Duke pressed his lips together to keep from grinning too hard. She knew how long he was going to be in town? That gave him a glimmer of hope she’d been following his time in Tallahassee. “I would pay you double what your normal fee is.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want to pay,” Macy stated again. “I’m extremely busy, and I don’t think you understand what exactly it is that I do.”
“Okay, okay, maybe we can talk about it over dinner?” Taking a long sip of his beer to figure out what he was going to say next, Duke nodded his head. “Oh wait, I guess you don’t like to cook since you do it all the time, right? You, um, did the cooking for tonight, right?” he asked when she gave him a funny look. Her left eye squinted a bit, and her smile was crooked, devilish almost.
“I did the decorating,” she clarified.
Duke looked around him, the furniture, the caramel-colored walls with the white trimming, and the fixtures. “Oh, you’re an interior decorator.”
She smiled, finally. He thought he could leave now, but he was too captivated. Her smile lit up the room. It ignited something within him. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. His mother used to say he was going to fall in love at first sight, but he wasn’t quite sure if this was it. All Duke knew was that he did not want to leave this woman’s side, even if she was making it obvious that she didn’t want to be around him.
“I’m more of an exterior decorator, especially for the holidays.”
“This is interesting,” Duke replied with a raised eyebrow. Women always fell for that move. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had nothing on him. “You mean you painted the house?” She was so dainty and feminine, it wasn’t something he expected.
“No.” Macy shook her head and huffed. She was obviously growing irritated with him. He’d never had that happen with a woman. Brown curls bounced from side to side, framing her face. “I did the holiday decorations outside.”
Duke recalled the Santa, the snowmen and the elves playing outside. It was quite the picturesque scene. There were a few homes in his neighborhood that were putting up their decorations, also. In fact, he’d gotten a letter in the mail about keeping up with the neighborhood traditions. “The decorations are great. Maybe you can do the same at my place.”
She half smiled this time, then adjusted Lucia so that she was resting over her shoulder. Duke noticed that her ring finger was naked. “As I’ve said, I’m busy, Mr. Rodriguez.” She tried to move away, but Duke stepped in her way.
“Hey, maybe I can do a story on you. This sounds like a fascinating one.”
“Sorry,” Macy said. Her snarky half smile told him she could go toe-to-toe with him and with anything he had to offer. “You’re obviously new here. A story has been done.” She moved to the right, and Duke moved to the left, blocking her once again. She sighed impatiently as she looked at him. The light from the skylight hit across her eyes, turning her eyes a seductive shade of golden brown.
“I feel like you’re upset with me.”
“Now why would I be upset with you, Mr. Rodriguez?” This time she offered a forced toothy smile, showing her dimple on her right cheek. “We’ve just met.”
She was being sarcastic. He liked that. Women weren’t sarcastic enough with him. They pretty much caved to whatever he said.
And then a bomb went off in the pit of his stomach at the ultimate possibility. Maybe she genuinely just was not attracted to him. His years of speaking in front of the camera, eloquently, went out the window. He found himself beginning to stutter, “Well, I...”
And then she ambushed him with her reasoning. “Could it be because yesterday morning while I was getting my kids ready and listening to the morning news, you exposed Santa as a fraud in front of my eight-year-old? Do you realize how many mothers had to explain to their children that you’re just a pompous ass whom Santa stopped visiting a long time ago and that you’re just so bitter that you wanted to ruin Christmas for everyone?”
He winced and snapped his teeth together as she gave him a thorough tongue-lashing. When she quieted down, Duke felt guiltier than ever. Pablo had said she’d been the first to call and complain. How soon he’d forgotten, after being lost in her beauty.
“Oh...” He scratched at the back of his head, still at a loss for words.
A few people within earshot overheard and were snickering, championing Macy.
“I’m real sorry about that. Maybe I can talk to her...”
“Him.” She corrected him quickly.
Duke nodded. “I’m very sorry. Can I do anything to fix this situation?”
Once again Macy shook her head from side to side. “I highly doubt it.”
“Can I at least take you to dinner sometime? Maybe take your son out for a tour of the studio?”
Macy sighed irritably. He could see that she wasn’t a person to make angry. If her eyes could literally shoot daggers, he’d be dead right now. “There is nothing you can say or do. What’s done is done, Mr. Rodriguez.”
“Duke,” he corrected her.
“What?” Macy pulled her neck back in confusion.
“My first name, it’s Duke. My friends call me Duke.”
“You are such an athle-tante.”
“A what?” Duke laughed.
“It means you’re like one of those celebrity athletes who think you can say and do whatever you like you’re some society debutante.” Rolling her eyes, she choked out a haughty laugh, then shook her head no. “I’m not interested. So you have a nice evening, Mr. Rodriguez.”
Dumbfounded, Duke stood there and watched her disappear around the corner into the kitchen. If she went through the swinging doors without looking back, then he knew he didn’t have a shot at her. His heart slammed against his ribs, a strange reaction he’d never felt before from just meeting a woman for the first time, because when she reached the door, she pushed one side open, stopped and cast a glance over her shoulder, directly at him.
The day after the party, Macy found herself sitting in her office, thumbing through various sketches she’d worked on all morning. The swivel chair squeaked as she leaned back in a half stretch, half yawn, her eyes surveying the room. In times like these, she still did not believe how blessed she was to have such a successful career. The two-story Victorian office she owned in historic Frenchtown had doubled as the home where she’d raised her children until she earned enough money. Now she traveled in to work from her ranch-style home just outside the city limits.
For ten years, Macy had worked her fingers to the bone, using her skills as an interior decorator for a corporation and moonlighting during the holidays as an exterior decorator to help pad her little nest egg. Oh, how hard the first two years of starting her own business were—she’d been in the middle of a divorce from her best friend at the time, Mario Polizzi, and taking care of an infant and a precocious child.
Macy owed a lot to Mario, and it was easy to maintain their friendship now simply because they both realized they never should have gotten married. Mario and his family had played a big part in Macy’s life ever since her parents had passed away. Since they dated exclusively throughout high school, they both figured marriage was their next step. Getting pregnant right after prom sped up their plans. While trying to rebuild her life, Macy took on clients who needed help with their outside decorating ideas for the holidays. That business became a niche in town