Built Strong (Middleton Hotels 3)

Morgan had long, light brown hair that had been swept to the side in a fluffy braid that rested on her left shoulder. I groaned to myself as her bright eyes smiled at me. She came to me and I didn’t want her to stop a foot away, so I guided her to a chair, stealing a small, seemingly innocent touch. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did. Everything in me believed she deserved to be greeted with a lingering, commanding kiss, but that would get me into a shit load of trouble and I still wouldn’t have her.

“I’m kind of hungry, too,” she said. From the nervous way she played with the sleeve of her sweater I could tell she probably would be too self-conscious to eat.

“Well, let’s see what they have,” I replied, thinking about having her for dessert. She was perfect. Her round eyes turned to slits when she smiled and those lips were just fantastic. I wanted to bite on the bottom one that she started nibbling on as she looked at her menu. I hadn’t taken my eyes off her and I wondered if she could feel my stare.

“How long have you been a designer?” I asked. She looked extremely young, but I didn’t want to just ask her age.

“Truth?” she asked with her nose scrunching up. That wasn’t a good sign, but at least she wanted to be honest with me.

“Truth is always good, Morgan,” I said. The thought of her lying didn’t sit well with me.

“You’re my first client.” My eyes opened in fucking shock. I don’t think my brother knew that shit, but I wasn’t going to fuck up our dinner for it. I wanted to get to know her too much to let this get in the way. “I’m sorry, you wanted the truth.”

“I did, but to be honest, my brother won’t be happy about it. The hotel’s dedicated to his wife. They met there and she was the receptionist,” I informed her. This wasn’t good for Jacob, but at the moment I couldn’t give a shit. It was his fault I was here instead of him or Joe.

“You mean Harley?” she asked.

“You know her?”

“It’s kind of a small place. We went to the same high school.” Well, I could ask Harley more about Morgan. Wait. Did she just say that she went to school together? Something wasn’t adding up.

“There’s something that you’re not telling me. Like, how old are you?” I wasn’t trying to get pissed at her, but the person who sent her was going to get torn to shreds by me.

“I just turned nineteen.” Her age was a big problem for me. Not because I was too old for her, but because I was going to have to find out how it would affect the business.

“Sweetheart, I need to see what’s going on because you’re not licensed to work on the property nor certified at all.” I stared as her beautiful face fell, she looked so innocent. That got my brain running on overdrive. “You’re stunning. Is that why they sent you here? To make me forget all about the hotel and focus on how much I want you?”

“I don’t know why my sister sent me instead of coming herself. She claims it’s because I’m an amazing designer. I don’t like your presumptions. They are mean and unfair.” Fuck, she looked like she was about to cry. I wanted to kick my own ass. I said I wouldn’t say anything at dinner, and here I was publicly berating her and bringing her to tears for something beyond her control.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to think. What am I supposed to believe? They sent me someone who is inexperienced for a multi-million-dollar deal.”

“Oh my God. I didn’t think it was that much. I swear I’ve helped on all their projects, but Shayla quit so quickly that my sister didn’t have a replacement.”

I crossed my fingers under the table, hoping she was better than I was expecting. “Let me see the portfolio.”

“I didn’t have time to look at it. My sister handed me the file as you called. I ran out of the office to make it here on time,” she warned me.

This town was small and no real traffic congestion. “Where’s the office?”

“The next town over,” she replied.

That was a good twenty miles away. “How many laws did you break to get here?”

“Only like three,” she joked, trying to stop herself from freaking out. It was no wonder she was a nervous little thing. She wasn’t qualified to work on this project and if she had any of the designs I saw as the plane sat on the tarmac, we needed to switch companies in a hurry. I hated those. They lacked what I expected for a Middleton Hotel.

I opened the file folder with our name and project on the front, but what I saw inside wasn’t anything like I had saw earlier. This shit was great. The colors were perfect and the sample furniture gave me a good picture in my head. “I have to say that I like the concepts in here, especially the general grey-blue color scheme.”

“Really?” she questioned, tilting her head in surprise. “I thought the tones were gold?”

“No. This is definitely grey, like your eye-popping sweater.” I turned the file back around to face her. She looked down and gasped.

Her hands went to her mouth in shock. I didn’t know what was going on, but I held my breath as I waited for her to say something. “Oh wow. I can’t believe she did this to me.”

“What do you mean?” The tears were building in her eyes and I ached to reach over and wipe them away.

“She wasn’t kidding when she believed I could do this. This was my design for you. When we got the contract offer from your company, my sister wanted a backup plan if you didn’t care for Shayla’s work. I didn’t think she’d switch out the work when Shayla left.”

Seeing the genuine emotion in her beautiful face, I knew that her sister truly believed in Morgan’s ability. “She’s betting a lot on you, Morgan, and so am I. Can you deliver?”