Read Online Tempting Aquisitions by Addison Fox - Free Book Online Page B

oddly wistful note she detected underneath his words, but his comment took her mind off her discomfort. “How so?”
    “The floor plan’s incredibly well done, how one dream kitchen flows into the next. You can see how enticing it is to the family looking to remodel or build new.”
    “We were worried for the last few years as the housing market suffered, but that area’s stayed incredibly profitable, even growing a bit in participation year after year. I almost think a down market has raised interest in that part of the show.”
    “Everyone loves to dream.” Nathan’s voice was quiet as he said it, but it was the words themselves that caught her.
    “And what are your dreams, Mr. Cooper?”
    What looked like embarrassment flashed across his gaze for the briefest of moments before the cocky grin she was coming to associate with him flashed with full force. “Oh, we corporate pirates dream of lots and lots of cold, hard cash.”
    The slightly wistful tone she’d heard had disappeared, but Keira couldn’t help being struck by his words. She knew enough of his background to believe he’d had a challenging childhood at best. How did those experiences shape a man? Did they crush out his dreams? Or make him all that much more determined to achieve them?
    “Is that all?”
    “Oh, yes. I’m a veritable Scrooge, counting my stash late into the night.” He hunched over as he spoke the words, mimicking the famous miser, and she couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter at his actions.
    “Are you laughing at me?”
    She nodded as another wave of giggles shook her. “Only because you can laugh at yourself. A rather admirable trait, and one my mother insisted on for my sisters and me.”
    “Funny, it’s one my mother insisted on as well. ‘Nate, my boy,’ she always said. ‘The man who can’t laugh at himself is a sorry ass, indeed.’”
    “A smart woman.”
    “As is your mother.” He took another sip of his beer. “You haven’t said much about her.”
    “There’s not much to say.” Even after more than a decade, Keira still couldn’t stop her vision from growing misty when she thought about her mother. “We lost her to breast cancer about ten years ago.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “What? That wasn’t in your file?”
    His tender gaze evaporated at her words and it was immediately obvious what she’d intended as a joke fell flat. “I meant the sympathy, Keira. It’s horrible to lose a parent.”
    “I know.” On a deep breath, she reached forward and laid a hand on his forearm. “I know. I only meant to lighten the moment, not insult you.”
    He laid a hand over hers and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the way his long fingers blended with hers. The temptation to turn her hand over and rest her palm to his, linking their fingers, was strong, but she held back.
    Even more than the kiss they’d shared the night of the banquet, linking hands in that way suggested intimacy. Connection. And no matter how she was drawn to him, she simply couldn’t act on it.
    “I’m sure the loss you feel is great, but I’ve no doubt your mother is incredibly proud of you and your sisters.”
    “I’d like to think so.”
    “I believe so.”
    They sat there for long moments, neither saying anything as the quiet conversation of the bar swirled around them. Keira knew it made no sense. That she could take a moment of comfort out of her busy day with the one man dead set on ruining what she’d built. But as she sat there quietly sipping her club soda, her hand resting under his, she also knew it was true. He’d given her a lovely compliment about her mother as well as comfort over a loss that never fully went away.
    Maybe it was the quiet of the moment or the acknowledgment that her mother would have been proud of her, but Keira couldn’t erase the need to make her case, to see if there was any way to penetrate the professional veneer Nathan wore like armor.
    “Why is this so important to you?”
    She was