One Woman Man

  One Woman Man

  Rossi Family Book Two

  Palmer Jones

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Also by Palmer Jones

  1

  “Admit it. The great Landon just got his cute butt stood up. Don’t worry. I won’t let it get out and ruin your reputation.”

  Landon Rossi spared his secretary half a glance from his position by the front door of his landscaping company. “I didn’t get stood up.” But the woman in question was late. Watching the parking lot didn’t make her appear any quicker, but he’d paced his office for the last hour, feeling strangely unsettled. Antsy. At least out here in the lobby with Anna, he could focus on something other than Quinn’s arrival.

  Anna chuckled, her pale pink nails tapping lightly against the computer keyboard, hard at work, unlike himself. “You never lack confidence, that’s for damn sure. She’s an hour late and not answering her cell phone. If this was Friday night, at what point would you throw in the towel and take it on the chin?”

  He pushed off the door and winked at her. “I never give up, darling. You should know that after all these years.”

  “I know your track record.” She lifted her eyebrows, fingers still typing and probably not missing a keystroke as she watched him walk toward her desk. “I’m surprised you didn’t set this meeting on a Friday night.”

  He rubbed his jaw, the skin smooth against his palm after his earlier shave. “What does that mean?”

  “That means I looked up your Ms. Kennedy. She’s pretty. Very pretty. I don’t see you remaining strictly business associates for very long. Like I said, I know your track record. A gorgeous, talented woman who has you this wound up won’t escape that Landon Rossi charm for long. I bet you don’t last until this weekend without making a move.”

  In a different situation, she would be absolutely right. Landon unrolled the sleeves of his blue flannel shirt, then neatly folded them back to his elbows. He needed Quinn, and not in the way his secretary implied.

  “I’ve managed to work around beautiful women without crossing a line. You’re a prime example of my incredible professionalism and unwavering restraint.” He leaned down, the light fragrance of Anna’s Chanel No. 5 curling around him. He pushed up the bill of his ball cap. “I just wish we’d met before I hired you.”

  Anna pursed her ruby lips as a light flush covered her tawny cheeks. She shifted his way, knowing their usual routine. “I could quit and take you up on your offer, but with the way you run through women, I’d end up out of a job and alone after a few weeks of fun. I keep telling myself you’re not worth it.”

  Landon let his gaze linger on her lips a second longer before lifting it to her eyes once more. “Smart woman,” he murmured. “But it would be fun.”

  Anna sighed and sat back in her seat, her hands falling into her lap. “And now you have me wondering how much unemployment pays these days.”

  He patted the top of her computer monitor and readjusted his hat. “Keep your job and your salary. Like you said, I’m not a good bet for the long term. Now, back to our pretty Ms. Kennedy. What could be keeping her?” He refocused on the wet parking lot, sleet now tapping against the front windows of his office building. “I am getting a little worried, but not that she’s stood me up. We talked for nearly three hours on my way back from Nashville yesterday. Nothing about the conversation gave me the impression she was backing out of our deal.”

  A three-hour conversation wasn’t unusual for them. They’d spoken on the phone more times than he could count over several weeks.

  After signing a contract for a monumental project, he’d taken a long shot and reached out to the famous West Coast landscape designer, hoping she’d collaborate with him.

  Turned out, Quinn had left her firm the month before, moving across the country to Virginia.

  Close enough to collaborate in person.

  After all his years of dating, Landon didn’t question fate when it came to women, and he wouldn’t question it in the business world.

  If he were honest, Anna was partly right. Today’s meeting did give him the same anticipation he felt on most first dates. The rush of the unknown and the thrill of meeting someone interesting. And not simply because Landon enjoyed women.

  He did.

  Just ask anyone around the small town of Hinecaster, Virginia.

  And possibly a solid fifty-mile radius.

  But no matter what Anna thought of his track record and despite his feelings, he’d keep himself in check. This was a business meeting. He’d act professional and keep his distance. It wasn’t like he was incapable of not hitting on women. Restraining himself just sucked sometimes.

  “Good Lord.” Anna stood from her seat. “Is that person walking out there in this nasty weather? Talk about being committed to exercise.”

  Landon crossed to the front door, pushing it open to get a better view. Hell, it was cold. The wind and sleet peppered his face and arms. He never wore a jacket, but he might have broken down and grabbed one if he’d been out in that mess today. Maybe.

  But Anna was right. Someone was walking, marching down the road in the crappy weather, before turning toward his office. Hard to tell who it might be at this distance. The coat they wore came nearly to their knees. A bag was over one shoulder.

  The closer they came, the more his stomach sank.

  “You don’t think—”

  “Shit.” He didn’t let Anna finish her sentence. Landon rushed out of the building. “Quinn?”

