A Iss to Build a Dream On

Since this a romance, it's also a bit of slow burn, and I hope you'll enjoy it.

This is also one for the Valentine's Day contest, and as always, your votes and comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe.

HAILEY

Taking a quick look at the dashboard clock, I bit into my lip and pushed down on the gas pedal, wondering if I'd make it before the client showed up. I imagined I was still half an hour away, but only had twenty minutes to get there.

Thankfully, from the sounds of him, Charles Daniels was no spring chicken. So, hopefully it would take him a while to get to the riverside property, especially having to drive on these awful, winding bumpy country roads.

I was hoping to have a look around the old building to see what kind of shape it was in, if I was going to have any luck trying to sell him on it. Normally, I only dealt in high-end homes; mostly one of a kind properties. And I knew all the specs before I even walked in the door. But since my friend and fellow realtor Janelle had to rush home to relieve her sick baby sitter, and this was a brand new listing, just arrived on her desk this morning, I didn't have much choice but to fill in for her, and go in blind. The only thing I knew was that the client was hoping to start up a craft brewery, and needed a good size, reasonably priced building to do it. And hopefully this one would fit the bill.

I did figure out one thing though, as I drove along clutching the steering wheel in a death grip, with my teeth rattling was that this unpaved gravel road leading up to it was absolute crap. And the fact that I could barely see past the dust cloud from the car driving ahead of me, didn't help my frayed nerves any.

And if that wasn't enough, I could hear little pings as the stones flew up and hit my car.

Great.

Just what I needed, stone chips all over the underside of my brand new Beemer that I still had three years left to pay on.

Squinting my way through the dust, off to the right, I could just make out what I imagined was the old brick brewery.

As soon as I'd pulled over out in front, I hopped out, relieved when I looked around and saw that no one else had arrived yet.

So, as fast as I could I fished the combination for the security lock out of my purse and let myself in, so I could see what I was dealing with before the client showed up.

But the instant I stepped foot inside the cavernous old building, an icy chill ran straight up my spine. As I looked around, shivering all the way to my toes, I really wished I'd worn something warmer than my short leather jacket. Though normally it was all I needed, even in February, since the homes I showed were always heated.

But without any heat, the old place felt as cold and damp as an ice box, and I swear I could feel goosebumps erupting on my goosebumps.

I just hoped the plumbing system had been drained before the heat had been shut off. Because, not many buyers would be interested in buying a building that needed all new plumbing.

As I glanced around, I decided it was a good size space though, and thankfully the old individually paned windows facing the road, were still intact. Older abandoned buildings like this were often targets for kids with nothing better to do than hurl rocks through the windows -- or even worse, set fires.

Just in case, I thought I'd better take a quick look upstairs, to see if there were any surprises. Hopefully I wouldn't encounter anything like scurrying mice, or god forbid, any big, honking rats.

Ugh

. Just the thought of it, had me shuddering even harder. Nothing I hated more than creepy crawly critters, especially ones that liked to spring out at me.

I knew if I did encounter anything crawling around, heels or no, I'd be flying back down these stairs and hightailing straight back out to the car so fast that the mice wouldn't know what happened. Even spiders didn't creep me out that much, as long as they kept their distance, but there was just something about rodents that had me nearly crawling out of my skin if they came anywhere near me.

I'd left the door unlocked, so the client could let himself in. I was halfway up the stairs and I jumped when I heard a deep male voice call out, "Hi, there," from the bottom of the old wooden staircase.

With my hand on the railing, I turned my head, looked down and wondered,

what the hell?

This guy was definitely not the man I'd talked to on the phone. He was way too young, probably only somewhere in his early thirties.

Holy crap, he was hot too, really freaking hot; which I sure wasn't expecting. Even just in perfectly fitted jeans, black sweater, leather boots and a black bomber jacket, he looked amazing, like something off the pages of GQ.

I also noticed the way his eyes were fixed on my legs and high-heeled feet as I turned around and carefully made my way back down to meet him, till finally he lifted his gaze and flashed me a teasing smile as his eyes met mine.

