Love Captures the Heart (Sully Point, Book 3) (11 page)

He shoved the salad away. "Sounds great to me. What
kind of pie?"

"Pecan."

She got up and was back soon with pieces of pie on plates
for both of them. She watched as he took a bite and closed his eyes to savor
it. "Good?"

"Mmm. The best. Seriously good pie."

She ate some and had to agree. "I've never gotten
around to asking you what your favorite pie or cake or cookie might be."

"Pecan ranks right up there. But all time fave has to
be warm peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Cake would be German
Chocolate. Cookie--actually, I've never met a cookie I didn't like."

She laughed. He said, "That's the first time I've
smiled all week."

Her smile faded. "It's been horrid hasn't it?"

"Yes, fairly horrid. You were right, you know. All your
predictions came true about the public reactions. All my current and future
jobs have cancelled, in one case taking the financial hit on forfeiting rather
than use me."

"Oh Jason, I'm so sorry to hear that. People can be so
stupid."

"The only good news is that the Golden Dome is going to
be okay. After everything, it turns out the design was strong enough to
withstand even the use of substandard materials. They'll still do some
retrofitting for safety sake, but the building is in no danger of
collapse."

"But that's fantastic! Once the news gets out--"

"Come on, Holly. Don't lose your sense of people's
natures. No matter what happens next, my name is officially mud in this town.
The perception is that I did something wrong. That perception isn't going to
change anytime soon."

She nodded slowly. He was right and it was pointless to act
like everything would be fine. After a minute of silence she got up and brought
the steaks and baked potatoes into the dining room. Jason stared down at his
plate and then looked up at her with troubled eyes. "Could we save this?
Put it in the oven on low or something?"

"Sure. Not hungry after the pie?"

"Not hungry in general lately."

"What do you want Jason?" Holly asked intently.
"How can I help?"

"What I want is to lie down with you and lose myself
for a while in your body. Just leave the world behind."

She gave him a serious look. "Then that's what we'll
do." She stood up, put the plates into the oven and then walked around the
table to him and held out a hand. He took it and stood and walked with her to
the bedroom. She undressed him and then herself and they lay down on the bed.
She turned to him and said, "No pressure, no work, no people, just us,
just our bodies, just feel." She began to kiss her way down his body and
felt him relax against her until she created a different kind of tension in
him.

They made love slowly at first and later with an intense
passion. When he finally rested against her, she felt like he was a whole man
again, instead of the broken man who'd come through her door that night.

In the morning she was awake before him, but he found her in
the shower and joined her there. Morning shower sex woke them both up fully and
Holly headed for the kitchen dressed in her silky robe with a smile on her
face. She was drinking coffee when he walked in, barefoot and wearing his usual
casual attire of jeans and a black t-shirt. He looked sexy as hell, she
thought, and sighed.

"What was that sigh about," he asked, getting a
cup of coffee for himself.

"You," she said. "You look so damn sexy in
the morning. The barefoot and jeans thing is working for you."

He gave a chuckle. "I seem to have forgotten to bring
shoes over here when I brought the clothes."

"Ah, I see. Did you have any plans for today?"

He frowned. "No, my schedule has become very clear."

"Then I have an idea. But first, are you ready for
breakfast?"

"What do you have to eat?"

"I was going to put a frittata in the oven if that
sounds good."

"Sure. Now what is your idea?"

She began pulling ingredients from the stainless steel
refrigerator. "Well, I was thinking we should go to Sully Point for the
weekend. And if you want, we could take Gloria with us. Show her the town. Or
not, that's up to you."

"I don't think I'm up for showing Gloria around, plus
we need to give her at least a day's warning before we take her down there. But
us--yeah, we could go down there. I'm in the mood to get out of town, that's
for sure."

She beamed at him. "Perfect." Within a few
minutes, the frittata was cooking and she'd mixed up some blueberry muffins and
put them in the oven.

"This is good, our going today. It will give you
another look at the land if you want and--"

"Hold on, are you talking about the project?"

"Yes."

"I don't think you should assume that your family is
still going to want me to design it for them."

"I'm not assuming anything. They've stayed updated on
this whole mess through Maggie--remember she's Sam's sister? And they aren't
idiots. Nothing has changed their minds about you being involved."

"Maybe something should have changed their minds."

"What are you talking about?"

"Holly, I'm the one who hired and trusted the bastard
who took the bribe. What does that say about my judgment?"

She had her hands on her hips and stood looking at him for a
minute. "What it says about you is that you're human. You can't know
everything about a person. What my family sees is how you came forward so
quickly upon finding out about the problem. How up front you've been. You are a
man of integrity, Jason."

He busied himself making another cup of coffee. Turning around
abruptly to face her he said, "I don't know how to deal with this--this
attack on my work. My work is who I am. I've poured my life into it for years
now. I don't know how to fight the bastards that are doing this."

"Time will help. And getting involved in a project that
is outside the city might be a very good thing right now."

"Isn't that the same as running away?"

"More like running to something, I'd say. Meanwhile
people are going to notice when someone like Rob Tremaine lets it be known that
he wants you as the architect for his latest project."

"Rob doesn't have to--"

"Of course he doesn't have to. He wants to let people
know that. Right now you have to let other people express their belief in your
honesty and morality." She watched his face carefully to see if her words
were sinking in. She saw a lessening of tension around his eyes. He still
looked shell-shocked to some extent, but not as blankly devastated as last
night when he'd first arrived. As she pulled the muffins out of the oven, she
called out over her shoulder, "Get the butter from the fridge, would
you?" Within moments they were seated at the table with hot muffins and a ham,
pepper, potato and onion frittata.

"Now isn't this better than a protein shake?"

