Desire by Design - By Paula Altenburg Page 0,21

away from the sofa.

Matt snapped the scrapbook shut and held it up. His thick-lashed blue eyes met hers, warm and sincere. “Your work is good.”

Eve would have to be flatlining not to appreciate a compliment of her work, especially from Matt Brison. It was the warmth of his gaze, however, that made her want to burst into tears.

Her home had just been trashed, and she’d like nothing better than to throw herself into a friendly pair of arms and let someone else deal with the mess. But Eve was stronger than that.

“Thank you,” she said, amazed by how calm she sounded.

“There’s no reason why we can’t work together on the City Hall project,” Matt continued, tapping the scrapbook thoughtfully. “Maybe even brainstorm a little. I told you, I’m always open to suggestions.”

She lifted her coffee cup to her unsteady lips and concentrated on business. She couldn’t resist poking him a little, just to see if he’d laugh. She could use one herself.

“You don’t have any ideas of your own?” she said.

He slumped deeper into the sofa and clasped his fingers behind his head, his gaze stroking her from head to toe. A lick of heat leaped into his eyes. “I’ve got plenty of ideas.”

She focused on her coffee and tried not to take his words out of context. Matt was a rich, handsome man, famous in his field, and flirting came naturally to him. It had nothing to do with her.

And no way was she finessing the budget, if that was his game.

“Why don’t you just come right out and tell Bob that this project isn’t your style and be done with it?” she suggested. “Then you wouldn’t have to worry about new ideas.”

“I don’t know,” Matt said slowly, smoothing his chin with the pad of his thumb. He had a nice chin, strong and solid—it went well with the rest of him. The navy running gear showed off a far different frame than the one she’d expected based on his business suits. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had ideas like this,” he added. “They might be well worth exploring.”

Eve took a long, flustered swig of coffee and choked on it, burning the inside of her nose. Matt jumped to his feet and thumped her on the back until she feared for a few of her ribs. Then he switched to a gentler rub between her shoulders. Bending forward, he brought his face within inches of hers and dropped his free hand to her bare knee.

“Better?” he asked.

Not really. Now she couldn’t breathe at all.

The phone rang.

“Let me grab that for you,” Matt said, reaching for the cordless handset since he was closest to it.

Eve couldn’t read the caller I.D. from where she was. Panic-stricken, she thought of who might be calling her and settled on the worst-case scenario.

“Let it ring. It’s probably my mother.” Unless, of course, it was Claude, calling to see if she’d gotten the message he’d left her. That would be the post-apocalyptic scenario.

Matt had already grabbed the phone, though. His apologetic smile as he passed her the receiver seemed to say, “Isn’t that cute? She doesn’t want to talk to her mother when there’s a man in the house.”

Which was true enough. Eve didn’t want her mother getting any of her hopes up. Eve was through with men.

She hit the green Talk button. She’d feel stupid not answering it now.

Her mother’s voice came through loud and clear. “Hello, sweetheart. I was wondering…if it rains, we can’t have the party outdoors. Do you think we should rent one of those big tents, just in case?”

What Eve thought was that the whole family should have chipped in and sent her parents on a cruise for their fortieth anniversary. But what she said was, “Renting a tent sounds like a good idea.”

“And you’re sure you’re still coming?” her mother finished anxiously, reigniting Eve’s all-too-familiar pangs of guilt. She’d blown off too many family functions in the past, and this one was important. Her mother kept calling it a party, when in fact it was more of a family reunion.

“Of course, I’ll be there.”

“Good. Because there’s someone we’d like you to meet.”

Eve’s guilt gave way to an equally familiar irritation. Her mother couldn’t seem to understand that she wasn’t interested in meeting men. Her glance drifted to Matt, and she shifted around in her chair to face away from him.

After she said good-bye, she turned to find his clear blue eyes fixed on her. She lowered her