  The shapeless jacket paused a few feet away underneath a streetlight and pushed back the hood.

  No mistaking the blonde hair and blue eyes. He’d seen her picture online. But hell, the bluish tinge to her lips overrode the initial shock at seeing her in person for the first time.

  He rushed forward and took her bag off her shoulder. She stood about five feet and maybe five inches. Her hair appeared damp, and she had to be frozen solid. Thankfully, she wore mittens, but with the temperature ten degrees below freezing, anyone without appropriate clothing would turn into a Popsicle in this weather.

  She would be an adorable Popsicle, but a Popsicle nevertheless.

  “Why are you out here like this? Where’s your car?” He looked up like it might come driving in behind her, but the highway in front of his office remained empty and quiet.

  Her teeth chattered, effectively ending his questioning until he could get her warm and dry.

  “C’mon.” Landon wrapped an arm around her shoulders, instinct overriding any professional distance. “You need to get inside.” He guided her through the glass front door and straight to his office. Being the amazing woman she was, Anna had a cup of coffee poured and pushed into Quinn’s hands as she sat down.

  “Here, honey. It’s not the best, but it’s hot, at least. What happened?” Anna as
ked.

  “Are you okay? Where’s your car?” Landon leaned back on his desk in front of Quinn, crossing his arms to avoid wrapping them around her again. For warmth, of course.

  With a shaky smile, she sipped the coffee. Her eyes slipped closed as if it was the most delicious drink in the world.

  Since everyone told him his coffee was shit, he doubted that.

  “My car,” she began before clearing her throat. “My car has a flat tire.” She sipped again. “And apparently, my cell phone has zero signal in the mountains.” She pulled off her mittens and rolled the cup between her palms. “Thanks for this,” she said to Anna.

  “No problem.” The phone on Anna’s desk began to ring. With a polite smile, she added, “Please let me know if you need anything else,” and left the room.

  “How far did you walk?” He moved to the chair beside her, took one of her hands, and pressed it flat between his own. It was so cold it felt like he’d picked up a piece of metal from his parking lot. Then, gradually, her fingers began to thaw.

  “I don’t know.” She watched their joined hands, seeming distracted for a moment. “I waited for about twenty minutes until I realized no one was coming. Or stopping.” She lifted her blue eyes, rain droplets still clinging to her eyelashes. “A few trucks passed by, but no one stopped.”

  Anger. Concern. Relief. The emotions collided in his chest. “I’m sorry. If you give me your keys, I’ll replace the flat tire while you get warm.”

  She huffed and pulled back her hand. “Thanks, but that’s probably a pointless trip.”

  He immediately missed the contact. With the bluish tinge to her lips being replaced by pink, he finally felt his muscles uncoil with his worry. “What makes it pointless?”

  She waved her hand in the air. “No need for you to get wet and cold. I’m just going to call a wrecker service. Does your small town have a tire store?” After another sip followed by a slight grimace, she set the coffee on his desk.

  “Bad?” He knew the answer.

  She glanced out his office door. “Did she make that?”

  “Anna?” He shook his head. “Nope. She drinks only tea. That’s a Landon specialty.”

  She bit her lower lip. “Oh. Sorry. It’s just”—she scrunched up her nose—“I had no idea you could ruin coffee that badly. I mean, that had to take some effort.” She patted his knee. “You better stick to landscape architecture.” Her hand lingered a half-second before she pulled it away.

  “You really know how to destroy a man’s dreams of opening a coffee shop.” And how to distract the hell out of him. She’d been in his office only a few minutes, and his mind was already calculating her every move.

  “Well, I don’t want to destroy your dreams. I’m just a critic of coffee since I drink enough of the stuff.”

  “A professional coffee drinker?”

  “Is that a thing?”

  “If it were, my brother would have already learned how to make money from it.” But he’d have to remember Quinn’s preference for coffee, just like he remembered nearly everything she’d told him during their conversations over the past few weeks. “Back to your car. I promise I can change a tire better than I make coffee.”

  I can do a lot of things better than I make coffee.

  He swallowed the flirty comment. Now wasn’t the time. Professional. He could do this. Did it daily with the women in his office.

  A quick shadow passed over her face, but she cleared it with a bright smile. “Like I said. It’s no use even trying. I’m not sure there’s even an extra tire in the trunk.”

  Landon sat back in the chair, crossing his ankle over his knee. No spare? Why would anyone drive around without a spare tire? “What kind of car is it? Did you open the trunk and check?”

  “It’s a rather vintage model of vehicle that I’ve recently purchased.”

  “You drove a vintage car from California to Virginia?”

  A laugh burst out. “Absolutely not. That car wouldn’t have made it to the California state line.”

  “What kind of car?”

