Love Thy Neighbor (6 page)

He cleared a spot at the foot of the couch, sat down, and drew a deep breath. He had to get a grip. He could still hire Nikki to fix up his place. It didn’t mean anything had to happen between them. And besides, even if she were free, it would never work. He knew himself too well, and Nikki Norris wasn’t the type of girl you had your fun with and then dropped.

He picked up the latest issue of
National Geographic
and started to read an article about Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. He was about to call his buddy Conrad and tell him to check out the photography when the phone rang.

“Hey, baby,” Tammy purred on the other end. “Whatcha up to?”

“Doing a little reading. Thought I’d do some work, turn in early.”

“Oh.” He could picture her perfect little mouth pouting. “I was thinking that since they canceled the shoot today, you could come by. We haven’t seen each other in so long.”

“I saw you yesterday.”

“Yeah, but we were working,” she said. Tammy was one of the models on his current job.

Dallas dragged his hand through his hair and tried to stifle his sigh, but she heard it anyway.

“What’s the matter, baby? You sound tired. Want me to come over and give you a massage? Help you relax?”

“Thanks, Tam, but I’m gonna turn in early. Really. Been a long day.”

“Seriously?” The purr left her voice. She sounded incredulous. “Are you mad at me or something?”

Shit.
“No, I’m not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you?”

“Well, you don’t want to see me.”

Bollocks. Here we go. Tammy’s going to get needy. Please do not get needy on me.
“Tammy, I’m tired. I’ve got work to do. We’re friends—you know that.” He wished he’d never crossed that line with her. They’d been working late one night, had a few drinks after the shoot wrapped, she stuck around, and one thing led to another. It was a mistake. Every time he got involved with a woman, she wanted more than he could give. He’d try, but even his best was never good enough.

“Can I see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, at the shoot.”

“What about after that?”

He sat up and set his beer down hard. “Tammy, listen, I like you. I do. But we’re friends, and it needs to stay that way. We work together, and I don’t want to mess that up.”

“Seriously?” There was that incredulous tone again, from a woman who no doubt wasn’t accustomed to being turned down.

“It’s for the best. I can’t give you anything more than that.”

“Then why the hell did you act like you wanted so much more?”

Why? Because you were flaunting your tits in my face all day.
“I didn’t mean to imply that I wanted anything more than a friendship.”

“You have a real funny way of showing a girl you just want to be her friend.”

“I didn’t mean to lead you on…”

“Maybe you should have thought about that when you had your dick in my mouth.”

“Tammy, I didn’t mean to—”

Too late. She hung up, and Dallas reached for his beer and drained the rest in one gulp.
I’m sorry, Tammy. I know you don’t believe me, but I really am.

Chapter Six

Early the next morning, Nikki felt like she’d been knocked down for the count. She still couldn’t get over that Matthew was bringing someone else to their friends’ wedding. She never could have done that to him. Never.

She was on the verge of another round of tears when she heard a knock on her door. She should have checked the peephole first, because Mr. Sex God was standing on her threshold.

“Oh, Dallas.”

“Can I come in? Hope I’m not disturbing you. I wanted to ask you about something.”

She looked down at her yoga pants and baggy T-shirt, tried to smooth the tangled mess sticking out of her ponytail. “No, I mean, yes. C’mon in.”

He smiled as he stepped inside.

Nikki couldn’t help but stare at him. His hair was still damp, probably fresh from a shower, and he had a thin layer of stubble on his face, as if he hadn’t gotten around to shaving yet. He smelled of soap and pure man. She breathed in as deeply as she could, wondering how anyone had the right to look that handsome so early in the morning.

“Wow,” he said, looking around her place. “You’ve lived here for about a minute and look how you’ve set this place up. It looks great. Really brilliant. Love the color you painted that wall. See, now, I wouldn’t have thought to do that.”

“Yeah, well.” Nikki shrugged. “That’s what I do.”

