Read Online Desire by Design by Paula Altenburg - Free Book Online
Authors: Paula Altenburg
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cute.
He tried to shake it off with a joke. “In that case, you owe me money. Twenty dollars didn’t quite cover it.”
“I’ll have to write you a check.” Eve bounced her house keys in the palm of her hand, indecision etched all over her face. There was a palpable moment of awkward silence. “Or would you settle for a cup of coffee instead?”
Matt resisted the urge to reach over and pick the wood shavings from her hair, only because he didn’t want her to withdraw that offer of coffee. Her hesitation suggested she wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but he was suddenly very curious about how the inside of her home would look.
“Coffee sounds good,” he said, and followed her across the lawn, up her front steps, and into a small entryway.
She closed the door behind them, bent over and unlaced her steel-toed work boots, then dropped them in a corner.
“I’ll just put the coffee pot on,” she said. “Why don’t you have a seat in the living room?”
The living room was off the foyer to the left, a comfortable room filled with overstuffed antique furniture. Photos of family littered the tables and walls. It was a woman’s room, and not at all what Matt had expected. He thought of his own sparse condo, with its geometric furniture and early Ellsworth Kelly original artwork. Eve’s tastes couldn’t be more different than his if she’d made a deliberate effort to make them so. Yet, despite Eve’s busy work schedule, her house managed to look like a home, while Matt’s condo looked like…
Like it had been designed by an architect. One who spent most of his time at the office.
An open scrapbook displayed on the coffee table caught his eye, and he picked it up. He could hear Eve rattling around in the kitchen. She returned a few moments later, pausing between the yawning double glass doors.
“The coffee will be ready in a minute. I’m just going to run up and change my clothes.”
Matt’s eyes followed her up the stairwell. Even in coveralls and a layer of sawdust, there was no mistaking that Eve was a beautiful woman. He shook his head. Despite her little idiosyncrasies, he was definitely attracted to her.
Physically, it made sense. It was healthy and normal. What he couldn’t quite figure out was what she intended to do with the baseball bat she was clutching in a white-knuckled hand.
Chapter Five
Eve was glad Matt had happened along while she was still trying to work up the nerve to enter the house. Having him downstairs made it easier to keep calm when the mess in her bedroom left her anything but that.
Tossing the bat onto the bed, she clamped her eyelids shut, then popped them open, but nothing had changed. Her panties still dangled from the lampshade.
The remainder of her clothing littered the bedroom floor, and a large, cedar-lined oak wardrobe sprawled drunkenly facedown on top of her great-grandmother’s antique hooked rug. A copy of Eve’s final divorce decree was skewered to her pillow with a finish nail.
She spun in a slow, incredulous circle and stared at the chaos around her, then curled her fingers into fists. She plucked the nail from the pillow and inspected the antique linen pillowcase. There was a small hole. Blinking back angry tears, she crumpled the divorce decree and crammed it into the back pocket of her coveralls. She stooped to grasp the front end of the wardrobe. One sharp corner screeched against the hardwood floor as she tried to lift it.
Matt’s voice drifted up from the foot of the stairs. “Is everything all right?”
Releasing her hold on the wardrobe, Eve bit her lip. She could ask him for help. She probably should. But they had to work together, and she wasn’t sure she could trust him to keep this to himself.
“Everything’s fine,” she called back, listening until she heard him move back into the living room.
Then she did a quick search of the rest of the upstairs, although she already knew Claude was gone. He wouldn’t want to be caught in the
He tried to shake it off with a joke. “In that case, you owe me money. Twenty dollars didn’t quite cover it.”
“I’ll have to write you a check.” Eve bounced her house keys in the palm of her hand, indecision etched all over her face. There was a palpable moment of awkward silence. “Or would you settle for a cup of coffee instead?”
Matt resisted the urge to reach over and pick the wood shavings from her hair, only because he didn’t want her to withdraw that offer of coffee. Her hesitation suggested she wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but he was suddenly very curious about how the inside of her home would look.
“Coffee sounds good,” he said, and followed her across the lawn, up her front steps, and into a small entryway.
She closed the door behind them, bent over and unlaced her steel-toed work boots, then dropped them in a corner.
“I’ll just put the coffee pot on,” she said. “Why don’t you have a seat in the living room?”
The living room was off the foyer to the left, a comfortable room filled with overstuffed antique furniture. Photos of family littered the tables and walls. It was a woman’s room, and not at all what Matt had expected. He thought of his own sparse condo, with its geometric furniture and early Ellsworth Kelly original artwork. Eve’s tastes couldn’t be more different than his if she’d made a deliberate effort to make them so. Yet, despite Eve’s busy work schedule, her house managed to look like a home, while Matt’s condo looked like…
Like it had been designed by an architect. One who spent most of his time at the office.
An open scrapbook displayed on the coffee table caught his eye, and he picked it up. He could hear Eve rattling around in the kitchen. She returned a few moments later, pausing between the yawning double glass doors.
“The coffee will be ready in a minute. I’m just going to run up and change my clothes.”
Matt’s eyes followed her up the stairwell. Even in coveralls and a layer of sawdust, there was no mistaking that Eve was a beautiful woman. He shook his head. Despite her little idiosyncrasies, he was definitely attracted to her.
Physically, it made sense. It was healthy and normal. What he couldn’t quite figure out was what she intended to do with the baseball bat she was clutching in a white-knuckled hand.
Chapter Five
Eve was glad Matt had happened along while she was still trying to work up the nerve to enter the house. Having him downstairs made it easier to keep calm when the mess in her bedroom left her anything but that.
Tossing the bat onto the bed, she clamped her eyelids shut, then popped them open, but nothing had changed. Her panties still dangled from the lampshade.
The remainder of her clothing littered the bedroom floor, and a large, cedar-lined oak wardrobe sprawled drunkenly facedown on top of her great-grandmother’s antique hooked rug. A copy of Eve’s final divorce decree was skewered to her pillow with a finish nail.
She spun in a slow, incredulous circle and stared at the chaos around her, then curled her fingers into fists. She plucked the nail from the pillow and inspected the antique linen pillowcase. There was a small hole. Blinking back angry tears, she crumpled the divorce decree and crammed it into the back pocket of her coveralls. She stooped to grasp the front end of the wardrobe. One sharp corner screeched against the hardwood floor as she tried to lift it.
Matt’s voice drifted up from the foot of the stairs. “Is everything all right?”
Releasing her hold on the wardrobe, Eve bit her lip. She could ask him for help. She probably should. But they had to work together, and she wasn’t sure she could trust him to keep this to himself.
“Everything’s fine,” she called back, listening until she heard him move back into the living room.
Then she did a quick search of the rest of the upstairs, although she already knew Claude was gone. He wouldn’t want to be caught in the
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