Page 32 of Designs on You

Natalie woke, her back and neck aching. She frowned and blinked her eyes open to realize she was lying on the sofa. And, not alone, apparently.

Eugene was asleep, sitting up, his head lying against the back of the couch. And her feet rested in his lap.

Wow. She must have really passed out hard last night. But why was Eugene still here? And, more importantly, what time was it?

She grabbed her phone to see it was four a.m., immediately breathing a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain to the kids why Eugene spent the night.

She sat up and ran to the bathroom to pee, making an ugh face as she looked in the mirror. Wow, her hair was a wreck, and she hadn’t even washed off her makeup.

Whatever. She needed coffee more than she needed to look pretty. But it wasn’t even time to get up yet. First, she needed to get Eugene out of her house.

She made her way to the living room to see he was awake and stretching. She made her way to the kitchen and turned the coffee maker on, poured water in, and slid a pod in the slot, breathing in the smell of the coffee as it poured into the cup.

He groaned. “Oh, my freakin’ back.”

“You fell asleep.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” He got up, went down the hall and into the bathroom.

Okay, calm down, Natalie. The kids wouldn’t be up for hours so there was no reason to panic. Eugene would leave, and she’d go wash her face and get in bed.

Eugene came back in. “Sorry. I meant to only sit there and finish your glass of wine and make sure the kids stayed asleep. Guess I fell asleep, too.”

“That’s okay,” she said, handing him his cup of coffee. “Thanks for staying. Though I’m sure your body is regretting sleeping sitting up.”

He took a couple of sips of coffee. “I’ve slept in worse positions. Your couch is comfortable.”

“It is. Anyway…”

“Yeah, I need to go.” After another long swallow of coffee, he laid the cup on the counter.

She walked him to the door, regretting that he couldn’t stay, that they couldn’t tumble into her bed together and cuddle. And do other things together.

“Thanks for coming to Christopher’s party.”

“It was fun. Everything with you is fun.” He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. “Talk to you soon.”

Her breath caught and she momentarily lost the ability to speak, so all she could do was nod. He smiled and walked to his car.

He’d kissed her. Not a deeply passionate kiss—just a brief brush, but enough to set her body on fire, to make her want more.

So much more.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Natalie’s desk was filled with wallpaper samples. Too many. In fact, if she sat, she wouldn’t be able to see over the piles of wallpaper. This was not good.

“Digging the wallpaper, huh?”

She looked up and saw her boss, Delilah Lawrence, leaning against the open doorway.

“My client. Elizabeth Jones.”

“Oh. Now I understand. Sorry about that. I normally would handle Elizabeth, but I’m booked. She does have trouble deciding, doesn’t she?”

“That’s an understatement. First she wanted to paint the dining room, but then decided to wallpaper. Then it took a week to decide on the texture. Once we got through that, we started browsing samples. We’ve looked through all the books, but she can’t decide on stripes or flowers or the three types of birds that made her happy, so now she’s thrown all those out, and we’re starting over. Oh, and now she wants to add wallpaper to the entry.”

Delilah laughed. “I’m sorry. She’s a very difficult client, but Ipromise you that if you make her happy, she’ll give you a lot of business. Not only her, but her friends as well.”

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