She hadn’t even realized she was barefoot and she slipped her pumps onto her feet before meeting his gaze.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said.
She knew that. He’d been reacting to Jonathan’s call right after he’d … after they’d … “Yeah. I know.” She ran her tongue over her lips. “My mother loved my father,” she said, needing him to understand. “I just don’t remember those days. What I remember,” she said slowly, “is her going from man to man in search of security. And I never want to be like her.”
He brushed his knuckles over her cheek in gentle understanding. “So you found a man who didn’t demand anything from you. Until he did. And then you broke up with him. Keeping your walls high. Like me.”
She blew out a long breath and sighed. She just wished Jonathan would believe that over meant over. She hated the thought of what she’d have to return to in London, the conversation they were going to have to have again, face-to-face.
“Hey.” Sebastian put a hand on her shoulder, and she tipped her head closer to him. “I know what it’s like to learn truth about yourself that hurts,” he said.
“I knew those things about myself,” she muttered. “I just didn’t appreciate having them thrown in my face.”
He grinned. “Well, me neither. So join the club.”
“Touché.” She sighed. “I want to take a walk.”
“Hang on.” He strode over to the limo driver’s open window and spoke to the man before returning to Ashley’s side. “I asked him to wait for us,” he said as he shrugged off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders.
She pulled the lapels closed, snuggling into the warmth of the fabric and the scent of him with a sigh.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded.
With his hand on her back, they started to stroll. They were, she realized, by Fisherman’s Wharf, in Ghirardelli Square.
“Chocolate,” she murmured, looking up at the ice cream & chocolate shop in the retail and dining area.
“I bet it beats Hershey’s.”
She laughed. “Why don’t we find out.”
They walked into the store, the scent of cocoa overwhelming her in the best possible way. And though she could have had one of the famous ice cream sundaes, she opted for her old standby, a chocolate bar.
It hurt her to admit, but the Ghirardelli was heaven in a chocolate bar. “Better than sex,” she said, eyes closed, as the decadent chocolate melted in her mouth.
He met her gaze with a steamy one of his own. “Honey, you are definitely sleeping with the wrong men.”
Chapter Six
Sebastian kept Ashley by his side as they walked into the office for another day of digging into what the hell was going on at the Keystone project. He strode into the building and was greeted by the staff at the front entrance who checked in employees and approved entry. From there they headed upstairs.
Ashley had suggested they meet with Katherine Downing, head of Purchasing, in her office, where she would be more comfortable, and see what, if anything, she was keeping to herself.
Once there, they found the woman sitting at her desk. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, with light brown hair cut short, and her desk was cluttered. Still, she worked diligently on the computer when they filled the doorway and didn’t look up until Ashley knocked.
“Oh, hi!” She gathered the papers on her desk, straightening them into a pile. “How can I help you?” she asked, rising to her feet.
“Please, sit.” Sebastian gestured with his hand, not wanting her to be uncomfortable or feel like they were at a formal inquisition. The woman lowered herself into her seat. “Mind if we join you?” he asked. There were two chairs across from her desk.
“Of course not.”
When they were all in their seats, Sebastian leaned back, letting Ashley take the lead.
“We were hoping we could talk about the Keystone deal. I went through the receipts yesterday. I wanted to ask if there was anything you forgot to tell me about. Something you might have remembered last night?” she asked.
Katherine shifted in her seat, and Sebastian agreed with Ashley, she knew something she didn’t want to say out loud.
“You seemed uncomfortable, yesterday and today.” Ashley leaned in closer, her gaze drifting around the cluttered desk. “I see you have kids. They’re adorable.” She picked up the photograph of a little girl with pigtails. “She’s cute.”
The woman smiled. “That’s Riley and this is my son, Brandon.” Katherine pointed to another photo, this one of an older boy with a big grin.
“You need this job, yes?” Ashley dove into the meat of things. “And you’re nervous about telling us something. You don’t need to be. Your job is safe. We just need to know what’s going on.”