He gave her a smile. "Just about anything is better
than a protein shake. This--this is a feast. And these muffins are
unbelievable."

They ate in a companionable silence. Holly wondered whether
she should suggest her next proposal to him and decided to wait. Get him to
Sully Point first. Then they'd see.

* * * *

Jason found the drive down to be relaxing. He and Holly
didn't talk much, but listened to music instead. At one point she'd gotten him
to sing along with the radio with her, and they'd eventually ended up laughing.
If you could laugh your life wasn't over, right?

He knew he needed to pull out of the funk he was in, to get
up and fight. But he felt so drained by all that had happened, however, every
mile away from the city seemed to lift some of the darkness from him. Holly was
a big part of that. She wasn't perky or too cheerful, she was just herself. She
wasn't careful about him, which would have put his teeth on edge.

"I have an idea for tomorrow," she said into the
quiet of the Jaguar. "I think we should go out on one of Cody's boats and
go fishing."

He glanced over at her in surprise. "Now that is an
excellent idea. I could definitely use some time out on the water."

"Good, because I called Cody yesterday and arranged
it."

"You were that sure you could convince me to come here
with you?"

"Well, I wasn't positive, but I thought I had a good
chance at it. I was prepared to fight dirty."

He laughed. "It's a good plan. Getting away is exactly
what I need."

She smiled at him and he felt his breath catch in his
throat. She was so damn beautiful. It hit him sometimes like that, out of the
blue. Her golden hair fell in waves around her shoulders and her brown eyes
sparkled as she looked at him now. He suddenly wanted her desperately.

"What? What is it? You have this look on your face...oh."

"We're almost there, right?"

"Yes, about fifteen more minutes."

"Think we could go parking again on the project
land?"

She laughed. "I have a much better idea. My sister Anna
has this loft she used to live in before she married Sam. Then Julia and Cody
lived there before buying their house. Anna hasn't really used since she put in
a studio at the beach house. When I mentioned you might be coming down, she
offered it to you to use whenever you're in Sully Point. It makes more sense
than staying at Maelynne's motel every time. This way you can have a
comfortable place to stay, and you can stay as long as you want."

"That's awfully generous of her. I'm not sure I feel
comfortable--"

"Before you say anything, remember it's just sitting
there now, not being used."

"Well, that is a good point. It sure would help out for
when I need to be down here."

"And, since I know where the key is, we can go straight
there and let ourselves in, bypassing family entirely until we're ready to see
them."

"Ah. Now that sounds like a very good plan since I feel
like getting you out of those clothes as soon as possible."

"It's good how we're on the same wavelength."

He laughed.

Later that day, after they'd worn each other out and taken a
short nap, Jason decided that Holly might be the best antidote there was for
what he'd been going through. He felt one hundred percent better than he had
when he'd arrived at her apartment last night.

He was sitting on the couch thinking while Holly got
dressed. It seemed to him that there wasn't much point in going into the office
this coming week. He had literally no business. He probably should lay people
off. Maybe Holly would have some ideas about how to handle the employees.
Perhaps giving everyone a week's vacation made the most sense. He knew he
needed to catch his breath and regroup.

"Holly?"

She answered from the bedroom, "Yes?"

"I think I want to stay here this coming week."

"Good idea."

"Holly?"

"Yes?"

"Was this your plan from the beginning?"

She walked into the living area, dressed in a long clingy
peach-colored dress with a V-neck. She shrugged bare shoulders. "I
wouldn't necessarily call it a plan..."

He grinned at her. "Just how much managing of me have
you been doing?"

She came to the couch and sat on his lap. "As much as I
could get away with."

"You're good for me," he said in some surprise.

"I know."

"You know, we've gone beyond our agreement."

"That has occurred to me lately."

"Are we still okay?"

She grinned at him. "Are you ready to declare undying
love and propose marriage?"

He rolled his eyes. "Undying lust maybe, with a
proposal of sex before the night is over."

"That's my thinking too. But nothing says we can't be
good for each other, like friends would be. Right?"

"Exactly."

"Then let's go to my father's house and run the gauntlet
of well-meaning family."

"Do you think they think we're together?"

"Of course. And we are. Just not in the way they
think."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're imminently
practical?"

She smiled at him and got up off his lap. "Come on,
they'll be waiting. I think my Dad is doing a major fish fry."

"I've definitely eaten better food since I met
you."

She laughed her musical laugh. He wondered briefly when that
laugh had become so important to him. Shrugging to himself he followed her out
the door.

The evening at the Grainger house was one of laughter,
people talking over one another, tons of fresh seafood, and finally a serious
conversation where Jason laid everything out for the family about just what had
happened. He was completely honest about his lack of judgment in hiring the guy
who had taken the bribe, and he let them all know that his other projects had
cancelled. When he stated that he would understand if they wanted to use
another architect for the Sully Point project, they essentially told him to
shut up and get on with the work.

"From our point of view this just means you can devote
all your energies to our project," Sam said. "This makes us happy. We
are very sorry about what has happened to your business. But I'm guessing that
once things take off on our project, things will pick up for you in the city as
well."

"I've decided to stay in Sully Point for the coming
week, to get the project started," Jason told them. "And I'll make
use of Anna's loft if that's okay."

Anna smiled at him. "It will be good to know someone is
using it. Can we get you anything, like a drafting table? My work is always
done on an easel, so there isn't really anything there for your kind of
drawing."

"I do a lot of work on my computer," Jason said. "But
yes, I have been known to use a drafting table."

"I'll have one delivered tomorrow," Anna said
firmly.

The time spent with the Grainger family left him feeling he
was surrounded by fans of his work. Their optimism lifted his spirits
enormously.