Midnight Man (Midnight #1)(3)

“I will, yes.” She drew in a deep breath. “Well, um…” She turned a ring nervously around her finger. “So. I guess—I guess you’ll be my new tenant. My first. You can do whatever you want in the rental. Though I’d rather you didn’t knock down any walls.”

“I could never in a million years do as good a job as you did decorating your office. I might just hire you to do mine.”

“Actually, um…” Her pale skin turned the most delicate, delightful pink. She reached behind her for a file. She opened it and turned it around so he could see it. “While designing this office, I fiddled with a few ideas for the rental. I used a different color scheme, made it more…” She looked up at him through thick lashes, “more masculine.” John moved his chair forward. His senses were so heightened that he could smell her skin. Some mixture of lotion and perfume and warm woman. She was blushing furiously now under his intense scrutiny.

John wrenched his gaze back to the drawings she had fanned out on the desktop, and then he focused in on what he was seeing.

Amazing.

“This is wonderful,” he breathed. He studied each sheet carefully. She’d used unusual tones—dark gray and cream and a funny blue—to create a sleek, modern environment. Practical, comfortable, refined. It was as if she had walked around inside his head to pull out exactly what he wanted without him knowing he wanted it. “Elegant, but understated. I really like the beige ceiling with the blue thingies.”

“Ecru.” She smiled.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m sure you have technical terms in your business, Commander Huntington—John. Just as I have them in mine. The colors are slate, ecru and teal, not gray, beige and blue. And the blue thingies are stencils.” She pushed the drawings across the desk to him. “Keep these. You’re welcome to them. And if you need any help in getting the furnishings, let me know. Nothing in my design is custom-made. You could buy everything immediately. I’d be happy to help. I get a professional discount at all the major retailers. ”

“That’s very generous of you. Would you be willing to design living quarters for me, too? For a fee, of course.”

She drew in a quick breath. “Living quarters? You want—you want to live here, too?”

“Mm. There’s plenty of space. Those three big back rooms would be more than enough for me. I keep odd hours in my business and I need to be close to the office. This would suit me fine. Now I want you to call some of the people on the list on page two.”

“I beg your pardon?” When she shifted in her chair, some floral scent wafted his way. His nostrils flared to take it in.

“I’ve provided five people as character references. Call them. Call them before we sign the lease. We can do that tomorrow.”

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Comm—John.”

“It’s absolutely necessary, Suzanne.” He looked around then brought his gaze back to her. “This is a beautiful space and you’ve done a great job renovating the building, but we’re in a rough neighborhood.”

It was one of the reasons he wanted his corporate headquarters here. He sometimes hired people who had looked wildly out of place in the prissy downtown building. Like Jacko, with his pierced nostrils and the tats.

“If you’re going to be alone in a building with a man, you need to know who he is and that you’re safe with him.” His eyes bored into hers. “You’ll be safe with me.”

But not from me, he thought.

“I guess you’re the expert.” She blew out a little breath.

“Yes, ma’am. You’ll call?”

Her eyes dropped to the paper. “Of course, if you want me to. You have an impressive list of references. Wait. Lieutenant Tyler Morrison, Portland Police Department. You know him?”

“Bud? Sure. He was in the Marines. We cross-trained together. Then he quit and became a cop. Call him. And one more thing before I sign. What’s your security system?”

“Security system? You mean like the alarm system? Let me check.” She opened a Filofax and started poring over the pages with a tapered, pink-tipped finger. “I don’t remember off-hand, but I know it was expensive. Ah, here we are. XOL Security. Do you know them? Oh, how stupid of me. Of course you do, security is your business.”

“I deal mainly in personal security, not building security, but I know them.” XOL Security was a crappy outfit. They’d have snowed her with fancy alarms and seven-digit codes and their equipment could have come out of a cereal box. No freakin’ way was he going to live and work in a building secured by XOL. He stood up. “I’d appreciate it if you were to secure the alarms after I leave.”

“I—okay.” She stood up too, looking puzzled, and walked around the desk. “If you really want me to. I tend to just have the door locked during the day because it’s so fussy putting on the alarm system then switching it off when I want to go out. So…I guess we have a deal?”

“You bet.”

He stuck out his hand. After a second’s hesitation, she offered hers. It was almost half the size of his, slim and fine-boned. He carefully applied a little pressure and ordered himself to let go. It was damned hard to do. What he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and take her down to the floor.