Free Love by Design (Crystal Falls Book 1) by Lynette Lee Page B

of Noah and Upton in the bathroom, Upton’s arm around Noah, pulling at him. It looked almost as if they were about to kiss and her heart beat a wild pace as she watched the two of them.
    “Sorry to interrupt,” Lily finally said from behind them when she didn’t think she could take another second of the torture.
    Noah whipped around, detaching Christina from his neck as he did, and turned red as soon as he saw her standing in the doorway. He took a step toward Lily but Christina grabbed his arm and kept him where he was.
    “Can I help you?” Christina asked Lily with a glare.
    “I’m just here to finish up the room. Don’t mind me.”
    She shot Noah a cold look. How could she have thought so much into what he had said the other night? He wasn’t sorry. Hell, it looked like he was right back at it, flirting with other women. It was obvious that he and Mrs. Upton were a little too friendly with one another. She couldn’t believe she’d actually started feeling something for him. She wondered quickly if he’d already slept with her. She gritted her teeth.
    Christina waved her away. “We’ll be done here soon. You can come back later.”
    Just then two burly men came through the door with a headboard. Christina rolled her eyes.
    “Take it back, come on, out of here.” She shooed at the men, who turned to Lily for direction.
    “Don’t look at her. I’m in charge here. You need to come back later,” she told them. The men flinched and backed out of the door as she came toward them.
    “No wait a minute. Wait just a minute,” Christina called after them. The men froze where they were, confusion obvious on their faces.
    Christina stepped out of the room and touched the headboard, a gray fabric that Lily thought worked perfectly with the stone of the fireplace.
    “Is this, fabric ? On my headboard?” She looked at the men and waited for an answer. One of them finally shrugged. She turned on Lily.
    “You’re the decorator, right?” Christina crossed the room again. Lily stood her ground but her cheeks flushed. She had no idea what was going on.
    “Yes?” she replied.
    “Obviously I’ve made a mistake. This isn’t going to work. Absolutely not.”
    Lily bit her tongue. Not going to work? She so badly wanted to point out that the woman could have filled her in on her design preferences at any time.
    “I’m sorry. I’ll take it back,” Lily said instead, but Upton cut her off.
    “No. Not good enough. How can I trust you now? Who knows what ungodly thing you’ll to bring into my home next. This isn’t going to work. I’ll need to replace you.”
    “Christina, for God’s sake, it’s only a headboard. She can get a different one,” Noah crossed the room and stood between the two women.
    Christina fumed and paced along the plush carpet, the carpet that Lily had so carefully picked out for her. Obviously the effort was lost on the hateful woman.
    The delivery men stood confused with the heavy headboard between them, too afraid of Christina to move.
    Lily stepped in front of Noah. There was no way she was going to let him run interference for her. This was her job and she was going to make it work. She didn’t need any help.
    “Mrs. Upton, I’m so sorry for the mistake.” She clenched her fist so hard that her nails dug into the skin. Part of her wanted to defend herself, but she knew better. Right now she needed this job more than she needed her pride. Despite what Noah thought, she knew how to suck up to a client, even if she didn’t like it. Clearly that’s what was required of her now.
    Noah began to step forward again but she glared at him and gave him a quick shake of the head. He shrugged and leaned back against the wall, obviously not willing to leave in the midst of this juicy battle.
    Lily took a step toward the woman, who had stopped pacing and now stared out the French doors.
    “I truly apologize. I’ll take the headboard back right now,” Lily turned back to look at the room.