“And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. My place needs some serious help. I was wondering if you’d mind taking a look sometime.” He gestured across the way with a hitchhiker’s thumb. “It’s my studio but it’s also my home and, well”—he hung his head and gave his gorgeous hair a shake—“it’s—it’s really pretty scary over there.”

Nikki laughed in spite of feeling so miserable about Matthew’s visit.

“I’ve been wanting to do something with the space ever since I bought it. That was three years ago. I keep putting it off. But then I met you. I’m taking it as a sign. Will you tell me what it’ll take to turn the place into something like…” He looked around again. “Something like this.”

Nikki wasn’t sure, but if she heard correctly, she’d been offered a job. Her heart pounded. This was exactly what she needed, at exactly the right time. “Do you want me to come look at it now?”

“Can you? Do you have time?”

Nikki’s face brightened up. “Absolutely. Let’s do it.”

When Dallas opened the door to his place, Nikki’s jaw almost hit the floor. She found it hard to believe that this space was across the hall from hers. It had two long brick walls, another wall of windows, and a spiral staircase that led to a second level. The kitchen alone was the size of her entire apartment. There was a gorgeous woodburning fireplace and a massive marble hearth. Camera equipment, tripods, lights, and the tools of his trade were scattered everywhere.

She spread her arms out and twirled. “How many square feet do you have here? Twenty-five hundred?”

“Thirty-one,” he said. “Thirty-five if you count the deck.”

“The deck?” She shot him a look of disbelief. “You have a deck?”

“Off the master bedroom.”

“How many bedrooms?”

“Three. But I use one as an office.”

“This place is huge. But if you don’t mind me saying, you’re not utilizing this space right at all.” She went over to one of the partitioned walls and gave it a thump. “Is there a stud in here?” she asked.

“Not really sure.”

“Hmmm…” She thumped it again. “We could move this wall back and it would open the space.”

“You do that sort of thing?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m also an architect. Technically, an architectural interior designer.”

“Really.” He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That’s impressive.”

“What did you think, I just painted walls and threw pillows around?”

He laughed. “Uh, actually, yes.”

She gave him a playful slap on the shoulder.

“Okay.” He raised his hands in surrender. “So what does an architectural designer do exactly?”

“Well, I’m trained as an architect, so I can make structural changes. If we need to raise a ceiling, move walls, gut a kitchen or a bath. I work around all the compliance laws and secure the permits and I handle everything so my clients don’t have to work with another outside source. And I do schematics and all that stuff, too. Gives me an edge over the competition.”

“That’s brilliant,” he said, nodding his approval.

“I’d like to think so.”

Dallas leaned against the kitchen island and drummed his thumb against the marble countertop. “So tell me honestly, is this place beyond all hope? Can you help me?”

“Are you kidding me? Your place has great bones.”

“Bones, huh? Is that what you people call it?”

“We people.” she laughed. “Seriously though, this is a big job.”

“I figured as much. Big space equals big job, right?”

“Something like that.”

“I know you’re busy and probably wouldn’t be able to get to this for a while but…”

Was he kidding? If it were up to her she’d start that minute, but Nikki forced herself to play it cool. “This is an incredible space,” she said. “Do you have any idea what we could do with this? Look at your ceilings and those wood beams. Structurally you really wouldn’t have to do that much to make this place amazing.” Her adrenaline pumped as she roamed through the space. “Some new lighting… We could completely separate your studio from your living space… Give you some privacy.”

“You just read my mind.” He smiled bigger than before. “That’s exactly what I’m after. I’m tired of living in my studio and bringing my studio home with me. If you could turn this place into a real home for me, I’d be forever in your debt.”

“If that’s what you want, then we can make it happen.” For the first time in months, she felt a bit of her old self begin to surface. “Can I see the upstairs?” she asked, eager to keep exploring his magnificent loft.

“By all means. After you.” He gestured toward the spiral staircase.

“These must be a real challenge after a night of drinking,” she said, gingerly taking the stairs and gripping the banister.

“They seemed like a good idea when I bought the place,” he said, trailing behind her.

