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CHAPTER NINE
The next morning, Valerie woke at her usual early hour—thanks in part to the east-facing window in the master bedroom, and also to the ringing of her cell phone.
The default ringtone for callers she didn’t have programmed into her contacts was strident and bleating. She couldn’t have slept through the noise even if she’d had her ears plugged.
She snatched it off the nightstand and snarled, “What?” into it.
“I could have been your boss calling you, pretty girl. Do you always answer your phone with such a snarly tone?”
Perplexed, she pushed up onto her forearms and pulled the phone away from her ear to study the number on the display. It was a 252 number, which meant the caller was somewhere in eastern North Carolina.
And that caller had a deep, seductive drawl.
The revelation had her bolting upright in horror. “Tim?”
His laugh conjured an immediate, pleasurable throbbing between her thighs. He should have registered that thing as a deadly weapon.
“Do you know what kind of trouble I had getting your number? I should have already had it. Why’d you leave without giving me your number?”
Because volunteering the digits would have obligated him to call her. She didn’t want to be anyone’s obligation.
“I…left because I didn’t think you were coming back soon,” she hedged. “I felt like I was intruding.”
“I understand that. All the same, paper isn’t so hard to come by in my house. There was some Dowd Wave Cruisers stationery right there on the kitchen counter. A pen, too.”
“There might have been. I didn’t look.” She’d gotten all the measurements she’d needed and gotten the hell out of there before her compulsion to rummage through the mystery man’s drawers overcame her.
She got her feet onto the floor and stretched the gnarly kink out of her back. “Howdidyou get my number, anyway?”
“I tried calling Carine, but she was being coy for once, so I called Clay who called Carine and told her to give it to me.”
“That’s impressive.” Valerie padded into the bathroom, turned on the light, and cringed at her sleep-ravaged appearance. “So, what can I do for you this early morning?”
“I figured we could meet somewhere.”
“Why?”
“I’m sure you have questions about my house. I wasn’t exactly available to answer them last night, and I didn’t want you to think I believe the project is unimportant. It isn’t. I know you’ll be busy at Shora during the week.”
“So, you’re trying to book up my weekend time while you can, huh?”
“I’m used to asking for what I want. What’s the worst you can say, besides no? Are you going to tell me no?”
Valerie knew she probably should tell him no. If she sat across a table from him again, she’d have her flip-flop off within five minutes and would be sliding her foot up his thigh to try to get his attention, and she’dinsistthat he let her finish.
An adamantnowasn’t what came out of her mouth, though. “Where were you thinking of meeting?” she asked in a businesslike tone.
“I could meet you in Shora—”
“Hell no. Not gonna happen. I have spies, apparently, and they report back to your brother.”
“How do you know that? And besides, it’s just a business meeting.”
“Because he told me about it yesterday when I was waiting with Carine for her car to get towed. Someone saw you drop me off on Friday night. And right—justbusiness, hmm. Both times we’ve tried to do so-called business so far have started or ended with oral sex.”
The memories had Valerie rubbing her thighs together to try to slake some of the ache of arousal. The man was going to drive her crazy with want, and she hated begging.
“You make that sound like a problem,” he said. “Did you not enjoy it?”
