When her door opened and she found Noah standing there looking far too sexy as he took up the entire width of the doorframe, she felt her heart stutter. His sparkling blue eyes gazed at her so intensely she had to force herself not to look away. She didn’t want him to realize the power he had with nothing more than a look.
There were days she wished she never had to see him again. And then there were moments she wanted to find reasons to be with him, to hear the sexy smooth sound of his voice, to feel his hot breath on the back of her neck as he looked over a drawing she was doing, to feel the touch of his fingers against her skin in a casual brush. She was a hot mess, and she knew it, but there didn’t seem to be a whole lot she could do about the situation.
She was working with the man, whether she wanted to or not, and he wasn’t the type of guy to be easily intimidated or back off from what he wanted. And he’d made it more than clear he wanted her—at least for now.
“How are you today, sexy?” he asked in a voice so smooth and hot he could melt butter with it, even on a cold day.
It drove her absolutely insane how he took her voice away with a few simple nondescript words. But all the man had to do was be in the same room with her, and she was a mess. That alone was a reason not to date him—or sleep with him anymore.
“My name is Sarah, not sexy, not darling, not any other pet name you think of to annoy me,” she said in the haughtiest voice she could come up with. The smirk he gave her made her want to jump from her chair and get in his face. Sarah had never been a violent person, but the emotions this one man raised in her were insane.
“You have a very beautiful name; I can assure you, though, that I have many nicknames that suit you just as well,” he said with a wink.
“Look, Noah, I’ve been sitting at this desk all day with no breaks. I don’t have time to have a verbal spar with you. What do you need?” she asked. She hated being this girl—so uptight and to the point. Life was too short to live it stressed. But this one man made her so out of control she couldn’t help herself around him.
He took his time sauntering forward, and she tried not to watch. He moved with grace and beauty, which was odd, since he was such a large man. But then again, there wasn’t a single thing she’d found wrong with him so far, so of course his movements would be utter perfection, just like the rest of him.
He stopped right in front of her desk, leaving the most appealing parts of him very visible and very nearby. Her fingers were practically shaking with the need to reach out and touch him. She clenched them into fists and prayed she’d get through this impromptu meeting quickly and with her brain fully functioning.
He didn’t say anything for a long time, just caressed her face with his beautiful eyes, making her breath come out in short little pants. He looked at her with such familiarity she felt as if they’d known each other their entire lives instead of only a year. There were just some people in life you clicked with right away. Apparently she’d clicked with him, though she would continue to fight it.
“I haven’t spoken to you all week. How are you doing?” he asked. The words came out with sincerity, as if he really did care how her week had gone.
Sarah had spent an afternoon once thinking about all the things people said to one another. People greeted each other, asking how they were doing, asking about their families, dates, lives, and careers. But most people asking those questions didn’t really care about the answer you gave. It was just so ingrained in people to be polite they went through the motions.
But that made no sense to Sarah. Why pretend to care when you didn’t? When she asked a question of people, it was because she truly wanted the answer. One thing she’d stopped asking many years ago was “How are you?” because it only took seconds of reading someone’s body language or facial expressions to get your own answer to that question. Something she liked to ask a lot more that came with some fun answers was “Is there anything new going on in your life?”
Sarah tried to do something new and exciting once a year. That way she didn’t feel guilty about being so in control the rest of the time. Plus, she needed a thrill once in a while, when her job was so dang sedentary. Her favorite part of working was when she got to be out in the field. That got her off her butt and doing something she truly loved.
“I’m bored with sitting all day long,” she answered honestly. “I love what I do, but there are times I wonder why I didn’t go into archaeology or medicine, something that would stimulate my mind and body.”
At her last words his lips turned up, and her stomach clenched. Of course the man was thinking about how capable he was of stimulating her body. She had to admit, if only to herself, he was very, very good at stimulating her in all sorts of exciting ways.
His body leaned forward as if he wanted to make contact, and she pulled back. If the man touched her, she was a goner. She knew she’d melt in his arms and not only let him do anything he wanted to her but be an active participant, even going so far as to beg him to never stop. She craved this man like a runner desired water.
“Anytime you want an adventure, I’m more than willing to give you one,” he told her as he leaned against her desk. At least he wasn’t looking as if he was going to touch her again.
“What are you doing here, Noah? I have a lot of work to get done, and it’s not going as well as I’d like,” she reminded him. He obviously wasn’t in a hurry to get to the point, so she’d have to lead him in that direction.
“We need to do something completely different,” he said with a long pause that had her intrigued. “I’m stumped,” he finally admitted.
“Is that true?” She didn’t take him as a man to get stumped, and if he did, she really didn’t take him as the type of person to admit it. She wondered if this was another ploy of some sort on his part. She might not know him really well, but she had never taken him for the type of person to lie, though.
Noah stepped back and pulled a chair forward. He had this cute way of sitting on chairs. He never sat in them correctly. This one he plopped down on sideways so he could lean his right arm over the back, as if he had all the time in the world to sit there and lounge about.
He pulled out a folded paper from his pocket and plopped it on her desk. She gazed at it for a moment before looking at him again. She waited, but he didn’t say anything. Finally she sighed and pulled it toward her.
“What is this?” she asked.
“It’s our first layout. I made a few changes, but I don’t like how it’s going. I haven’t been in the field in a while, and I think we need to explore. Maybe go to the site, maybe somewhere else. But this isn’t working. I’m thinking about taking a couple of trips to look at other facilities. Yes, there’s a lot wrong with the services and buildings provided for our vets, but there’s some things that are being done right. We need to figure out which is which and put all the good into this one place. We need to set the standard for the rest of the buildings created in the future.”
Sarah’s curiosity was now officially piqued. She loved how much thought and effort he was putting into this. And it wasn’t just because he was now one of the famous Andersons. It was because he truly did care about veterans services and wanted to give them an absolutely beautiful place to spend their time when they were recovering from one injury or another.