Page 94 of Falling for You Again

Chapter 28

Better Together

I stand in the front office area of the building Aaron showed me a few weeks back, cracking my knuckles. I’m nervous, more so than I was this morning when I’d planned to go work at Stone & Bloom. Fear of rejection does that to you. But I need to be honest with myself. I’ve known all along a job at the kitchen-and-bath showroom was not meant to be, even if it was temporary. I don’t know why I tried to convince myself I could work there.

The barren conference room with the threadbare, low-profile industrial carpeting is set up with the laptop and portable projector on the floor. After verifying my calculations and projections with Mom, who tracked industry numbers and managed Artisant Design’s finances for almost three decades, and after taking another quick errand across town, I came straight over. I figured Aaron has been spending his days here. His car is parked in front and the entrance was unlocked, so I came inside and made myself at home. I just texted him I’m here, waiting for him in front.

Seconds later the door into the woodshop in back swings open and closes behind Aaron and on the loud whine of a table saw. He isn’t here alone.

I push down a lump in my tight throat and fold my hands as a wave of longing washes over me. A flicker of anticipation runs through me as Aaron approaches, his expression a blend of confusion and something that might be hope. He looks like he can’t believe I’m here. Like he yearns for me. Like he can’t hide the pain that my leaving caused him, and I feel a slight, uncomfortable pressure in my chest. I don’t want to be the Aria to his Bear. I ache to put him at ease, make right my wrong and hold him.

That will have to wait.

I give him a tentative smile.

“Hey, Meli,” he says cautiously when he reaches me. “What are you doing here?”

My heart rate skyrockets. I crack a knuckle. “I have a proposal for you.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. Some of the tension he’s carrying visibly eases. “Is that wise given our history with proposals?”

He’s making jokes. I’ll take that as a good sign. My smile briefly widens. “Do you have a moment?”

“Meli, I’ll give you all the moments in the world. All you have to do is ask.”

My heart. This man.

The air shudders out of me. I rub the side of my neck and with a shy smile, gesture at the barren conference room. “I’m set up in there.”

“Oh.” He looks in that direction, surprised. “All right. Lead the way.”

He follows me into the room.

“Do you mind sitting on the floor? You don’t have a table yet.”

“Because I don’t know if the artisan I want to hire is still taking on clients.” His gaze is piercing, and I feel a fluttering low inside me.

“Oh. Right. About that, I might have an answer for you. Let’s sit.”

I settle cross-legged on the floor. Aaron sits next to me but not directly beside me, which I appreciate. I’m already having a hard enough time concentrating with him in the same room.

I turn on the projector and glide my finger on the mouse pad to wake up my laptop. It displays on the wall the opening slide to the presentation I’d put together in hopes of pitching Uncle Bear to sell me Artisant Designs. The title slide is Artisant’s logo.

A slight frown pulls Aaron’s brows together at the center. “Didn’t you show me this before?”

Seems like eons ago when I practiced the presentation on him in his kitchen.

“Yes and no. Bear with me. Pun not intended.” I didn’t want to waste time revising the slide show after already spending two hours with Mom this morning.

A ghost of a smile appears. “Show me what you’ve got.” He gestures at the wall and leans back on his hands, stretching out his legs, keeping them crossed at the ankles.

I mentally groan at the image he makes in his worn jeans and the black tee stretched tight across his chest. I’m sorely tempted to push him onto his back and straddle him. At the thought, warmth spreads through me, and I feel my cheeks flush. Aaron cocks his brows. “Feeling okay?”

I clear my throat and glance away. “Yes. Well, then. Let’s get started.”

I’m a bundle of nerves and too animated to stay seated so I stand back up and launch into my presentation. As I speak, I replace “Artisant Designs” with “our company,” and when I get to the offerings I wanted to launch through Artisant, I weave in the ideas we brainstormed when he asked to go into business with me, like the online catalog and, someday, retail stores. He’d manage the sales and marketing and financing side of this venture, and I’d head up product development and oversee our portfolio of revenue-generating services. I pitch expansion plans and highlight competitive strategies. I emphasize partnership and teamwork and giving back to the community. We’d create a company culture that stimulates innovation and the imagination to set new trends in high-end, artisan-crafted wood furniture.

When I finish, I feel inspired and hopeful. But apprehension threads through me as I look down at Aaron. He didn’t say one word throughout the entire presentation. He didn’t ask a single question, whereas last time he regularly interrupted me to clarify a point or challenge a strategy, testing their potential success.

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