Crossing the Line Part One (A Novella) by Samantha Long Page A

to see it again."
    Her father gestured toward her oversized
purse. "If you can find the key in that suitcase of yours."
    Victoria laughed. "Lucia and Helena bought
it for me for my birthday. It's a little big, but they were so
excited when I opened it. I think they combined both their
allowances for a month to buy it."
    "Your mother helped them with some." He said
as she pulled the key out.
    "See? Only took a minute." With a quick
smile she unlocked the door and stepped inside.
    Wallpaper hung from the walls in tatters,
the carpet smelled musty and had black and red stains all over it.
A receptionist counter covered in chipped black and white Formica
was the only furniture in the room, thank God, Victoria
thought.
    "Needs a lot of work."
    "I know, Dad. Did I make a mistake? Picking
this place out?" Worry clouded her excitement.
    "Do you know how you want this place to
look?" He looked at her and she saw the faith in his eyes.
    She regarded the place and imagined what she
wanted. Dark hard wood floors, antique furniture, some potted
plants. Graphite colored walls with white trim. Elegance and style.
"Definitely."
    "Then there's no mistake. You're going to
build a business here. You're already doing great out of your
house. You'll be able to accommodate more clients out of a real
office. You can even get an assistant for scheduling and
stuff."
    Her father was the driving force behind her
confidence. Whenever she couldn't imagine herself with her own
business, he built her up. Pushed her toward better things. He
looked in the direction of the parking lot at the sound of a truck
door shutting. "Here comes Nick now."
    Victoria turned when she heard the door to
the office open and the shock shot straight to her toes. Thank God
she'd fixed her hair and makeup. A friend of her father's? No way.
This tall and lean guy was nowhere near her dad's age and had
muscles that were evident underneath his gray t-shirt. Tattoos
peeked out from under the sleeves and twisted down his arms to his
wrists. Shaggy black hair framed a face with a square jaw and full
lips.
    Anatomy that she'd tried to forget about
roared to life.
    Which was ridiculous because the last thing
she had time for was a man, even one as gorgeous as this one. She
recognized him from high school, although they'd never been in the
same circles since he'd been more of a bad boy.
    Catching herself, she held out a hand and
said coolly, "Hi, I'm Victoria. Wes's daughter."
    His eyebrows rose over ice blue eyes. "I'm
Nick."
    She ignored the interest on his face as his
lips quirked.
    "Hey, Nick. Thanks for meeting us. Want to
take a look around?" Wes shook his hand.
    "Sure." Nick pulled a small notebook from
his back pocket and a pencil from behind his ear. "What are you
looking to do to the place?"
    Victoria tried to bring her thoughts back to
the business. Her dad was up to something, she could tell. He
would've never hired out the job to someone else, even if he was
retired, because he'd want to do it for her.
    Wes glanced at her. "Ask her. She's the
designer." His phone rang. "It's your mother. I'll take this
outside."
    Victoria watched him leave with a mutinous
glare.
    "So, Victoria. What do you want to do with
the space?" His voice hinted at his amusement.
    "You think this is funny?" She pursed her
lips. "They're trying to set us up. It's mortifying." How could
Nick not see what was going on? He definitely looked like the type
who could get his own dates. If her sisters knew about this she was
going to rain hell down on them.
    Nick shrugged, the muscles in his torso and
shoulders catching her eye. "I think it's funny. Wes told me he had
a client for me. Didn't say it was one of his beautiful
daughters."
    Heat unfurled in her abdomen. She told her
brain to tell her newly awakened anatomy to slow its role. "Where
do we go from here?"
    "I hear there's a new restaurant on the
boardwalk we could try out." At her glare, he laughed.
    The laugh shot straight to her core.
    "I could design