Breathless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #1)(13)

The older man wagged his head, staring down at the schematics Will had sent. “These will have to be modified for what you want.”

During the past couple of days, Will had combed the Internet for a similar racing model. What he wanted, though, was much more specialized. “You’re the only man who can do this.” It wasn’t flattery, it was true.

“I will try, Mr. Franconi, but my shop has customers.”

Rupert’s shop was damn near a factory. He was the largest employer in his small town. He had a reputation for overseeing every project like a hawk. Will had a feeling the man would be so intrigued by the project that he’d do a lot of the work himself.

“I’m willing to pay to get this design first in line. I’ll even pay your customers a wait fee, if that’s what it takes.”

“You make an offer a man cannot refuse. But what is the penalty if I discover I cannot deliver on time?”

There was always a penalty clause. But Will was asking for a miracle. “No penalty. Just give me your honest estimate, and I’ll work with that. Keep in mind that this is a present for a teenage boy. And I don’t want him disappointed.” Which was why Will would approach Harper about the car after it was a done deal. He didn’t want to get Jeremy’s hopes up only to crush them later.

Rupert nodded gravely. “Your son is a lucky boy.”

“Not my son. A friend.”

“Then he is very lucky to have a friend like you. I will do my best. You will hear from me by the end of the week.”

Will was the lucky one. For the first time in years, he felt major excitement stirring in his gut. It was partly the new project. It was partly doing something that would mean so much to someone else. It would be the look on Jeremy’s face when he invited the kid to help build the Birdcage Maserati.

But most of all, it was Harper.

* * *

Working from home, Harper’s Thursday morning had been so full with phone interviews and follow-ups for her recruiting company that she hadn’t even folded the weekend’s laundry. Too often, she didn’t finish putting away the previous week’s clean clothes before she had to wash the current week’s dirty ones.

She pushed her hair out of her face as she stared in dismay at the mess in the family room. On the coffee table, Jeremy’s coloring book and crayons were a hodgepodge of color. The kitchen bar was littered with papers, lists, notes, and several days’ worth of junk mail. She really needed to weed out the important stuff and toss the rest. But housecleaning was always at the bottom of the to-do list.

This afternoon, she told herself. And this time she meant it.

Now, where was the Gordon resume? She could have sworn it was on the dining table, which served as her desk. Back in the dining room, she sat down at her computer to reprint the resume.

She hadn’t been quite this disorganized in the past when she’d gone into an office every day, but at home things sometimes got away from her. Jeremy often dropped his notebook on top of her work, and he’d been known to accidentally grab her papers along with his homework. He’d also been using the computer to email Will, who had come up with the brilliant idea to use Skype, too.

Will.

He always told Jeremy to tell her he said hi, but Harper hadn’t spoken directly to Will since their dinner at Cannelli’s. Not since she’d thrown herself at him by the water temple...and then completely freaked out.

She was still embarrassed at the way she’d acted on their first—and only—date. Throwing herself at a man, and then flip-flopping back to being stone cold, wasn’t like her at all. She wanted to apologize for her behavior at the same time that she wished she could forget all about it.

In any case, it was very nice of Will to continue corresponding with Jeremy even though he didn’t want to go out with her again. And it was all for the best that they didn’t become more deeply involved, of course. It was taking everything she had to keep her and Jeremy’s life together as it was. She didn’t need to add a complication like Will Franconi to her personal life.

Unfortunately, just because she didn’t need something didn’t mean she didn’t want it...

“Okay, stop thinking.” Especially when her thoughts were going round and round in circles about a man she could never have. “You’ve got work to do.”

She’d just found the resume buried deep in her email inbox and was about to print it out again when the doorbell rang. She glanced at her watch. Had she forgotten an appointment? Or maybe it was Trish?

Harper opened the door to find Will standing there, beyond scrumptious in a dark suit, charcoal shirt, and black tie. He had been mouthwatering in jeans, but in a suit and tie...oh my...he was downright edible. She felt the impact, and the heat of him, low in her belly.

Like a match striking to life with a sizzle and a hiss.





CHAPTER TEN


“What are you doing here?” Harper realized how rude it sounded as soon as the words came out, but fortunately Will didn’t seem at all put off.

“I was on my way to a meeting. But I wanted to talk to you about a new project first.”

“A new project?”

“It’s for Jeremy.”

“Jeremy,” she echoed, still feeling totally off balance at his unexpected visit.

“May I come in?”

She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder. The house. The mess. She was about to be a whole lot more embarrassed in a minute. But Will’s visit was about Jeremy, so she couldn’t leave him standing outside.

“Of course.” She opened the door wide, gesturing him inside.

The foyer was a muddle of sneakers. She made Jeremy remove his shoes when he came in, and he never seemed to wear the same pair until several were scattered about. To the right of the front hall, the dining room table held its usual clutter.

She caught sight of herself in the hall mirror. Her hair was brushed, thank God, but she hadn’t put on a speck of makeup, and she’d dressed in leggings, an oversized green sweater that hung to her thighs, and very unsexy striped toe socks.

“Sorry, I was working,” she said to try to explain away the piles of folders and papers. “Can I get you some coffee?” Too late, after he nodded, she realized she couldn’t take him back there, with the overflowing laundry, the upended box of crayons, the untidy breakfast bar. And the full kitchen sink. “I’ll be back in a minute. Why don’t you have a seat in the living room?” It was the only neat room in the house because she and Jeremy never used it.

“You don’t have to bring it to me,” Will said. “I can pour.” And when he followed her down the hall, there was no way to stop him other than throwing herself at him again...a thought that was far too tempting.

“Sorry,” she felt compelled to say again as she spread her arms to encompass the whole misbegotten family room. “I’m not usually this messy.”

“I meant it when I said that you don’t have to keep apologizing to me. Not for anything.” He put a finger to her lips, zinging her with an electric jolt of awareness that stopped her breath right in her chest. “If you don’t stop apologizing soon, I promise I’m going to have to find another way to make you stop.”

She knew she shouldn’t do it, shouldn’t push him to see if he meant it, shouldn’t do anything to encourage his interest in her...but just as she hadn’t been able to say no to a dinner with him, now she couldn’t keep the word “Sorry,” from leaving her lips.

Saying the word again was a dare, one he immediately rose to, as he pressed his mouth to hers for one perfect second. “Like I said, I always keep my promises.” She was still trying to find her breath when he asked, “Mugs?”

With her brain still muddled from the teeny, tiny little kiss he’d just given her, she somehow managed to send a signal to her hands to point to the cupboard. Will pulled down one flowered mug and one with black and white stripes.

He filled the flowery mug with coffee from the pot on her counter, then stared into the other one. “There’s something in this cup.”

“It’s a zebra.” By the time she came around him and reached into the cupboard, her synapses were firing again, thank God. Though she still didn’t understand why he’d kissed her if he was only here to discuss something that concerned her brother. “There’s also a giraffe, an elephant, and a tiger.” She pulled down the mugs to show him the ceramic creatures in each. “Jeremy likes the surprise at the bottom of the cup. I have to admit I like them, too.”

“I’d rather be the tiger,” Will said with complete seriousness, and poured into that mug instead.

She laughed, and when he grinned with her, a great deal of the tension she’d been feeling since she’d opened the door and found him standing there vanished. Especially when he said, “I like your brother a lot.”

“Me, too.” And I also like you, she couldn’t help but add silently.

Will leaned back against the counter. “So here’s what I propose. I finished the Cobra several months ago, and I’m ready to build a new car. I’m getting a Maserati kit, and I’d like Jeremy to help me with it, if that’s okay with you.”