That Night with You (7 page)

“
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.”