by J. L. Monro
I went back into the living room after Dana left and lounged on the sofa with Tara and Lana. Tara was next to go.
“I’ve got to get to work early in the morning so I better get going. I’ll catch you girls later. Lana, text me about Friday night.” She hugged her twin and then bounded over to me. She gave me a squeeze and kiss. “Call me if you need me.” I hugged her back and for a second I let her take some of my stress away with her.
I padded back to where Lana sprawled out on my sofa.
“Crack open another bottle of wine while you’re up.”
I rolled my eyes at my sister but went to get the bottle she had so politely asked for. We stayed up for hours talking about work and other things. It was nice. I probably didn’t spend as much time with my sisters as they spent with each other, but I cherished the moments I got.
“So?”
I looked at Lana out of the corner of my eye. “So what?”
“You and Jace?” she prompted.
“There is no me and Jace and what are you implying?”
Lana did a mock yawn and turned to face me. “You nearly killed yourself with your wine when I mentioned his name and you’ve been brooding ever since. Not to mention, you were barking at us more than usual, and that is saying something. I know how much of a flirt he is. I’ve seen him in action. You’re my sister, so gorgeous by association; so I know he let you know that he finds you attractive.”
“I don’t know why you keep going on about Jace Bryce. Thank you for thinking of me when he said he needed an architect. Unfortunately, nothing came of it.” And secretly, I was disappointed for more than one reason.
“Hmmm, ok; if you say so. You want to watch another movie?”
“Don’t you have to work in the morning?”
“Yeah but I’m going to crash here since I’ve drunk so much. My first client isn’t until after lunch, so I’ve got plenty of time to get ready.”
I picked up my laptop and fired it up. While Lana watched the movie, I did some work.
“Don’t you ever just take a break from that thing?” she asked, looking at my laptop in disgust.
“I took a break when you guys came over for dinner. I’ve got a lot to get through.”
“I think you just make stuff up to do to keep your mind occupied, so it doesn’t dwell on other things. When was the last time you took a holiday?”
I finally looked away from the screen. It was a good question. To be honest, I had never really taken a proper holiday. I travelled sometimes for work to get inspiration for designs, but that wasn’t what most people would call a proper holiday. I did what I needed to do then I came home. I didn’t have a big group of friends to do the girlie holiday to Greece or whatever boozy holiday was the in thing. I didn’t have time to do holidays during my studies since I took on extra classes and then Dana had Jacob. I had wanted to be around to help her so that she could finish her studies, carry on with her life, and not become a teenage parent statistic.
“Oh, my fucking God! You’ve never been on a real holiday. You only travel for work, don’t you?” She turned the movie off. My sister’s perceptive nature pissed me the hell off. It was always in top form when you didn’t want it to be. “How the hell did you let this happen? Are you really telling me that you’ve not been on a proper holiday since we stopped travelling with Ma and Pops?”
Ma and Pops were what my sisters called our grandparents when they were little and unable to say Grandma and Granddad properly. The names stuck as they got older; I think partly out of respect for the fact that they raised us.
“I’m going to bed, Lana.” I closed my laptop and rushed away, leaving her speechless for once. Just as I reached my bedroom door, I heard her call out.
“Get your vacation clothes together, Mara. The Daniels sisters are taking a girly vacation.”
THE NEXT FEW weeks at work were slow. Hardly any new contracts came in. I was beginning to kick myself more and more for not taking on Jace Bryce’s project. It’s not that business was bad, but things were quiet and slow, which meant I had way too much time on my hands. When things were quiet, Coops used the overtime he had earned to take paid time off since I could manage calls and the general office tasks by myself. That left me even more time alone with my thoughts.
By the end of the day, I was more than ready to escape the office. I’d rearranged my filing cabinet, tidied my stationery, and even reordered the files on my desktop into alphabetical order. I was well and truly out of things to keep me busy.
There was a sharp rap at the door and I called out for the person to come in.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you.” I recognized the voice before I took in his face. His voice wasn’t deep. It was light and playful and caused butterflies to spring from nowhere. Jesus, he looks good. Rein it in, girl.
“You’re not disturbing me, Mr. Bryce. How can I help?” I sat back down at my desk so I could at least maintain the façade of being professional when all of a sudden, speech felt difficult, and my knees felt a little weaker. How pathetic!
He took the seat opposite my desk and got right to the point. “I know you said you wouldn’t be able to help me with the build of my new house, but I haven’t found anyone else who comes as recommended who fills me with confidence. I’ve seen the work that you’ve done, and if you’re not happy with the suggestions I’ve made, then I’m willing to go with your ideas.”
I would have answered him, but I really didn’t know what to say. I felt my mouth open and shut several times before I was able to respond coherently. I’d been sitting here wishing that I’d accepted the contract. It had the power to make my dreams come true, and now that second chance had walked through my office door in a very sexy package.