  “1994 Ford Tempo.” She winced when his jaw dropped open. That was not the type of car he expected someone as successful as Quinn Kennedy to drive.

  Her name meant something in their business.

  “And I haven’t opened the trunk because I’d have to cut the rope holding it down, and I didn’t have any more.”

  He tried to imagine it. This woman who’d been in dozens of magazines, given lectures, held master classes, and designed some of the most beautiful landscapes in America for some of the wealthiest individuals, driving a beater of a car. “A rope is holding your trunk down? Sounds a little…odd. Did you just not want to spend the money on a car with a working trunk, or…”

  She let out a heavy sigh. “I was unaware of the trunk situation. I purchased it sight unseen. And, since I’ve come to better know the man who sold me the car, I’m not sure I want to look inside the trunk. No telling what is in there.”

  “Think you got sold a car with a dead body?”

  Quinn lifted a shoulder, not laughing at his joke. “Possibly.” She leaned forward and picked up her coffee cup, peering at the contents. “Will you be offended if I make the next pot?”

  “By all means.”

  “Let me call the tow truck service first.” She swiped her thumb across the screen of her phone and shook her head. “Of course, now it wants to have a damn signal. Is A O.K. Towing a good place to use?”

  “No.”

  She frowned and continued to research on her phone. “Let me see who else is available.”

  It wasn’t any use trying to find a better service. “There’s no one else to use. They aren’t good, but they are the only ones in town. Let me call them. Maybe I can save you one headache this morning.”

  She lifted her eyes to his. “I hate that I gave you the wrong impression, but I’m not so dainty a woman that walking in the cold for a few miles prohibits me from calling a tow truck for my car.”

  Landon rubbed a finger across the top of his lip, schooling his humor. “No, you’re not. But the owner is a jackass who likes to hit on women, so let me save you that headache.” He winked. “And unless his preferences have changed, I’m safe.” Dealing with the jackass owner was the last thing he wanted Quinn to add to her morning.

  With a slight tilt of her head, she lowered her cell phone to her lap. “I can’t say I’m in the mood to deal with jackasses today, so I’d appreciate that.”

  Good. Landon and his twin, Blake, had already had a few run-ins with the man when he’d disrespected their sisters. After Quinn’s morning from hell, it was better this way.

  “This wasn’t the welcome I’d imagined for your first day here in Hinecaster.” He rose and walked to the coffeepot, pulling it off the warmer to empty its contents into the small break room’s sink. “I don’t think you ever told me why you moved to Virginia. Was California a little too sunny and warm for your taste?” He motioned toward the office’s dark windows, wet from the rain and ice. “Let me guess. You wanted the opportunity to walk along scenic roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

  “Might have been a pretty walk had it been snow and not the sleet and rain.” Quinn stood and unzipped her jacket, taking it off and then folding it over the back of her chair. Her cream-colored sweater clung to the curvy body she’d hidden beneath that behemoth of a jacket. Tight jeans and knee-high boots had probably saved her ass on that walk.

  He met her eyes, not bothering to hide his appreciation. Anna was right. It would be hell to keep Quinn a professional six feet away. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t set the stage for later.

  After they finished their collaboration on this project, why couldn’t he pursue something more?

  If she caught him checking her out, she glossed right over it. “I definitely miss my sunny California after this morning, and the decision to move wasn’t exactly mine. It was thrust upon me.”

  “By what?”

  “First,
by my mother.”

  Landon leaned against the doorjamb, coffeepot in hand. “And second?”

  “By a few Grade A idiots who forced me to swear off all men for the next thirty years.”

  He pushed away from the door. “I’m just going to go dump this out.” Oh, well. So much for laying any groundwork for later. Quinn Kennedy had just taken herself off the market.

  2

  Quinn plopped back into the chair. What a damn day. First, her tire blew out, nearly sending her off the side of the mountain. Then a two-mile hike in the slush. Finally, she’d shuffled her wet boots into Landon Rossi’s office late, looking like a half-frozen, half-drowned cat. That hit to her vanity trumped any near-death experience the Blue Ridge Mountains could dish out.

  Alone, she took a moment to run her hand through her damp hair, wincing when her fingers hit a snag. She worked the knot with her fingers before shaking out the strands, hoping they looked decent.

  “I’m going to kill Paul,” she muttered. He’d sold it to her before she moved to Virginia, promising that it was in excellent condition. Even a junkyard would rate that car for nothing better than scrap metal.

  Landon reentered the room, carrying the coffeepot full of clean water, looking relaxed, sexy, and nothing like the chaos inside her.

  She took a deep breath as he passed, hoping to steady her nerves, but doing so only twisted them tighter.

  God, he smelled delicious. Like whatever cologne he wore had been sold with the warning label Will drive women like Quinn Kennedy crazy, and he bought it anyway.