God no. Every minute he spent in the shop gave Preslee another opportunity to back out on him. If given half the chance, he had no doubt, that was exactly what she would do. So he’d buy the ridiculously expensive candy dish, eat the three hundred dollars, and call it a day. It’d be worth it in the long run. Besides, his mom’s birthday was coming up in a few weeks, and she really would love the little dish.

“No, I’ll take it,” he told her, handing her a credit card.

After ringing him up and handing his card back, Preslee carefully wrapped the delicate dish in tissue paper and placed it inside a white gift box that she then tied with a pink ribbon. “I took the price tag off and gift wrapped it.” She slid the box across the desk. “I hope your mom likes it.”

“She’ll love it. Thanks.”

Preslee offered him a genuine smile. “You’re welcome.”

Wordlessly, he stared at her, noting that her pretty blue eyes were a color similar to the candy dish. Probably just as rare too. He’d never seen any woman with eyes like hers, and every time he looked into them, he breathed a little harder.

Then a rampant thought cruised through his head. Had Josh ever noticed Preslee’s eyes? Probably not, if earlier was any indication. Which was weird. Because Adam was finding it hard to look away.

He almost regretted taking her on as his client because of that strict rule about not dating clients. Not that it mattered anyway. The lovely woman in front of him with all those magnificent curves apparently only had eyes for Josh.

Lucky man.

*  *  *

The next day, Adam stood inside the small bathroom of Preslee’s one-bedroom apartment. The ultra-feminine room smelled like her hair—a heavenly concoction of coconut and pineapple—but had been decorated with so much pink that it looked like a carnation had exploded in there. But that, by far, wasn’t the worst of his problems.

He threw his head back in frustration, eyes staring at the white textured ceiling above, as he slapped the clipboard in his hand against his thigh. He’d only been there ten minutes, yet he was already at the limit of his patience for the day. He lowered his head, gazed over at Preslee, and sighed. “Just do it already.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Look, we agreed on this. You said you didn’t want to weigh in at the gym because you didn’t feel comfortable. So we said we’d do it here. Now get on the scale.”

She crossed her arms. “Not going to happen.”

He lowered his chin, glaring at the infuriating woman standing near the bathtub. “Why the hell not?”

“Because it’s evening time.”

“And?”

“And I’ve eaten today.” She placed one hand on her belly. “Several times, in fact.”

Adam shook his head. “So?”