Josh rolled toward the wall, shutting down that conversation before it could begin. “Lily’s an artist we need to satisfy our client,nothingmore.”
“Sure, sure. An artist you call by her first name and who makes you smile when you think about her. Nope, nothing to worry aboutatall.”
Thankfully, Allen didn’t try to dig any deeper, but the silence that followed didn’t help sleep come any sooner. The traffic outside was too noisy, the air-conditioning was too stale, his sunburn stung too much, the job was too important, and the girl was toobeautiful.
When the sun finally rose in the morning, he put on loose-fitting dress pants and a shirt, leaving his tie and coat hanging in his garment bag. By the time he arrived at the cottage, it was ten o’clock and the heat wassuffocating.
Connie opened the door, looked at his face and burst out laughing. “Oh, she’s making you work forit,huh?”
He tried not to growl with impatience, but the sting of his sunburn was making him cranky. “Can I speak with Lily, please?” he asked as politely as he could manage. Connie opened the door further, and he spotted Lily sitting at her easel working on that monstrosity of a painting. “Can you take a break for a while to talk about myoffer?”
Lily shook her head, but he was in no mood to take that as an answer. “Five minutes and I’llleave.”
She glanced up at him, but unlike Connie, she didn’t laugh. Instead, she pressed her lips together then disappeared out of the room. She returned a moment later with a bottle of some kind in herhand. “Sit.”
He stood there for a minute, trying to assess thesituation.
“You’re down to four minutes.” She gestured toward the kitchen table. “Sit.” He complied, but instead of sitting beside him, she opened the bottle and poured some of the contents into her palm. The green sludge smelled like a mix of eucalyptus, aloe, andpondscum.
He scrunched away from her. “What’sthat?”
“It’ll take the sting out.” She shook her head at him. “This is Florida. You should wear sunscreen,youknow.”
“I was too busy chasing after you. I haven’t chased a girl like that since Susie Bonatoski inpreschool.”
She laughed, not enough that she seemed happy, but all he could think was that it was good to see her smile. A girl that beautiful shouldn’t look so sad allthetime.
She dabbed small amounts of the lotion on his nose and cheeks and forehead, then rubbed the blobs into his skin. Her touch was light and gentle, the lotion cool and soothing. He didn’t want to admit it, but the obnoxious smelling lotion really did instantly remove the sting. “What is thatstuff?”
“Something the locals make. You can’t buy it in astore.”
“Why not? They shouldsellthat.”
She stopped applying the lotion and stared down at him. “Not everything is for sale, Mr.BusinessMan.”
“I didn’t mean…” He sighed. “Mr.BusinessMan?”
She moved to the back of his neck and the cooling relief felt heavenly. Not just the lotion, but her massaging touch. Thinking that he liked her this close to him, he froze and forced his thoughts somewhere else. “Um, so, are you almost done with that…thatpainting?”
Her hand retreated, and he heard the top on the lotion bottle popclosed.
“I need to get back to work. I’m on a deadline.That paintingis helping to pay my bills right now.” She set the bottle on the kitchen counter then headed back to hereasel.
“Wait, I still need to talk to you more about ourproposal.”
“Sorry, your five minutes are up.” She sat down in her chair and picked up her paint brush. “I am sorry about the sunburnthough.”
From the genuine guilt he saw in the way her eyes drifted down to her paints at her side, he knew shemeantit.
“Come on, businessman Josh. Time for you to go.” Connie ushered him outthedoor.
“But I still need to speak to her about this deal.” He grabbed the door frame and leaned back into the cottage. “Don’t you feel bad about thesunburn?”
“Not that bad,” Lilymumbled.
“Come back tomorrow,” Connie said before she closedthedoor.
He stood on the rickety wooden porch for a moment then hurried to the shaded driveway where he’d parked his rental car. Fine. He still had time, but for now, he needed to get out ofthesun.
