“I want to be near water,” he said. “My other option is in the Hamptons, but it’s so…Hamptons.”
She laughed at that. “I would imagine.”
“My buddy is selling his house up there and I actually considered buying it instead of this, but then Fiona’s husband died and I felt responsible for keeping an eye on her.”
And now she understood why.
“The house is gorgeous, though.” He reached for his phone, which he’d left face down on the coffee table for hours. “As a designer, you’ll appreciate this. Look.”
He thumbed the screen, typed something in, and inched it away, laughing. “Where are the reading glasses when you need them? Oh, here. Check this place out.”
She took the phone and angled it, then gasped at the rambling beachfront home featured on a real estate page. “Oh, that’s gorgeous.”
“Click through,” he suggested. “You’ll love what they’ve done with it.”
She certainly did, getting no further than the entryway when she nearly dropped the phone. “That’s it!” she exclaimed.
“The house you want?”
“The chandelier.” She zoomed in on a pearl shell light fixture in the middle of the image. “It’s exactly what I want for the Summer House for the vaulted ceiling on the first floor. I saw it on a design site and have fantasized about it for a while.”
“Want me to ask where they got it?”
“Yes and no,” she said, smiling at him. “It’s way out of my price range.”
He shrugged. “You never know. My friend is a bargain hunter and might have found a knockoff. I’ll ask.”
“Would you?”
“Of course. If it makes you happy.”
That simple statement did something to her heart—something like skipping a beat and rolling around and maybe cracking a little.
She looked away, her gaze landing on a sky full of stars, realizing the air had cooled. The corner of his phone showed that it was well past eleven, and she’d been here…way too long.
“You know, I better go,” she said, handing the phone back to him.
Danny didn’t move for a moment. Then he stood, too, heading inside with her and helping her pick up her bag and samples, then walking her to her Highlander in the driveway.
“Thank you for dinner,” she said, unlocking the door.
“Thank you for making my loft not look like a frat house.” He angled his head down. “But more than that, for your company. I didn’t realize quite how lonely I was.”
Vivien felt her breath catch. “No one should be lonely,” she managed to say.
“I agree.” He searched her face, his gaze intense. “And I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed someone so much. I really…” He let out a breath that sounded like surrender. “I like you, Vivien. And I want to see you again—not professionally.”
Her poor heart flipped again. “That’s…nice. And unexpected.”
He gave an easy laugh. “Is it? I’ve been attracted to you since the day I soaked you in sprinkler water.”
She laughed, too, at that memory.
“And I’d like to take this…further. That is, if you will give a chance to…what did you call me? The Hapless Handyman?”
She grunted at the nickname. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” He closed the space between them, brushing her lips with his. “Come back for more long talks and food and…” He sighed into the almost kiss. “Time together.”
