“Uh… you um… I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
Delicately, she slid them up her face until they rested in her hair like a headband. The soft waves of her blonde hair caressed her shoulders, which were left bare by her olive-green tank. Defiantly, she rested a fist on her hip clad in loose black running shorts. The stiffness in her body contradicted the comfortable-looking loungewear she wore.
“You’ve known me for all of a couple of hours. How could you know if I wear glasses?” Alex’s eyes focused on my mouth as she spoke instead of my eyes, which led me to believe there was something not truthful about her claim. “They’re bluelight glasses to keep me from getting a headache while I work.”
“What kind of work are you doing in there?”
“Is that really what you came to ask me?” she questioned, her knuckles turning white as she fisted the doorknob.
“No, but I thought we could chat for a bit. I spend most of my time around business partners, employees, and two four-year-olds. It would be nice to have a conversation about something other than work or Barbies.”
“Hmm.”
“Come on,” I pleaded. Once the idea took root, I was gung-ho to hang out with Alex as much as I could. I knew from Andrew, and from my own experiences today, that she enjoyed cooking and baking yet worked as a bar inventory manager. But I wanted to know more. She… intrigued me.
“Fine,” she relented as she pushed her door open wider and stepped into the room, wordlessly allowing me to follow her inside. I shut the door behind me.
“Wow,” I murmured as I took in the space. The room spanned the entire width of the house. They set it up studio style, with both the living room and bedroom occupying the same area. “This is bigger than most studio apartments in New York.”
Alex stepped over to a hunter-green velvet lounge chair and closed a laptop. “Yes. That was Autumn’s goal when she designed this room. It’s specifically for people opting to stay longer than a couple of days.”
“Well, it’s a beautiful space.”
Turning back to face me, Alex cocked one eyebrow and asked, “Why are you really here?”
Chapter Five – Alex
I was trying extremely hard to seem more put together than I felt. Just having Nate show up at my door was enough to knock me for a loop. The man made me so nervous that it felt like pterodactyls were flying around in my stomach.
He was different from that night at the bar when I took him up to my little apartment. I’d been so confident and sure of myself, because Nate—or Nathaniel as I knew him—flirted shamelessly with me. There was no way I was going to deny his invitation for more. That was even before he beefed up.
Nate had gone from Henry Cavill in The Tudors to Henry Cavill as Superman. It left me wondering if that change in him was what set me on edge.
Bravely, I turned to face him, hating that my nipples puckered underneath my bra as his steely blue gaze trailed over my body like a panther assessing its prey. A minute longer and I’d allow him to take me any way he wanted.
“Why are you really here?” I asked, my voice catching midway through.
Nate stepped farther into the room, and I noticed just beyond him that he shut the bedroom door. He trailed a finger across an antique console table Autumn refurbished for the room as he continued to walk closer to me. I wanted to step back, increase the space between us, but the chair blocked my retreat.
“There’s a shed out back. I don’t recall Andrew or Autumn mentioning it, but I wondered if I could use it to work on my project.”
His response surprised me. I expected him to ask why I came off so brash toward him, not about the old shed on the property.
“Um… I don’t think it’d be a problem. Autumn is going to call me when she lands in Iceland, but I’m sure it will be fine.”
“Thanks. It’ll be temporary until I can find a plot of land here to build on.”
That caught my attention. I knew his stay in Ashfield wasn’t temporary, but I didn’t expect him to buy land and build his own home.
Cocking my head, I crossed my arms, which lifted my breasts and brought his attention to my pebbled nipples. I was trying my damnedest not to let it bother me, because clearly he had seen them before and paid extra close attention to them, even if he didn’t remember. But I still wasn’t an exhibitionist.
“What do you plan to build here, Mr. Sullivan?”
I’d swear I heard a groan echo in the room as Nate’s eyes darkened, then closed. “I like the way you said that.”
“Said what?” I asked, and he opened his eyes again, pinning me with their stare.
“My name.”