“Mr. Bryce, I’m not an easy person to work with, and I take each project I take on very personally because as long as that it stands it will be associated with my name.” He actually looked like he was holding his breath. I did my best to hold my smirk at bay. “So that said, if you’re willing to take my advice on board I think we should be able to come up with a design that provides you with what you are looking for and can maintain the Daniels Architecture reputation.” I stood to shake his hand, keeping it as professional as possible.
While, inside my heart was doing backflips. Jace let out the breath he’d been holding and smiled. His smile was actually dazzling, his eyes bright with excitement, and his teeth gleaming. And my heart stopped.
Jace Bryce made me feel something unfamiliar in the pit of my stomach. It was a feeling that I liked, but at the same time, it was a feeling that scared the ever-living shit of me. I needed space. I needed to regroup. This project was going to take a lot of time and a lot of my attention. There was so much I was going to need to do before I even started this project and I couldn’t allow whatever effect he was having on me to affect the quality of my work.
We spent the next hour going over his requirements, his wants, and his needs for the development. I took notes frantically while he talked, making sure that I didn’t miss an iota of information that he was giving me. The only way I could give him what he needed was to listen to him and make sure that I was prepared from the beginning; it’s what I was well known for.
I have to admit I was somewhat excited about doing this with Jace. I mean the project. I mean I probably wouldn’t even see him that often while the project was underway. He didn’t appear to be the hands on type. That thought drew my attention to his hands. They were large, and I could tell they weren’t smooth.
Granddad had always said real men had rough hands because they weren’t afraid to work. I imagined those hands in front of me holding my hand, caressing my cheek the way I had seen my dad caress my mum so many evenings. I looked up to find Jace watching me intently. He didn’t seem bothered that I had been staring so hard at his hands. He also didn’t look amused, which he had been by most of the things I had said this evening. I needed to escape.
“Right. Well. I think that about wraps thi
ngs up for this meeting, Mr. Bryce. I don’t think there’s much more that we can do right now. I will take all that we have discussed today and do some research. It’s going to be interesting to see how I can incorporate a racetrack into the design, but there’s a first time for everything, and to be honest I welcomed the challenge.
“At some point, I will want to go and have a look at the site so I can get a feel for the space and the surrounding views but we can arrange that at a later date. I will have Mr. Cooper get in contact with you when I’m ready to arrange another meeting.”
He looked surprised, and I guess from his perspective, my abrupt change of tone probably did come out of nowhere but after our last meeting and the thoughts that were running through my head at the moment, I really needed to end this meeting.
“I get the feeling I’m being dismissed.” He smiled as he rose to his feet, but it wasn’t sincere. I didn’t know what his expectations were but I know exactly where my limitations lie.
“Of course, I’m not dismissing you.” My laugh to ease the tension was hollow at best. “You’ve given me a lot to go on and work with and the sooner I get started with it the better. I just hope you’ll be more than happy when it’s all finished.”
I offered my hand to finish this moment of awkwardness and he eyed it with curiosity before looking directly into my eyes. He took my hand and shook it, however, rather than let it go, he pulled me into him and held me close to his chest.
“Thank you, Mara.” Oh God. This felt so good. His chest was so hard. His arms wrapped around my body easily. I felt so . . . I felt . . . I don’t know how I felt. Whatever this was, it wasn’t something I had felt before. He smelled so good. Like man and spice and the outdoors with a hint of petrol. I felt the chuckle rise in his chest. I knew I hadn’t resisted. I wasn’t going to bother to analyze it. I was just going to make sure it never happened again. He kissed the top of my head. If I felt conflicted and confused over my body’s reactions to Jace before, I was at a complete loss now. I needed him away from me. This was too much.
“This is really not necessary, Mr. Bryce.”
“Neither was the way you were looking at me, but I get the feeling that the attraction is mutual.”
“Well, then you would be mistaken. I’m not a prize to win or some sort of conquest.” He pulled away at that comment and eyed me curiously.
“Oh. I have never said or acted as though you are. Who are you then, Ms. Daniels, might I ask?”
“Quite simply, I’m a conqueror.” I turned and walked back to my desk. “Now, you’re dismissed.”
He laughed and ran his hand through his hair while shaking his head in disbelief. That single movement brought an unwavering heat to my core. “I’ll speak to you soon.” And with that, he left.
I stood staring at my closed door for a few moments before I numbly wandered collapsed into my seat. Was I numb? No I wasn’t. I was feeling the complete opposite. Every nerve ending was on fire. I was buzzing. I bent over and started to bang my head against the cold glass that was my desk. What the hell was going on with me?
I didn’t mix business with pleasure, ignoring the fact that the opportunity to mix business with pleasure had never arisen before. That aside, the woman who just welcomed Jace’s intimacy generally avoided that shit like the plague. Relationships, whether casual or serious, brought complications. They sucked you in and left you open and vulnerable to distraction and a world of hurt. I had seen it enough times with my sisters, with colleagues, and even my own parents. If they hadn’t been so wrapped up in their love for each other, they wouldn’t have been so distracted, and most definitely wouldn’t have been taking the trip away together that had resulted in their deaths. I knew it was a fucked up way to think but I always wondered if they had been paying full attention to the road. They were always looking at each other. What if they had been distracted for one crucial moment that would have saved their lives and a whole lot of heartache for everyone else who was left behind.
