Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set by Virna DePaul, Tawny Weber, Nina Bruhns, Charity Pineiro, Sophia Knightly, Susan Hatler, Kristin Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

course for his request of the other night. It had been a risk for him to ask her to become intimate with him, unless of course. . .
    She considered everything that had happened that night. The nice dinner, the whole anniversary thing. In the scheme of things, she realized that in most people's lives, a night like that would have probably led to making love.
    As she glanced at the dessert menu and once again found her sweet tooth on vacation, it made her wonder why she couldn't take the risk and commit to David.
    From across the small width of the table, she examined him. As always he was totally manscaped. His hair was neatly trimmed and not one lock was out of place. Beneath his cashmere sweater, the pristine white of his collar was visible and she knew if she peeked beneath the table, his khakis would have a knife-sharp pleat and not one wrinkle.
    The dark blue of his sweater accentuated his light blue eyes and as he smiled at her, she was reminded once more of what an attractive man he was and how lucky she was to be dating him.
    But somehow, she didn't feel quite so lucky.
    In the back of her mind the thought came again that there had to be more.
     
    * * *
     
    Anthony the architect studied the plans and let out a low whistle. "I'm impressed and that's not easy to do."
    Bianca examined his face and his eagerness was obvious. "You think this is the right way to go?"
    Anthony flipped the bulky pages of the blueprint back and forth again, reviewed the sketches Rey had done, and nodded emphatically. "I'm embarrassed I didn't think of this for you. I knew you were on a tight budget and everything, but for the life of me, I couldn't imagine how to open up the room without having those support girders and columns."
    Bianca sat on the edge of the desk in David's study and glanced down at the sketches Anthony continued to hold in his hands. He smiled and ran his hands over one of the drawings almost in a caress.
    "So you like what he did?"
    He nodded and when he looked up at her, his gaze was brimming with emotion. "Before we came here, my family lived in this little house on the beach in Cuba. It was closer to a shack than a house, but it was home."
    Anthony stopped, pointed to the sketch, and ran his finger down the drawing of the shutters Rey had drawn in on the front façade of the building. "When Los Nortes -- "
    "What's that?" Bianca asked, unsure of the term.
    Anthony laughed sharply. "Sorry. I forget that this little Cubanita was born and raised here. During certain months of the year in Cuba we would get this really rough weather and winds from the North -- Los Nortes ."
    "Worse than a hurricane?" Bianca questioned, remembering her own experiences growing up in Miami with the sometimes violent weather.
    "Nah," Anthony replied, shaking his head. "Hurricanes were worse, but on the shores and near the seawalls, Los Nortes would drive the waters high with their winds. Huge gusts whipped the waves into immense whitecaps that would shoot into the sky," he said, motioning with his hands to explain the tumult of the waters.
    "Every house had these big long shutters, like the ones your contractor has included here." He singled them out again on the sketch. "When Los Nortes got really bad, or we had a hurricane, we'd drag those shutters closed to protect what was left of the windows, but still let in some air."
    Anthony let out a reflective sigh and then gently gathered up the sketches and blueprints. "It's not often I remember Cuba and it's a good memory. The changes are great and the imagery they present is amazing."
    "I'd be right to go with him," she finished and Anthony didn't hesitate for a moment to confirm it.
    "If you don't mind, I'd like to drop by the site once he gets started and see how things are going. If his manual labor is as good as these sketches, I'd love to have him work for me on some of my projects." Anthony stood and handed the materials back to her.
    "Thanks, Anthony, but you know we can't really afford to