by Nikki Winter
King and Noble Contracting. Aiyanna King. His mind flashed to when hermosa had dropped her bag and he smiled. Now he had a name to match the physical perfection along with a number and a work location. To top it all off, she was an architect and he was looking for an architect.
Julian’s grin widened as he pocketed the card and pushed out of the doors into the parking lot. It looked like Aiyanna was going to be getting new clientele come Monday.
Chapter Two
Aiyanna felt something tickling her cheek and slapped at it. The feeling disappeared for a moment but came back again. This time she swatted harder and of course hit herself in the face. That wasn’t what woke her up. Lalani’s laughter however...
Aiyanna sat up, glaring as she placed a hand over her now throbbing eye. “An eye for an eye Lalani...an eye for an eye...” she grumbled.
Lalani simply smiled, her sparkling white teeth a contrast to her deep sienna skin. “You left yourself vulnerable, King.”
“So if I slip a mickey into one of your drinks, drive you out into the middle of nowhere while you’re asleep, and leave your carcass to be feasted on, does that mean I can use the same excuse?”
Her brows rose as she sat back and tapped her chin. “That sounds about right.”
Balling up a piece of paper, Aiyanna chucked it at her as she lay her head back on her desk and groaned, “Go away.”
She went around to Aiyanna and sat on the edge of the desk where she rested her head. “No can do, grumpy. We have a thing called a client, waiting to be serviced.”
Aiyanna peeked out of her good eye. “Take my couch cushions and enjoy yourself. They should be soft enough for your knees.”
Lalani plucked her in the forehead. “Stop being an asshole and c’mon.”
She pouted, turned her head like a little kid and settled back down. “I don’t wanna.”
“Dude, this is not a good way to run a business. Mr. Almanza is waiting.”
She was right of course. But after pulling an all nighter working on a new design, the last thing she really wanted to do was deal with a new and possibly finicky client. She’d escaped at least an hour before from a consultation to try her hand at a nap. Aiyanna had been pretty successful until the nap ruiner came along. “You have help. Why do I need to be out there too?”
“Um maybe because you own half of this place?”
She shook her head slightly. “Nah, not good enough.” Lifting an arm, Aiyanna waved towards the door. “Begone with you. Leave me to my sleep now, peon.”
Of course she didn’t think that would work so she wasn’t surprised when Lalani snorted, stuck her hand to Aiyanna’s side and tickled her, causing her to almost fall out of her seat.
“Cut it out!” Aiyanna was gasping and wiggling but Lalani just kept pressing.
“Are you gonna get up and come be a good little architect?”
“You’re not making me go out there!”
Lalani pressed harder and Aiyanna doubled over. “That’s not what I wanna hear, Aiyanna.”
“This can be deemed,” she tried to catch her breath. “As sexual harassment in the workplace!”
“I dare you to scream that out and see how quickly John and Das run in here to watch rather than help.”
“I hate you!”
“Try again, Aiyanna.”
“Fine! Fine, I’m up!” Lalani stopped and Aiyanna scrambled away from her. “You’re psycho.”
“For tickling you?” Her mouth twitched.
“No, that’s just one reason and when the sleep fog clears, I’ll be more than glad to name more.” Sticking out her tongue Aiyanna made the childish noise of blowing a raspberry at her and headed for her office door.
“Real mature, King.”
“You just got done playing tickle monster with me to bend me to your evil will.” As Aiyanna pointed that out she swung open the door to find John—their architectural consultant—on the other side grinning.
He waggled his brows. “I don’t know what that was about, but it sounded hot and I’m upset that I missed it.”
Dastan—their architectural manager—walked past carrying blueprints. “Missed what?”
“Female debauchery going on between our bosses. I believe Aiyanna mentioned tickling,” John answered.
Dastan blew out a breath. “We always miss the good stuff.”
John faced Aiyanna again, folded his arms across a giant expanse of chest. “Das and I demand that this tickling commence or we quit.”
“Yeah!” The other idiot co-signed as he came back past with more design layouts.
“You’re fired,” Aiyanna said.
Instead of being deterred, John rolled his eyes. “Okay, no tickling. How about a hug, a really friendly hug? Now it’s your choice. You can share said hug with your business partner or me.” He put his hands up in front of himself. “No pressure. I’ll enjoy either one.”
Aiyanna looked over her shoulder at Lalani. “Why did we hire him again?”
“Because, I’m adorable.”
Aiyanna raised a brow as she looked him over. “So are puppies but even those get left shivering in the cold sometimes.”
He pressed a hand to his chest and affected a wounded look. “Aiyanna, baby, sweetheart, love of my life, why are you so cruel to me?”
“Because you’re an arrogant jackass with a serious case of narcissism and you don’t like chocolate,” she answered.
Putting an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her in close. “I don’t like chocolate products. I never said anything about your personal brand.”
She stared him straight in the eyes. “I never said anything about murder but that doesn’t mean you can’t change my mind.”
“Burn!” Dastan announced as he walked back again, this time to take a call outside of Lalani’s office.
John’s blue eyes just twinkled as he kissed her forehead. “I love you anyway my lovely Cheyenne blossom—even though you’re mean to me.”
