That Night with You

by Alexandrea Weis

  Adam appeared surprised. “But I thought we were competing against each other. You know, have the best design wins kind of thing.”

  Hayden snickered. “That was not my intention, Adam.”

  “Why not have us compete against each other?” Madison debated. “Might give you a better idea of our design styles, and you will then have two plans to choose from instead of just one.”

  Hayden’s eyes darkened as he pondered the idea. “I usually don’t like pitting one architect against the other. Are you are both all right with this?”

  “Great. I’m in,” Adam said with way too much exuberance in his voice.

  “I’m game,” Madison concurred.

  Adam rubbed his hands together and turned toward his desk. “I can’t wait to get started on a presentation for you.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something, Adam?” Hayden questioned.

  “What else do I need? You already told me what the client wants.”

  Madison folded her arms over her chest, displaying a smart grin. “The property, Adam. We need to see the property. What good is designing a house to blend with nature, if we don’t have any idea of the nature it is meant to blend in with?”

  The smile that spread across Hayden’s lips was absolutely stunning, awakening the sleeping butterflies in her stomach.

  “Very good, Madison. And you’re absolutely right. You need to see the property.” He glanced over at Adam. “Both of you.”

  Adam clapped his hands together and the loud noise made the butterflies in her stomach take wing. “Great. We can take a look at it whenever you like.”

  Hayden’s intense eyes crinkled up at the sides as his grin widened. “How about now?”

  “Okay,” Adam agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “I have a car waiting downstairs to take us to the property.” Hayden moved closer to Madison’s side. “What do you say, Ms. Barnett, are you up for a quick spin with me?”

  She leveled her eyes on him. “You don’t play around, do you, Mr. Parr?”

  “I like to cut right to the chase, Ms. Barnett. Games are for cards, not people.”

  For an instant, her eyes held his and the room around them disappeared. She remembered Harry saying the exact same thing to her so many years ago. It was Harry’s voice and Harry’s words.

  “Then let’s get this show on the road,” Adam proclaimed.

  The sound of Adam’s voice grated against her spine. Madison didn’t know how she was going to be able to work side-by-side with her aggravating coworker without stabbing her number two pencil straight through his ambitious little heart.

  ***

  The black Town Car Hayden had hired pulled up in front of a spacious wooded lot with thick oaks, a few crape myrtle trees, and trails that cut through the high grass and light brush. Named for the Turtle Creek that ran throughout the exclusive neighborhood, any address in the affluent area was often prized by the socially ambitious and highly affluent.

  “Two acres in this neighborhood is quite a find,” Hayden stated as he stepped from the rear of the car. “My clients inherited the property from a wealthy aunt, along with a sizable amount of money to build their dream home.”

  “Why don’t they want to build further out where they can get more land?” Adam probed.

  “You don’t pass on a chance to build in Turtle Creek, Adam,” Hayden explained. “There are very few lots left in this neighborhood.”

  Madison glimpsed the stone mansions that rose up close to the curb on either side of the property. They appeared old and grand, with wide steps that climbed to thick, carved doors and colonial windows covering the façade of the first and second stories. The homes were opulent, impressive, and demanded the attention of the onlooker, but Madison thought they lacked originality.

  “Whatever we design it will have to be set back,” she muttered, waving to the property. “We can’t give any hint of being natural with these homes on either side. It will take away from the aesthetic.”

  Hayden faced her. “What else?”

  “We need to keep the front grounds intact and allow the home to blend in,” she affirmed as she moved from the street to the curb.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Adam agreed. “We need more trees in front, actually.”

  Madison turned to him. “It’s a lot, not a grove, Adam. Add more trees and you’ll kill the grass and brush beneath. Better to leave the nature already in place intact.” She shifted her gaze to Hayden. “Does the property back up to the creek?”

  “The lot covers three hundred feet along the shore of the creek, right past the ridge.” He waved to a high ridge rising up in the center of the lot.

