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“Your hair looks sexy when it’s loose like that.”
She shut the door, laughing outright, glad he’d turned it into a joke. “I am the furthest thing from that you’ll ever meet.”
“You thinking you’re not sexy is sexy, Marley.”
His gaze caught hers and she realized he was serious. She quickly turned away to check the pizza. One more minute. She grabbed the pizza cutter from the drawer next to the sink.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“There’s nothing to know—not that I care anyway.”
“Hmm. I think—”
“Pizza’s done!” she said a bit too loudly. Close enough. “There’s paper plates and napkins in the cupboard to your right. Do you want a fork? Or a glass for your soda? Some ice?”
Justin smiled as she threw questions at him. “No fork, no glass, no ice.”
“Fine.” She slid the pizza onto the cardboard disc and quickly sliced it. Carrying it in one hand, napkins and her own soda in the other, she headed toward the living room. “Let’s eat outside on the back patio.”
“I’ll be right there.”
She paused at the doorway as he grabbed the towel hanging on the oven door and opened the freezer.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ice for your hand.” Towel filled, Justin shut the freezer door and followed her through the living room. When she shifted to nudge the sliding door open with her hip, he quickly opened it and stepped outside after her, into the lengthening shadows from the setting sun. As she set the pizza down on a low table between two chaise lounges he simply stared at the view before him.
With all the trees that surrounded the house, he hadn’t taken into account that she was at the top of a ridge that overlooked the city of Boulder. Whereas the rising sun had blinded him in the front this morning—had that really only been this morning?—the evening sun provided a stunning conclusion to the daylight hours in the back.
“Nice view.”
“It’s great, isn’t it?”
The lights of the city winked on one by one, like camera flashes at a concert, only they remained lit. “The log cabin is a perfect fit for this location.”
“I’d love to add on someday,” she revealed. “After Nate and I get our company started.”
Justin’s attention went on high alert. This was exactly the reason he’d told the cab company to pick him up in an hour.
“What company?” he asked as they sat.
“I—we—plan to open an architectural firm. After Nate graduates.”
He waited for her to continue, but all she did was hand him a napkin with two pieces of pizza. He passed her the ice-filled towel. The question he was about to ask died in his throat when she held her pizza in her mouth so she could position the ice pack on the bruised knuckles of her right hand. Then she took a huge bite and leaned back in her chair as she chewed.
He followed her lead, and before he knew it, the food was gone. Oddly enough, given the last words spoken and his original investigative intent in staying, the silence was companionable. He couldn’t remember ever spending time with a woman who didn’t feel the need to fill every moment of quiet with non-stop chatter.
Much as he hated to move, he knew the cab would arrive any minute. He picked up the sauce-stained cardboard backing and held out his hand for her napkin. “I’ll do the dishes.”
The grin she gave him made his heart thud. His gaze dropped to her lips.
No, no, no. He couldn’t go down that road. He was her boss—
Whoa. Was. Technically, he could go down that road.
And when she finds out who you are?
Justin walked away. It’d never work. Besides, he still didn’t know why she was conspiring with his father. For all he knew, his first assumption could be right and they were having an affair.
