Free Maddy's Oasis by Lizzy Ford

decided,” she replied.
    Jake crossed his arms again. The tension
between them was thick. Neither budged on the issue.
    “Duke’ll stay with you,” Jake said. “I’ll
leave my phone on.”
    “Thank you, but I’ll be fine,” she said just
as tersely. “Eric promised to answer if I call.”
    Jake’s jaw twitched. He said nothing but
turned to leave.
    “I have some changes for the blueprints,” she
added.
    “I’m taking tomorrow off.”
    Madeleine wanted to launch something at him,
anything. His thick frame disappeared through the door. She bit
back a curse and rose, hurrying to the door.
    “Can Toni incorporate modifications?”
    “You’ll find out, won’t you?”
    Jake strode toward his truck without turning
back. She shielded her eyes from the sun and watched him trot to
join Toni. She waited until she'd closed the door behind her in the
office to release the string of curse words tickling her
tongue.
    She imagined them all going
out to party, happy and carefree, without a second thought about
anything that really mattered. She couldn't do it. There was too
much that did matter.
    Her anger melted into frustration and then
desperation. She'd never be able to complete this project on
schedule, especially not all alone!
    * * *
    Jake didn't expect his night at the bar to go
badly. He didn't expect to flat out refuse Lily or feel jealous
when she went home with Eric. He didn't expect Madeleine’s cold
refusal to annoy him beyond a shot or two of tequila. And he didn’t
expect her phone call at seven in the morning the night after happy
hour.
    “Yeah,” he growled into the phone.
    “Jake, it’s Madeleine.”
    “I figured as much,” he bit off. His head
pulsed. Normally on Sundays, he slept in until at least nine.
Having gotten home later than usual, he'd planned on sleeping until
noon.
    “Toni doesn’t know anything about
blueprints.”
    Jake rolled onto his back and rubbed his
face. Toni knew as much as he did about blueprints. He suspected
his foreman was either hung over or unwilling to deal with her.
    “I’ll deal with it tomorrow,” he said.
    “I’m in your kitchen. I’ll wait for you to
come down.”
    Jake clicked the phone off and stared at the
white ceiling. The persistent woman was an inch away from getting
her ass spanked. He took his time getting dressed and emerged from
his large room in the airy hacienda. He trotted down a set of
polished wooden stairs to the main foyer and padded to the kitchen.
He heard his sister’s excited tones before he stepped into the
large, modern kitchen Javier had remodeled not a year before.
    Even on a Sunday, city-girl was dressed for a
day at the office. His sister had spread quite a few things in
front of Madeleine, to include several of her newest jams, a couple
of her latest culinary experiments, and about three cups of coffee.
Madeleine was listening intently as his sister went on about
spinach.
    Despite the professional exterior, Madeleine
exuded a sense of restrained exhaustion. The sight of her pale
features and shadows beneath her eyes tempered some of his
irritation.
    “Madeleine didn’t come to talk about weeds,
Kitty,” Jake grumbled with a half-smile at his sister.
    “Maddy actually understands me,” Kitty shot
back. “And her palate is exquisite. She can name the individual
spices in my cooking!”
    “Bring me some coffee, palate-girl.”
    Kitty glared at him but rose. She was tall
like the rest of the family and slender like their mother and Toni,
her graceful figure marred by a limp caused by a car accident
several years ago. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her
dark eyes outlined with heavy eyeliner.
    “One day, you all will appreciate my
cooking!” she vowed as she left.
    Jake dragged a chair out from the worn
kitchen table and sat. He met city-girl’s alert gaze. Vaguely he
wondered why he'd taken so long to appreciate her classic, earthy
features, which were set off by her auburn hair.
    “You have a nice place