Aiyanna’s lips twitched. “Somebody with a vagina has to be mean to you. That’s the only way your pants stay on if she’s not related in some way.”
Gasping, he widened his eyes. “Are you calling me a...a whore?”
She nodded once as she made her way past him and back into the hallway outside of her office. “Yup, quite blatantly too. Right in your face.” She could hear Lalani chuckling and telling John something about a scarlet letter. Aiyanna teased him a lot about being whorish but in all honesty, John was a good guy. He was loose but he was a good guy.
One rock solid arm came out of nowhere and dropped on her shoulders. If Dastan hadn’t caught her with the other one, she would’ve hit the floor. “Dude, I keep telling you that I’m made of glass, not cement. You can’t just go dumping your extreme weight on me.”
He snorted, squeezed her. “You’d be stronger if you actually got some sleep.”
Rolling her eyes, she retorted, “I was sleeping and then Lalani ruined it.”
“With tickling,” he teased. “So I heard. Do I get next?”
Aiyanna shoved away from him. “You and John need a class on work etiquette.”
His eyes widened like a little boy’s. “Will you be wearing a school girl’s outfit complete with the midriff top and short skirt? Oh, and the ruler? I’d be the best student ever.”
Instead of laughing, she bit the inside of her cheek to hold it in and shot him her best ‘boss glare.’ “Get back to work, Das.”
Grinning, he saluted Aiyanna. “Aye aye Captain King.” Then he was carrying his large frame back towards his office. John and Dastan weren’t the only employees that Lalani and Aiyanna had, but they were the only ones in their staff that they had genuine friendships with.
Both Lalani and Aiyanna had graduated from Virginia Tech with business masters. In addition to that, they’d both managed to get a Master’s of Science in building construction being that as kids they’d always had a love for constructing and designing. One of their first projects in college was to
take the detached garage outside of Aiyanna’s parents’ home and convert it into an apartment that they could share. She was behind the designs they built while Lalani took care of the business end. It worked rather nicely but lately, Aiyanna’s exhaustion had been taking a toll on her.
Staying up all hours of the night to work on new ideas when she wasn’t dealing with clients was getting tiring. Lalani kept telling her that she needed a vacation but right now she couldn’t afford to take one.
From the day they’d opened the doors to King and Noble, business had not stopped and Aiyanna really didn’t have the time to think about getting half naked on a beach during some tropical getaway. Work was always calling. The most she could do was eat and sleep in between. Other than that, she had to roll with the punches.
“Alright,” Lalani started leading the way to the small conference room where they sat down with all prospective clients, “Julian Almanza. Thirty-four. Single. Owns a ranch and used to be big in the rodeo circuit.”
One of Aiyanna’s brows cocked. “Cowboy?”
Lalani shrugged. “I guess you could call him that. When I talked to him, he referred to himself as a rancher. Nice sounding voice too.”
Aiyanna plucked her friend on the forehead. “Focus. Okay so what does Mr. Rancher want?”
“Remodeling of his ranch house. Apparently he did some research and found that a certain someone comes highly recommended for home design so...”
“So he came to us,” Aiyanna completed.
“Bingo.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
Lalani stopped outside the doors of the conference room. “Yeah, well this is where it gets a little harder my friend.”
“Oh Lord...”
“He doesn’t want to work with anyone but you. Everything from design down to layout has to be handled specifically by you.”
“Jeez...”
“I tried to talk him into letting someone else help but he refused. I believe his exact words were, ‘No, I want her and her only.’” Lalani’s voice dipped low in the impression.
Aiyanna rolled her eyes. “Why do the nuts always request me?”
“Because birds of a feather—”
“If you complete that, I’m shoving my foot so far up your ass that we’ll look like a three legged race at a state fair for the rest of the day.”
Lalani grinned and placed a smacking kiss to her cheek. “Yet, you love me anyway.”
“If Jesus could love those who pissed him off on a regular basis, what excuse do I have?”
“Wow...just wow. There was a line and you just hopscotched across it.” Her friend shook her head then looked down at her watch. “I have a ten o’clock. Gotta go.” Lalani handed her a file.
“Wait,” Aiyanna said as Lalani turned to head in the other direction, “You’re not gonna sit in with me and the nut?”
“That sounded so wrong and no, I told you he only wants you.” Then she went on about her way.
“I hate her so much sometimes,” Aiyanna grumbled then eased open the door as she flipped through the information in her hand. “Sorry to keep you waiting Mr. Almanza. Busy morning.”
The voice that answered had her dropping the file and yanking her head up so fast that it felt like she got whiplash for a moment. “It’s no problem to wait for you hermosa.”
Standing there, by the consultation desk with his hands buried in the front pockets of his jeans, was the gorgeous stranger from Friday night.
The look on her beautiful face was more than enough to make Julian smile. Then his smile faded as she stepped further into the room and he got a good look at what she was wearing. Aiyanna had poured her body into a black wrap dress that ended a few inches above the knees showcasing her incredible legs. Even being her height, she was still bold enough to wear four inch stilettos that made her just tall enough to not have to tilt her head to look up at him.
