Chapter 11 #2
I started pacing. The living room wasn’t big, so I didn’t get a whole lot of back-and-forth room. Definitely not enough to wrap my head around her suggestion. “I can’t have sex with him.” I practically shouted the words.
“Why not?”
I stared my cousin’s way, certain she’d lost her mind. Sipping wine, with her eyes open comically wide, she appeared the picture of innocence.
She was anything but.
“Why not? Why not?” Back and forth. “First, what the hell would a New York billionaire want with me?” He seemed to want something back in his room.
“Second, as if I needed more than that, what kind of idiot would I be to sleep with a potential business partner or something? This is not one of the romance novels we read, Ever. Shit like that doesn’t happen in real life.
” I mean, it sort of happened yesterday, right?
“Third, and really most importantly, I don’t have time for something like that.
I can’t let my focus be on anything but the plans for our property, on what we want to do.
To get distracted would be, well, it would be too much. ”
Those dreaded words slipped out of my mouth, but I knew it was true. If I slept with Clay and this failed because of it, all the parentals’ concerns and bad assumptions about my ability to do this would be confirmed.
I also hated not having the time for love, not that this was anywhere close to love.
I’d always wanted what my grandparents and parents had.
The kind of love that hit hard and stayed long.
The kind where partners grew together, experiencing life and love, ups and downs.
I’d never even found anything close to that, and I worried, by putting all my focus on this expansion, I never would.
Building one legacy while losing out on another.
Sinking back down, I was mentally exhausted, but at least I’d gotten my point across. There was no way Ever wouldn’t agree that her “have a fling” suggestion was stupid and out of the question.
The corner of her lips tilted up, a twinkle alight in her eyes, and I knew I wouldn’t like what came out of her mouth next. “I notice one of your reasons was not that you didn’t want to have sex with him.”
I stared at her, realizing I hadn’t, in fact, said those words. Because they wouldn’t have been true. I did want to. More than I should. More than was smart.
Fuck me.
“You are one tough woman to track down.”
The words came at me from behind, greeting me as I pushed through the door leading from the kitchen hallway into the reception area.
I guess I should have expected him to be waiting for me, but I was in no mood.
I’d crashed at Ever’s last night after a couple of glasses of wine.
While I may have lain on the bed, I sure as hell hadn’t slept a wink.
Thoughts, memories, of the very man standing way too close didn’t let me get any rest.
Taking a deep breath, I turned.
Why did he have to be so attractive? I would never have said that business professional was my chosen type, but the man wore the hell out of a suit.
He smiled down at me before running his index finger along my jaw. His touch softer than I’d originally imagined, or maybe more tender is the correct description. Either way, it was way too dangerous.
I stepped back. “Don’t do that here.”
Shit. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.
“Where exactly would you like me to do it?”
And double shit.
“Nowhere. Can you please move? Give me some room.”
Clay was all up in my space, and while my girl parts liked it, the practical part of myself did not.
No matter what Ever had suggested last night, having sex, like actual sex, not humping him against the wall, with this man would be a disaster.
Not only would I look like a flake business-wise, there was a damn good chance I’d get my feelings hurt and my heart broken.
Not if you don’t give it to him.
Which I wasn’t planning on. Either way, I was not willing to take that risk. So, whatever had started yesterday needed to go back on the shelf.
Clay raised his hands and stepped back. At once I felt the loss of the heat of his body.
The intoxicating scent of his cologne, or maybe it was simply him.
Taking a breath felt so different without his closeness, without pulling the essence of him into my lungs with each inhalation.
It was a weird sensation because I’d been breathing without him around a hell of a lot longer than he’s been here, so why does it now feel weird? Like I was missing something.
Like I needed something.
Yeah, a therapist at this rate.
“So, about this proposition. You know you left me high and dry the other day?” I refused to respond to the innuendo laced in that sentence.
Of course he hadn’t been the only one, though I wouldn’t exactly say I had been dry.
As if he could read my mind, his lips quirked up, but he continued talking without making a comment.
