“I’ve put in longer hours on the job site before.” Setting her box down once they were in Jordan’s office, she said, “And the model isn’t going to build itself, so I’ll see you later.”
****
Alone in her office again, Marley breathed a sigh of relief. Though she refused to be intimidated by the circumstances, facing the two of them had been hard. She’d practically thrown herself into Justin’s arms, and Jordan would have to be blind not to know what they’d been doing.
Staring at the model, she only saw Justin. She closed her eyes and imagined his lips on hers again. Felt the tingly sensation in her limbs. No, there’d be no apologies from her. If anything, she wanted more.
With a shake of her head, she gave herself a reality check. She had a job to do and responsibilities to deal with that didn’t include the newly discovered desires of a twenty-seven-year-old virgin.
Maybe what she needed most was a good night’s sleep and then she’d be able to concentrate better tomorrow. Besides, after that amazing kiss, it seemed unlikely she’d get in any more quality work tonight. She began gathering her things together.
“Calling it a day?” Justin asked from the doorway.
She glanced up with a start. “I’ll be in early tomorrow.”
When she slipped on her shoes and started for the door, he fell into step alongside her. “Thanks for all your hard work today.”
She gave him a tired smile. “Thank me when you get the job.”
“I will.”
His low tone sent a shiver down her spine and a rush of anticipation left her short of breath. It grew worse when he followed her into the elevator.
“You’re going home, too?”
He shook his head. “I’ll catch a ride with Jordan. I’m just going to walk you out.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do.” She opened her mouth, but he held up a hand. “You can argue all you want, it won’t make a difference.”
She let go of the automatic protest and watched the numbers on the elevator change. A quick glance in his direction revealed him watching her. She smiled self-consciously. It was nice really, to have someone be concerned about her well-being. If she could put aside his ugly suspicions, he was a nice guy. Someone she could easily—
Her heart stopped for a moment then started racing. She swallowed hard and consciously finished the sentence—easily learn to like.
That’s not what you were thinking, Marley.
She ignored the voice in her head, wishing her pulse would calm down. No such luck as they made small talk across the parking lot. When they reached her truck, she stowed her briefcase and turned to thank him.
An alien feeling of shyness attacked her when she met his gaze again. He, on the other hand, looked downright serious.
“Marley, I’ve been thinking about what happened earlier.”
Her breath hitched. Would he kiss her again? Her heart thumped faster, making her lightheaded.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
Acute disappointment deflated her lungs. Anger filled them again. “The only thing between me and your father is a professional relationship.”
He stared for a moment, then nodded with what she’d swear was relief. “Okay. But about the kiss…if anyone other than Jordan had walked in on us, they could’ve gotten the wrong impression.”
“We certainly don’t want that, considering how quickly people jump to conclusions around here.” Sarcasm colored her voice, but she didn’t care.
“The thing is,” he explained with a frown, “Your new position typically requires experience. I wouldn’t want anyone to think less of you—to not respect the job you do—because they thought you got the job with something other than your talent.”
“How very noble of you.”
“Well, you wouldn’t want that, either, would you?” He looked and sounded irritated.
“Of course not,” she snapped with equal annoyance.
“Then we agree. It won’t happen again.”
Darn right, she thought emphatically as she slammed her door shut.
No—wait. Not kiss him again? He made her feel like a two-ton bulldozer had just rumbled across her neatly landscaped life. He’d torn it all up, and now he wanted her to forget about it and go back to the way things had been?
Not if she had anything to say about it.
Chapter 12
Justin pulled into the parking lot the next morning and smiled. Marley’s truck was parked near the front, just as he’d guessed it would be, even thought it wasn’t quite six-thirty a.m. He knew her so well already.
His smile turned to a scowl. He’d found a woman he liked, who he actually understood, and who was hotter than hell—and she was off-limits. Maybe he could fire her again.
Pushing that tempting, unfair thought from his head, he parked his Jeep and met her on the sidewalk. Immediately he noticed her free-flowing hair. Damn, what happened to the ponytail she’d worn yesterday?
“I see you’re back in uniform,” he commented to distract himself.
Her chin tilted with instant defiance. “More than half the people I saw yesterday wore jeans.” She let her gaze drift slowly downward. “Including you.”
Heat spread through his veins like a wildfire. “I wasn’t criticizing. From what I’ve seen, there’s no dress code. Wear what you like.” But stop giving me the once-over, he added silently, moving past her to unlock the building.
“How long have you been waiting?” he asked as he held the door for her. He only half-heard her answer because his eyes were busy appreciating the fit of her jeans. He’d have to talk to Jordan about establishing a dress code.
“I didn’t think about what time the office opened and then hoped someone would be in early,” she said on the elevator ride to the third floor.
“I remembered you said something about it last night.”
The doors opened, and she gave him a beautiful smile before stepping out. “Thanks for paying attention.”
