Roberta had the face of an angel, with blue eyes, and long blond hair. Her flawless tan caught people’s eyes and made potential clients, mostly men, more interested in what Izzy’s company, Lake House Design Services, had to offer. Izzy was not above using Roberta’s looks in order to get Lake House Design Services more business.
The two of them had worked it out in college. With Izzy’s brain and Roberta’s looks, the two of them had a good thing going.
Roberta was always on the prowl for a rich husband, so meeting eligible bachelors helped motivate her. Many of their clients redecorated often, or did themed parties where they wanted their help to design and get everything organized. A client once ordered a ten foot tall ice carving of a swan that cost close to fifteen thousand dollars. The swan had been a challenge since it was hard to find a freezer truck large enough to transport it in so that it wouldn’t melt before the party. Having the connections to provide almost anything her clients could ever want was her specialty. She would work night and day to make her clients happy, and she went above and beyond to satisfy them. Her reputation is how she earned her repeat customers, and built her clientele until she had almost too much work to handle by herself.
Tomorrow, they had a new client and they were both going to do the consult. He had just purchased a home in the Hamptons, he was an oil tycoon who had no designer sense and wanted a house he felt comfortable in but didn’t look like a complete bachelor pad.
He had specifically requested a feminine touch and was happy to pay any price Izzy would charge if she would be willing to come out on short notice. He also requested to keep his anonymity; his assistant stressed that their new client was low key and didn’t want any media attention or drama. The quieter they could keep it, the more he’d pay.
Charles Loubatton moved to his new home after going through a nasty divorce. He caught his wife in bed with another man which had voided their pre-nuptial agreement. It hadn’t kept him out of the media or his ex-wife’s lawyers from trying to go after his billions of dollars despite her infidelity. Charles was tired and wanted a break from all the drama and high maintenance people for a while.
Izzy’s prime motivation was not money. Charles was granting her complete design autonomy and that excited her. He was also offering a lot of money to keep things as quiet as possible; which would make Roberta, whose prime motivation was money, happy. A happy Roberta usually meant more business.
“Are you ready to meet this mystery man of mine, Roberta?” Izzy asked as she scooped some vanilla ice cream into her mouth. “He’s not available; he just got out of a nasty divorce, so behave yourself this time.”
“Yeah, I suppose. I had a thing for Dick, but his wife didn’t appreciate him noticing me.” Roberta said pouting. “I liked him, he was hot and he was loaaaaded. So, wait, I’m not allowed to hit on this new man either?”
“You need to stick to single men Robbie, or you could put me out of business. Wives are usually the ones who convince their husbands to open their pocket books to redecorate so don’t step on their toes…” Izzy reminded Robbie, pointing her spoon in her direction. “Single. Men. Got it? And no, he’s not up for grabs either. He needs some downtime. I believe that’s why he’s in the Hamptons hiding out.”
“Yes, boss ma`am.” Roberta said, laughing and grabbed Izzy’s loaded spoon before she could put it in her mouth and stole a bite.
“Hey, that was mine!” Izzy said glaring at her trying to grab it back.
“I only wanted a bite. I have to go grab some supplies for tomorrow, what time do you want me to meet you there?” Roberta asked.
“Nine AM. Don’t be late this time.” Izzy told her giving her a stern look.
“Okay, Okay, I will set my alarm this time.”
“You better.” Izzy told her before sticking the spoon into her ice cream that she grabbed back from Robbie before Robbie left to go home.
Chapter 2
When Izzy drove up she was flabbergasted by the sheer size of the house. She knew most of the houses in the Hamptons were huge, but this one put almost all of them to shame. The elaborate driveway was over a mile long from the road to the house, and when she got there she was impressed by the well-designed lawns, over the top shrubbery, and bushes manicured into exotic animal shapes.
There was a fountain in the middle of the driveway complementing the circular laneway, and the centerpiece was a gigantic unicorn cut from a bush. It stood almost twenty feet high, and its horn was the spout for the fountain. Someone had to spend a lot of time working on the fountain. She walked over to get a closer look at the fountain and saw thousands of dollars worth of coins in it.
They used it as a wishing well, how quaint, she thought to herself smiling, and then reaching into her pocket to pull out a quarter. Making a wish, she threw it in, and got startled when she heard a man pull up in a truck behind her. It was a landscaping truck, with big bold letters on the side.
Jose Gonzales Landscaping Co.
The man who got out of the truck was dark skinned, but had eerie light blue eyes that were a complete mismatch with his tanned skin. He was watching her curiously; he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and parked besides her.
“Using the fountain to make a wish?” He asked her as he set his arm against the truck, leaning back watching her. He had a grease spots on his cheek, and grass stains on his jeans.
Izzy stared at him, surprised by how attractive she found him. She shifted uncomfortably; that was Robbie’s area of expertise. Izzy tended to focus on the women or the assistants of the families she was hired to work for.
“Something like that.” She said, smiling at him and checking her watch, feeling a growing irritation that Robbie was late. Again.
She watched him pull out his cell phone, start texting, and then he stuck his phone back into the pocket of his denim shirt.
