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Chapter Seven

LEAVING Lissa to follow, Blake blew out a strangled breath as he descended the stairs. A beautiful woman, a willing woman, champagne and

candles. He could have had her. Right there on the 􀀧oor, he could have given into the temptation that had kept him hard as granite all evening

and most of the day.

He could have stripped away her clothes and watched her body bloom beneath his hands. He could have slid inside her, watched her eyes

darken in surprise then pleasure. And he was walking away.

He shook his head. Some other man would have to introduce Lissa to the joys of sex because she was strictly out of bounds to him. And the

pain in his skull was intensifying by the minute. Strobes of light impeded his vision, nausea rose in ever-increasing waves. The alcohol hadn’t

helped. He shoved the discomfort away. Never allow another to witness your vulnerabilities. He’d lived by that personal mantra all his life and

he wasn’t changing now.

On his arrival earlier, he’d had the unnerving feeling she was looking right into him when she’d caught him watching her at the top of the

stairs. He hadn’t enjoyed the sensation one bit.

Nor had he intended a seduction scene as such. One always celebrated a new venture with champagne. And the candles. He really had

expected the power to be off.

Beneath the twin circles of light, he slowed to allow her to catch up. The empty building echoed with the sound of footsteps on wood as

they crossed the polished boards.

A big hollow space, waiting to be 􀀮lled. Kind of like where he was in his life right now. A place full of endless possibilities. He stared past

the lights’ glare to the darkened ceiling. Darkness into light.

He swiped a frustrated hand over his hair. Today had been one hell of a day and he wasn’t going to end it by making an even bigger

mistake with Lissa. A mistake that could cost them this partnership, and he knew she couldn’t afford for that to happen.

She walked up and stood beside him, her shoulder brushing his arm, and said, ‘Right, where shall we start …?’

He liked her ideas, suggested a few of his own. Her vision for the premises was well thought through considering she’d seen it for the 􀀮rst

time this afternoon, the energy running through her commentary boundless. She pointed out a proposed o􀀴ce area, another space where

clients could wait in comfort and browse catalogues. Areas for displays of soft furnishings and colour swatches, wallpaper, shelves to display

interesting and unusual glassware or pottery. Another where clients could play with mock-up designs on touch-screen computers.

Eventually Lissa had said all there was to say. She looked to Blake for his response to her suggestion that she hang some of her own artwork

on the walls. She’d saved a couple of her favourite pieces from a watery grave and she could create more.

He only nodded and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

‘If it’s all right with you, I could set up at home in one of the spare rooms so it doesn’t interfere with anything you might want to do,’ she