When she reached the second level, she stepped into a seating area that doubled as storage space and led into the master bedroom. The king-size bed was perfectly made, which told her that either Mr. Sexy was a neat freak, or he hadn’t slept there the night before. She was pretty sure it was the latter. What she didn’t have to guess about was his duvet cover. It was expensive. The man had good taste.

“The deck’s this way.” He opened the French doors off his bedroom, and the view looked eastward, out at the city. He had a gas grill in the corner, but no table, no chairs.

Nikki could picture the deck flooded with flowers and plants, an herb garden in the corner. She’d transform it into a piece of paradise.

“This is spectacular,” she said.

“You should see it at night. You get a view of the whole skyline.”

They went back downstairs and he offered her a cup of coffee.

“I see you’re into recycling,” she said, gesturing to the six blue recycling bins lined up beneath the counter. “Those are a bit of an eyesore—we could find a better solution for them.”

“Just as long as I have ’em,” he said.

“You’re very conscientious about Mother Earth, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” he asked.

She thought about her trash bag filled with wine bottles, paper plates, plastic cups. “Ah, no,” she said with a sheepish smile, “I don’t recycle. I’m a bad person.”

“Why don’t you?” He sounded more curious than accusatory.

“You really do care about the environment.”

“I’ve never understood how people can’t care about it. It sustains us, it helps us thrive in every possible way, and we take it for granted and suck its resources dry.” He stopped and shook his head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to lecture you there. I’ll get off my soapbox now.”

She smiled to reassure him it was okay. She’d never really given the whole “save Mother Earth” thing much thought. She’d also never met anyone who was as passionate about the subject as Dallas.

“So,” she said, trying to lighten the mood, “we should do a proper walk-through. I’ll take some measurements. We’ll go room by room and talk about exactly what you want, and after that I’ll work up some preliminary ideas and an estimate. And don’t worry—I’ll give you the friends and family discount.” Hell, his space was so spectacular she would have paid
him
to design it.

“Sounds fantastic.” He handed her a cup of coffee.

She looked at him and smiled. The more she got to know Dallas, the more she liked him. There was so much more to him than being a sexy package.

“You know,” she said, leaning against his marble counter, “I think you made Matthew pretty jealous yesterday.”

“Really? What makes you think so?”

“He kept asking about you. Wanting to know how I knew you… Did you really live right across the hall from me… And oh God, he thought—” She set her coffee mug down and covered her mouth, laughing.

“What? He thought what?”

“No.” She shook her head and waved her hand in front of her face. “It’s too embarrassing. I can’t—”

“Now you
have
to tell me.”

She rolled her eyes and giggled some more. “Okay—” She cleared her throat and tried to compose herself. “Believe it or not, he thought you were hitting on me.” She burst out laughing again.

“Why is that so funny?”

“Oh, c’mon.
You
hitting on
me
?” She laughed so hard her eyes teared up.

“It’s not absurd, you know, me hitting on you.” He smiled, cocked one eyebrow, and Nikki’s body instantly filled with a whoosh of heat.

Trying to recover, she managed to say, “I still can’t believe Matthew got that jealous from meeting you. If he thought we were actually dating he’d probably come crawling back on his hands and knees, begging me to forgive him.” She was still laughing, only something about what she’d said rang true. She knew Matthew. Knew how competitive he was. She may have said it in jest, but she was absolutely spot-on about it.

Dallas leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his chest. “How bad do you want him back?”

“What do you mean?” Suddenly Nikki wasn’t laughing anymore.

“If you want, we could make Matthew a whole lot more jealous.”

She looked into his eyes and her stomach fluttered.
That’s crazy. Isn’t it?
In an effort to compose herself, she went for a nonchalant response. “Don’t even offer something like that unless you’re serious, because I’m liable to take you up on it.”

“I am serious. Look, if that little exchange out in the hallway made him sit up and take notice, we could have that boy talking to himself in no time.”

Was he really offering up his so-called services? “Dallas, you mean to say that if I asked you to pretend that you were into me, you know, just to make Matthew jealous, to make him appreciate what he had with me, you’d go along with it?”