“Why are you standing out here all alone?” He asked her looking curious.
“I’m waiting for my partner to get here; we are here to come up with new decorating ideas for the home owner. She has a habit of always being late.” Izzy said looking at her watch.
A few minutes later, a geeky looking guy opened the front door, and walked out holding a clip board. He had a hands-free device stuck in his ear and he was yelling at someone through it, by the time he reached her, he had clicked it off and looked at his list.
“Izzy? He asked, looking her up and down. “I thought the owner was a bombshell.”
“She’s late, sorry. I’m the owner of the business though, Robbie’s my assistant.” Izzy normally didn’t say that, but this man had rubbed her the wrong way. “I can get started without her.”
The man with the clipboard looked mildly disappointed for a minute then glanced over at the man by the landscaping truck who was trying to hold back a laugh.
“I’m Dan Schnoodles. Please don’t call me Schnoodles. Call me Dan.” He said while looking down at his clipboard and making some notes. “I’m Charles Loubatton’s assistant. He’s busy right now, but he said for me to show you around and have you get all the needed information and have you send your ideas when you’re ready.”
“If it’s alright, I’d like to take some pictures of the rooms I’ll be working with, I’ll be able to take them home and put them into my computer and do a virtual mock up of my ideas for Mr. Loubatton. This way we don’t actually purchase anything he doesn’t like, and he can pick and choose ideas and color schemes. Does he want the latest trends, or does he prefer to have his own style?” Izzy asked him as she followed him inside.
“That’s all fine; you’ll have to ask him, I’m just his assistant. I didn’t even know he was going to be redecorating the house until today; he decided not to tell me. I apologize for yelling on the phone on the way out, but I was in the middle of dealing with a land purchase and the lawyer was being difficult.” He grumbled. “I’m not normally this grumpy, but everything has gone wrong today.”
“No worries.” Izzy told him. If he hadn’
t mentioned that he was waiting for Robbie as the hot one, she would have sworn the man was gay
He pranced and sashayed when he walked, and he was better dressed than most women. He was animated when he talked and his face was an over-exaggerated expression of his feelings at any given moment. Izzy kept the thoughts to herself, realizing that she had no business judging a book by its cover, and it didn’t really matter either way.
They continued to walk through the house, which wasn’t as big as the grounds had made it look. Charles was from Texas, and was busy today, but had texted Dan in the middle of their tour to tell him that he wanted a more western feel throughout the house to remind him of home.
Izzy could do that. She went into the master bedroom which was bigger than her whole apartment and looked outside over the back of the property. She could see the beach almost a mile away and she thought the horse barn and arenas on the back of the property were impressive.
She glanced out the window and saw the landscaper out working with a horse in the arena and was a little surprised. He’d taken his shirt off and his muscles rippled, highly visible even from a distance. She could see the sweat pouring off his face and the dirty appearance didn’t take away any appeal he had.
She wondered what it would be like to rub her hands up his chest and then quickly tore her gaze away from the window, realizing that she had a job to do, and she was seriously going to kill Robbie.
They finally finished the tour with Dan telling her that Mr. Loubatton didn’t want any changes to the kitchen, but the rest of the house was fair game. Dan also said that Mr. Loubatton liked muted earthy tones in grey, green and tans. Not the “in” colors right now for the season, but it was her job to do what her client wanted. She was kind of impressed that the man didn’t care what anyone else thought of his home and wanted to make it personalized for him, yet a little disappointed that her carte blanche design strategy had been taken from her.
When Izzy was heading out of the house, she ran into Robbie who was flirting with the landscaper she had been watching earlier. He had walked the horse to the front of the house and he seemed mildly annoyed with Robbie, but didn’t brush her off. The horse was prancing nervously, as Robbie’s hands were moving very fast as she talked to the man and it was clearly making the horse uncomfortable.
Izzy hadn’t been around many horses in her life, but the look on the horse’s face right before it kicked the man holding it was something she saw coming but had no time to react.
She ran over and dropped to her knees in front of the man who was holding his shin and swearing.
Dan rushed forward, dropping his clipboard and grabbed the reigns of the horse, pulling him back away from the man who was now sitting on the ground in the gravel.
“Call me Simon.” The man grunted as he put his hand around his shin and felt it with his fingers, as if searching for a break. “Get that crazy woman away from me.”
“You mean Robbie?” Izzy asked, looking over at Robbie who had backed up and had a look of horror on her face.
“Yes. That woman. She was grilling me about Charles, and my horse didn’t like her.” He muttered.
“Robbie, take my stuff and go home, get working on it. All the notes are written down in my notebook which is in my purse. Just grab it.
“Can I help take you to a doctor or something?” Izzy asked him, focused on the man in front of her.
Up close and personal, she had the urge to kiss him and couldn’t believe the way her hormones had kicked into overdrive from being near this man. She was acting no better than a teenager, and this poor man had just been injured. Giving herself a mental kick in the ass, she stood up and offered her hand to assist him up.
He pulled himself up and put his arm around her.
Dan stepped forward “We have ice in the kitchen, help him inside.”
Izzy let him use her shoulder to keep weight off his shin and ankle that was now swelling and took him inside to get ice.
