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Sierra sat in the plush home office of Susan Toulmin, Attorney at Law, waiting for the woman to hang up from the call she had been on when she answered the door. Susan called Sierra the night before and told her she had time the next day to meet with her to go over Sierra’s initial design changes for Susan’s eight thousand square foot home. Mansion would be a better name for it, but Susan tried to pretend that the monstrosity of a house was nothing more than the average person had. Yeah, right.
After spending several hours with Susan, getting a feel for the woman’s personality as well as her likes and dislikes, Sierra came up with a design she hoped the lawyer would be happy with. The woman was multifaceted and after their first meeting, Sierra had left feeling a little out of sorts. Eccentric was another adjective Sierra would use to describe Susan, but not out loud. Based on what she knew of the hard working attorney, Susan wouldn’t appreciate it.
As she waited patiently, trying not to eavesdrop on the call, she wondered how Susan would react. This wasn’t a new experience for Sierra, but she couldn’t deny the fact that she was nervous. She was just grateful she hadn’t had much time to dwell on this meeting after what had happened the night before with Luke. Sierra hadn’t been able to think of much other than what had transpired between the two of them during the early morning hours.
Knowing she had gotten in over her head, Sierra had reluctantly called Cole before Luke had woken, asking if he could come and pick her up. That was a decision she had contemplated long and hard before actually dialing, but with no one else to turn to, she had ended up making the call.
Thankfully he hadn’t asked any questions when he came to get her, nor when he dropped her at Logan’s so she could pick up her car. She’d quickly thanked him and hurried out of his truck, feeling out of sorts. After everything that happened between her and Cole in Vegas and the way he had so easily written her off when they returned, the few minutes they had been in his truck had been awkward.
She’d felt incredibly guilty asking Cole to come get her, knowing she couldn’t look him in the eye ever again. Though their time in Vegas had been special to her, and an experience she would never forget, Sierra couldn’t deny the overwhelming satisfaction when she had had Luke all to herself. The way he devoted every touch, every kiss to only her, Sierra found herself wanting him all to herself.
As much as she hoped he felt the same way about her, needing only her, Sierra wasn’t naïve enough to believe that to be the case. Hence her reason for sneaking out of his house at the break of dawn. If she could walk away with the memories of last night, without having to endure Luke’s rejection again, Sierra might be able to remain in one piece. Doubtful, but she was holding on to that thread of hope.
“Thanks for waiting.” Susan said anxiously, placing the cell phone down on her desk and interrupting Sierra’s wayward thoughts.
“No problem.” Sierra smiled, hoping to mask the emotion she knew had been written all over her face.
“What have you got for me?” Susan asked, getting right to the point, her tone a little more harsh than Sierra expected. During their initial conversations, Susan had been almost sweet. Apparently that was her I just met you, and I want you to like me persona because Sierra definitely wasn’t getting that vibe from the woman now.
Grateful for the distraction, Sierra spent the next two hours with the successful Dallas lawyer, going over plans and designs and making changes. Lots and lots of changes. So much so, by the end of the meeting, the design no longer resembled anything Sierra would have come up with. Susan hadn’t even agreed to one single compromise. When she finally conceded to what Susan wanted, Sierra was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home and slide into a hot bath.
As she drove the short distance back to her house, Sierra couldn’t help but wonder what Luke was doing at that very moment. Part of her hoped he would call and give her hell for walking out on him. Instead, she figured he’d probably been thankful that he didn’t have to let her down easy.
She had to fight the tears that threatened to fall, realizing she was much too emotional to play these little games and reinforcing the fact that she couldn’t handle casual sex. Which was frustrating as hell because here she was, independent, successful, and she’d even give herself credit for being intelligent, but let her emotions get the best of her and she was just a mess.
When she turned down her street, trying to rein in her emotions, Sierra noticed a familiar truck parked in her driveway. By the time she managed to pull her car alongside it, her heart was pounding in her chest. Hope had her chest expanding, her palms sweating as she shut off the engine and slowly climbed out of the car.