doing something stupid—”

“I made you do something stupid! You had a decorator from a recommended firm come in and tell you how to show off the houses, and by clowning around, I got you to dismiss her. Now I’ve put you in a bind with getting the model furnished before you open it. What the hell do I know about decorating, anyway?”

“It’s a sure bet I know a lot less than you,” he said, grinning in amusement. “Being highly recommended doesn’t mean she was right for the house.”

“Don’t you see? I ruined it for you! It was deliberately unconscious.” She frowned. “Unconsciously deliberate. Whatever.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I was doing it again, Nick. I was trying to mess things up for you to get you to …”

“Leave you alone?” he finished for her.

She nodded.

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” he said, chuckling.

“This is all a joke to you, isn’t it?” she asked, clenching her hands together.

“No, Jess,” he said shortly. “It’s very serious to me. It’s so serious that I’m letting you control this relationship until you’re convinced that there’s nothing you can do to drive me away.”

She sat silent for a long time, staring at the wall behind him. With her concentration elsewhere, he took advantage of the rare opportunity to admire the way her breasts rose and fell with each breath she took. He remembered how she had writhed beneath him in complete pleasure when they’d made love. For his own sanity, he tried not to indulge himself this way too often.

When she looked at him again, he immediately forced his features into a benign expression.

“What if I didn’t have a … problem with men, and said to you that I felt we could only be friends?” she asked, her gaze steady on his. “Would you accept it, then, as one of those things that just wouldn’t work out?”

“Would you be telling me that if you didn’t have a problem?” he asked in return.

She didn’t answer.

“You wouldn’t.” He stood up. The only thing keeping him from walking around the desk and taking her in his arms was his promise.

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