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AllI’ve stayed on the path set out for hter, the excellent student, the driven employee If I haven’t flourished, well, at least I haven’t floundered

Taking the safe option hter and employee, but it isn’t for the owner of a company It’s a hard lesson I’ve learned in the last six e round up will fall to pieces under my watch

Which is why I’ up what few scraps of courage I canat the house of anoredup onto do with me The safe choice would be to move on to another architect, to convince my client that there is someone else who can fill the need for their dream home

I’ safe

I need Jonas for this project No one else I just have to find the right words to convince hiet soaked I really should have packed an umbrella, but in the adrenaline-rushed decision to fly up to Washington, book a rental car, take a ferry to Orca Island and drive all the way around the upside-down U-shape that was this island, I forgot

Surely I have enough adrenaline left over to knock on the door?

I drag in a breath andhouse It looks nothing like the style Jonas beca with my father It’s not streamlined or modern or heavy in steel and concrete Instead, it’s positively cozy Like a house where a reclusive artist or author would live, which makes it fit in seamlessly with the rest of Orca Island that I’ve seen

I’

I take a deep breath, irritated at myself, and knock on the door Silence A frisson of worry spears —for obvious reasons—but he just hung up on me yesterday Surely he hasn’t decided to jaunt off sori over ht It doesn’t matter that I worked closely with my father for four years before he decided to retire He’s no longer in the office and suddenly every time I turn around, there’s another fire to put out with my bare hands

I need a win Just one win to get me back on track

The Henderson account will do it, but to pull off the Henderson account, I need Jonas

I knock again, harder this time When there’s still no answer, I curse and poke the doorbell three ti it, but I’ve coo back now I hit the doorbell oneco from inside the house

Finally

The door jerks open and there he is Jonas Barnett We’ve only met in person a handful of times, but that first encounter has been tattooed on my brain for the last six years Somehow, he looks even better than he did the last time I saw him His blond hair is now threaded with silver, and I’h lines on his face So does the lean body shown off by a plain white T-shirt and faded jeans My gaze catches on his bare feet “You’re not wearing shoes”

“What the hell are you doing here, Blake?”

Ah, right Focus I need to focus Getting sidelined by how frustratingly sexy he is will just lead ht the Christh for several lifetimes, and if I didn’t need hio kick dirt Except I wouldn’t because I’d have no reason to call hi up onon your doorstep”

He leans against the door fra like a put-together business woman in a slim button-dohite blouse, a pencil skirt, and reasonably low heels I even stopped to freshen up twice—at the rental car place and on the ferry before we arrived at this island For all the good it did me No doubt I look like a drowned rat now