Handcuffed in Housewares: Tulle and Tulips, Book 3 (5 page)

“My office is here. I thought we could have a drink and talk about the job you might have for me.”

She nodded. “Makes sense.”

“You really do have a potential job for me.” He leaned across her to open her door so she didn’t have to do it herself or sit and wait for him to round the truck. With his face close to hers he smiled. “Don’t you?”

“Of course!” She’d told him as much as she knew about Jace’s idea before they made it into his house. “It’s not as large a job as Hearth and Home, so maybe you aren’t interested, but if you are I can get it arranged.”

“I’m interested. Very.”

He unlocked the front door and pushed it wide for her. “I enjoy the paychecks of the larger jobs, but I enjoy the smaller jobs too. They allow me to be more creative, and they generally come with fewer headaches.”

Leigh stepped into the large foyer and looked from the unfinished floor to the split stairwell ahead of her that was currently without banister rails. “The rest of the house is in a similar state of disrepair, but I’m working on it.”

“How long have you been here?”

“About a month.” He closed and locked the door. “I finished the office first since it’s where I spend most of my time.”

“Did you gut the place when you moved in or was it like this?”

“It was in pretty sad shape. Come on, I’ll make you a drink.” He led her to the kitchen that had plywood for countertops, or at least it would until the granite he’d ordered came in. “Believe it or not this is an improvement.”

“Then I’d hate to see the before.” She sneezed a dainty sneeze that looked like it would be loud but instead ended in a tiny squeak of an “achoo”.

When she sneezed twice more he smiled. It was a cute sound and she looked cute doing it.

“I didn’t think to ask if you were allergic to anything.” He pulled a bottle of white wine and a beer from the fridge. Holding both up, he silently asked which she would prefer while he kept talking about the house. “The people who lived here before had dogs and cats. I’ve stirred up a lot of stuff while ripping things out. The sawdust doesn’t help.”

“Beer. And I’m not allergic.”

He’d expected her to choose the wine. Then again he’d expected her to sit and watch him bowl rather than pick up the ball and join him and her friends in the game. She was a surprising woman.

He placed the wine back in the fridge and pulled out a beer for himself. Placing them on the island, he grabbed two mugs from the freezer. “We can go into the backyard if that will be easier. The dust is a little strong.”

“I’m fine, really. I just need to adjust to the scent.”

“You’re being nice.” He offered her a glass and then gestured for her to turn around. “We’ll go outside.”

She took the mug and stayed where she was. “What if you gave me a tour instead? Show off what you’ve done so far. Tell me what you have planned for the place.”

Leigh took a drink. After she swallowed she closed her eyes and licked the corner of her mouth like she was capturing one last drop. He couldn’t prevent the erotic images that popped into his head any more than he could stop wanting to give her a tour that ended in his bedroom.

“You really want to do that?”

She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “I help couples plan for the lives they’re going to have. Sometimes that means I go into their home to see what they have and what they could use given the lives they want. It’s fun to see what I can learn about people by seeing their space.”

“Then follow me, though you won’t learn much about me. I plan on selling the place, so I haven’t put any of myself in here.”

“You can tell yourself that, but if you’re doing the work you’re putting yourself into it.”

He led her upstairs first, telling her it was almost ready for furniture since it hadn’t needed as much work as the downstairs. He wouldn’t be furnishing it, though, since he’d sell the house and buy a new one as soon as it was refurbished.

As he showed her around, he asked about her work. It impressed him how hands on she was in planning the registries for families-to-be. He’d assumed she would simply take people around to stores and tell them what to ask for. It made sense she would get to know the couples, see where and how they lived to know what would fit them. How else could she give them the best advice?

“Burton,” she said as they stepped into the fourth bedroom upstairs, “I know you said this is slated as a bedroom, but with as big as it is you could turn it into a media room. Mount a big screen on that wall.” She pointed with the hand not holding her beer mug. “Get theater chairs for here and a couple of oversized bean bags to go between those chairs and the TV. Put some theater-type drapes on the windows so you can black out the room during the day.”

He could see the room completed as she suggested, and he loved the idea. He liked the house, a lot, but had felt like something was missing to make it his. The media room could be one of the things. Except he would tweak her suggestion. “In that back corner I could put a gaming table.”

“Sure.” She grinned. “Poker with the guys while the game’s on and the family’s downstairs or out shopping.”

He saw it vividly. Him, Trevor and Jace sitting around the table while Leigh, Lori and Misty gossiped in the kitchen over a glass of wine. The kids would be running up and down the stairs, yelling and screaming. Their kids.

He stumbled backward toward the door. Toward escape. He’d seen the life he’d grown up in. The life he’d wanted for himself and had thought he could have. He’d seen it all with Leigh as his wife and that scared the shit out of him. He couldn’t think about old dreams and he couldn’t pretend Leigh was the right woman just because she was handy. He was building a new life absent of complications. Marriage, and all that came with it, was the biggest of all complications.

“You okay, Burton?”

“Sure.”
No
. Lying had never been a strong suit of his. He hated lies, but he wished he could come up with one that would explain his sudden weirdness. Nothing came so he settled for ignoring it. “Let’s head back downstairs. That’s where the biggest portion of the work was needed.”

Downstairs he showed her the informal living room and took her through the kitchen, explaining his plans for the granite countertop and appliances designed to match the cabinets. From the kitchen, he led her through a set of double glass doors he’d installed just the week before.

