Not Quite Mine (Not Quite #2)(14)
Author: Catherine Bybee

He shook the thoughts from his confused mind and quickly said, “Fine.”

She tilted her head to the side and considered him for a moment before turning back to whatever it was she was looking at when he had first walked in behind her.

“Is this the standard size of all the rooms?” she asked.

“All but the two and three bedroom bungalows that are outside of this building. Those have small kitchens.”

She nodded and crossed the room to her purse and removed a pen. After writing something down, she tapped the pen against her bottom lip. “Is there a penthouse?”

“Not in the traditional sense. Jack wanted individual single dwellings, the bungalows, for patrons with deeper pockets and space needs. There is one suite on the top floor, but it’s only half the size of the largest single standing suite structure. The rest of the top floor is dedicated to dining, a bar, and a teen club hangout.”

“Teen club?”

Dean smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Family first. That’s what Jack wants. This is a destination experience. Something for everyone in the family to enjoy.” Unlike any other project Dean had been a part of building, this hotel felt more like building a fantasy. Fancy hotels catered to the rich and adult. There wasn’t a place for the kids to go and be kids.

“How soon before I can get up there and get a feel for the space?”

“Once all the exterior walls are up.”

“How long will that be?”

“A couple of weeks, give or take.”

She jotted down a few more notes and narrowed her eyes. Katie sounded so professional and ready to take on the project, Dean had to remind himself who he was talking to.

“The hotel isn’t anywhere near needing your hand. I’m surprised you flew out as quickly as you did.”

“I’m anxious to get started,” she said before turning her back on him.

“Why?” He’d asked himself why she wanted a job ever since Jack told her that she’d been hired. It wasn’t like she needed money. In fact, she wasn’t getting paid.

She ignored his question and asked one of her own. “How many square feet are the rooms?”

He told her and asked her again, “Why?”

She continued to scribble notes as she spoke. “I know you don’t want me here.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So you do want me here?”

“I didn’t say that. I asked why you want to do this. Why put out all the effort when you could be flying to France or dodging photographers in Italy?”

Blue eyes met his and held. “If I were a man, you wouldn’t ask me why I was doing this. No one asks Jack why he wants to build his own hotels when he has Daddy’s to fall back on.”

“You’d be hard-pressed to pull the women libbers’ card wearing that skirt, darlin’. I’ve never known a female more proud to be a woman in my life.” It was one of the many things he admired about her. She wore womanhood like a thick fur and dared anyone to say a thing about it.

Her eyes softened. “Maybe I’m bored with France.”

Ah, now they were getting somewhere. “People are going to depend upon you here. This isn’t something you can get bored with and move on.”

“Have I ever walked away from my obligations?”

You walked away from me. From us.

Hurt swelled in his chest and he needed to remove himself from her side before he revealed any of his undesired thoughts. “Return those plans to my desk before you leave.”

Chapter Six

What felt lower than dirt? Mud…definitely mud. Worm-filled mud crawling with insects might be the closest thing Katelyn could compare herself to as she watched Dean walk away.

She could convince herself all day long that Dean had run full speed into her ego, knowing damn well she had one and would defend it to the death. But the look of longing that had passed over his beautiful gray eyes before he told her to return the plans to his desk would live inside her for some time to come.

The last thing she wanted was to involve Dean with her life. He needed to be free to find a life with another woman, one who could give him the large family he wanted.

That wasn’t her.

It didn’t escape her notice when his eyes followed the length of her legs and settled on her br**sts a time or two during their brief conversation. Oh, he’d been tactful, but he hadn’t been invisible. Maybe she should wear something a little less her while at work.

Dealing with Dean on the job site would be complicated, but she assumed he’d see her in passing. She did the finishing work and he did the major construction. Yet as she looked deeper into what it would take to pull off designing the hotel after construction, she knew she needed to have more involvement from the beginning.

A teen club would require more lighting, more soundproofing. Katelyn was certain that Jack and Dean had considered some of these things, but not the design aspect of them. Her being involved this early on would save money in the end and make her job easier once Dean completed the job.

Putting emotional distance between her and Dean was a must from the beginning. For more reasons than he would ever know. It didn’t matter that their chemistry had always been combustible. Hell, she remembered phone conversations with him that left her breathless and wanting.

All of that was before. Before she learned just how inadequate she was to be with anyone, let alone a man as good as Dean.

After shifting the papers in her hands and gathering her purse, she left the shell of a room and took one more walk in what would be the main lobby.

A couple of construction workers craned their necks to watch her as she avoided multiple hazards in her high heels to visualize the space. With the right lighting, table lamps wouldn’t be necessary. She wrote a note to herself to ask about the electrician’s plans. She’d taken one course in architectural design and could fake her way around a set of blueprints. But she’d need a hell of a lot more knowledge if she was going to make hotel design her life’s work in the next few months.

She tucked her notebook into her oversized purse and strode from the room. She had a couple of days’ worth of homework she needed to do before involving Dean.

Maybe by then she’d forget the look in his eyes before he had left.

There was a slight hesitation in her step as she neared the stairs leading to the construction trailer. Dean was probably in there…doing whatever it was that he did. She’d see him again and need to meet his gaze without emotion. With anyone else, that was easy. Not with him. Never with him.