Back to the Drawing Board

by L. L. Collins

  I’d just arrived here late last night to an empty apartment. The only thing I had in here now was an air mattress and the two suitcases I’d brought on the plane. I’d gotten to talk to Julia’s dad, Mr. Gibbons, and even his wife, Mrs. Gibbons on the phone several times. They’d helped me with getting the place finalized and getting the utilities hooked up. All of my belongings and my car were somewhere in transit from Florida.

  For the first time, I had my own apartment, and it was breathtaking. Large windows brought in the natural light, and there were amazing views of the mountains from my family room. I felt like I could stand there and look at them forever.

  I hadn’t heard from Julia since that day, other than the emails we’d sent back and forth about the Adams project. She was right—- it was epic and I was so excited to get started on it. With her.

  Forcing the thoughts of the beautiful brown haired beauty out of my head, I heard my phone pinging with a message. I ignored it and turned my thoughts to my first day, and how I was going to manage to behave professionally with Julia.

  I was a stupid, stupid man. I vowed not to get that drunk again, and certainly not around Julia. It was obvious I couldn’t handle myself. There was something about her that knocked me off of my game, but I was going to have to figure out how to control myself. There’s no reason to start acting like a fool over a woman, now, I thought to myself. She’s just a pretty face. You go to work, you do your job, and you achieve your dream of working for this company for good. Getting messed up with Julia because your hormones are out of whack isn’t going to get you the dream, and you didn’t work this hard for this many years to throw it away over a roll in the hay.

  Yeah. I could do this. I grabbed my new briefcase full of the papers Julia had sent me about the Adams project and walked out of my new apartment, knowing full well the entire pep talk I’d given myself would be shot to hell the second I saw her. I could only hope the lies I told myself would be enough to keep my hands to myself.

  The elevator doors opened and I walked out, forcing myself to exude an air of confidence I definitely didn’t feel. I knew where Mr. Gibbons office was, but not Julia’s. I assumed I’d be going directly to her’s.

  “Mr. McIntyre,” the peppy receptionist stood, holding out her hand. She either had a great memory, or she’d been told to look out for me. “I’m Brandi. Welcome to GSJ.”

  I took her hand, smiling at her. Her hands were small and cold, and I noticed the gleam in her eye the second I looked at her. Oh, yeah. She thought I was fresh meat. I dropped her hand, breaking our gaze as I looked around. It was still quiet in the office, but I just had to admire the architecture of this building one more time.

  “Is Jul- Ms. Gibbons in?” I asked, biting the inside of my cheek at my faux pas. I could not call her Julia right out of the gate. Professional, I reminded myself.

  “She is. If you go straight back, her office is the one just before Mr. Gibbons. Would you like me to take you there?”

  I shook my head. “No, thank you, Brandi. It was nice to see you again.” Some manners refused to quit. Don’t feed the animals, I chuckled to myself.

  She looked me up and down so blatantly, I wanted to squirm. “The pleasure was all mine. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, Carter.”

  Deciding not to respond to her obvious come-on, I turned and walked towards Julia’s office, mentally steeling myself for seeing her again. When I reached her door, I stared at the etching on the plate next to her door. Julia Gibbons, Architect. I ran my fingers along the etched glass, thinking about this being where I belong. God, I couldn’t wait to have my own office. Her door was shut, so I knocked lightly, forcing the air in and out of my lungs.

  “Come in,” her voice came through the door. Chill, man. Be cool, I repeated over and over in my head. Turning the handle, I opened the door into another modern, wall-to-wall window office much like her dad’s, just smaller. A modern steel desk sat to one side with a two huge computer screens, and a large table took up much of the middle of the room. A projector hung from the ceiling.

  Julia stood at her desk. My eyes took in her cream-colored pantsuit. It made her skin look even more flawless than it already was. Her dark hair was up in a bun with a few pieces framing her face. My eyes zeroed in on her smooth neck, and my fingers itched to reach out and touch that skin. Maybe you already touched it, that little annoying voice reminded me. Her captivating eyes sucked me in the second they met mine.

  “Carter,” she said, a smile crinkling the corners of her eyes and making that little dimple pop. “It’s great to see you again. Welcome back, and welcome to GSJ.” While her tone was friendly, she was still all business. Good. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as I’d thought. She was way more professional than Brandi up front.

  “Thank you,” I answered. “This is an amazing office. I just can’t get over the views here. Even from my apartment. It’s just breathtaking.”

  “Quite different from Florida. It is beautiful here, but I’m a native so we kind of take it for granted. You get all settled then?”

  “Well, if you call having no furniture and sleeping on an air mattress settled, then yes. I’ll be busy this week getting furniture and waiting on the rest of my things, but I love it here so far.”

  Julia laughed, making my chest feel tight again. “Well, good. My parents are at a meeting out of town, so they’ll greet you tomorrow. We’re going to jump right in to the Adams project. We have a meeting with Mr. Adams after lunch today, so we will work here in my office on the specs of what he wants and how we are going to deliver it all on budget. I’ve got a head start, so I’ll get you up to speed. We’ll order lunch in so we can be ready for him right after. There’s a great deli I always order from around the corner if that’s okay with you.”