I rolled away from my desk to stop the inevitable blunt force trauma. I began to sort through the notes I’d made with Jace. Half way through the process, my office phone rang.
“Daniels Architecture, Mara Daniels speaking.”
“Urghhhh! You sound like Dana. I think your miserable persona is rubbing off on her.”
“What do you want, Lana?” My sister never called like a normal person. There was always some form of insult before she got to her point.
“Just making sure you’re still coming round to Dana’s later for sister night.”
“Yeah. I’m coming. I always do, don’t I? I just had a late meeting; I’m finishing now.”
“Ohhhhh. Does that mean Jace stopped by?”
“What?”
“Jace. Jace Bryce. Tall. Dark. Incredibly handsome. Ring any bells? I spoke to him earlier this week and told him to try you again. He said he was going to come and see you today. Damn bikers. So fucking unreliable. Oh, well. I tried.”
I was gripping the phone so tightly that my knuckles had turned white. Here some part of me was foolishly thinking, for whatever reason I don’t know, that Jace had come to my office of his own accord. Somewhere inside of me had hoped that he had felt something for me other than the need to flirt because it was second nature. I knew better. I always knew better. I felt stupid and angry with myself and as usual, before I could think, I unleashed it on the nearest sister.
“Did it occur to you, Lana that I didn’t ask for your help?”
“Well no, but . . .”
“And yet you interfered anyway. No matter how many times I ask you and the others to stay the fuck out of my business unless I ask for your opinion, you continue to stick your nose in.”
“But, Mara, I was just trying . . .”
“I don’t care what you were trying to do, Lana. You’re not helping. You’re never helping. You just have a great habit of making things worse. So here’s a tip. The next time you think you want to help, or that I might benefit from your assistance, take a pin, and stick it in that idea bubble of yours.”
“But, Mara . . .”
She didn’t get to finish what she was saying because I hung up the phone on her.
Originally, I hadn’t wanted Jace’s attentions. Then they sparked something in me, and I can’t deny that I wasn’t curious about it. Now, I find out that the only reason he was in my office is that my sister probably nagged him to death to get him to help me out. I knew what Lana and the rest of my sisters thought about me. It’s not as if they didn’t say it to my face when I pissed them off.
They all thought I lived a pathetic life with no one in it but them and our grandparents. They thought I was missing out on life, but it didn’t feel like that to me. I was protecting myself from the inevitable hurt that comes from having people close to you. I already know what it’s like to lose my parents. If I lost anyone else, I don’t think I’d recover. Nearly thirty years later and I’m still having nightmares about the day my Mum and Dad died. It’s more important to me that I’m there and of use to the people closest to me; I don’t need to add anyone else to the equation.
As I got ready to leave my office, everything that had happened today kept going round and round in my head. So much so that by the time I got to Dana’s house, I was angrier with Lana than when I’d spoken to her. Dinner was tense, and to be honest, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Lana made no attempt to engage me in conversation, and any time she looked at me, I just glared at her. I was still seething. I couldn’t wait to finish my meal and make my excuses to leave.
When I finally got home, I chucked my keys on my table, something I never did because it was glass, could scratch easily, and cost a mint to repair. Right now, I just didn’t give a shit. The sooner I got to bed the sooner I could start afresh. The only problem was that I knew over the next few weeks that I was going to be speaking with Jace Bryce too much for my own peace of mind.
I WAS SURPRISED to find that once I started going through the n
otes I’d made with Jace, I started to understand his ideas more. I was even more surprised to learn that he’d be moving his father into the house with him. This brought its own complications to the project. Although he didn’t go into much detail about his father, he explained that he was disabled, so the house would need to have wheelchair access to most rooms in the house.
Jace talked about his hobby, which was custom body art for super-bikes. On top of the racetrack—which I was still struggling to get my head around—he wanted workspace to indulge in his art. When I looked at him as if to say what the fuck, he chuckled, and told me he had complete faith in my skills to deliver what he wanted. His chuckle was smooth. I decided to ignore the fact that it made me feel proud to have elicited that sound from him.
Most architects simply produced the drawings for a new project and left the owners of those drawings to move on with the construction themselves, but I loved seeing things through to the end and, on a large project, often worked as the project manager. I would need to clear my current workload before I took on Jace’s project, and until I viewed the site and agreed upon designs with him, I had more than enough time to get those other things done.
After two days of sorting and making list after list, I gave Jace a call to arrange a time to survey the site.
“You got Jace.” Another person who struggled with just answering the phone with hello.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Bryce. It’s Mara Daniels here. I was just . . .”
“Hey, Mara. I was just thinking about you.” Why did that knowledge make my throat dry?