“This is clever.” She ran her fingers along the chair rail he’d stripped and stained to bring out its natural grain. “You’ve closed this off at the front and back, separating it from the rest of the house so it functions as a private office while still feeling like part of the home.”

“I needed to block the construction dust.” A second set of double glass doors were at the entrance to the living room. He could open them and anyone coming in the front door would have a direct view of the space. “And I want it to still feel like a formal living and dining area when I sell the place.”

“Why buy something like this if you’re not going to stay? Will you really get your money back out of it?”

“It needed some TLC. I enjoy working with my hands. And I got a great deal on the place, so yes, I’ll more than get my money back.”

I enjoy working with my hands.
Leigh stood in Burton’s office, the place where he planned his jobs and made business decisions. Dark furniture and cream-colored walls with gorgeous sconces that offered a soft light. An efficiently organized set of shelves and file drawers backed the masculine desk. A large window overlooked the immaculately landscaped and solar-lit lawn. The space was appealing enough to let her know she’d thought of the right man for Jace’s project, but as appealing as the room was it didn’t appeal to her as much as the man who’d created it.

“You accomplished a lot in a month.”

“I’m efficient when I’m not locked to toilets,” he said with a wink.

He was kind, fun and funny, but there was a hesitance in him. Something that held him back from completely opening himself up, even as she suspected he was opening himself up more with her than he normally did. He was a mystery she wouldn’t mind trying to solve.

“So you plan on buying, fixing up and selling house after house?”

“The idea’s occurred to me.”

She sat on the edge of the large executive desk that held only a laptop, phone, notepad and pen all precisely placed to be within easy reach. “You don’t want to put down roots?”

“I have roots in family.”

“Are they around here, or did you move around a lot as a kid?” That could explain his detachment to a house, because most people formed an attachment when they invested as much time and effort in a place as he already had.

“They’re here. How about you? Where are your roots?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out. My foster family is here, and I know how I fit with them, but…” She took a long drink and sat the beer beside her.

“But?” He sat his mug on the desk. His arm brushed hers as he moved back to lean against the wall across from her. “There’s something still missing?”

His eyes, piercing and soulful, met hers and silently encouraged her to share her innermost feelings. She’d talked about her professional dreams with Lori and the other planners. Misty knew some of her past because they’d been in college together for a while. She didn’t normally talk about personal stuff with people.

“But, I…” She wasn’t entirely sure what her dreams were, but somehow, facing Burton, she suspected he’d play into her figuring them out. “Do you ever feel like you haven’t found your place? Like maybe you’re close, but haven’t quite gotten there?”

“Sounds familiar.”

“Ever figure out what’s missing?”

“Nope.”

All evening he’d been talkative and fun. Now, when they were alone and she especially wanted to know what he thought, he grew quiet… Then he stepped forward. “I’m beginning to wonder, though…”

The spanning distance between them was minimal, but he closed each step with determination and strength.

“Wonder what?” Energy pulsed along the air. The headlights from a car turning the corner shafted through the open blinds, illuminating Burton even more than the soft light coming from the wall sconces.

“If maybe you’re part of what’s been missing.”

Leigh’s heart jumped with the dull thud of each of Burton’s footfalls. It soared with the suggestion in his tone.

Chapter Six

Burton stopped with a foot still separating them. He scooted his feet across the hardwood floor until the toes of his shoes bumped the toes of hers. Leigh straightened off the desk so she stood before him, her pulse pumping harder.

He reached out and pressed his palm against her cheek. The pressure of his palm was as light as the brush of his thumb beneath her jaw and as intense as the look in his brown eyes. She swore she felt him touch her soul with the look. Then, with the softest hint of flexion he pulled her to him.

Neither of them blinked or shifted their gazes as he lowered his head and rested his forehead on hers. Staring. Breathing.

His breaths brushed her lips with a silent encouragement to part for him. Resistance, like breathing steadily, was almost impossible. Her regular breaths became tiny inhales and with each burst of air the oxygen built up in her lungs until she feared the expulsion.

“You’re so beautiful.”

She’d never thought of herself as overly pretty. Her hips were too wide and no matter how closely she watched her calories or how many crunches she did she couldn’t get rid of the bulge in her tummy. The way he called her beautiful, intently and intimately, and the way he looked at her, steady and starved, had her believing him.

“I thought you were attractive the moment I saw you.” His thumb brushed rhythmically along her jaw. “Then you rescued me and saved my reputation, though you were clearly against how I ended up where you found me.”

Her skin heated beneath his touch. She angled her chin a little higher, rubbing her forehead against his and wishing he would kiss her. Freedom was something she’d never felt with a man, especially not a man she barely knew. That she didn’t feel the need for guards with Burton, that he aroused a sense of security in her, was enlightening and scary all at once. “It wasn’t that big a deal.”

“It was to me. So much so I hated that I regretted not finding out how to contact you.”

“Then you found me in the hardware store.”

“And realized you’d told your friends about me.” He rubbed the side of her nose with his.

If he was trying to draw out the tension, to make her want him more, he was succeeding. Her belly fluttered and then coiled with excited tension.

“The idea that one of them would know Mark as well as you and that they’d say something terrified me.”

“Are you still worried about that? Because they’ll keep your secret.”

“No. I know that now.” Burton buried his free hand in Leigh’s hair and with a gentle tug had her bun falling from the carefully placed bobby pins.

She exhaled a shaky breath of relief when the pin that had shifted and been pinching a hair too tightly fell to the floor. The weight of her hair tumbling around her shoulders was a luxury she only allowed herself in the privacy of her home. It made her feel sexy. He made her feel sexy.