Page 42 of Single Mom's Guide to Love

“Okay, then.” I swallow the frog in my throat that is suddenly making me sound like a nervous rookie. “If you’d like, I can come over tomorrow and we can discuss everything. Do a walk-through. Price points, vision, likes and dislikes, time table. If you have meetings or?—”

“Tomorrow is perfect,” he cuts me off. “Say nine? What would you like for breakfast? I can make sure–”

“No, Logan.” I know I need to set parameters, and this is the perfect time to tell him that. “No breakfast. No having Kat get me Diet Coke because you happened to notice it’s my go-to drink. And while I’m on the subject, no mention of our time spent together. As far as we’re concerned, going forward, I’m the hired designer and you’re my client. No looks or touches. No inside jokes. And without a doubt, no calling me Love. Are we clear?”

There. I said it. I laid the boundary, and he has to agree to it. And that’s how Maeve Banks regains the upper hand.

“Wow. Okay. I was asking about breakfast, because that’s about the time I eat and I figured you’d like some. Presumptuous of you to think that I was doing it because of our past.”

Thank God he can’t see me right now, because my cheeks are overly flushed with embarrassment. I’m really going to need to get a handle on that if I’m going to be seeing him every day.

“I’m only slightly kidding, Maeve. And you’re right,” he continues. Which actually shocks me. Not that I didn’t think he’d agree to it, but I was expecting a little jab, or his knack for knowing how to soften me up. “This is a professional setting. You’re here to do a job, and it would be a waste of your time, my time, and my money to distract you with anything other than the furnishing of the house. From this point on, we’re just Maeve Banks and Logan Matthews. Designer and client.”

“Designer and client,” I repeat.

And ignore the pit in my stomach when the words leave my mouth.

13

logan

Designer and client,my ass.

I’ve laughed about that statement more than a few times since Maeve and I hung up the call last night. Designer and client only…that’s just rich.

If Maeve really thinks I can suddenly turn a switch in my brain that makes me forget about the night we spent together, she doesn’t realize how unforgettable she is.

Which I have a feeling she doesn’t.

But on the other hand, she’s right. This relationship is professional. And I’d be a right prick if I didn’t respect that boundary. She’s going to be here to do a job. A job that I’m going to be paying a lot of money for. And while normally a price tag like the one she’s likely to show me is going to make me itch on the inside, I know it’s going to be worth it. I’m going to get to see Maeve in her realm, creating a beautiful space. Kat will get off my back about having a grown-man dorm room for a home. I’ll please all the women in my life and get a nice-looking home out of it.

That’s what I call a win-win.

“Are you smiling like that because your girlfriend’s coming over?”

I give Kat a side-eye as she comes into my office while wheeling what looks like a coffee cart. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my designer. I’m her client. That’s it.”

Wow. I think that sounded pretty good. I think I can make this professional thing work—even if deep down I’m hoping that us spending time together will allow her to slowly warm up to the possibility of us.

And not the possibility of one more night. I want more than that. I want all her nights.

“Oh, you’re fucking down bad,” Kat says, taking a seat across from me. “I’ve never seen you look like this.”

“That’s not true.” It probably is, but I feel like I need to try and at least deny part of it. “What about that girl at university I went to a sorority formal with? The one you set me up with?”

Kat shakes her head in exasperation. “Do you even remember her name? How could you think she was a special person in your past if you can’t even say her name when thinking about her?”

Shit, she’s right. “I just remember we had a lovely time.”

“Of course you did. You had sex in the limo.”

“That’s right,” I say, unable to keep the grin off my face.

“Oh, Logan’s manwhore phase. What a memorable time it was.”

“I prefer cad.”

“I don’t care what we call it. I just don’t want to ever go through it again. You were exhausting.”

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