And I gotta say, I really liked how the warmth of his smile lit up his eyes, as though he liked what he was seeing.

Normally a pretty good judge of character, I also noticed something else, in addition to being gorgeous, he had kind eyes that made me feel like I could trust him.

Always the professional, of course I smiled right back, took a business card out of my pocket and introduced myself. "Hi. I'm Hailey Donovan from Donovan Realty, and you are--?"

I also liked the way those eyes of his eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief as he smiled when he extended his hand to shake mine, making a little shiver run through me. "I'm Caleb Daniels. I think you spoke with my father earlier. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Donovan."

"Oh, please, call me Hailey." Tipping my head, I tried to look around his big, wide shoulders, and asked, "And is your father here with you?"

He shook his head. "No. This is my project. He offered to set up the appointment when I got a little side-tracked checking out suppliers."

I nodded, and decided as I studied his handsome face that he had to have the most amazing shade of green eyes I'd ever seen, a really unusual bright bottle green with ridiculously long eyelashes.

Afraid he might think I was stunned or something, the way I was openly staring, I decided I'd better stop ogling him and start showing him around.

Getting back to what I was actually here for, I turned then pointed out that the windows were in pretty good shape, since I'd already looked at those.

He nodded and wandered over to take a closer look, while I took the opportunity to get a closer look at his physique. He was tall, but not freakishly, and lean, but still nicely muscled.

I got so lost checking him out that my head snapped up when he started talking about the windows. "Probably have to replace them if I want to keep the heat in," he remarked, "though they are really nice old windows. Be a shame to tear them out when they give the place some character."

"Not sure if you were told, but this actually was a brewery, until a few years ago," I mentioned, since I knew that much, at least once my brain finally kicked back in. "And I'm assuming the windows are original."

He reached up and placed his hand against them to see if he could feel any cold air coming in, and then he nodded thoughtfully, I guess trying to decide if it was worth replacing them. And meanwhile, while he was busy checking those, I decided that his ass really did look hard enough to bounce a quarter off of. Smirking to myself, I wondered if I had one in my purse.

Then he took a step back, tipped his head, and looked up at the rafters. "It's got nice high ceilings, too. And looks like a good amount of space for what I need."

As he glanced around, I was doing my damndest not to shudder, but it felt like the cold was going right through me. I had to clench my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering so he wouldn't notice that I was nearly frozen.

Then he stopped and looked at me. "You look cold."

I shrugged, feeling a little awkward, wondering if my lips had turned blue. "Maybe a little," I admitted. "But I'll be okay. If I'd known there was no heat, I would have brought a warmer coat."

He nodded. "Be right back." And he turned on his heel and left.

Now I wondered if he was going out to phone his father to tell him that he'd decided against it on sight, without even bothering to look around. Well, if he was, there wasn't much I could do about it, but turn around and get a few more chips in my paint on the drive back to the city on that horrible road.

But he surprised me, when a minute later he came back carrying a long gray coat that thankfully was down filled. "Here, let's get this on you."

Then he was lifting my hair and helping me into his coat. And as I tugged it around me, burrowing my face into the collar, I had to fight to keep from moaning. Still nice and warm from the heat of his car, it just felt so good having it wrapped around me, there was no way I was going to argue.

"Any better?" he asked.

I flashed him a grateful smile. "Much better. Thank you."

Stroking a hand across my back, he said, "No point in letting you freeze, when I keep an extra coat in the car for walking my dogs."

"Oh, what kind of dogs do you have?"

He shrugged, flashing a grin as he thought of them. "Hard to say, they're just two big hairy mutts that I got from the pound, and I couldn't even guess at what breed they are."

I decided that in addition to being easy on the eyes, that he was a really nice guy. Especially as I snuggled deeper into his coat, enjoying both the warmth of it, along with his delectably musky scent, still lingering on the fabric.

"I'm afraid I don't have too much information on this property," I admitted. "It just came up for sale this morning, and no one's had a chance to come out and look it over yet. The owner passed away a few years back, and this was part of his estate."