  Madison climbed from the curb onto the grass. “Let’s go and see it.”

  “Wait, what?” Adam’s face fell. “You don’t want to actually walk through that, do you?”

  She spun around. “Why not?”

  Adam’s hand swept down his black pinstripe suit and black leather shoes. “We’re not dressed for hiking through an uncleared lot, Madison.”

  She glimpsed her short yellow dress and black flats. “If I’m willing to walk in this, Adam, you can get a little dirt on your shoes.”

  Aghast, Adam’s green eyes rounded. “They’re two hundred dollar shoes, Madison.”

  Hayden’s alluring chuckle broke the tension in the air. “Come on, Adam, it will be fun.” He removed his suit jacket and flung it in the back of the car. Tugging his yellow tie from about his neck, he threw it on top of his jacket.

  Madison could see Adam’s reservations about the trek through the property stamped all over his face, but he did not dare voice his refusal. Shrugging his jacket from his shoulders, Adam reluctantly left it on the backseat of the car.

  “Come on, boys,” Madison taunted, kicking off her flats and leaving them next to the curb. “Last one to the creek is a rotten egg.”

  Madison took off down a dirt path to the side of the lot, running along as the brush and grass scraped against her bare legs. The late morning sun had finally come out and was filtering through the trees as a gentle fall breeze brought goose pimples to her skin. She could not remember the last time she had just run through the grass, feeling all the zest for life of a child.

  “Madison, don’t go so far,” Hayden’s voice called behind her.

  She ignored him as she darted along the narrow path. She could feel the cool, damp earth beneath her toes with the occasional crunch of a twig or leaves coming up from the ground. As she jogged along, she took in the topography of the lot, noting how it dipped sharply after reaching a rise, and when she continued down an embankment, she could smell the creek just up ahead. The ground beneath her feet became mushier, and soon brambles and thorny bushes closed in around her, sticking her with their burs.

  She was picking a thorn from her calf when Hayden came up to her.

  “You shouldn’t have taken off like that,” he chided, seeming a little out of breath.

  His concern perplexed her. “Why? I’m fine. The only thing that can hurt me here would be a snake, and it’s too cool for them to be up.”

  Hayden quickly glanced down at the ground. “Oh crap, I hate snakes.” He glowered at her. “If I chased you up here only to step on a snake, I will fire you.”

  Madison had never seen a man afraid of snakes, and the look on his face when she had mentioned the possibility of a slithering visitor was absolutely priceless. She broke out in a fit of laughter.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You.” She waved her hand at him. “Afraid of snakes.” She started laughing again. “I thought you were this famous architect, all sophisticated, and here you are afraid of a little ole snake.”

  “Well, no one likes snakes, Madison.” His anger cooled as he ran his hand through his wavy brown hair. “I’m not the big, famous architect. That was my father.”

  Her laughter slowly abated. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s you. Your designs are the talk of Dallas.”

 
His head cocked to the side, and the morning light catching in his gray eyes made Madison’s toes curl into the soft ground. “Is that why you wanted to come and work with my firm? Because my designs are the talk of Dallas?”

  “Do you want to know the truth, Mr. Parr?”

  “Mr. Parr was my father. I’d prefer it if you called me Hayden.”

  She stared into his eyes, mesmerized by the way the sunlight made them look so transparent. “The truth, Hayden, is I really, really needed a job.”

  Hayden smiled and then chuckled. “Well, I did ask for the truth, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did.” She angled her face upward to catch a ray of sunshine.

  “Why are you so different out here?”

  She shrugged and looked over at him. “Maybe because we’re not in your office; out here we’re free of constraints.”

  He dipped his head closer to her. “But I like constraints. I like it when people do what is expected of them.”

  Emboldened by her surroundings, she flirtatiously smiled at him. “And why is that?”

  “Because I like control. I like order. Without it there is simply…chaos.”

  “I thought that was a good thing,” she argued. “Chaos reminds us that we’re alive.”

