The CEO (The Millionaire Malones Book 2)

by Victoria Purman

  ‘Oh, how lovely to be surrounded by beautiful gardens every day.’

  Ava laughed. ‘They are when I’ve finished with them, I’m proud to say.’

  ‘It must be a wonderful thing to create a garden,’ Ellie said.

  ‘It is.’

  ‘And that gets me to thinking. The Malone Foundation could really use your help.’

  Ava sipped her wine. ‘What’s the Malone Foundation?’

  ‘We spend money on projects that benefit people everyone else has forgotten about. And I think I know exactly where we might be able to use your skills. Have you ever designed a garden in a childcare centre?’

  ‘No, but I’d love to.’

  ‘Excellent news. I’ll be in touch. If the baby doesn’t come first, that is.’ Ellie’s eyes gleamed and it wasn’t just from the tears. ‘I never thought it would happen to me, you know? It took me so long to find the right man to even consider having a baby with. I wasn’t going to do this with any Tom, Dick or Harry.’

  ‘Or any Chris, Callum or Cooper,’ Ava said absentmindedly.

  ‘What?’

  Ava felt the blush race up her décolletage and redden her cheeks. ‘Oh, nothing. It was just that you said those names, three guys … Tom, Dick or Harry. It reminded me of them …’ Ava cocked her head in the direction of the brothers. ‘Chris, Callum and Cooper.’

  ‘You talking about me and my testosterone again?’

  Chris joined them on the deck carrying a dining chair. ‘There, babe. Sit down.’ Ellie gratefully slipped into it.

  Cooper was next to join them. ‘Sister-in-law,’ he nodded to Ellie with a wink. When he looked at Ava, he narrowed his eyes in a question. ‘And you … I don’t quite know what to call you since my twin brother isn’t married to your little sis anymore.’

  ‘Ava will do.’

  ‘Ava it is then.’ Cooper raised a glass and clinked it against hers.

  ‘I’m sorry again about your father, Cooper,’ Ava said in a quiet voice. ‘And you too, Chris, of course.’

  The brothers exchanged glances. A shadow passed over their faces.

  ‘Thanks, Ava,’ Chris said. ‘We appreciate it.’

  One brother was missing from this gathering and Ava looked inside to see where Callum was. She saw him reaching out to shake Michael’s hand and then he leaned forward and planted a polite kiss on Lulu’s cheek. She turned her eyes away before he caught her. That mask was now firmly back in place.

  Ellie poked Cooper in the leg with an outstretched finger. ‘What do you think of this house, huh?’

  ‘It’s incredible.’ Cooper inspected the empty balcony and then walked to the railing and leaned over it. ‘Except for that. Check it out.’

  They all walked over and looked down. There was another level below, where a pool had been built into the balcony, but there was no water in it, save for a muddied puddle from the recent rain and a scattering of leaves swirling a dervish in the breeze. Beyond it, lower still, there were another two levels, both barren of plants or grass, comprising nothing but dirt.

  ‘How can anyone kill a garden in this climate?’ Ava wondered out loud.

  ‘It was like this when I bought it.’

  Ava froze. Not only was Callum’s voice in her ear, deep and mellifluous, but he was close behind her. She didn’t have to turn around to know it. Her fingers gripped the balcony railing and she didn’t move. If she turned, she would be face to face, breasts to chest, with Callum.

  ‘I’ve been a little busy running the family firm.’

  ‘I can see that,’ Ava said. ‘It’s a building site out there.’

  She turned her head slightly and he’d stepped back. ‘Anyone for a refill?’

  Chris and Cooper held out their glasses and Callum poured from a bottle of red.

  ‘Oh by the way,’ he said with a nod in Ava’s direction. ‘Lulu and Michael said to say goodbye. They just left.’

  Ava spun around. Well, wasn’t that just great. What happened to their plan to leave together? And now, how on earth would she extract herself from all this Malone-ness? She stared into her wine glass, embarrassed that a blush was creeping up her cheeks.

  ‘Red?’

  Her free hand flew to her face. Had he noticed her blushing? How more out of place and embarrassed could she be?