The way he smiled, giving me a flash of his perfect white teeth sent a fresh rash of goosebumps over my skin. But this time for an entirely different reason, as he said teasingly, "Then I guess you and I can look it over together, and see what we find." He gestured at the stairs. "I'll let you lead the way up."

After we'd walked over to the stairs, I went to reach out to grab the railing, and broke out laughing when I realized just how long the arms were on his coat. I stopped and let them hang down, so Caleb could see and he laughed, too. It just looked so funny with the sleeves dangling like flippers on the ends of my arms.

"Here, let me take care of that," he said. He took hold of a sleeve and rolled it up, till my right hand was freed. And as he did the other one, I looked up and the saw the amusement in his eyes. I felt a little silly like a little kid that needed help with my clothes, but I noticed he didn't seem to mind. "There, how's that?" he said, once I had my hands out.

"Better, thank you." Then I reached for the railing so we could get on with the viewing.

As I made my way up to the top floor I wondered if his gaze was still glued to my legs. But at least with my backside covered by his coat, I couldn't feel his eyes burning into my ass.

Luckily, I didn't hear anything scurrying around as we got upstairs, but with my heart hammering away in my ears, after yet another close encounter with my hunky new client, I easily could have missed an entire pack of mice racing around, getting ready to pounce.

Caleb glanced around nodding again and remarked, "Looks like this area was used as office and storage space." As I looked it over, I noticed that the old desk and the shelving along the walls still looked usable, which I imagined would save him a few bucks.

Then Caleb opened a door that I assumed might be a washroom and both of us looked at each other surprised when we saw that it held a bed and a dresser. "And it looks like the owner might have lived on the premises," I remarked, deciding he must have been pretty dedicated to his business, if he didn't even go home to sleep.

"Yeah, looks like it," he agreed, giving me the side-eye as we both stared awkwardly at the double bed.

Then he turned and looked behind us at the rest of the upper floor, and muttered, "Now I wish I'd brought a measuring tape to get an idea of how big these rooms are."

"Oh, I've got one in my purse downstairs." I realized then I'd left my purse on the floor when he'd helped me into his coat.

We both went back downstairs and I got out the measuring tape and a note pad and pen, and we started to size up the rooms together, with each of us taking an end. I liked how he kept

accidently

brushing my fingers with his as we went from room to room, making us both laugh. And I noticed we were smiling at each a lot too, and it didn't take long for me to realize that I really liked him and kind of wished that he wasn't a client, which sadly for me, made him totally off limits.

Then when we opened a big heavy steel door to have a look inside, Caleb's face broke into a smile and he laughed out loud as he strode into the room and started looking everywhere at once. "Holy crap! This is amazing, looks like the brewhouse system is still in place. I can't believe this, what a find. And if everything still works, all I'd have to do is clean this place up, flush everything out, and I could get my operation going in no time."

We both walked over and took a closer look at the old copper tanks and the condition of all the pipes running along the walls. And from what we could tell, it all looked good.

The way Caleb was rushing around checking everything out, smiling and laughing, I thought he looked like a kid at Christmas, who'd got just what he'd asked for from Santa Claus. His excitement was contagious, and I got it into it, too, laughing along with him and squeezing his arm, happy for him as he gushed over his find.

But then he surprised me when he wrapped his arms around me, picked me up, twirled us around in a circle and planted a kiss right on my lips. Though a little taken aback, I knew it had to be his exuberance spilling over, and he was just so happy that he couldn't contain it.

And lucky me, he was willing to spread it around.

Of course I've had the odd peck on the cheek from a grateful client, when I'd found them just what they were look for, but I'd never had anyone kiss me on the mouth, until now. And I gotta say, I didn't mind one little bit, especially since it was hunky Caleb doing the kissing.

When he finally put me down on my feet, he was positively gushing, and couldn't thank me enough. Squeezing my shoulders, his smile was a mile wide as he said, "Thank you so much for showing me this, Hailey. This is exactly what I was hoping to find." He looked around still shaking his head, chuckling, like he could hardly believe his luck.

I actually felt as thrilled as he did. I always enjoyed matching up clients with the home of their dreams. But somehow this felt even nicer, knowing this would be his livelihood and not just a place to live, but something he could make his own.

