“Not everything,” Cole countered, downing the last of his fourth beer. He assured himself he had packed away enough food to dim the effect. Paul appeared with a silver tray with four different desserts arranged on top, and Cole pointed to the cherry chocolate mousse cake drizzled with candied-cherry sauce. From the glint in Shaun’s eyes, he knew he’d chosen correctly.
The server placed the plate between them along with two spoons. “Enjoy.”
“Please, don’t make me eat this all by myself.” He smiled and picked up one of the spoons, sectioning off a small bite of the cake for himself. “So, I saw a couple of pictures on the Internet.”
She paused before grabbing the spoon in front of her. “You googled me?” she asked, eyes widening in surprise, but the flush of her cheeks hinted at possible flattery and intrigue.
“Well, yeah. Doesn’t everyone google each other these days?”
“I haven’t googled you.” She scooped up a corner of the cake, a small smirk playing at her lips, and ate it.
“Yet,” Cole volleyed with a grin, confident they’d finally breached the awkwardness between them thanks to the alcohol they had both consumed. “You date a lot.”
“And?” She arched a brow, but she wasn’t starting to build the brick wall back up.
“Just making an observation,” he replied, flashing an open palm as a gesture of peace. “I mean, it must be hard having your relationships documented by the paparazzi. What is that even like? As you’ve probably guessed, I’ve never experienced that level of celebrity.” He gave a sheepish smile.
Shaun studied him for a moment, withholding her answer a little longer. “You learn not to care, and certainly not to google yourself.” She licked at her spoon. “Come on, what do you really want to know?”
Cole tapped a finger on the table, contemplating his approach to finding out what he’d been dying to know since the morning’s ordeal. He bit the bullet and dove in. “Are you patching things up with Olivia?”
“Olivia?” She shook her head. “Oh god, no. Olivia was an expensive indulgence. Hot for a time, but she mainly used me to meet the right people who could further her modeling career.”
Cole ate another bit of the cake, his tongue searching out every drop of the heavenly cherry sauce from the spoon. “Are you open to dating a man again?”
Without looking at Shaun, he could feel her eyes linger on his mouth. Warm tendrils of fire coursed through his veins. He loved the idea of her watching him. He dared a glance in her direction. A hint of red colored the apples of her cheeks, while her gaze remained locked on the utensil between his fingers.
She cleared her throat and swallowed the chocolate cake on her spoon. “How about you tell me a little about yourself. You don’t seem to like your uncle very much, so why work for him?”
“I don’t work for him.” He winked, and then thought about his answer. Should he tell her the truth or spin a web of lies that he’d most likely choke on in the end? He chose the former, omitting his true purpose. “My father died my senior year of high school.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Cole forged on through the re-emerging pain of stirred-up memories. He inhaled a deep, calming breath. “I had every intention of ditching college and taking over the lumber company he left behind. My favorite place in the world. But Robert had different plans for me.” Cole kept his eyes trained on the piece of cake between them, unable to look at Shaun, not wanting to betray the anguish he knew was evident in them. “He offered to help when we ran into some money trouble, so long as I got my degree and promised him a favor when the time came.” Cole rubbed at the sharp stab in his chest. God, he missed his father.
“So, working at the firm was the favor? I can understand why. You’re very talented, Cole.”
Cole wanted to tell her the truth. Relieve himself of the weight he’d been carrying around. Having lunch with Shaun had only managed to complicate his feelings. She was smart, genuine, and so fucking sexy. The compliment truly touched him.
“Thank you. I prefer small-scale stuff like furniture.”
“I know. I remember your drawings.”
“You mean when I was convinced you were a guy?”
They both laughed. “I almost forgot about that. Almost.” Shaun twirled the spoon between her fingers. “Is that what you do at your family’s lumber company? Make furniture?”
“Nah.” Cole shook his head, dragging his spoon through the remains of the cherry sauce. “I help manage the lumberyard. The furniture is something I do on the side. Many of my customers come from there, though. I think to be successful you need to build relationships and produce quality.”
