deal. You find any building you want, Sienna. You can design the remodel yourself.”
The snake in the garden had probably sounded a lot like Adam Quinn.
“Put in shelves and workrooms and prop rooms and any kind of lighting you need.”
She ignored the inner tug she felt toward that tasty carrot he was holding out in front of her. He knew all too well that he was getting to her. And she imagined her expression told him everything he wanted to know. “You’re still selling me on an idea I already agreed to. Feeling a little desperate, Adam?”
For a second she thought he’d deny it, then he clearly thought better of it.
“Not quite,” he admitted. “But it’s close. Look, Sienna, we can help each other here. That’s it. So are you in or not?”
She met his gaze for a long second or two. She could say no, but why should she? There was a baby who needed to be cared for and a man completely out of his depth asking for her help.
And okay, the photography studio.
But there was another reason to do it. One she didn’t really want to think about. It was Adam, himself. It was his eyes. The deep timbre of his voice. And the way he looked at her. Foolish? Probably. Irresistible? Absolutely.
“Okay,” she said before she could talk herself out of it. “I’m in.”
Relief flashed across his features briefly. “Good. That’s good. So I’ll meet you at your place in two hours. Help you move what you need to my house.”
“Okay.” Decision made, her stomach was still spinning. She’d have to get her neighbors to watch the house and bring in the mail and—“I’ll write down my address.”
“I know where you live.”
She looked up at him. “You do?”
His gaze locked on hers. “I’ve always known, Sienna.”
Two hours later, as promised, Adam pulled up in front of a small bungalow in Seal Beach and parked beneath the shade of an ancient tree. A hell of a day. He had a headache that pounded hard enough to shatter his skull and it didn’t look as if it would be going away anytime soon.
Staring at the house, Adam frowned a little. Bright splashes of color lined the front of the house, flowers spilling out of the beds onto a lawn that hadn’t been mowed in a while. The paint was faded and the roof looked as old as the tree.
“Why the hell would she refuse a settlement when she divorced Devon?” he wondered aloud. There was a place for pride—no one understood that better than he did. But damn it, pride shouldn’t get in the way of common sense. Clearly, she could have used the money.
The street the house sat on was old and settled. Most of the houses were small, but well kept. A crowd of kids across the street were playing basketball against a garage and the throaty roar of a lawn mower sounded in the distance. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel and glanced at Sienna’s faded green sedan parked in her driveway. The rusted bumper irritated him more than he could say.
“Hardheaded woman,” he muttered. “She should have taken Devon for millions.”
Climbing out of his car, he walked up to the house, noting the cracks in the sidewalk, the chipping stucco alongside the garage door. Grinding his teeth together, he made a dozen mental notes on the short walk to the porch. They had a deal, but he was adding to it whether she liked it or not. His company would give her the best damn photography studio in the state, but they would also redo this house. And if she argued with him about it—which she would—he’d steamroll right over any objections she came up with.
Sienna had married his brother and Devon had proven quickly just what a bad decision that had been. Adam couldn’t ignore his family’s mistakes. He’d fix them if he could, and this he could definitely take care of. By the time he was finished with this tiny house, Sienna would think she was living in a damn palace.
She answered the door before he’d had a chance to knock, which told Adam she’d been watching for his arrival. Her eyes were wide and her expression wary. Had she changed her mind? Was she going to try to back out of their deal? If so, she would fail.
“You don’t look happy to see me,” he mused.
“Stop reading my mind.”
He laughed shortly. “Well, that was honest anyway.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean, of course, I’m happy to see you. Well, not happy, but I was expecting you and—” She stopped, scowled and took a deep breath. Once she’d released it again, she started over.
“Hi, Adam.”
“Hi.” He liked knowing that he made her nervous. Liked that she got a gleam in her eyes when she looked at him. He knew that same gleam was in his own eyes every time he saw her. How could it not be? Tall and curvy, with those big blue eyes, Sienna was enough to bring most men to their knees.
She pushed the screen door wider for him, then turned back into the house as he stepped inside.
His gaze swept the interior quickly, with a professional eye that missed almost nothing. Inside at least, the house appeared to be in better shape than the exterior. The walls were jewel toned, a deep scarlet in the living room, fading to a soft rose in the hall. He could only imagine what the rest of the house looked like, but realized he was curious about her home. About her.
The old, scuffed wooden floors had been polished and she had what looked like fifties-style braided rugs in a variety of colors spread throughout the hall and the front room. Her furniture wasn’t new or contemporary but it suited her. There were framed prints of photos on the walls. Her work, he imagined. Seascapes, meadows, people and, for some reason, babies dressed up like flowers and fruit.
She followed his gaze and grinned. “They’re so cute when they’re tiny—it’s fun to dress them up.”
“Sure.” He shook his head, studying one baby in particular. “What is that? A peach?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.” He shrugged and looked at her. “I like the beach scenes.”
“Thanks.”
“We’ve actually got a new building going up down in Dana Point,” he said thoughtfully. “Sits above the beach and it’s a different kind of design.”
“Really?”
It was easy enough to see how intrigued she was, so Adam kept talking. The idea had only just occurred to him, but now that it had, he went with it. “The architect really outdid herself. The building is a curve of glass that faces the ocean, but there are open areas all over the face of it, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sort of mini balconies, I guess you’d call them,” he said, staring again at one of her framed seascapes. “There will be some kind of ivy trailing on the railings so that the whole thing will give the impression of the building itself growing out of the land.” He could see it now, in his head, as he could every project he’d ever done. Adam liked doing projects that challenged him. That worked his imagination as much as his skills. “With the sky and the ocean reflecting off the glass panels, it will make the trails of ivy even more alive, I think.”
“Wow.”
One word, spoken in a kind of hush. Adam looked at her. “What?”
Smiling, she shook her head and said, “I’ve just never heard you talk like that. I mean, you’re obviously good at what you do, but—”
“But most buildings these days are fairly boring?” he asked, one corner of his mouth tipping up. “Sort of generic.”
“Well,