Her hair was twisted back in a simple knot at the nape of her neck, diamond studs twinkled in each of her cute little ears. Her make-up was minimal; eyeliner and lip gloss. She didn’t need anything else to enhance what was God-given. What made Julian frown were the dark circles under her wide brown eyes. The fact that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep was clear in the slump of her shoulders and the slow way she moved.
She opened her mouth twice and he waited for her to say something, anything. Instead, she simply snapped it shut again, raked her gaze over him, shook her head and then she turned around and walked out.
Julian blew out a breath and followed, determined that she wouldn’t get away from him so easily this time.
“Aiyanna,” he called to her back, watching the dip and roll of her hips.
“Go. Away.” she called back.
Ignoring the stares from around the large office space, he continued to follow her. “Hermosa—”
She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder and her eyes flashed nothing but pure fire. “And stop calling me that.”
Julian held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry. Just do me the favor of talking to me for five minutes? Please?” He’d never had to plead with a woman for her time but then again. Aiyanna King obviously wasn’t just any woman. She wasn’t swayed by his smile or his words. Her resolve didn’t falter for a moment in the two times she’d been in his presence. He was determined to make that change.
There was something about her that called to him. Julian could tell that she wanted to at least give him a few minutes of her time but she wouldn’t. Why was that? He didn’t know but he intended to find out.
Aiyanna took a breath and blew it out slowly before turning her back to him once again and motioning for him to follow her. He did so eagerly. When they reached a door with her name embossed on the front, he knew it was her office.
She opened it and cocked her head to one of the chairs in front of her desk. Julian shook his head. “No, I’ll talk to you on your terms but what I’ll not do is forget that I’m a man.” He grabbed the doorknob and pried her small fingers from around it motioning for her to walk inside and take a seat before he did.
Julian could tell she wanted to say something but at his raised brow, she kept whatever comment she had to herself. It was a wise idea on her part. Spanking her during their second encounter in her office while her employees milled about wasn’t in his plans today.
She took the seat behind her desk and rubbed her temples as her eyes shut tightly. “What’re you doing here? And how did you even find me?”
Julian took one of the chairs in front of her and reached into his pocket to pull out the card he’d found by the grace of God on Friday night. He sat it on her desk and pushed it forward.
“Jesus...” Aiyanna muttered picking it up. Her eyes met his. “You went through all of this for what? Because I turned you down?”
Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned back in the chair. “It wasn’t my ego that lead me here.”
“Than it must’ve been your dic—”
Julian leaned up and lowly stated, “If you complete that sentence you run the risk of seeing a lot more of me than you’re prepared to see today, Hermosa.”
Her mouth closed and he smirked then tapped the desk with one finger. “Despite your beliefs, I’m not just here because I’m interested in you. My house needs an overhaul.”
Her look darkened. “And as my partner informed me, I just so happen to be the only person in my firm that you wanna work with.”
Julian waved a hand towards the wall behind her that was filled with framed, professionally taken photos of the many homes she’d designed over the years. “Do you really need to question why?”
Aiyanna sighed and leaned back in her chair, her short nails tapping the arm. “Why are you doing this? You could’ve found any other contractor anywhere else.”
Julian read between the lines. She meant he could’ve found any other woman anywhere else. He made sure to stare her directly in the eyes when he retorted, “I don’t want any other contractor,
I want you.”
For the briefest second her face softened and he smiled. Just like that, her gaze shuttered again. She closed her eyes for the second time. He hated when she did that. It meant she was shutting him out, denying him access to read what she was feeling. Aiyanna shook her head. “I can’t do this with you,” she whispered.
“Why not?” he asked just as softly.
Her smile was sad but she still wouldn’t look at him. “Because tomorrow I’ll hate myself.”
“Aiyanna,” she looked up at him then. “I don’t know what you’re so afraid of but if you give me the chance—”
She held up a hand to cut him off. “No, I’ve heard that one before and I’ll be damned if I go for it again.” Suddenly standing, she walked to her office door and opened it. “This was fun Mr. Almanza, but I think it’s time for you to go.”
Julian’s mind scrambled. “If you do my house I’ll pay you double your usual fee.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “You want to fuck me that bad?”
A mix of anger and frustration boiled over inside him spilling out in rapidly fired Spanish. Yes, he wanted to fuck her, make love to her, but this was so much more than that. If that was all he wanted he could’ve had her bent over her desk by now. “Deje de relegar su apelación a sólo sexo!”
Both brows rose. “English please.”
“Stop relegating your appeal to just sex!” Julian repeated. Something told him that was the wrong thing to say when her jaw clenched and she slammed the door shut again.
“I turn you down for what most definitely would’ve been a night full of jackhammering on whatever bed that you had specially made just to hold you. Then you show up in my place of business demanding that I be the only one to work with you yet you know not a damn thing about me! What the fuck am I supposed to think?! That it was love at first sight?”
He didn’t answer fast enough.
She sucked in a deep breath. “Exactly. Let’s be honest Julian. The only reason you’re here is because your cock wouldn’t let you walk away from a willing prospect, especially not one who looks like she’s in need of some male attention.”