  My brain was registering her words, making me nod my head, but my eyes were stuck watching the fullness of her lips as she spoke. I remembered those lips on mine that was for sure. When I realized she’d stopped talking, I snapped my eyes to hers. A small smile played on her lips, and there was laughter in her eyes. She stepped up to me, her eyes darting behind her for a moment at the open door before locking on mine again.

  “What’s the matter, Carter?” Her voice dropped as she got closer. I watched in awe as she licked her bottom lip. What was she doing? What did I want her to do?

  Forcing myself to step back, I averted my eyes from her. “Sorry. I didn’t sleep well. Yes, the deli sounds perfect. Ready to get to work?” She gave me a look, the one that told me she knew what I was doing, or not doing. I stepped around her and pulled out one of the chairs, settling myself into one to wait for her to come sit down. I needed to focus on work. That was what I was here for. My attraction to her was going to have to be just that—- an attraction.

  As if smelling Julia’s light perfume as we hovered together over the plans, the budget, and the meeting agenda all morning hadn’t been hard enough, now we were eating lunch together. Her assistant, Paige, had gone out to get us food from the deli while we were working. We only had about fifteen minutes before Mr. Adams arrived, but it wasn’t him that was making my stomach a jittery mess.

  Julia slipped off her jacket and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the silk shirt she was wearing. I forced my fingers to pick up my sandwich instead of reaching out and feeling the soft fabric. It was professional and modest, but when she turned towards me in a certain way, I could see just a peek of lace underneath. It was making me hungry in a whole new way.

  “Oh, we have a benefit coming up next weekend for the Grand Opening/ Ribbon Cutting/ Dedication of the new Children’s Hospital we recently finished about forty-five minutes from here in Castle Rock. Everyone is expected to go. It’s black tie. I figured I better tell you now so you have time to make sure you unpack your dress clothes.”

  I forced myself to swallow the bite of sandwich, though my mouth had gone completely dry. If it was black tie that meant Julia was going to be dressed to the nines. And I was ex
pected to be there with her at a social event. She was funny if she thought a recent college graduate had clothes to wear to a black tie event. The best I had were suits for work. Looked like a shopping trip would be in my future.

  I took a drink of my bottled water, waiting a moment for my food to get all the way down, so I didn’t choke myself. “Sounds good.” I forced my voice to be even. “Where’s the best place to shop around here?”

  She finished chewing, and I found myself enthralled with the way she did that, too. “You need clothes for the event? Oh, do I have a place for you. It’s the place for shopping around here. I can take you if you want.” I must’ve looked surprised by her offer, because she waved her hand in front of her face. “I mean, I don’t have to, of course. But since you’re new to Denver, I thought I would offer . . .”

  “No, that would be great,” I interrupted. “Thank you. The only place I know so far is my apartment, the market at the corner, the sports bar, and here.” Do I want her to take me shopping? A vision of her in a dressing room with me flooded my thoughts. Carter, I warned myself. These thoughts were out of control. I needed to find someone to take my mind off of her. Maybe I should go back to that sports bar and see if any of those ‘interested’ girls were there.

  A comfortable silence came over us as we continued eating our lunches. I wished I knew what she was thinking, although I sure as hell didn’t want her to know what was going through my head. I finished my sandwich and wrapped up the trash, looking over to see if Julia wanted me to throw hers away, too. She had just taken a bite of her sandwich, and some mayonnaise was on the corner of her mouth. I loved that she wasn’t eating salad. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but I liked when women weren’t afraid to eat real food in front of guys. She obviously had an amazing body and didn’t need to worry about eating some damn bread.

  She must’ve felt me looking at her because she turned her gaze to mine. She smiled, still chewing. I could’ve just told her that she had mayonnaise on her face and handed her a napkin, but instead I watched as my hand reached out. My thumb swiped it off of her mouth while the rest of my fingers rested lightly on her chin. She gasped, her eyes wide. I froze, my eyes trained on hers as I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to touch her. My thumb was frozen on her bottom lip. Julia dropped what was left of her sandwich on the paper in front of her and reached her hand up. Just as her fingers connected with mine, a loud beep made us both jump apart.

  “Ms. Gibbons?” It was the voice of Brandi in reception.

  Julia stood, wiped her mouth and turned away from me. She walked to the desk and pressed a button. “Yes, Brandi.”

  “Mr. Adams is here. Is Mr. McIntyre with you?”

  Julia looked over her shoulder at me. “Yes. Give me just a minute, Brandi, and then go ahead and walk him back.”

  “You got it,” she answered. Julia walked over to the table and grabbed our trash before I could even move. “You ready? It’s showtime.”

  I stood, making sure the table was crumb-free and the projector was ready. “Yes. Let’s do this.”

  She smiled. “I can’t wait to see you in action.” She walked away and I wondered just what action she wanted to see.