He enjoyed the view again as he followed her to their offices. Damn, it would be a long day if he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
Best to get some of his own work done. He strode through the connecting door and left her alone. After the third glance into her office, he blew out a frustrated breath and ran his hands through his hair.
All the reasons why not were ruthlessly repeated in his head until he was sure he had any wayward thoughts under control. He even managed to finish a few things so that when Bonnie came in at seven-thirty, he handed her his notes and asked her to get started on the presentation booklets and PowerPoint.
Vince arrived at eight, but even with other people in the building, Justin avoided Marley’s office. Jordan stopped in to say good morning with a steaming cup of coffee for Justin.
“You snuck out early this morning.”
Justin set the cardboard cup on his desk and reached for a file folder. “Marley came in early.”
“You sure you know what you’re doing with her?”
“What I’m doing is none of your business.”
“Technically, it’s half my business,” Jordan argued.
“Nothing’s going on.”
“Didn’t look that way last night.”
Justin opened his mouth to tell Jordan where to stick his concern but Marley’s voice from the doorway made them both jump like they’d been doing something wrong.
“Hey. Morning, Jordan.”
“Hi, Marley.”
Justin watched his brother do a quick scan of Marley’s slim form.
“Don’t you look nice this morning,” Jordan added to his greeting with a charming smile. “I like your hair like that.”
Justin couldn’t believe his ears. If looks could kill, his brother would be on his way to the morgue right now. Marley accepted Jordan’s shameless, inappropriate, backstabbing, underhanded flirting with a grin.
“Thanks,” she replied. “I like your…shirt, too. That’s a go
od color on you.”
Justin wanted to throw up. Black wasn’t even a color.
“Justin?”
He cleared his expression and looked at her.
“Two additional people, remember?”
In other words, Bonnie’s busy, so get the hell in here.
Who was the boss? He was. Who had the authority to give imperious orders? He did. Who needed her to get the model done by tomorrow? They all did. So who was going to ask frickin’ “How high?” when she said, “Jump.”?
He was, damn it. And he hated Jordan right now.
“I’ll be right there,” he said through gritted teeth.
He rose and stalked after her. Instead of going into her office, though, he shut the door and faced Jordan. “What the hell was that?”
“That, my friend, was you taking orders from your employee,” Jordan said with a wide grin.
Justin’s eyes narrowed. “Our employee.”
Jordan’s smile faded as the warning registered. “I was being friendly.”
“Be less friendly.”
“Don’t make it into something it’s not, Justin.”
“You did that. For someone who’s so concerned with how things will look to everyone else, you don’t seem too concerned about following your own advice.”
“Me telling her she looks nice doesn’t hold the same concerns as you shoving your tongue down her throat. Get control of your stupid-ass jealousy before you create a real problem for everyone.”
He slammed out before Justin had a chance to respond. If it wouldn’t have come across as childish and outrageously jealous, he would’ve stormed after him and decked him. Much as he loved Jordan, there were times he couldn’t believe they were brothers, much less twins.
As he fought his violent emotions, it dawned on him that his rage went deeper than Marley. Jordan had always followed the Blake family tradition of keeping up appearances and to hell with everything else. And as always, Justin was expected to comply, too. He’d fought against that expectation his whole life, though before he’d moved out of the family mansion, he’d always lost.
Even now, he didn’t always succeed. Case in point, his presence here.
He wanted to help, didn’t want to see Hunter Construction go under, but at the same time, it still irked the hell out of him that he wasn’t doing his own thing right now. Worse yet, he was bound by the constraints of what was best for the company.
He wasn’t stupid, he knew he didn’t have any other choice with Marley, but he didn’t know how much more he could handle.
And none of it was getting them any closer to solving Granddad’s murder.
One step at a time, man, one step at a time.
Opening the door between the offices, he went to help with the model. Marley handed him some materials, her fingers brushing against his during the exchange. He did his best to ignore the warmth of her touch and the coolness that followed as she drew away. He focused his attention on the project.
Marley leaned forward to view a small detail, then sat up, brushing her hair back over her shoulders while surveying the entire table. Justin noticed for the first time that her long hair had concealed the snug fit of her v-neck shirt across her breasts. He forced his gaze to her face.
He knew she’d caught his stare the moment their eyes met, but she didn’t acknowledge where his had been focused. Instead she pointed out the next thing she wanted him to work on. A little while later, he heard her make a frustrated noise and looked up to see her gathering her hair at the nape of her neck, her arms raised, shirt fabric straining.
Justin cast a quick glance at Vince to see him engrossed in his work. A pair of headphones emitted faint, distorted rap songs. Satisfied no one else caught the show, Justin snuck another glance as Marley tied her hair into a knot with a few quick flicks of her wrists.
Redirect. Focus.
He made it until after their lunch of leftover Chinese. Then she tried to reach past him for something.
“What do you need?” he asked, his hands full.
“I’ll get it.”
She started around the table. With limited room, Justin backed against the wall, lifting his arms high to give her a few extra inches. It wasn’t enough. She stepped on his foot at the same instant her backside brushed across his fly. He drew in a sharp breath as she shifted off his foot.
