“Don’t bother.” He picked up his glass and drank the water in three long gulps.
A twinge of anxiety tightened her upper back. Mitch wanted nothing to do with her project. She folded her hands in her lap to hide the tremble of uncertainty in her fingers. How would they live together, much less work together, if he didn’t want her around? “I wish you wanted me here as much as your father does, but I understand if you don’t. I promise to do everything possible to meet your vision for Blake Glassware, as well as your father’s.”
Some of the ice melted from his gaze. “Making both my father and I happy will be difficult to accomplish.”
“I relish the challenge.” She cleared her throat, but the lump of worry remained. “What would you like to eat on Wednesday and Thursday?”
With one eyebrow raised, he looked at his empty plate. “You’ll make whatever I want?”
“It’s only fair, considering I’m living here rent free. Besides, I don’t know what you like to eat. You’ll be doing me a favor by taking the guesswork out of what to get at the grocery store.”
He scratched his chin. “What about lasagna on Wednesday and pork chops on Thursday?”
“Sounds good.” She stood and reached for her plate.
Mitch lifted the plate out of her hand. “I don’t know how you city folk work things, but there’s an unspoken rule out here in the country. If a guy is lucky enough to get a meal cooked for him, he cleans up.”
Jaye watched Mitch carry their dishes to the sink and remembered how David always watched television while she tidied the kitchen. “I like your way better.”
“Make a lot of lasagna on Wednesday. I don’t know how much you consultants eat, but we glassblowers are hungry at the end of the day.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I guess I should be grateful you only used that word four times tonight.”
“Keep cooking like you did tonight, Miss Davis, and I’ll be too busy shoveling food into my mouth to even bother saying the word consultant.”
“And now we’re up to five.” She sighed, heading into the living room.
“Stick around while I load the dishwasher.” His rich baritone boomed from the kitchen. “I bet I can get into double digits. Or can’t you consultants take a little ribbing?”
“Don’t waste your breath,” she responded, walking past the brick fireplace. “I won’t hear you because I’ll be listening to my iPod.”
“Keep the volume low. I’d hate to see my consultant damage her hearing.”
“A little deafness appeals to me right now,” she grumbled, navigating past a large blue couch, a nicked coffee table, and a large flat-screen television.
Even though the living room looked like a college dorm, the foyer brought her to a complete standstill. Beautiful glass inserts bracketed the front door. Light from the front porch lamp shined through, forming slanted rectangles of gold on the gleaming hardwood floor. A faint pine scent lingered in the air. Had Mitch renovated this room? She turned and almost plowed right into his wide chest.
“You don’t have to stick around, Jaye. My father led you to believe he’d put you in a hotel, not my extra bedroom. You’re smart enough to see he enlisted your help without my support. I’m no consultant, but you’ll have difficulty creating an online store without my help. Why don’t you cut your losses and find someplace else to work?”
With a lift of her chin, she met his gaze. “I don’t back out of my contracts. Besides, Nick is counting on me to develop a virtual marketing platform. If you don’t like the plan, then you’ll have another issue to resolve with your father.”
“Another issue?” A deep furrow creased his forehead. “What do you mean?”
“There’s so much tension between the two of you, I’m surprised Blake Glassware hasn’t imploded. Fixing your relationship will strengthen your business.”
“Just like a typical consultant.” Mitch dried his hands on a dishtowel with enough force to fling small bits of thread into the air. “You’re no better than the others, looking for problems where they don’t exist.”
“Having a partner who keeps you out of the loop is a pretty big problem, wouldn’t you agree?” She squeezed past him, which was no easy task. His wide shoulders didn’t leave much wiggle room to get into the hallway.
“You sound like a psychologist.”
Coming from him, the observation sounded like a mocking condemnation. She shrugged as though his cynical tone didn’t bother her and walked to her bedroom.
“I had no idea father-son relationships mattered to a hot-shot marketing consultant.”
“Okay, you said that word ten times in the past two minutes. You made it into double digits.” She stopped and arched her brow. “Are you happy now?”
He squared his stance. “Hell, no.”
“Don’t worry.” She tossed him a playful grin. “I’m a consultant. I’ll solve all your problems.”
Chapter Five
“Hey, get out of there!”
The angry bellow launched three crows into the air, fleeing the gilded meadow with startled squawks. Jaye stopped in her tracks and spotted a man trudging through the knee-high grass. The obstinate set of his powerful shoulders revealed his identity. She walked toward him. “Hello, Mitch.”
Despite the cold, a sheen of sweat glistened on his brow. He tilted the brim of his baseball cap to shade the glare of the sunrise. “Jaye? What are you doing out here?”
“You haven’t had coffee yet.” She hitched the camera strap higher on her shoulder. “When you’re decaffeinated, you growl.”
“Answer my question. What are you doing?”
She turned to show him the digital SLR hanging from her shoulder. “I’ve been taking pictures.”
A blue-eyed gaze hit the camera, skipped to her hip, and jerked to her face. “Pictures of what?”
“Whistle pigs.” With her tripod, she poked the big arm coming out of his T-shirt’s sleeve. “Do you always spy on your employees?”
“I had no idea you
