Trust by Design (Colorado Trust 2)

What did that make Dean—Prince Charming?

Sure, he had the looks, but the rest? Not hardly. She may have set aside her pride and accepted the job to preserve her business, but that didn’t mean she was going to forget one word of his damned accusations. No matter how many times she found herself daydreaming back to that night in his bedroom.

“I trust you won’t waste my money.”

Once again, she called bullshit. She didn’t trust that he trusted her with anything at the moment. A smart, successful man like him would have some kind of plan up his sleeve—and if he didn’t, Jackson was going to eat him alive.

Not your problem.

Sitting there with half her office packed up in boxes over on her previous assistant’s empty desk, she agreed with the voice in her head. Besides, there was clearly no love lost between the former business partners, so it stood to reason Dean knew exactly who and what he was dealing with.

Another reason for her to not trust the man. He wasn’t interested in saving her like some storybook hero, he only wanted to take care of himself.

With renewed determination, she ignored her empty stomach and focused on her spreadsheet. After a fair amount of research, she managed to finish the estimate by late afternoon. She sent the email to Dean with the budget as an attachment, then worked for another hour cleaning out her emails and catching up on some of the Tech Industry News Briefs newsletters before grabbing a new box to start sorting and packing one of her file cabinets. Even though she didn’t work in the computer world, she liked keeping up with industry news from TI.

She was sitting on the floor when the sound of her office door opening made her pulse skip a beat. Most of her business neighbors went home about four, leaving her floor of the office complex fairly deserted. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a visitor, much less one after seven o’clock at night. Usually she locked her door, but it’d completely slipped her mind tonight.

Her fingers tightened on the edge of the box at her side as she glanced over her shoulder. When Dean’s head appeared above the desk, her heart slammed against her ribs for a whole different reason.

She resisted the urge to slump in relief. Grabbing an armload of files, she pushed to her feet as his gaze swept over the partially dismantled room.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

Apparently she had absolutely no dignity left where he was concerned. “Exactly what it looks like. I’m closing my office.” His questioning brown gaze swung to hers and she plopped the files on her desk with a loud thump. “Don’t look so surprised. As you’ve pointed out on more than one occasion, you’re well aware of my financial situation.”

“Do you need an advance on your fee?”

She shook her head, surprised by a note of concern in his voice. “No. I mean, thank you, but no. I’ll be fine working from my apartment the next few months since most of the work I do is in other people’s homes anyway. Either that or I’m shopping for them.”

A quick glance caught his frown.

“I was paying too much for rent here anyway. Especially without a storefront.”

He slid his hands into his pockets. There was something different other than the leather jacket he wore over his usual wardrobe of T-shirt and jeans. She swept her gaze up from the brown leather and realized his hair was too short to brush the collar. Though the top remained a bit longer, all the shagginess was gone. Damn if he didn’t look better than ever.

“So, what brings you to town—other than a haircut?”

His mouth quirked up as his hand rose to rake through those trimmed strands the rich color of polished walnut. “I didn’t really expect to find you here this late.”

“Then why’d you stop?”

“I signed off on the expense account for the house. I’ll have a debit card for you by Thursday.”

“Okay.” Still didn’t explain what he was doing here, other than making her pulse race way too fast. She searched for a distraction and seized on the notepad she’d used the past two days. “Are you done with work for the day?”

“No. “

“Do you have to head back right away?”

He shrugged as if he wanted to see where she was going with the line of questioning. All she cared about right now was getting him out of her office. The man took up a lot of space, and it wasn’t just in the physical sense.

“If that’s a no, you’re coming with me.”

Curiosity flashed in his eyes. “Where?”

“While I was working up the budget, I came across a bedroom set that would be perfect in your room. The store is only a few minutes away.”

She was a glutton for punishment, but the way she saw it, it was better to take care of his bedroom now instead of in a few weeks when increased familiarity would only fuel the attraction that sizzled increasingly hotter each time she saw him.