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the building, particularly the entrance.” He scowled at her. “I can’t believe you live in the Pearl district and haven’t taken care of any of this.”
     
    Suzanne frowned. “The entrance is lit,” she protested. She’d designed the lights herself. Crystal and wrought iron in a tulip pattern.
     
    He looked at her pityingly. “Hundred watt globes over the doorway are not what I’d call security lighting. That wattage is totally wasted, with the light going up and sideways. You don’t need to light up the sky. You need light where it will do you the most good. What you’ve got now is pure glare that casts shadows a street punk can hide behind and ruins your night adaptation when you walk out to put out the garbage.”
     
    That kind of thinking had never even occurred to her. And never would. Not in a million years. She opened her mouth and closed it. Opened it again. “Oh.”
     
    “What you need,” he continued, “is a metal halide light with no uplight and no glare. I’m going to install infrared sensor spotlights that come on only when someone walks into the viewfield of the security detectors. It’s very effective for scaring intruders away.”
     
    This was an entirely new world. “Oh,” she said again. “Okay.”
     
    He wasn’t finished. “You’ll also need motion sensors and to put your sound system on a timer so that there’s music when we’re out of the building.”
     
    Motion sensors. Halide lights. Detectors. “I don’t know,” she said uneasily. “All of that sounds expensive.”
     
    “Don’t worry about it. What you designed for me will more than compensate for that.”
     
    “I didn’t design it for you, specifically,” she protested. “I was just doodling one day while I was sitting in the empty rooms. And I felt—“ felt you were coming . She blew out a breath. “Felt it would make a good space for a business,” she finished.
     
    “It’s beautiful,” he said, his deep voice quiet.
     
    She gave him a startled glance.
     
    “I’m only a soldier. Ex-soldier,” he added wryly. “But I’m not blind and I’m not dead. What I saw was exquisite. And functional.”
     
    She smiled, flattered. “Thank you. That’s precisely what good interior design is all about. When you tell me a little more about how your business works, I could probably improve on the drawings you saw."
     
    “You’ll have plenty of time to see how my business works.” His eyes bored into hers. “I’ll be living and working right across the hall from you.”
     
    The thought of it took her breath away. He was such a powerful presence. How on earth was she going to be able to concentrate on her work knowing he was just a hallway away?
     
    Suzanne picked up the dessert fork and started tracing designs on the linen tablecloth. “It must have been hard to make the switch from the military to the business world. Bud told me you retired on a disability?”
     
    She looked up briefly. Disability. It was so hard even to imagine the word disability in connection with this man. Hard, strong, tough. He looked like he could take on the world.
     
    “Mmm.” Clearly, he wasn’t going to discuss anything pertaining to his injury. “It’s funny. When I was in the service, I couldn’t imagine any other life.” He gave a half-laugh. “Shit—sorry, I’m too used to spending all my time with men, I know I have to clean up my language. Anyway, most of my life I didn’t know any other life. I grew up a Navy brat and then spent my entire adulthood in the Navy. So, yeah, a lot of things are new. But you know? I’m looking forward to this new stage. I’m looking forward to building my business and to putting down roots. To having a home.” His dark eyes—what was that color? The lights were too dim to tell—pinned her. “That’s thanks to you. I’ve never lived in quarters like what you designed for me before.”
     
    Suzanne ducked her head. She’d received praise for her work before.