“Sorry.”
Then she leaned forward for the paintbrush she’d wanted, inadvertently putting her in full contact with his groin. Before he could do more than dart a glance at Vince again, she’d straightened and moved back to her chair. Oblivious to anything around him, Vince toiled on.
Thank God.
Justin’s gaze went to Marley as he silently let out the breath he’d been holding. She didn’t appear to have any clue as to what’d just happened. In fact, her single-minded concentration was actually kind of irritating. Clearing his throat, he swallowed as much of his desire as possible and redirected…again.
Things worsened as the day went on. The model took shape; the building even more impressive than it appeared on paper, but working with Marley proved to be torture.
An accidental touch here; an innocent brush there; stretching to relieve sore muscles; a pleased smile at their progress; her uninhibited, genuine laughter at any of the damn jokes he suddenly couldn’t seem to stop himself from telling. In his defense, Vince had joined in the conversation and they’d all taken turns with the jokes, stupid and funny.
He didn’t know how he’d make it through the evening after Vince left, but thankfully, Jordan brought in dinner. After a silent exchange over Marley’s bent head—during which the earlier situation was acknowledged and resolved with a few raised eyebrows, the lift of a shoulder and a nod and a smile—the three of them sat down to eat. Justin couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun over a simple meal of subs and chips.
He left the table with a new level of admiration for Marley, only to discover it made everything else that much worse. He walked her to her truck and said goodnight from a few feet away, his hands shoved into his back pockets to avoid temptation.
Watching her drive away, he decided doing the right thing sucked big time.
****
Marley stepped from the elevator Thursday morning, unable to believe her future would be decided in a few short hours. She said a quick good morning to Bonnie and went straight to her office to add the final touches on the model.
The door connecting her and Justin’s offices was closed, and she squelched the urge to go open it right away. He’d be in eventually.
Later, a knock at her regular door made her jump and her heart raced until Jordan stepped in, impeccably dressed in a navy blue suit and maroon tie.
“We’re on at ten. You set to go?”
She gave him a nervous smile. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“You’ll do fine.”
She checked the model to assure herself all was in order, then turned back to him. She surprised an expression of distaste on his face as he looked down toward her legs.
“What’s wrong? Did I get something on my clothes?”
His head snapped up. “No, nothing’s wrong,” he hastily assured her.
The connecting door opened and Justin walked in, coffee mug in hand. He looked amazing in a dark brown suit with a tan button-up shirt and no tie. The pants were tailored to fit his muscled legs to perfection, and his brown dress shoes sported a gleaming luster she knew she’d never see on a pair of work boots.
His step slowed. When she looked at his face, she caught a glimpse of emotion very similar to Jordan’s a moment ago. He stopped next to his brother, and the two exchanged a glance.
Putting her hands on her hips, she demanded, “What?”
“That’s what you’re wearing today?” Justin asked.
She looked down at her suit with its small black and white checkers. “Looks like it. Why?”
“Umm, let’s just say it’s not your…pattern.”
; Her eyes narrowed at Justin’s evasive comment. “Your dad told me it looked nice. I trust his judgment.”
Jordan grimaced. Justin said, “Remember when I told you Dad was a self-serving ass? I’d be willing to bet that when he told you that suit looked nice, he was still looking to secure your design for little or nothing.”
Marley opened her mouth to argue but realized it had been just before Justin offered her the job. She really felt stupid now. “Is it that bad?”
“It’s not that bad,” Jordan offered kindly.
Justin snorted. “It’s not that good, either.”
Jordan smacked him on the arm.
“What?” Justin defended. “She appreciates honesty. Marley, sorry to say it, but you look better in jeans.”
She glared at the both of them. “Real nice, guys. Tell me this just before we’re about to go in.”
Her first major career presentation and she was wearing a damn clown suit. She’d almost worn her new brown suit, but hadn’t wanted to wear it twice in one week. Now, she had no time to change—she’d never make it home and back in time.
Then Justin’s words repeated in her mind. She made a snap decision and started for the door with a purposeful stride.
“Where are you going?” Justin asked.
“To change.”
He took a step after her. “You don’t have time to go home.”
“I’ve got a bag in my truck from last week at the construction site.”
“I wasn’t serious about the jeans, Marley.”
“I am.” She reached for the door handle.
“She can’t wear jeans.” Jordan looked from Justin to Marley with alarm. “You can’t wear jeans. You’ll make us look like unprofessional idiots.”
She paused. “I’ll just tell them I spilled something on my clothes or…” she gestured helplessly, “…something.”
“That’s—that’s an outright lie,” Jordan accused desperately. “You said you don’t lie.”
She looked at him. He really didn’t want her to wear jeans in there, did he? Well, she didn’t want to wear this suit. Problem was, he was right; she didn’t lie. Her gaze shifted from him to Justin, and she walked straight for him. Justin took a wary step back, but she followed until they were a foot apart.
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