  ‘Pardon?’ Ava managed.

  Callum held up the bottle of red wine, readying himself to top up her glass.

  ‘Red wine? Or would you prefer a white?’

  She quickly covered her glass with a flat hand and dropped her eyes. ‘No. Thank you.’

  Callum’s gaze bore down on her. ‘You know something about gardens?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Talk about an understatement. She doesn’t just know about gardens,’ Ellie piped up. Her baby brain seemed to have made her over-exuberant as well as forgetful. Or maybe she was always that way, it was hard for Ava to know. ‘She’s a landscape designer, so she’s an expert.’

  ‘A landscape designer,’ Callum repeated.

  ‘And she’s going to do some work for the Malone Foundation.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Callum asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Ava said.

  ‘You … plant things.’ That tone in his voice was one inch from patronising.

  ‘In the same way you … build things.’

  His serious expression transformed into what looked like a reluctant smile.

  ‘Why didn’t I know that about you? I thought you mowed lawns and cleaned pools.’

  ‘I can’t answer that.’ Ava was used to not being noticed by Callum Malone. It was no surprise that he had no idea before today about what she did for a living. But in that moment, in that blink of an eye, something changed. She had become a person in her own right, not simply Lulu’s big sister.

  ‘Are you a good landscape designer?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ava answered and lifted her chin confidently. She stared right up into Callum’s blue, blue eyes and tried not to stop breathing.

  ‘So,’ he said, his voice a teasing drawl as his gaze intensified. ‘What would you do with a building site like this?’

  That quiet calm Ava had noticed, which had been overtaken by conversation, was suddenly back. No-one else spoke. Everyone was watching the two of them. Callum moved in closer. Ava stood her ground. She propped a hand on a hip and titled her head to the side. ‘Ever heard of intellectual property, Mr Malone? I don’t give away my valuable ideas for free.’

  ‘In that case, you’re hired.’

  Chapter Five

  ‡

  If Callum wasn’t mistaken, that sudden look in Ava’s wide brown eyes and her open mouth indicated sheer panic.

  He’d had a shit day, an even shittier week, and a shit-full year since the divorce. He needed a distraction from everything and he decided, that minute, that it might as well be Ava the Terrible. Pity for her that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right now, he didn’t want to think about the company or its future without his father, or the major construction project in Woolloomooloo that was running two months behind schedule, or what he and his brothers were going to do with The Meadows, the now-vacant family pile on Sydney Harbour. All that would come later, he knew. He would deal with it rationally and dispassionately like the chief executive that he was, with a cool head and a critical eye.

  But right now? He didn’t want to be that man.

  And that distraction he was after? She was staring at him with wide eyes and a suddenly attractive blush in her cheeks. The tension had pinched a little crease at the top of her nose.

  ‘You’re hiring me?’ Ava finally said.

  ‘I’m hiring you. I’ll pay to you fix up these gardens.’

  That pink in her cheeks reddened and he felt something came alive in him that he hadn’t felt for a very long time. Maybe it was a sense of fun, of not knowing what was going to happen next. Today had made him think that life was short and maybe it was time to loosen up a bit.

  Fun. He could hav
e fun and it surprised the hell out of him to realise he was thinking about having fun with Ava the Terrible.

  ‘I …’

  He was enjoying the game, was getting a kick out of reeling her in, so he made it more fun and so much harder for her to say no. ‘I’ll pay double what you normally charge. Plus extra for the complexities of this site.’

  ‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous.’ Ava took a huge gulp of wine.

  Chris, Cooper and Ellie watched the sparring like carnival clowns.

  Callum took a step closer. He got a hint of something floral. How appropriate for a gardener. ‘So you don’t want me to pay you double? I thought you’d take a delicious pleasure in someone like me paying you that much. You must be doing extremely well for yourself if you can afford to say no to double your normal fee.’

  ‘That’s not what I meant. It’s just that I’m completely booked up at the moment. I have worked lined up for …’ she hesitated, ‘two months.’

  The way her eyes darted from side to side told Callum what she probably meant was two weeks. Or possibly two days.

