The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,39
innocent and sweet, funny and vivacious.
With his past, he should keep away from her, not sully her with his touch, but no matter how hard he tried, every part of him wanted her. He was cutting his business meetings short, delegating responsibilities to others, ignoring other issues just so he could be here with her, to bask in her smiles and her laughter.
Jade smiled wanly at him, looking behind her at the clutter that was better than it used to be, but still not the scene she’d wanted him to see on his return. She so desperately wanted to impress him but he’d arrived earlier than she’d anticipated. “I wanted things to be perfect for you when you came back. We’re so close to being finished, more than a month ahead of schedule too.”
“I think you’re incredible,” he said sincerely.
Jade blushed and wished she could be more sophisticated around this man. “I should go clean up,” she said, hoping they were still having dinner together tonight.”
“You look beautiful. Will you show me what you’ve done?” he asked gently, loosening his tie and tossing it onto the sofa she’d placed right in front of the enormous fireplace.
Angelo watched the soft blush darken and, impossibly, his body hardened even more. He’d never experienced sexual need like he had over the last few weeks. Jade had gotten under his skin and he knew that he had to have her. She was like a drug that he’d quickly become addicted to. He even enjoyed her company, a definite first in his mind. Besides Sydney and Ella, the wives of his best friends, he’d never really had any inclination to get to know a female besides what she wanted in bed. But with Jade, he wanted to know everything, all her secrets and all of her hopes and dreams. Not to mention all the things she liked in bed, how to make her scream out with desire and he wanted to know what she looked like when she splintered apart in his arms.
“Yes.” She straightened her shoulders and took a quick step backwards, careful this time about the construction materials that were still littering the floor in various places although not nearly as bad as the last time she’d taken him around.
“Of course,” she said with more confidence. “Let’s start this way.” Jade led him through the long, dark hallway that would one day be filled with light but right now, looked similar to a walk to the gallows. She turned left and entered through one of three archways that had been re-plastered by extremely talented craftsmen. “The kitchen is almost finished, and I think it looks incredible!” she said with a huge smile. New everything had been installed in the last week including cabinets that rose all the way to the ceiling in some places, a stainless steel refrigerator, gourmet gas stove with elaborate hood, double ovens, microwave, deep freezer and gleaming, black granite countertops. She’d even gotten the electrician to hurry with the lighting and there were several recessed lights and pendulum lights as well as under-counter lights in various places.
She went on to lead him through the dining room where glossy hardwood floors had been installed that matched the previous floors although with better quality wood. An enormous dining room table large enough to seat fourteen had been placed right in the center and, just this morning, she’d had someone install the silk curtains that were a perfect counterbalance to the brocade chairs.
The library hadn’t yet been touched and there were several other rooms which she needed to start, but Angelo had asked her to hold off on those areas, focusing more on the public and more useful rooms like the great room and kitchen. So more than half of the bottom floor was still to be worked, but the wine cellar had been installed and Jade teased him about the enormous number of bottles a man had delivered and stored away yesterday.
The stairs had also been fixed with all the warped boards cleared out and new ones installed then re-stained to match the warm, earthy color that had previously been in the house. “As you asked, I’ve ordered the colorful tiles to go against the rise of each stair. It’s going to be incredible!” she enthused.
As they walked through the rest of the enormous house, Jade explained what was going on with each room. There were so many workers around but she had everyone’s name memorized and gave each of them