Page 18 of Just One Look

Chuckling softly, she grabbed a fork and fiddled with it as she spoke. “You cannot compare redecorating a little with saving a man’s business and keeping a slew of people from the unemployment line.”

“I don’t know. It shows that maybe we’re not very different.”

Her brows knit together the same as they had a moment ago.

“It was pretty obvious you love what you do.”

“Most of the time.”

“Uh, oh. That doesn’t sound good.”

“Well.” She blew out a sigh. “I love what I do, but some clients are very frustrating.”

He reached for a spoon and fiddled it between his fingers. “Remind me to keep you away from the people who work with me.”

That had her laughing, he was happy to see it.

She shook her head. “I have this one client. The man’s new wife hasn’t got the design sense of a spider building a web. She wants to take a grand old house and turn it into a new century modern mess, mostly in purple.”

“Purple?” Not one of his favorite colors. For the next few minutes, she shared her frustrations with the trophy wife, her lousy taste, and all while trying a new venture in Houston.

“That’s why you’re here?”

“I love working in Dallas. It’s a great city. But I miss not being closer to Emily. Her business degree brought her to Houston and my art degree took me to Dallas. Emily happily bought a cute little house in an equally adorable suburban neighborhood and I gravitated to a loft in Uptown with all the other under thirty Dallasites.”

“Not to mention the nightlife.”

“Bingo.” Her smile held a hint of all the fun he suspected she’d had through the years. “But, as the years go by, and adulting gets busier and more complex, it’s harder and harder for either of us to make time for the drive, and I’ve grown tired of waiting for them to do something about the proposed bullet train.”

“You’re not the only one tired of waiting.”

At that moment, the waitress reappeared with two plates. Setting a plate in front of each of them, she straightened and smiled at them. “Will you be needing anything else?”

Liz snatched a still hot chip and glancing at the condiments to her left, nodded. “I’d love a little mayonnaise, please.”

Lifting the warm burger bun, Devlin glanced at the still sizzling burger. He’d forgotten how delicious these burgers were. It had been eons since he’d been here. Lifting his head, he smiled at the waitress. “Looks perfect.”

As soon as the woman walked away to tend to another customer, Liz bit into her burger and Devlin would have sworn her eyes almost rolled back into her head. “I know these are good, but they’re better than I remember.”

Lifting the massive burger to his mouth, Dev took a bite. She was right. He had forgotten how good the fire-grilled burgers that were actually still bigger than the bun tasted.

“So,” Devlin set his burger down on the plate, “tell me more about this Houston venture.”

“I’ve got an opportunity to expand my business into Houston.”

“Which would bring you closer to your sister?”

She shrugged. “If it works out. I just don’t know if I’d be spreading myself too thin.”

As she explained, he nibbled on his chips and realized that the more he heard, the more he hoped it worked out for her. What he didn’t know was if he wanted her here for Emily, or for himself?

Chapter Eight

“Let me make it up to you?” Devlin pulled the car to the curb in front of the home where Liz was staying with her sister.

“There’s nothing to make up. I had a very nice—different, but nice—evening.” Nothing had turned out the way she’d expected, and she certainly hadn’t needed the cute black dress to hang out at the hospital or eat a burger, but that didn’t matter at all. Watching Devlin Baron in action had been absolutely fascinating. Even though her sister had talked about the man and his projects and charities and all sorts of things for years, it didn’t feel truly real until now. Whatever her mind thought a wealthy man would be like, this was not what she’d conjured up. Somehow, she’d always thought arrogance, indifference, and even a hint of narcissism came with money and power.

If Devlin had a millionaire sized ego, she didn’t see it. All the man wanted to do was to help. He’d been truly worried about all the people out of work and for the restaurant owner.

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