Shaun nodded. “Exactly. That’s how I feel about my contracting accounts. Yes, it’s about getting the job done at the earliest convenience, but don’t sacrifice quality in doing so. Don’t ever cut corners.” She sectioned off another small piece of the cake for herself. “Can I be frank?”
“Please,” he replied, urging her to continue.
“When Robert first suggested you join my team, I thought it was some kind of trick. That you were a plant, intended to sabotage my accounts with some real amateur work.” She gave a short laugh. “Funny, huh?”
Cole didn’t know what to say. Her suspicions about his uncle were spot on, but he didn’t have the balls to say so. Not yet, at least. Maybe he’d eventually be in a position to do right by her, he hoped.
After they’d devoured a quarter of the cake slice, Shaun dropped her spoon on the plate. “I couldn’t eat another bite if I wanted to.” She picked up her glass and finished off her martini.
Cole chuckled at her candidness, enjoying this side of her. “You did well. Not bad for a girl.” He pointed to her abandoned glass of Pellegrino since his beer was already tapped. “Mind?”
“Go ahead.” She pushed the remains of her sparkling water toward him and he drank the rest. The cake was rich and needed something thicker to wash it down, but the froo-froo seltzer would have to do.
“Can I get you anything else?” Paul asked, collecting a few errant dishes.
“Just the check, please,” Shaun replied.
Cole frowned at the abandoned lime slice in the glass, disappointed the lunch had to end. He feared that once they left the restaurant, the uncomfortable wedge between them would return.
The server replaced the dessert plate with a leather folder. “I’ll take that whenever you’re ready.”
Shaun turned toward her handbag, but Cole scooped up the hidden check. “I can’t let you pay.”
“Oh no, not this again.” She smiled and snatched the folder from his hand, their fingers touching for a brief second, and a small spark of heat shocked Cole back into his seat. “Cole, this was a business lunch that I plan on expensing. Think of it as your uncle paying for it.”
He laughed and nodded, unable to disagree with her reasoning. “Okay, but just this once. Next time we go out, I’m paying.”
Her smile faltered. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Shaun slid a black credit card into the folder and closed it.
“Come on, would it really be so bad to forget your rule about keeping business and personal separate and go out with me? You can’t tell me you don’t feel some sort of pull between us.” The hardened expression she returned was answer enough.
After paying the check, they power-walked their way back to the office, a speed Shaun set most likely to be rid of him as fast as possible. He’d pushed, and as he’d expected, she hadn’t cared for it all that much. Cole wondered why he didn’t just keep his stupid trap shut.
They stepped onto the elevator, just the two of them, but she pressed twelve instead of six. Were they back at square one, where she retreated to her office in the sky instead of dealing with her feelings head on? Too bad for her, Cole thought to himself. There was too much at stake for him. More than she could even fathom. He needed to make a decision about Robert’s ultimatum, and the clock was running out. The fate of his father’s business still h
ung in the balance, dependent upon his next move. She’d basically said she was done with Olivia, and the way she had stared at him when she didn’t think he’d notice had set his body ablaze. Frustrated, rejected, and somewhat inebriated, Cole slammed his fist against the emergency stop button and the car jerked to a halt.
“What the–?” Shaun exclaimed as the scream of the buzzer bounced around the four walls. Cole stepped toward her while she inched back. “Are you drunk?”
He attempted to shake off the beer fog slowly swallowing his brain whole. “Maybe.” He would let Shaun make up his mind. If she turned him down right here, right now, then he’d be free and clear. He’d report back to Robert that she wasn’t interested and that he’d need to employ another stud-for-hire. But what if she didn’t? Cole thought as he ceased his forward progression.