“No details, no information. Just the idea and then your high-tailing it out the door after—well, after.” He paused at my glare.
“And then you disappeared yesterday. You know that meant I was left to my own devices around here.”
Dammit.
I hadn’t even considered he’d be free to do whatever he wanted yesterday.
So what did he do? Did he ask anyone about me?
Did he try to figure out whether we would consider selling?
Did he think about me, about that kiss, that moment when for the first time in forever my family wasn’t at the forefront of my mind?
Did he wish I hadn’t left? That we hadn’t stopped?
That we had stripped off our clothes? Did he stroke his cock to thoughts of what happened, of what could have happened?
“Oh, Reese.” His deep chuckle sent shivers down my spine. “I’d love to know what’s going through your mind right now.”
Damn him. “Nothing. Reservation stuff.”
“Reservations make that little pulse in your neck beat so quickly? They make your nipples hard?”
“Stop it.”
“But it’s so much fun.”
“I didn’t think you knew how to have fun.”
Crossing my arms, as much to hide my, in fact, hard nipples as anything else, I leaned back on the reception desk.
He strode my way, and I couldn’t help but glance down his body.
It appeared as if our nearness had a similar effect on his, if the erection pushing at the confines of his pants was evidence.
My hands had itched to touch him, to hold him, the other day.
Only some minute semblance of sanity kept me from doing it now. Thank God.
Clay stared at me, a thoughtful expression on his face, almost as if he were truly pondering how to answer the question.
“My brother would agree with you. Hell, under normal circumstances, I may even agree.” He neared me and rested his hands on the counter, caging me in, totally in my space again.
He didn’t say it, but I understood. Nothing about this, whatever this was, was actually normal.
“Whatever are you planning on doing with me, Reese Henley? For this proposal I agreed to, I mean.”
Oh, he knew exactly what he was implying.
Needing to get this back on the right track and off the one my mind and body wanted to ride on, I turned to the only thing we should be talking about.
Business.
“I told you a bit. I thought you could spend time at the businesses. Learn about them, help out even. I can tell you about everyone, and I will, but it’s not the same as meeting them.
As connecting with them.” I had to convey what I wanted out of any type of partnership or arrangement with a company, if that’s what eventually happened.
“This is my family. I’m not taking chances with them, Clay.
They put their faith in me, and I’m going to do my damnedest to ensure they don’t think it was misplaced.
That they don’t think I took on too much. ”
Glancing around the room, I looked at the pictures adorning the walls, the little knickknacks on tables, everything that made this building a home.
Very little of it was stuff we picked up simply to decorate.
There were pieces here my great-grandmother owned and every generation since.
We may open the B&B to others, but this is still our home and always has been.
“This isn’t some misguided idea to grow simply to make more money.
It’s what Henleys have always done: take what we have and make it bigger. Make it better. Make it more.”
“I know something about legacy, Reese, trust me.” His eyes had darkened as I spoke, turning a deep forest green. “So, you’re saying immerse myself in your world and then we’ll talk about how Conti-Montgomery can help you?”
I shook my head. “Then I’ll consider letting you give me your ideas.
” I didn’t want to commit to hearing him out, not only because of what happened yesterday, but because I needed to see if I could trust him.
“I can’t turn over everything that makes us who we are without you trying to know what that is, if that makes sense.
” This time I held his gaze. “Are you still game?”
“I’m game for anything you throw my way, Little Trouble.”
My mouth dropped open. “You called me that the other day. I am not trouble.” What the hell? He had a nickname for me? One that was entirely inappropriate and inaccurate. Yeah. Okay.
“You, Reese Henley, are most certainly trouble, with a capital T, and you are sort of little.” Extending his arm, he placed a finger on my chin before sliding it down my neck, sparks igniting it its wake. “So, what do we do first?”
I slipped out from behind the desk, needing to regain some space.
Between his touch and the nickname, there was a hell of a lot more suggested intimacy between us than I’d prefer.
Or at the very least, was good for my sanity.
“We do nothing right now. I have work to do. I guess you can take yourself into town for a bit.”