  Hayden peered into her eyes. “I can think of other ways to feel alive, Madison.”

  “Hey, where are you guys?” Adam’s desperate voice cried from a patch of brush behind them.

  Madison could feel the heaviness of reality returning to her shoulders. For a few blissful moments, there had been no office, no boss, and no sense of propriety coming between them.

  “Over here, Adam,” Madison called.

  “Where?” Adam’s voice was laden with panic.

  “Over here,” Hayden shouted, his eyes never leaving her face. “By the river.”

  The crash of brush to their right soon gave way to the figure of Adam. With a leaf or two hanging from his red hair, the man’s face was bright red and his green eyes wild with fear.

  “This was a very bad idea, Madison,” he complained, coming up to their side. “There isn’t a thing we’ve accomplished by making our way across this jungle.”

  “I don’t know, Adam,” Madison offered. “I think our little adventure was very informational.”

  Hayden’s eyes curiously searched her face. “What did you discover?”

  She motioned to the ridge behind them. “The drop from the ridge is a lot steeper than I thought and not visible from the road. The topography is going to be a challenge, especially if we’re talking about a big house. We’re going to have to somehow make this home fit into the ridge.”

  “I don’t see it,” Adam rebuked. “Why not just clear the ridge? Get a few bulldozers in here and flatten the land for what we need.”

  “What about the natural beauty of the property?” she persisted. “You’ll destroy it with bulldozers.”

  Adam swatted at a passing insect. “I don’t see it that way. The land will look a lot nicer from the street that way. Blend in with the other homes.”

  “Blending in is not what is needed here,” Madison countered with a raised voice.

  “Obviously, you two have divergent opinions on this project,” Hayden broke in. “That’s good. Put them in a design and let’s see which one our clients like.”

  “Oww!” Adam shouted, grabbing his ankle. “I think something just bit me.”

  Hayden grinned at Madison. “Probably a snake.”

  Adam began wildly jumping about. “A snake!”

  Once they returned to the car, Madison and Hayden checked the bite on Adam’s ankle. Sitting in the backseat of the Town Car with his ankle hanging out the open door, Madison looked over the lanky red-headed man’s pale skin.

  “It’s nothing, Adam,” Madison reassured him as she examined the small red dot on his ankle. “It’s just an ant or something.”

  “It’s the ‘or something’ that bothers me,” Adam mumbled, scratching his ankle.

  “We can stop by a pharmacy and pick up something on the way back to the office, if you need it.” Hayden shrugged his jacket around his shoulders.

  “No, no,” Adam answered, sounding stoic. “I’ll be fine.”

  Madison retrieved her flat black shoes from the curb while Hayden adjusted the yellow silk tie about his neck. When she saw him struggling, she leaned over to him.

  “Allow me,” she offered, and began to straighten out his tie.

  As she fit the knot into place under his neck, her hands caressed his soft cotton dress shirt. She could feel the heat from his skin beneath the fabric, creating a ripple of desire in her belly. The smell of his slightly musky cologne filled her nose; the sensation of his eyes, taking in her every gesture, only seemed to compound the waves of white heat tensing her insides.

  “So how long do we have to come up with our plans?” Adam’s voice intruded.

  Hayden took a step back from her, giving her a polite nod of thank you. “Two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” Adam echoed. “That’s not a great deal of time to come up with an original design like this one. We need particulars like one story, two story, how many bedrooms do they want, kitchen styles, is there going to be a family room or a movie theatre, and—”

  “Perhaps I should give the two of you the opportunity to interrogate the clients,” Hayden interrupted. “I have their living requirements,” he motioned to Adam still sitting in the back of the car, “like the things you mentioned, but I think you need to meet the couple, get a feel for them, and what kind of home they want.”

  Adam stood from the backseat and slipped on his jacket. “I already think I have a feel for them. They want to fit into this neighborhood.” He glanced around to the other mansions that dotted the street until he spotted a contemporary one-story home nestled on two lush acres. The stone house seemed out of place and better suited for a Texas ranch rather than an upscale neighborhood. He waved to the house. “Except for that one. What an eyesore,” he commented.