  ‘And I have just promised Ellie that I’ll do some work for the Malone Foundation.’

  ‘We’re going to have to come to some arrangement, Ellie.’ He addressed his sister-in-law but didn’t look at her. His eyes were still on Ava. ‘Now that you’ve whetted my appetite, I want this done immediately.’

  ‘Of course you do,’ Ava said under her breath.

  ‘And if you manage to fit me into your apparently busy schedule … I’ll spread the word around Sydney and you’ll really be booked out. For years, not months, on the best homes in the city. What do you say?’

  He could see in her narrowed eyes and pursed lips that she was seriously considering his offer.

  ‘What’s the name of your company?’

  She proudly lifted her chin. ‘Ava Good Weekend Garden Designs.’

  Before he thought about why, he reached for her free hand. He held her fingers between his and looked down. Her nails were short and dirt had worked its way under them. There were still shadows of earth in the wrinkles at her knuckles. He needed to know that she would be the one doing the work; that she wouldn’t do all the fancy stuff behind a desk and then hand it over to her crew.

  She would be in his home. He needed to be able to trust her. He glanced up from her quivering fingers to her face and let go.

  He couldn’t shake the instinct that he could trust her. He spent his working life being immediately suspicious of people and most times his instinct was right. There was something about Ava the Terrible that wasn’t too terrible. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t because she was Lulu’s sister. They couldn’t have been more different if they’d come from different families. Lulu was petite, blonde and always seemed fragile to him. Ava was the opposite. Not only was she tall, maybe a head shorter than him, but there was a strength about her that was in everything she did. Her attitude, her stance and, he couldn’t help but noticing, her arms. They were Michelle Obama arms and they were now crossed tightly over her chest, just under her breasts. If the scowl on her face was supposed to intimidate him, she was kidding herself. But he liked that she was trying. He liked it a lot.

  He needed someone he could trust. He needed to know that the person given free rein of his house and his property couldn’t care less about him, his possessions, his status or his wealth. He needed someone who wouldn’t use the job as a backdoor way to insinuate herself into his bed, either. Because that wasn’t going to happen again in his lifetime. Once bitten, forever pissed off.

  He’d found the perfect person.

  Maybe Ava wasn’t so convinced. She was still to answer.

  So he prodded. ‘If you don’t think you can do the work, I’ll find someone else.’

  ‘You don’t think I can do the work?’

  ‘That’s not what I said, Ava.’

  Callum looked around. He’d almost forgotten they had an audience. ‘Listen. I need my gardens done and you’d like a job. Am I right?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I think we’re in business then, don’t you?’

  Callum held out a hand and waited while Ava slowly put her hand in his. They shook on it and when he gave her fingers an extra squeeze, she gave his a squeeze right back.

  ‘I’ll want a signed contract,’ Ava said.

  ‘So will I,’ Callum replied. ‘I’ll go and ask Evelyn to get it organised.’

  *

  Ava said her goodbyes to Chris and Cooper and walked through the open doorway back into the living room. She found her handbag, looped the long strap over her shoulder, and pulled her phone from it to call a taxi to take her home.

  ‘You leaving?’ How was it that Callum had a knack of appearing out of nowhere? His bare feet had barely made a noise on the wooden floors. Once again, there was just the two of them in the quiet peace of his house.

  ‘Yes. I’ve left my card for you so we can be in touch. I’ll need to come back and do some preliminary work and I would also like to sit down with you and discuss exactly what you’re looking for.’

  Ava tried not to read anything into the sudden gleam in his eyes.

  ‘Sure. Let me send you a message so you have my private number.’

  Ava recited her number and she watched him tap out a message. A few seconds later, she felt her phone vibrate in her hand.

  ‘That one doesn’t divert to the office. I keep it for my brothers and family. For private things. So I’d appreciate it if you kept it that way.’

  ‘Of course. Thank you for hiring me. I know I’ll come up with something you’ll love.’

  ‘Good,’ he said.

  ‘I’d better call a cab.’

  ‘No you’re not. I’ll get my keys.’