Not an inch of space remained between them. He searched her eyes, ears honed in on her rapid breathing, which he could hear even over the thundering of his own pulse and the buzzing of the elevator. “In the stairwell, you saw me, didn’t you? You saw me before I dropped my file, and you liked it.” He didn’t know where the sudden surge of courage had come from. The beer? The shitty position his uncle had cornered him into? Shaun continued to stare in silence. “So is it just women for you now, Shaun? Is that why you can’t address the idea of going out with me?”
“I… We…” She flattened her palms against his chest, but didn’t push him away. A sign to keep going? He half wondered if she could feel the thump of his heart against his ribcage or the spike in his body temperature. She was so beautiful this close. He’d failed to notice the light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose or the tiny scar above her left eyebrow until now. The scent of her perfume acted as a hallucinogen when mixed with the glorious vision before him. He leaned down, mouth almost brushing over hers.
“Shaun,” he breathed.
With a second jerk, the elevator started moving again. Cole glanced down, finding Shaun’s finger on the emergency button. Her action was answer enough. He backed away to the opposite side of the car and poked at the button for six.
When the car stopped, he glanced over his shoulder at her. She hadn’t moved. Didn’t that make him feel even more like an asshole.
“Don’t worry, Ms. Wright. It’s just business between you and me from now on. I promise.” He stepped out, leaving Shaun to continue her ascent to the twelfth floor alone. He was tired of looking like a world-class idiot, hard up on his boss and her mind-scrambling skirts. He’d really thought something had passed between them at lunch, but no. Maybe the pressure from his uncle was starting to fuck with his brain.
“Mr. Jacobson.”
Cole stopped and turned around. Shaun stood just outside of the elevator, one arm stretched out to keep the doors from closing. Her expression gave nothing away, but he could see her swallow, as if she were preparing herself for something. She cleared her throat and proceeded in a voice that lacked the confidence he’d come to associate with her.
“I’m not sure that will be enough.” Without another word, she stepped back into the elevator and disappeared.
CHAPTER 9
Cole exercised restraint, wanting to book it back to the elevator and pry open the doors with his bare fingers in search of a more absolute answer. Shaun had just lobbed the ball into his court, and now he needed to decide how the hell he would approach. Lob it right back, giving control over to her once again? Or go for the overhead smash and take what he wanted? But what did he want? Damned if he knew.
Cole wiped his hand down his face and scanned the office for unwanted complications. No one appeared interested in the quick exchange, all heads down and glued to their computer screens. All except one. Henry’s eyes met Cole’s, lingering for a moment before breaking away when the phone rang. There was something about the office assistant that just didn’t sit well with Cole. He wondered if Shaun’s trusty minion was the employee masquerading as the double agent who was feeding Robert information behind her back. Since inquiring eyes were watching even though they pretended not to, Cole decided to return to his office instead of following Shaun upstairs.
As he crossed the threshold into his office, he slammed into Violet exiting. He cuffed both of her arms in his hands, steadying her to keep her from falling.
“I’m so sorry. Are you all right?”
Violet stared up with her dark, watery eyes, glasses slightly askew, and nodded. She appeared to be struggling for breath. “My fault,” she wheezed.
“Here, sit down.” Cole ushered her into his desk chair. “Would you like some water?”
Violet shook her head. “No, thank you.” She repositioned her glasses on her nose. “I came to see if you wanted to grab dinner or something after work. I was going to leave you a note, but thought that would be pretty lame.”
Cole glanced at his desk, panicking briefly before remembering that he had hid Robert’s file in a lower drawer. “Dinner?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a smile. “Unless you have other plans.”
“No, I don’t.” Having dinner with Violet might do him some good. Take his mind off things that were out of his control. Not to mention that he might be able to learn a little more about his boss from the computer technician, since she’d been working for Shaun a while. “Want me to come get you at five?”
“Sure!” Violet popped up to her feet, smiling wide and not showing any distress from the collision. “What would you like to eat? We can have Italian, Chinese, sushi, a combination of any of the two. Do you like pho? I like pho, but it might be a little warm for soup.”
