Chapter 7 #2
“Pays to be creative in my business.” She finished rinsing off and got out of the shower, leaving him to finish up.
When he emerged, she handed him a towel and met his bright eyes with what she was sure was a somber stare.
“We have to talk about how this is going to happen with me working for you. I want you to understand I don’t sleep with clients. ”
“Want me to fire you?” he asked with nonchalance as he toweled his hair dry.
“Not so much,” she responded, a cold void dropping into her middle. Would it be that easy for him? “What I meant is that we have to establish some basic boundaries.”
He looked up, grinning, until he seemed to realize she was serious. “What do you mean, ‘boundaries’?”
“Your contractors and vendors won’t deal with me if they even suspect I’m sleeping with you.
You have to give me space to work during the day.
Treat me like the hired help I am.” At his blank face, the first pangs of fear resonated through her.
“You said yourself that my company’s finances have been rocky.
If word gets around that I’m messing around with a client, it could ruin me. ”
“Messing around with any client or messing around with someone like me?” His voice was flat, devoid of any and all emotion.
“Yes. No.” She clutched her towel tighter. “Yes in that you’re a client.”
“And no?”
“In that...” She raked her fingers through her wet hair. “It’s that you and I are so different, from different backgrounds, different values systems, different long-term goals and expectations. That I’m city to your country, I suppose.” The steam-filled bathroom muffled the words, but not enough.
Cade propped a hip against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Of all the things I considered you might say, that hadn’t even really made the list. I suppose it should have.
” He folded his towel and hung it on the towel bar on what was apparently his side of the bathroom.
Naked as the day he was born, he stepped through the doorway into his room.
He paused and gave her his profile. “I figured you for a lot of things, but never someone who’d be scared to own her actions. ”
“I’m not scared to own whatever it is between us.”
“Could’ve fooled me. Wait. You just did.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Good night, Ms. Graystone.”
“Don’t do this, Cade,” she said, starting toward his door.
“I’m not doing anything, darlin’. This is just me expressing to you that I have no intention of abiding by your ‘boundaries.’” He shut the door to his bedroom and turned the lock.
CADE SLIPPED OUT of the house at about five-thirty the next morning.
He hadn’t slept a wink and was so tired he could hardly function.
Didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to be anywhere near the group when the 7:00 a.m. meeting hit.
Where she was concerned, he couldn’t take much more.
Every man had a breaking point, and he was ashamed he’d nearly reached his last night.
They’d all look on Emma with absolute delight.
Eli would beam because it was his connection that had scored her taking on the event, no matter that the true reason she’d taken it was in an effort to generate more immediate revenue.
She’d said so yesterday. Whatever was going on behind closed doors where her business was concerned hadn’t hit the news.
But they were clearly bleeding out on paper.
Her credit rating had suffered, which meant her reputation wasn’t far behind.
But her business wasn’t the issue for him. She’d made him feel like a country hick, as if his values were too simple and his vision of home and hearth too pedantic compared to her high-rise, five-star-dining lifestyle.
That part wasn’t what chapped his ass so badly, though.
It was that she seemed ashamed of him for who he was.
She knew where he’d come from. What’s more, his family had opened their home to her at the last minute to ensure she had a clean, safe place to stay.
And she’d called him “country to her city.”
“Right,” he huffed, digging his heels into the dirt and pulling against the broken fence post. “Might as well have called it ‘crass versus class.’”
If that’s what she thought, he might as well act the part.
He intended to ride fence for the next week—he’d left a note for Eli explaining his brother shouldn’t request Cade’s return except for an emergency.
He’d loaded provisions on one of the packhorses, mounted his own horse and taken off as the sun broke the horizon.
Still, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from one last glance over his shoulder as he crested the nearest hill. Emma’s bedroom light was on.
He managed to convince himself not to go home and hash this out with her but continue on. She’d been clear last night; he was okay to fool around with, but damn him if he touched her in the light of day.
He should be better than that to her. And hell, he wanted her to see he could be better than that—that he was worth more than a nighttime fling. He wanted her to accept that he was worth the emotional investment.