aisle. I need the house fixed up before then, so she can impress all of his important friends. It’s very important to me that she is happy.”
“Who’s she marrying?”
“Some older man. He’s a real estate investor from England who wants to take over all of South Florida.”
“You don’t sound as though you’re too fond of him.”
“He spoils the hell out of her and she seems happy. She’s got him opening up a restaurant here on the island next season. But no, I don’t like him. I don’t trust him. He’s forty-nine. She’s twenty-seven. What the hell does he want with her?”
“Aren’t you a hypocrite? Wasn’t the last woman you dated twenty-one?”
He looked at her again, those piercing eyes of his narrowing. “You know that, but you don’t know that I got hurt or what team I played for?”
She shrugged. “I remember being irrationally annoyed at you when I heard that on some entertainment news show. You’re a thirty-six-year-old grown man and she’s barely out of girlhood. Someone who should be studying for her college final instead of spread across the hood of a car in a bathing suit that would fit a toddler. What the hell did you want with her? I’ve seen that girl give an interview. Don’t tell me it was for her sparkling conversation.”
“She was more mature than most her age and I was with her because I know she didn’t want me for my money.”
“No. She wanted you for your status. Every up-and-coming model needs to be seen on the arm of a major athlete.
“Has anyone ever accused you of overstepping? Because you seem to have a knack for it.”
She knew she was wrong. She knew she had crossed a line, but she couldn’t stop herself with him. She couldn’t make herself shut up. He probably didn’t run into too many women like her. He was a mythic figure to most of the world, and she should probably be cowed by him, but for some reason she wasn’t.
“I’m probably never going to see you again. What’s the harm?”
“What do you mean you’re not going to see me again? How are you going to decorate my house?”
“What?” She shook her head, thinking she must be hearing things.
“I want you to decorate my house. I told you I needed it done before my sister’s wedding next year.”
“But—but...are you sure? I’ve never done anything of this size. And you haven’t seen my portfolio. And there is the fact that I’ve acted like a complete crazy person the whole time we’ve been acquainted.”
“But you did Rosecove?”
“Yes.”
“Then, you have the job. I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of bringing you in unless I was going to hire you.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say. This was the job of her dreams. This was the job that would keep her business open and her parents off her back. This was the job that could take her career to the next level, and she was stupidly talking herself out of it.
“You do want the job, don’t you?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Yeah? You don’t sound too sure. If you don’t think you can handle it, I can find someone else.”
“Of course I want this job, Mr. Bradley. I won’t disappoint you.”
“Good. It’s yours.”
Her heart jumped into her throat. She couldn’t believe it. She was on a beautiful island and had just been offered the job that could make her career. It seemed too good to be true. “Could you excuse me for a moment? I just have to make a phone call.”
She walked away from him, back up the path toward the house as she pulled out her cell phone.
Willa picked up on the first ring. “You’re alive?”
“Yes, and I’m walking away from the beach toward the biggest house on the planet. He offered me the job, Wils!”
“Why?” She didn’t sound at all impressed.
“What do you mean, why?”
“You’ve done a couple of beachside inns and you specialize in old-lady condos. Why does he want you? Are you sure he’s not some kind of serial killer who lures interior designers to his secluded estate and then collects their body parts in jars in his basement? That’s a great idea for a book. I’ll call it Designed for Murder.”
“Could you stop being a mystery writer for one moment and be my supportive best friend?” Virginia asked, even though she knew Willa was right. There were a hundred other designers more qualified than she.
“Yeah. I guess I could do that. This is an amazing opportunity that could skyrocket your career. And I think that deserves a happy dance.” Virginia heard Willa switch her phone to speaker. “Come on, girl. I’d better not be dancing alone here. Shake what your mama gave you.”
Virginia laughed, just imagining Willa in front of her desk in her little New York apartment dancing to celebrate her success. They had happy danced when Willa had gotten her first book deal. “I got the job,” she sang as she shook her hips. “I got the job.” Now they were dancing for her.
* * *
Carlos came up behind Virginia only to catch her dancing as she held the phone to her ear. A foreign sound escaped his mouth and he realized that he was laughing. She had done that to him, made him see the humor in something when for so long he hadn’t been able to find anything to bring a smile to his face. But she’d done it. She was the only one who’d managed it, even though others had tried. She was just herself. Her blunt, quirky self. Maybe he was crazy to offer her the job on the spot. She could be a maniac. But he wanted her, and he always got what he wanted.
Her back was to him so she couldn’t see him, and he was glad because he got to look at her shaking her rump as long as he wanted. He knew her dance wasn’t meant to be seductive, but he felt himself harden. It may have been because she was woman and he was a man who had gone a long time without one. But it had to be more than that. She’d called him out on dating a twenty-one-year-old model and she was right. Looking at her now, that girl couldn’t compare to her. No swimsuit model could.
He wondered what was going on under that long dress. Were her legs as shapely as her hips? Was the skin on her chest as smooth as the skin on her shoulders looked? Did her behind look as luscious and round as it appeared through all that fabric?
She turned around suddenly, her mouth open slightly. She had pretty lips. He had noticed that about her, too.
“Gotta go, Wils. He caught me.”
He could hear the sound of feminine laughter before they disconnected.
“I promise I’ll be professional while I’m on this job. I have references if you want to check. I’m always on time. I mind my manners and I’m efficient.”
“I