“Well, it appears mischief follows you.” He told her as he plopped down into a kitchen chair and Dan brought a large frozen bag of vegetables to put on his leg.
“I am so sorry about Robbie.” Izzy said feeling bad for this man. “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know.”
“Have dinner with me.” He blurted out.
Izzy looked shocked. Men didn’t ask her out. Especially after meeting Robbie.
“Just don’t bring her along.” Simon said, muttering.
Izzy barely caught what he said. “You mean Robbie?”
Simon nodded. “That woman is a bloody menace.”
“She has her moments but she has a good heart most of the time.” Izzy said, feeling the need to defend her best friend.
“She’s a gold digger.” He told her bluntly. “All she was asking was if the master of the house was single, rich, and wanted a trophy wife and where she could sign up. Is she always that blunt?”
“I’m sorry she did that. She normally keeps those kinds of thoughts to herself a little better. I will tell her to be on her best behavior in the future.” Izzy said.
“Please do.” Simon said, and then sat back with the ice, sighing as the pain relief from the frozen bag started to work.
“I should probably get going.” Izzy told him, not quite wanting to tear herself away. She was covered in horse smell and sweat from the man leaning on her, but she didn’t find it gross. Instead, it made her picture rolling around in the barn in the hay. Naked.
Blushing at where her thoughts had started going, she reached into her purse and got out a pen and paper, scribbling down her number for Simon. She handed it to him, but before she could turn to leave he grabbed her wrists tightly. Izzy looked down at his strong dark fingers wrapped around her wrist, but didn’t pull away.
“I will pick you up tonight at eight. We will have dinner; I’m not interested in a one night stand.” He told her bluntly.
“I live with Robbie.” Izzy told him. “So, if you want to do anything after dinner, it would probably be best if it’s not at my place.”
“If that girl is naked and gagged, that’s the only way I can tolerate being near her. Preferably gagged before I walk into the room so I don’t even have to hear her say one word.” Simon said not realizing he spoke out loud.
Izzy pictured the three of them in bed together, and covered her eyes. She and Robbie had shared a few men in the past, but for some reason, she didn’t want to share this man with anyone. She felt a sense of jealousy kick in and wondered what was wrong with her. She barely knew the man.
“I’ll see you at eight.” She told him and hurried to leave, feeling panicky at going on a date with a hot, mysterious stranger.
Dan waited until she left and looked at Simon.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” He said, sniffling to indicate his disapproval.
“What?” Simon asked.
“This ruse you have going on, pretending to be the help instead of telling her who you really are, getting yourself injured in the process was just pure stupidity. You could have been seriously hurt.” Dan lectured him.
“I want to make sure she’s not after my money. It’s clear her partner was. If she doesn’t know who I am, or that I’m rich, if she falls in love with me, I know it is real.” Charles Simon Loubatton said.
“And when she finds out you lied to her?” Dan asked him putting his hands out in a sweeping motion, to emphasize what he was saying.
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. If she really falls in love with me, she’ll hopefully be able to forgive the deception and understand.” Simon said, wincing as he tried to put some weight on his leg and stand up. “That horse got me good, I think I’ll survive, but it’s going to be sore for a few days.”
“Perfect.” Dan muttered. “Why her? She’s not even that pretty. The other woman was gorgeous, if I wasn’t gay, I’d hit it.”
“You and I have different tastes. I love the country girl next door lo
ok, I like a little cushion and meat on my women, and I never did really understand the appeal of the super skinny women. You remember my evil ex-wife, right? My grandfather introduced us and told me she’d make a good figurehead as a wife. Too bad he died before he got to see her cheat on me. I have no desire to go there again. I want a woman who knows her worth, and doesn’t rely on looks for success. She’s cute in her own way, all those curves in the right places, clear skin, and big chocolate, doe-like eyes. Reminds me of a horse. She also seems a little skittish like a horse. Makes me want to tame her.” Simon said his grin spreading over his face, looking a little excited.
“You and your horses. You realize that she could hurt you emotionally the way that horse just hurt your leg?” Dan said, putting his arm out on Simon’s shoulder. “Just don’t play with fire. You’ll get burned.”
“But that’s half the fun.” Simon said grinning even bigger, then patted Dan’s arm to reassure him before he limped off. “I have a date to plan.”
Chapter 3
Charles Simon Loubatton pulled in front of Izzy’s apartment in a borrowed Honda Civic from Dan. It was a decent, functional car, but wasn’t an expensive car, like his own cars which were in his garage at home.
He had researched Izzy’s company and knew she made a pretty good living, yet she lived in an apartment complex that didn’t look very expensive, and kept a roommate. She apparently lived well within her means, or below it.
Interesting. She was fascinating. Izzy could have afforded a nice house, or at least a condo in a fancier part of town. He wondered why she didn’t feel the need for a bigger, fancier place. It was clear that her friend and roommate Robbie was all about money.
Izzy and Robbie were an odd pair. Robbie had sex appeal out the wazoo, but Izzy had the girl next door curves that made a man want to spend all night exploring them and taking her again and again, pushing her into a frenzy of passion.
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