When she’d arrived at the entrance to his driveway she’d almost chickened out, telling herself she should have waited until Monday. But, she had to admit, his summons for dinner gave her the perfect opportunity to observe him in a different setting—and she needed to find some grounding in her observations very soon.
The driveway to the mansion was imposing enough with its boxed hedging trimmed to immaculate precision, but the house itself was something else entirely. The twin-arched portico of his home stood austerely before her and an entire squadron of butterflies went into battle formation in her stomach.
Everything was so incredibly perfect. Not a line or even so much as a leaf out of place. He must have a whole fleet of gardeners keeping it all so pristine.
“Are you going to stand out there all day enjoying the garden or did you want to come inside?”
Callie jumped. She hadn’t even heard the front door swing open. She gave Josh a half smile.
“Your gardens are very…” She faltered. “Beautiful,” she finally said.
It was the truth, they were beautiful. But despite their perfection she missed the exuberance of colour and shape she was used to seeing in a spring garden. These precisely clipped hedges and trees lacked something.
Soul. That was it. While there was growth in abundance, there was no life in what she saw. It was as though everything was about appearances and not about personal pleasure.
“But you don’t like them, do you?” Josh leaned against one of the cream-coloured pillars supporting the arches at his front door.
“It’s not that,” Callie said carefully. “They are lovely, just a little too controlled for my liking.”
“And you prefer things more uncontrolled?”
There was a wealth of innuendo in Josh’s tone and Callie felt a flush of warmth rise up her throat and spread through her cheeks. Heavens, she hadn’t blushed in years!
“When there’s a time and place for it, yes.”
Callie lifted her chin and met his gaze full on. His eyes gleamed with humour. He knew he’d embarrassed her with his teasing and he was enjoying it.
It was a side of him she hadn’t seen before. In the office he was driven professionalism all the way. She found it interesting that her first impression, of the outside of his home at least, was exactly the same. A place for everything and everything in its place.
Yet, as something deep inside her unfurled under his amused gaze, she knew much more lay beneath the surface.
“Come inside,” Josh said as he pushed off from the pillar and gestured to the door. “We can have a drink by the pool before dinner.”
Callie took the few steps necessary to close the distance between them and slid the wrapped painting out from under her arm.
“Here, this is yours.”
Josh reached to take the package from her, but paused for a moment before accepting it.
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely.”
He gave a small nod and accepted the packet. Then, with his hand settled on the small of her back as he had done last night, he guided her inside his home.
Callie tried to ignore his closeness and the heated imprint of his hand through the silk of her dress, but it was nearly impossible. Every nerve ending concentrated on that one spot. On the outline of his fingers, on the warmth of his palm. She let go the breath she hadn’t even realised she was holding when he stepped away from her to shut the door.
Dressed casually, he was no less imposing than he was in his standard office attire. He still favoured dark colours, the navy polo shirt hanging loose over jeans whose cut and style screamed designer chic. He wore no cologne today, but his intrinsic male scent still put every hormone in Callie’s body on full alert.
What was she thinking? She was supposed to be spying on the man, not lusting for him.
Josh placed the picture on a sideboard, then continued to guide Callie outdoors to the pool area. As they exited the wide-open French doors to the back of the house, he removed his hand from her back and let her move forward a step or two away from him. She had her hair up again and he found his eyes riveted to the smooth straight line of her neck. A tiny curl had escaped at the edge of her hairline and caressed her nape. His fingers itched to gently wind the tiny strand of hair around them, to see if his touch would cause a shiver to run over her skin.
She walked with a grace that was hard to ignore. The fabric of her dress skimming over the curve of her hips and swaying gently with the totally female movement of her legs as they crossed the tiled expanse of floor. He wondered, not for the first time, if her movements would be as graceful in the bedroom.
Something deep inside him tightened and a flare of heat blossomed at its nucleus. He looked forward to finding out. It would be a pleasure for them both.