“Surprise me, Vi.”
“I really like when you call me that.” She cast her eyes downward and pinched the edge of his desk.
One thing definitely on the menu for tonight was making sure Violet’s awkwardness had nothing to do with her feelings for him. An interest appeared evident, and if that was the case, he had no intention of leading her on. She was too nice for that kind of dick move, and he would do his best to make sure he didn’t hurt her. He just needed to figure out a way to get the message across without coming off as the huge jerk he really was.
“I’ll see you at five, then.”
“Oh, yes. Five.” In a flourish of limbs, Violet scurried out of his office.
Two and a half hours later, Cole tapped his mechanical pencil against the drafting table. He had hardly made a dent in the design changes Robert had demanded for the bed and breakfast account. Everything his uncle wanted went against Shaun’s suggestions and didn’t fit with what Mr. Richards had asked for. Shaun seemed to have a better grasp for design and tailoring ideas to meet the needs of the client while remaining practical. Another likely facet of Robert’s plan of sabotage: to give Mr. Richards something so against his specifications that he would turn to Robert for help.
He labored a little longer, but nothing came of it. He couldn’t keep his mind off Shaun or the idea of double-crossing her. She hadn’t returned from the twelfth floor, and he had made an extra effort to check his BlackBerry for any incoming mail messages. Nothing.
I’m not so sure that will be enough.
Cole couldn’t chase Shaun’s words from the forefront of his mind. He’d enjoyed lunch that afternoon. Shaun had expressed an infectious passion for what she did. Back home in Sweetwater, many girls seemed content to let their boyfriends pursue their dreams, okay with standing on the sidelines to cheer them on and someday pop out their babies. Cole had never wanted a cheerleader. A woman with a drive of her own was far sexier in his eyes.
“Ready?” Cole turned to find Violet standing in the doorway, a purple cardigan draped over her forearm. “Sorry, I finished my work early and thought I would pop my head in.” She abruptly shuffled inside and peered over his shoulder. “What are you working on?”
Cole frowned and quickly shielded the unfinished drawings with scrap graph paper. “Nothing. Nothing worth seeing, at least.”
“I highly doubt that. Based on the way Ms.
Wright gushed over your work this morning, I know you’re being unnecessarily modest.” She reached forward and tried to shift the papers for another peek. Cole wrestled the drawings back into hiding, not missing what Violet had said about Shaun’s reaction to his work.
“I’m sorry. I’ll come back later.”
Both Cole and Violet abandoned the tug of war and spun to find Shaun standing just inside his office door. “Ms. Wright!” they replied in unison, Cole managing to stop himself from saying “Shaun” before anyone noticed.
“Cole was just showing me some of the bed and breakfast drawings before we headed out for dinner,” Violet blurted, standing up straight and taking a step away from Cole and the drafting table.
“Oh?” Shaun guarded her reaction, eyes glancing down to inspect her fingernails. “Did you need any more explanation as far as what I suggested, Cole?” she asked.
Cole shook his head. “No.”
“Very well. I won’t keep you two from dinner, then.” Shaun started to turn.
“Wait!” Cole stepped forward off his stool, and everything from the drafting table crashed to the floor. Violet knelt down and started to collect the papers. Shaun paused, waiting for him to say something. Cole cursed to himself, contemplating the impasse. He couldn’t risk Violet seeing what he’d been working on, even though he didn’t want Shaun to leave. “Never mind.”
“Enjoy your night, Cole. Violet.”
Cole blew out a breath and joined Violet in the retrieval project, scooping up the sketches for Robert before she had a chance to.
“I actually have to run these upstairs, Vi. Can I meet you at … wherever we’re off to?”
Violet glanced in the direction of the doorway and back at Cole, frowning slightly. “Sure. I mean, we could always do it another time.”
“No! I’m looking forward to dinner with you. It’s just that I’m late with these as it is.” He gave her a reassuring smile.
Drawn Through You Page 7
