wasn’t until she was in her pajamas and in bed, a book opened and then ignored on her lap, that she faced another, potentially more important, issue.
If Eli agreed to help her, they would have to spend time together pretending to be a couple. And maybe—just maybe—she would finally get over her long-ago crush on him.
She’d known Eli since she was eleven years old and her cousin Justin had brought his best friend to a party at Harry’s house. When she was fifteen, he’d joined Justin in vetting and harassing her first boyfriends, all under the guise of being protective stand-in brothers.
At sixteen, she’d suffered through a major crush on Eli, who was then twenty-one. By the time she was nineteen, she’d believed her crush was behind her and was relieved she’d kept her feelings a secret. She hadn’t even told her three sisters, Georgie, Tommi and Bobbie, about it.
She’d thought yearning after Eli Wolf was a part of her childish, romantic past, her feelings packed away with other high school memories. She’d gone on to date college boys and, later, a fellow professor at the University of Washington, a CPA and a lawyer or two.
She frowned at the blurred lines of type in the open book, not seeing the words.
Until he’d kissed her to wish her happy birthday, she’d been so sure she was over her crush. But the kissing experiment with three other men had raised serious questions.
Surely it couldn’t be that Eli Wolf’s kisses were addictive and had resurrected her schoolgirl infatuation—but if not, why did other men’s lips taste bland and boring?
She needed an answer. She didn’t date often, preferring instead to have a mixed circle of friends who attended events in a group. But in her admittedly limited experience, she’d never yet met a man who could hold her interest longer than a few dates. Surely the same thing would happen with Eli—and she’d permanently set aside her childish adoration for him and move on to happily date other men.
But what if she fell for him, rather than growing tired of him?
That won’t happen, she scoffed silently as she closed her book, set it on the nightstand and snapped off the lamp. I’m not foolish enough to fall in love with a commitment-phobic bachelor.
But she’d have to be on guard, she thought sleepily. She liked her life just as it was. She didn’t want to fall in love and surrender her independence or change the basics of her comfortable life. Though twenty years had passed since her father’s death, she vividly remembered the following days and months and how devastated her mother had been. Watching her mother over those early years as she coped with grief, Frankie had come to believe that loving deeply carried the potential for even deeper hurt.
Because Cornelia, Frankie and her sisters had adored George Fairchild. It wasn’t until after his death that they’d learned he’d had a gambling habit that left his grieving family nearly destitute.
She’d trusted her father with all the blind faith of a child. While she hadn’t stopped loving him, as she grew older she’d sworn never to foolishly trust a man that deeply again.
She’d always been goal-oriented and focused, she thought, stifling a yawn. Surely she could be the same while dealing with Eli? She’d keep her eyes on the prize—derailing Harry’s matchmaking intentions and putting to rest forever any remnants of her teenage crush.
Satisfied she’d fully considered and understood both the upside and downside of her plan, Frankie fell asleep.
She dreamed of a tall, broad-shouldered man with black hair and smoky-blue eyes—he held out his arms and her dream self ran joyously toward him.
In her quiet bedroom, she tossed and turned, murmuring and tangling the blankets as she dreamed.
Chapter Two
Two days after dinner at Harry’s house, Frankie left her office on the University of Washington campus midmorning and drove to Ballard. The Seattle community was twenty minutes west of the UW campus and an equal distance northwest of downtown Seattle. Wolf Construction’s business office was located in the industrial section near the Ballard Locks. Except for a diesel pickup truck with a Wolf Construction logo on the door, the parking lot on the south side of the building was empty.
When she entered the outer office, the reception area was quiet and empty, the two secretarial desks vacant.
“Hello?” No one answered her call, and she frowned. Surely the office’s outer door would have been locked if no one was here?
The silence was broken by a loud thump somewhere deeper in the building, followed by a male voice muttering what sounded like swearing. Frankie peered past the desks and down the hallway beyond, where several doors stood open into offices.
“Hello?” she called again. When no one appeared, Frankie waited another moment before determinedly rounding the desk and marching down the hall.
“Damn it,” a male voice rumbled with annoyance. “Where the hell did Connor put those plans?”
Frankie followed the deep voice, stepping into an office. She halted just inside. Eli stood across the room, his back to her as he pulled open a drawer and shuffled through the papers inside. He wore heavy black work boots, jeans and a black T-shirt. He bent over the drawer, and faded denim pulled tight over his rear. Beneath the snug clothes, sculpted muscles shifted and bunched as he stretched to reach the back of the drawer. Frankie stared, riveted, her body heating as her gaze followed the movements of his powerful body.
He straightened, shoving the drawer closed and opening the next one with an impatient jerk.
The noise snapped Frankie out of the spell that held her, and she gathered her composure, taking a deep, calming breath. “Hello, Eli.”
He stiffened and quickly swung around, his eyes flaring with surprise just before his mouth curved in a grin.
“Frankie? What are you doing here?”
Now that she was actually about to propose her plan to Eli, Frankie was suddenly nervous. Her fingers gripped the leather strap of her black Coach purse a bit tighter.
“I need to talk to you about something. Do you have a few minutes?”
Clearly surprised, he cocked his head to the side, considering her for a brief moment. “Sure.” He tossed a roll of blueprints into the open drawer, pushed it closed and moved away from the cabinet. “Come on in. Have a seat.” He gestured at the two leather armchairs facing the desk. “I’d offer you something to drink, but the office staff has the day off and the coffee is probably cold sludge left over from yesterday.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine.” Frankie crossed to the chair and sat, perching on the edge of the comfortable seat.
Eli half sat on the edge of the desk facing her. The position had him much too close to her. She had to look up to meet his gaze. At eye level, the worn denim of his jeans stretched across powerful thighs. Determinedly, she kept her gaze on his face.
“So, tell me,” he prompted when she hesitated. “What brings you to Ballard this morning?”
Now that she was here, faced with explaining her plan to Eli, Frankie was reluctant to begin the conversation.
