The Honeymoon House. Patty Salier
reached for his keys from the coffee table. “You never met her.” He wasn’t lying. Butch never had met Danielle.
“Falling in love, are we?” Butch added with a teasing twinkle in his eyes. “I recognize that gushy feeling when a special woman turns you on.”
Paul opened the cottage door. “She’s just a friend.”
“Cow dung.”
Paul nudged Butch out of the cottage. “Finish up the last-minute stuff on the Barry house. Then start the grading on Mr. Harrington’s property and get the site prepared for construction.”
Paul locked the door with an unsteady hand. Butch had hit a sensitive chord. He did have a gushy feeling about Danielle. He’d better curb it fast if he was planning on a platonic relationship with her.
In the kitchen of her apartment, Danielle tasted the tomato sauce in the pot, wanting it to be perfectly spiced. Would Paul Richards like it with more oregano or garlic?
She cut her thoughts short. What was she doing? She was making an Italian dinner for Lisa, not Paul. Yet he’d permeated her mind ever since she’d met him in Mr. Harrington’s office.
She glanced at the small, magnetized photo of her parents on the refrigerator door. Mom, Dad, I’m one yard closer to making my promise to you come true, she happily thought.
That’s why she couldn’t let her attraction to Paul Richards interfere with her ultimate goal—the children’s library.
Just then, Lisa walked into their apartment.
“Lee, I hope you’re starved,” Danielle said excitedly.
Lisa didn’t answer. She set down her briefcase, plopped into a chair and nervously fiddled with the breadbasket on the table.
Danielle looked at her, feeling worried. “What’s wrong?”
“I was talking to Mr. Harrington’s secretary on the phone today,” Lisa began hesitantly.
Danielle’s stomach tightened. “Did he change his mind about hiring me?”
“Not really.” Lisa got up, washed her hands and began cutting tomatoes for their dinner salad.
“Tell me, Lee. I’m dying inside.”
Lisa stopped chopping. “He likes your plans for his house.”
Danielle suddenly felt uneasy. “But?”
“He’s asked someone to oversee your work.”
“What do you mean?” Danielle asked, feeling queasy. “Who did he ask?”
“His name is Paul Richards.”
Danielle’s legs suddenly felt weak. “But Paul is a building contractor, not an architect.”
“I know, but Mr. Harrington’s secretary told me that Paul Richards wants to form a partnership with him,” Lisa hurriedly explained. “And Paul can’t take a chance on your screwing up on the plans.”
Danielle couldn’t breathe. “You mean, if Paul Richards is displeased with my work, he could tell Mr. Harrington and then I’m off the job?”
“I don’t know, Sis.”
She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. “I knew it was a mistake.”
“What?”
“I invited Paul Richards over for dinner tonight.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“I bumped into him at the supermarket.” Bumped? Her cheeks flamed as she thought about his hard body under her on the store floor. “He had a frozen dinner in his cart. I felt sorry for him.”
Lisa’s right eyebrow shot up. “Wait a minute. Is Paul Richards single and cute?”
Danielle cleared her throat. “Well, yes, he is.”
“Wow!” Lisa exclaimed. “Now what’re you going to do?”
“Don’t worry,” Danielle said in a shaky voice. “I won’t get involved with him.”
“But you’re attracted to him, and if you work closely with him, what if—”
“I won’t let that happen, that’s all.”
If she was so sure, why was her hand trembling as she washed the lettuce in the sink? And why did she feel crushed at learning Lisa’s news about Paul?
Was it that she didn’t like Paul being her watchdog on the job? She shook the water out of the lettuce, feeling anxious and upset. Or was Paul Richards already more to her than just a co-worker?
As Paul drove his van toward Danielle’s street in Santa Monica, Butch’s words echoed in his mind: “Falling in love, are we?”
He shook his head. How could he be falling for Danielle? He’d just met her. Besides, being in love meant sharing his life, didn’t it? He had no idea how to blend his solitary existence with a woman like her.
He found himself pulling into a mini-mall at the corner of Wilshire and Barrington. He got out and walked straight into the flower shop.
Danielle Ford is the architect on the honeymoon house and that’s all, he silently reminded himself.
The elderly saleswoman came up to him. “Are you looking for a bouquet for your girlfriend or wife?”
He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “For a woman—I mean, a friend—I mean, a woman friend.”
“I understand,” she said with a knowing smile, and led him to the roses.
In her bedroom, Danielle glanced anxiously at the digital alarm clock on her bedstand. Paul was scheduled to arrive in fifteen minutes.
Her stomach felt jittery as she slipped on her silk, melon-colored dress. She fluffed her hair and lined her lips with hot-pink gloss. Though she tried convincing herself that she was getting dressed up to celebrate her new job, she knew better.
No matter how hard she denied it, Paul’s coming over excited her. She knew how difficult it would be to fight her powerful attraction to him.
The telephone suddenly rang. She stared at the phone, hesitant to answer it. Was Paul canceling? She realized how disappointed she’d be if he was.
“I’ll get it!” Lisa called from the living room.
Danielle heard Lisa pick up the phone. She nervously waited for her sister to say it was for her. She heard Lisa laughing and hurried into the living room.
“Who is it?” Danielle whispered.
Lisa’s eyes were aglow as she mouthed, “It’s Manny from New York! He misses me!”
Danielle sighed with relief. Paul was still coming. Even though she was stung by the idea that he was going to monitor her plans, her hands were perspiring just at the mere thought that he’d be at her apartment any second.
In the kitchen, she stirred the meatballs in the tomato sauce with a wooden spoon. She checked the lasagna and foil-covered garlic bread baking in the oven, wanting it to be perfect for Paul. Paul? The dinner was for Lisa, Lisa, Lisa! What was going on with her?
She boiled the water for the macaroni. You invited Paul over because it was the polite thing to do, she told herself over and over again.
Just as she put the macaroni into the pot of water, the doorbell rang. Her heart hammered. She apprehensively touched her hair and smoothed down her dress.
She glanced into the living room, hoping Lisa could greet Paul, instead of her. But Lisa was oblivious as she whispered love words to Manny