Then he strode over and pulled open another large door that opened onto another fair sized room, with row after row of shelving. At the far end were big roll up doors that went onto the loading dock outside, that I'd noticed when I'd first driven up.

The room looked like it was used for storing the ingredients, judging by the big empty containers still sitting on the floor. I walked around him, to see the condition of the doors and accidentally bumped my foot against one of the bins. Then I think I must have jumped about a foot in the air, as I let out a scream, turned and ran back to Caleb and hurled myself at him. And thankfully he caught me.

He hugged me to his chest, with a hand tucked tight under my backside. And I was so freaked out and shaking so hard, I didn't notice how tightly I had my arms wrapped around his neck, or that we were cheek to cheek, basically plastered together, of course with my heart nearly pounding out of my chest.

"What happened?" he asked, sounding as confused as he was worried as he held me against him.

Now that I realized what I'd done, suddenly I felt kind of silly. I just hoped he wouldn't laugh when I told him about the mouse that had run over my foot when I'd bumped into that bin. Still feeling a little breathless, with my heart still pounding away, I took a big gulp of air and tried to explain, "It was a mouse. I felt something and I looked down and saw the thing running right over my foot. I've always been terrified of them." I shuddered again, and he hugged me a little tighter. "I know you probably think it's crazy for a grown woman to be afraid of a little mouse, but just seeing that thing crawling over me freaked me out."

I could actually feel him smiling against my cheek and his chest starting to rumble against mine, so I could tell he was fighting hard not laugh. Finally I pulled back enough to look at him. "I can't help it if they scare me. And it's not funny."

Nodding his head, he sobered, brushed the hair back from my face and then gently touched his lips to mine. Then I think he tried to make feel better by confiding about one of his own phobias. "I know what you mean, I can't stand snakes. They really creep me out. And whenever I see one, I just I run like hell. I wasn't laughing about you running from the mouse. I just thought it was kind of funny the way you took that flying leap and jumped right into my arms." His eyes on mine, he stroked a finger across my cheek and murmured, "And I'm just glad I caught you."

I smirked, glad that he was being so sweet about it, and wasn't teasing me.

Though I could still detect a hint of amusement in his eyes, now that he knew that a tiny, little thing like that was all it took to scare the living daylights out of me. But at least he wasn't laughing at me, like my brothers would have done. They would have been in stitches, rolling on the floor by now.

Then I watched his eyelids drop to half-mast, and with a feather light kiss he brushed his lips across mine. When I didn't resist, he tightened his grip and started plucking at my lips, dusting little kisses across mouth, and then he started to groan. And I'm sure I was doing a little moaning, too. Because wow, talk about a nice way to help me forget about the mouse.

Oh god, now he had my heart pounding for a whole other reason, just from what we sharing, that I knew darn well we should not be sharing.

Though I really didn't want him to stop, because we were both getting into it, and I was starting to kiss him back, even teasing his lips a little with my tongue. But before things went too far, I whispered against his mouth, "I don't think we should be doing this."

Still gently teasing me with little butterfly kisses, his voice all deep and husky, as he slid his hand along my jaw, he murmured, "Why not? I like you, Hailey. And I've got a feeling from the way you're wrapped around me, and you haven't tried to get down, that maybe you like me, too."

I had a thing about telling the truth, that my mom had instilled it in me from the time I was a kid, and I always tried to be honest. So, I couldn't lie to him and try and pretend that I wasn't feeling anything, when he had my panties wet, my nipples hard, and my pulse racing like mad just from sharing a few little kisses. Though I'd known from the moment I first laid eyes on him that I might have a problem trying to keep things professional, but now that we'd crossed the line, whether we liked it or not, I knew we had to stop, no matter how good it felt.

And dear god, did it ever feel good to be sharing something as nice as this with him.

But before I could say anything he nodded and pulled back, and surprised me a little when he said, "You're right." Still holding me close to his chest, with my arms wreathed around his neck, he ran a hand into the back of my hair, sending a tingle down my spine as he quietly asked, "Are you gonna be okay if I put you down, now?"