  ‘No, really,’ Ava stressed. ‘You have guests. You’ve had a terrible day.’ She laid her fingers on his arm, a gesture of comfort and sympathy. ‘Stay here and be with your family.’

  She felt his muscles tense under her touch. When she dared look up into his eyes, she saw sadness instead of teasing. This man had just lost his father. And then it happened before she could think twice. She slipped her arms around him, held on tight, turned her head to the side and laid her cheek against his chest.

  ‘I’m so sorry about your father,’ she said softly into his worn T-shirt, into his hard chest, into the rise and fall of it as he breathed. She closed her eyes and when she felt him hold her back, as his arms enveloped her, gripped tight around her shoulders, and he buried his head into her hair, a rush of something dangerous flooded through her.

  Something she should have known would erupt the minute she touched him. Wrapped in his arms, her breasts flattened against him, her breath on his chest, his strength surrounding her, guilt and desire ripped through her.

  And when guilt won the battle, she slipped out of his arms.

  ‘I’ll be in touch,’ she murmured and fled.

  *

  As soon as Ava got home, she called Lulu. She had to tell her that she was going to work for Callum. That she’d been tricked into working for Callum, more like it.

  The call connected. ‘Hey, Lulu.’

  ‘Oh, Ava,’ There was an emotional catch in Lulu’s tone. ‘I’m so sorry for abandoning you in enemy territory. I just had to get out of there.’

  ‘It’s okay.’

  ‘It just felt really strange to be there, in Callum’s house. With Michael. And I could see you were chatting to Chris’s wife and I knew you’d be okay. You’re always okay in a crowd of people you don’t know.’

  It was true. Ava never had trouble talking to strangers. It was talking to men she’d been in love with for five years that was tricky.

  ‘I can’t blame you for leaving,’ Ava said. ‘You did the right thing and paid your respects. Why on earth would you want to hang around after what he did to you?’

  There was a pause down the line.

  ‘Sorry, Lulu. I shouldn’t have brought that up. It’s ancient history, right? Loo
k, the reason I’m calling is that I have something to tell you.’

  ‘Please don’t tell me you pushed Callum off the balcony.’

  Ava laughed. ‘Why would you think I would do anything like that?’

  ‘C’mon, Ava. I know you’ve always hated him.’

  It had been so much easier all these years to let Lulu believe what she felt for Callum was hate. ‘Yeah. He’s absolutely detestable. Although damn it, I thought I’d managed to keep it a secret. My bad.’

  ‘Ava …’ Lulu said quietly, dropping her voice. ‘He’s a good man.’

  What? How on earth could Lulu still think that? After what he’d done? ‘I’m not so sure of that but hey, I don’t know the guy.’

  ‘Be nice to him. He deserves it.’

  Ava was confounded and confused. She had comforted her sister right here on this sofa, held her when she’d sobbed for her marriage, cradled her head and made her chicken soup to assuage the headache from all the crying. And now Lulu was asking Ava to be nice to the man who’d broken her heart?

  ‘So, sis, what did you want to tell me?’

  ‘Oh.’ She suddenly chickened out. Perhaps she’d jumped the gun. It wasn’t yet certain that she would do the job for Callum. What if artistic differences got in the way and they couldn’t agree on a design? What if he didn’t come through on his offer of payment? And what if she finally saw good sense and said no to him? ‘It’s totally slipped my mind. So tell me: What did Michael make of the Malones?’

  ‘He was surprised.’

  ‘Surprised?’ Ava asked.

  ‘Yes. At how normal they seemed to be, considering, you know, who they are.’

  ‘Yes, considering,’ Ava said. ‘I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.’

  ‘Love you, too.’

  When Ava ended the call, she noticed an unread message. It was from Callum. It was the one he’d sent earlier. Before the hug. Before she’d fled.

  Cheesiest name for a business I’ve ever heard.

  She flopped her head back on a scatter cushion and pinched the bridge of her nose. It always helped her think and when she did it she could squint her eyes closed and sit in the dark and block out all distractions and try to get her spinning head settled.