  Hayden arched an inquisitive brow. “Actually, that’s an award-winning home. It belongs to Tyler Moore, the owner of Propel Oil and Gas.”

  Adam snickered. “He sure didn’t get his money’s worth with that one. Any idea who designed it?”

  Hayden smiled. “I did.”

  Adam’s long face fell and Madison covered her mouth, hiding her giggle.

  “I’m sure it looks great on the inside,” Adam quickly offered, his face turning a deep crimson.

  Hayden ignored him. “What about you, Madison? Do you have all you need to make your design?”

  She perused the adjoining homes, and then looked back to the lovely green lot nestled between them. “I have an idea, but I would like to hear the clients tell me of their vision. It will help me with the final design.”

  “Fine.” Hayden nodded his head. “They’re having a party at the Turtle Creek Mansion Restaurant this weekend. You should go and meet with them.”

  “Hey, maybe I should meet with them as well,” Adam voiced, easing in between Hayden and Madison. “It could help me with my final design.”

  Hayden smirked, sensing Adam’s jealousy. “All right. It’s formal. You’ll need a tuxedo.”

  Adam pulled at his tie. “I have one.”

  When Hayden turned to Madison, she cringed, knowing what he was going to ask. “Do you have a gown?”

  She held her head up confidently and smiled. “Sure,” she lied.

  As they climbed into the back of the Town Car, Madison’s excitement about the coming project faded beneath her troubled thoughts.

  Where in the hell am I going to get a fancy gown?

  Chapter 4

  “But you don’t own a gown,” Charlie lamented later that evening. “You can’t afford something like that, Mads. You could barely afford your bridesmaid dress. Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

  Madison stood behind the counter in the kitchen, holding up a saucepan of macaroni and cheese while Michael Bublé crooned “F
eelin’ Good” in the background. “What else was I supposed to do, Charlie? That scrawny ass-kisser, Adam, was telling him he had a tuxedo, and then the man turned to me and I…I couldn’t tell him I don’t own a gown, let alone can’t afford to buy one.”

  Charlie waved a frustrated hand in the air. “Is that why we are listening to this song? You always play this when you’re upset.” She marched over to the CD player by the television and turned off the music.

  Madison shoved a wooden spoon filled with cheese-covered macaroni into her mouth. “Maybe I could wear your bridesmaid dress to the party,” she mumbled with a mouthful of food.

  “You can’t wear that hideous teal and chocolate disaster to your fancy party. They won’t let you in the door in that thing.”

  “I’ve got to find something. I need to go to this, Charlie.”

  Charlie pointed to the saucepan in Madison’s hand. “So what are you doing, stress eating because you don’t have a fancy dress for the ball, Cinderella?”

  “Better than stress drinking,” Madison replied, carrying the saucepan to the breakfast counter.

  “Nothing is better than stress drinking,” Charlie reasoned, pulling out one of the wooden barstools next to the bar.

  “Well, I would be drinking, but we finished up the wine last night when I was stress drinking because I discovered my boss might be that guy from the bar.”

  “And how is that working for you? Did you ask him about it?”

  Madison dropped the wooden spoon into the saucepan. “No. When he took us to check out that lot, and we were standing there by the creek, alone, I almost did say something about it, but then Adam appeared. Today, I could have sworn it was him. He even has the same laugh.”

  “You need to talk to him, Mads.” She pointed to the saucepan full of mac and cheese. “If you don’t, you’ll end up weighing two hundred pounds and you’ll never catch a husband.”

  “I don’t want to catch a husband, Charlie. I want to fall in love.”

  Charlie reached for the saucepan. “You’re already in love, Mads. With the guy you met that night in the bar. If you ask me, you’ve been crazy about him ever since.” She lifted the wooden spoon, shoveling the macaroni into her mouth.