Free That Night with You by Alexandrea Weis

to some mystical story of enchantment,
Madison began to allow her mind to embrace the promise of what
could be. Perhaps Hayden Parr would turn into her Prince Charming,
and with Mrs. Leder and Charlie as her doting fairy godmothers,
happily ever after might only be a few days away.

Chapter 5
     
    Friday morning, Madison was in her
office, attempting to lay out her design for the house in Turtle
Creek. Unfortunately, as she stared at the blank computer screen,
nothing came to mind. She had spent two days volleying her eyes
from her blank computer screen to the wide window overlooking the
skyline of downtown Dallas. With thoughts of the party enlivening
her panic, Madison considered what she would say when she met the
clients. How could she get her design across if she had nothing on
paper to demonstrate her ideas? The scratch of a computer mouse
roused her from her worries, and she glanced over at
Adam.
    Hunched over his computer, with his
jacket strewn about his chair and his white shirt sleeves rolled
up, he was entranced by what he had drawn on the computer. In fact,
he had never stopped working since they had returned from the
property.
    “ Still not getting
anything?” Adam queried, never taking his eyes from the drawing on
the screen.
    She sighed and sat back in her chair.
“I can’t wrap my head around it.”
    “ Perhaps you just have the
wrong concept. Why not try for something else…something a bit more
mainstream?”
    Madison wanted to snicker with
contempt at his suggestion. She knew she was on the right track,
but visualizing what she wanted for the property, while
encompassing all the beauty the land had to offer, was turning into
quite a challenge.
    “ No, I have the right
concept, Adam.”
    He looked up at her, donning his
boyish grin. “We’ll see tomorrow night if the clients agree with
you.”
    “ Yes, we will.”
    “ What are you two still
doing in here?” Don Worthy admonished as he entered the open office
door. “There’s a staff meeting in the conference room on
thirty-two. Better get down there before the donuts are
gone.”
    “ Thanks, Mr. Worthy.” Adam
stood from his chair. “We must have been so preoccupied in our work
that we forgot.”
    Don Worthy clapped his hands, urging
them into action. “Get going, both of you.”
    Madison was following Adam out of the
office when Don Worthy stopped her. “How is your design coming
along, Madison?”
    “ Good,” was all she offered
before darting out the door.
    They took the elevator with a few of
the other seasoned architects to the thirty-second floor. Madison
rolled her eyes as Adam happily bragged about his newest plans to
everyone in the elevator.
    When the silver doors opened, the
group made their way across a darkly paneled reception area and
through a pair of double doors that led to the conference room.
After grabbing a donut and a glass of water, Madison got
comfortable in a red leather chair at one end of the oval mahogany
table and waited for the meeting to begin.
    “ I hate these things,”
confessed a hushed, masculine voice taking a chair beside
her.
    Turning to the side, she met the deep
brown eyes of Garrett Hughes, chief architect for Parr and
Associates. “Don makes us come to these stupid meetings and then
spends an hour talking about himself,” he grumbled.
    Madison noted the man’s aquiline
profile, dark stubble on his chin, and the cut of his expensive
suit jacket. “Then why don’t you take over the meeting, Garrett?
After all, you’re the man in charge of the architects.”
    Garrett reached for his cup of coffee
on the table. “Everyone knows who is really in charge at Parr and
Associates, and it isn’t me or Don Worthy.”
    “ Then who is
it?”
    Garrett turned his liquid eyes to her.
“The same man who has taken a fancy to your…talent.” He took a sip
of his coffee. “Harry has great plans for you.”
    “ You call Mr. Parr
‘Harry’?”
    He nodded, replacing his cup of coffee
on the conference