An Offer He Cant Refuse - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,57

I could get in here in a day or so, if you'd like - and if you like them," she said, glancing over at him.

He shrugged.

She crossed to the seat-level fireplace hearth, pushing aside a tall stack of newspapers to make room for them both. "They'll make you more comfortable."

"I doubt it," she thought he muttered, but then he said more loudly. "Would you like some coffee? A soda? I have sugarless."

So he was backing her no-sweets habit now. Tea ignored the little stab of disappointment and shook her head. "Come sit beside me and let me show you my sketches."

"Just a sec."

He disappeared through the front door again. She heard a splash and peered through the glass wall at the pool. But he was out as quick as he was in. In another two minutes he was back in the living room, his hair wet and a blue-and-white striped beach towel wrapped around him from hip to knees.

Certainly he still had on those low-riding Levis, right?

He seated himself on the hearth beside her. She leaned down to pull her sketchpad from her briefcase, her gaze sliding over to his long legs and the damp golden hairs already springing away from his tanned skin. She stared, fascinated, as a lone drip of pool water worked itself from somewhere above and rolled over his knee and toward his ankle.

A flush of corresponding heat rolled over her, and she jerked upright, pulling from her briefcase - the makeup bag.

"Your sketches are in there?" Johnny asked, glancing down at her lap.

"No, no." She dropped the bag like a hot potato and grasped the spirals of her sketchpad instead. With a quick flip, she located her first drawing.

She tilted it to give him a better view of the quick sketch she'd made of the house as seen from the courtyard surrounding the pool. "It's preliminary as I said, but what I propose is to return the exterior and interior walls to the sand color called for in the original plans."

"You know I don't like things around me to be boring."

Like her clothes. Like her? Was that why he hadn't brought her back home on Friday night? Tea pushed the thought from her mind. "The color will come from the furnishings and from the outside environment. As a matter of fact, I want to take my cue when it comes to color from the outside environment."

He scooted closer as she flipped another page. Her arm, bare beneath the short sleeve of her shirt dress, brushed his cool skin. Setting fire to hers.

She hugged her elbow to her ribs and swallowed hard. "Most of the wood floors in the house can be refinished, but the one here in the living room needs to be replaced. What I was thinking was mimicking the pale turquoise of the pool in a ceramic floor tile for this room. Not only would it visually extend the pool setting into the interior, but it would be cool in the hot months. In the winter, the reflection of a fire in the fireplace against the tiles would be spectacular."

"Spectacular," he murmured. His body shifted again, and his towel-covered thigh pressed against her hip.

"Well?" she asked, glancing over to find him gazing not at the sketch, but at her face. "What do you think?"

I think I want you, right here, right now.

The voice in her head matched the look in his eyes. "Johnny..." Her body seemed to sway toward his and, cursing her imagination, she snapped her spine straight, forcing herself upright. With a breath, she focused back on the pad and the pieces of furniture she'd drawn there.

"I can get a couple of vintage pieces from a local shop I know." She pointed her forefinger at the page. "A slat back sofa like this one and a van der Rohe lounge chair similar to this. If you like them, I can have them delivered in a couple of days. Would that make you more comfortable here?"

He traced the back of one finger down her cheek, and those gypsy violins started singing again. She saw the firelight reflected on the blue tile floor and their bodies entwined on a velvety area rug.

"I'm beginning to think only you can make me more comfortable here," he said, his voice husky and low.

"I thought we agreed to take this back to business only," Tea whispered. That's what she'd decided, right? That's what he'd made clear by leaving her alone on Friday night. By not calling on