But she kept walking forward, hoping her own smile looked polite and professional.
“Hey,” Jake said when she reached him. “You’re early, aren’t you?”
She glanced at her watch and saw that she was actually a few minutes late.
Jake glanced at a clock on the wall and saw the same thing. “Wow, sorry. I lose track of time when I’m working. I hope you weren’t waiting out front?”
Another voice broke in. “Hey, Jake—you can introduce me any time.”
She’d been so absorbed by Jake, and by her efforts to not seem absorbed, that she’d forgotten all about the guy he was with. Now she turned her head and saw a nice-looking man about Jake’s age, a little shorter but just as muscular, with long dark hair in a ponytail.
She saw something else, too. She could be pretty oblivious when it came to male interest, but since her lunch with Beth she’d been making an effort to open her eyes. And she knew, immediately, that the man standing next to Jake was interested.
She took his proffered hand, and nodded her acknowledgement when he said, “I’m Mark Hayner. And you have to be Erin Shaw.”
Except for the fact that he held her hand a little longer than necessary, there wasn’t anything inappropriate about his words or the way he looked at her. But she was sure he was attracted.
She couldn’t help glancing at Jake, and she felt a purely feminine thrill when she saw him frowning.
Then she told herself to get a grip—and to remember she was a professional here to do a job.
“Okay,” Jake said brusquely. “You said you wanted to learn more about the business. Let me start by giving you a tour. After that, we can sit down with Mark and—”
Mark interrupted, his eyes still on her. “I can give Erin a tour. It’s my garage, after all, even if you’re the design genius.”
Jake looked at Mark and then back at her. “We’ll both give the tour. Then we can sit down in the office and talk.”
The tour was actually interesting enough that she was able to focus on what she was here to do—learn more about the business. She saw motorcycles in various stages of the design and build process, and a couple of finished products.
“That’s gorgeous,” she said, looking at the bike Jake had just completed.
“Have you ever been on one?” Mark asked.
She shook her head. “No, but I’ve always loved looking at them.”
The garage and machine shop were the most masculine places she’d ever been in, from the tools and engine parts everywhere to the scent of metal and machine oil that hung in the air. And the motorcycle in front of her was like the distilled essence of all of that.
It was sleek and heavy and powerful, an explosion of male energy in black leather and shining chrome, and yet it was graceful at the same time. If she’d been asked to pick an inanimate object to represent Jake Landry, this would be it.
She squelched that thought and turned to both men with a smile. “I’m glad I came,” she said. “Seeing all this has made me realize that I’ve got to scrap everything I’ve come up with so far. I think you’ll want something more…” she groped for a subtle way to express it, but came up empty. “Something more masculine.”
Mark raised an eyebrow. “Is that your way of saying you’re not interested, or are you still up for the job? I hope you are, because I’d definitely like to see more of you around here.”
She ignored his flirtatious tone and concentrated on the question. Was she up for the job? Or should she suggest they might be better off with a different designer?
She looked down at the bike again, and was suddenly conscious of how drawn she was to it, to everything it represented. And she knew she wanted to do the site.
She almost smiled. Maybe this was the answer to her feelings about Jake: transfer them to his motorcycles, instead.
They were certainly a safer object for her affections.
“Yes,” she said firmly, looking at both men. “I’m sure I can come up with something you’ll like. But I’d like to take a week or so to work on it. Will that be soon enough? I’ve got some other deadlines coming up.”
Mark started to answer, but Jake cut him off. “That’s no problem. Even if we do go forward with this business plan, we won’t be ready to launch for at least a month.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t I walk you out?”
Mark frowned at him. “What’s the rush? Maybe Erin would like to—”
“We’ve already taken up too much of Erin’s time,” Jake said shortly. “I’ll walk her out and then we can look at that design we were talking about.”