  A knock sounded on Julia’s office door, and we exchanged one more look before the door swung open. Brandi stood in front of a portly gentleman who must have been Mr. Adams. According to Julia, he was one of the wealthiest men in Colorado and has been searching for the right company to design the new headquarters of his car dealership. It didn’t sound like a huge project, but when you saw how many brands he sold, the garage he wanted to build to service them, and the corporate offices, it was amazing. He wanted all of the buildings to be high tech and fully green. His son had even invented some solar type energy things for them he wanted to try out. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

  “Mr. Adams,” Julia stepped forward, holding out her hand. He shook it, his gaze lingering on hers before snapping over to me. I didn’t blame him for watching her though she was young enough to be his daughter. “This is my associate, Carter McIntyre. It’s his first day, so don’t be too hard on him.”

  Mr. Adams laughed, reaching over and grasping my hand. “Please call me Christopher. This one keeping you on your toes already? She’s something.”

  That’s for damn sure, I thought. “Great to meet you, Christopher. While it is my first day, I have been reading up on your company and your vision for a week now. It’s amazing, to be honest. I’ve seen a lot of buildings and a lot of green technology. But nothing compares to this.”

  He nodded, unbuttoning his jacket and settling into a seat at the end of the table. “Thank you, Carter. I’m glad to see John has found a great new employee. You’re the luckiest one here, to work with Julia. Don’t tell her old man I said so, but she’s got him licked. She’s even better than her mom, and that’s saying something. This one is an architectural genius. I bet since he has her working with you, he must think the same of you.”

  I looked over at Julia, who was bringing up the information on the projector screen that came down out of the wall. A small smile played on her lips at his compliment. “Thank you,” I said. “Julia is a great teacher. I’m looking forward to learning from her.” Learning architecture. That’s all.

  “Are we ready to get started?” Julia asked, effectively changing the subject away from her. I noticed her cheeks were flushed, and I wondered if she didn’t believe any of that about herself. I made a note to ask her about that later, because even the little I knew about her schooling and experience, she was amazing. To be so young and have learned so much outside of school about what works and what doesn’t, it was like she was a prodigy. Her parents probably started teaching her architecture right along with her ABC’s.

  Julia leaned over to grab the clicker to be able to press through the presentation, effectively putting her round backside right in my line of vision. Her cream pants pulled tight against her body at her motion, and I fought back a groan. This woman had no idea what she was doing to me. I watched as she stood and walked to the front of the room. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear that had come loose and tapped her finger on her lips. I had figured out already she did that when she was thinking.

  “Carter?” Both she and Adams were looking at me like I had missed something. Shit. She’d been talking to me, and I’d been staring blankly at her. Wonderful.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “What did you say?”

  “Can you turn off the light so we can see this better?” I stood and did as she asked. As I went to sit back in my seat and watch her work her magic, I noticed Adams looking at me out of the corner of my eye. He caught my gaze and winked before settling in to listen to Julia. What was that all about?

  I pushed the weight bar up, grunting at the effort it took me to put it where it was supposed to go. I needed a spotter, I knew that much for a fact. I was going to end up crushing myself under the weight of this stupid bar just because I was trying to work off the sexual tension I was feeling.

  The meeting with Adams had gone well. He was more than pleased with all of Julia’s recommendations and plans. I’d mostly listened, throwing in a comment every once in a while on something I knew about. Watching Julia do what she did best was something else. The way her eyes lit up when she explained all the hard work she did—- why the building was designed the way it was and how it would be energy efficient—- made it hard for me to look away from her. She was an enigma, totally in her element.

  I had been relieved when it was time to go home for the day. I was exhausted from fighting my damn urge to pull her to me and take her the way I wanted to. That. Could. Not. Happen. So here I was, trying to exhaust every last muscle I had to make me get her out of my brain.

  It wasn’t working.

  Shoving the bar up one last time, I sat up and wiped my face with a towel. I tapped my foot to the music pounding through the hidden speakers. Whoever chose this music was my type of person. Skillet was one of my f
avorites.

  It was nice that the company had a gym on the top floor, free for all of their employees to use. It was fully staffed with trainers and every type of machine you could imagine. I stood up and headed for the treadmill, figuring I could run a few miles and then head out to find something to eat for dinner.

  “Hey,” a voice came from behind me. I’d seen the guy earlier but hadn’t been introduced to him. “You’re the new intern, right?”

  “Yeah.” I held out my hand. “Carter McIntyre.”

  “Ethan Bridges,” he said, shaking my hand.

  “How long have you worked here?”

  “Just over a year. I’m from California. I met Mr. Gibbons on a project I was managing, and the rest is history. Where are you from?”

  “Florida. I just graduated from college recently. I wanted this internship more than anything.” Until I saw Julia. The thought snuck into my head before I could even stop it, and my mouth almost opened in surprise. No. That is not true.

  “I’m heading out of here, but I wanted to introduce myself. I know it’s hard moving to a new place. Every Friday, some of the guys from the office go out to shoot pool and have a few drinks, unwind from the week. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like to. No pressure, of course.”

  “That would be great.” I needed to find something to do, for multiple reasons.

  “Awesome. I’ll grab your number tomorrow at work. It was nice to meet you, Carter. Welcome to GSJ.” We nodded at each other and he walked away, leaving me to go pound out my frustrations on the treadmill.