The other woman let out a deep breath and nodded slowly. “Okay, look. Mrs. Knight was in charge of the buying of supplies to get this office up and ready for the Keystone deal.”
“Amanda Knight?” Sebastian asked and Katherine nodded. “Are you saying there were problems with her job performance?” he asked, an edge in his tone. One he hadn’t meant but it was Ethan’s wife they were discussing.
Ashley put a hand on his arm and squeezed tight, telling him silently to back off.
“Let’s backtrack,” Ashley said. “You said Mrs. Knight was in charge. Go on.”
Katherine looked down at her hands. “Mrs. Knight picked the suppliers for everything we purchased. She told me who to buy from and I did it.”
“That sounds pretty standard. The project manager makes executive decisions,” Sebastian said.
Ashley elbowed him in the arm. “Did you find something wrong with the suppliers she chose?”
“Not exactly … but…”
Ashley waited, and though it took all his patience, Sebastian kept quiet, too.
“She said she had connections that would help us later. For example, if we used the vendors she chose for the company cell phones, she promised they’d make us a good deal later, when we needed laptops. Except that good deal never materialized. And the phones, they didn’t work well.” The woman didn’t meet their gaze as she gnawed on her lower lip. “But she was the boss’s wife, so when she said to buy something, I did.”
She glanced at them and handed Ashley a folder full of papers. “You can look through these,” she said.
Sebastian met Ashley’s gaze. “Thank you, Katherine. We understand. And don’t worry about anything. Okay?”
Ashley rose from her seat and Sebastian followed her lead. They walked out of the room, and he led her to the office he’d appropriated as his own for the duration of his stay and shut the door.
“Amanda,” he muttered with a shake of his head. “Katherine insinuated Ethan’s wife did something wrong.” His head swirled with the possibilities of issues they didn’t yet know about. “She had a drug problem,” he went on. “That meant she needed money, right?” He looked at Ashley, feeling tortured, mostly for Ethan.
Ashley’s expression was as pained as his own. “We don’t know anything yet,” she said in an effort to reassure him and probably herself. “She just said that Mandy was in charge, something we already knew. We’ll go through the paperwork again.” She gestured to the folder she’d put on the desk.
He nodded, agreeing. But there was more. There was the insinuation that she’d chosen the wrong suppliers for a reason. He glanced at Ashley, feeling helpless.
“Hey. We don’t know anything. There’s nothing to go back to Ethan with … yet.” She placed a comforting hand on his arm, one that felt anything but platonic considering he’d had his fingers in her pussy just last night.
He bit back a groan. He couldn’t think like that now, at work. He needed to focus on the problems at hand. “We can’t discuss anything about Mandy with Ethan. Not until we know more.”
Ashley nodded. “I agree. We’ll get it figured out.”
Sebastian’s cell phone rang from his pocket.
He pulled it out, and though he didn’t recognize the number, because it had a San Francisco area code, he answered.
“Knight here.”
“Mr. Knight? This is Corinne Fields, Stephan Romano’s personal assistant. I know you’ve been trying to reach him. He’d like to extend an invitation for you to come to Sei Bellisimo, his vineyard in Napa Valley, and meet with him in person.”
He raised an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn’t realized the man was out of town.
“He’d like to send a car and you can spend the night at one of the guest cottages. He said you two have a lot to discuss.”
Knowing the man was on the eccentric side and had known both his father and grandfather, doing this on his terms was important for keeping this deal in place while they figured out the lock issues.
“I’ll be there. I have a … business associate with me,” he said, glancing at Ashley.
“No worries. We have multiple rooms in the cottage,” she assured him. “I’ll let Mr. Romano know you’ve agreed. He’d like to send a car for your trip to the valley.”
“I have a limousine on retainer for my time here,” Sebastian said.
“But Mr. Romano would much prefer to treat you to the trip.”
Understanding again it was important to agree, Sebastian said, “Thank you. We can be ready to leave in a few hours.” He gave the woman the name of the hotel from which to pick them up and disconnected the call.
He met Ashley’s interested gaze. “I hope you like wine because we’re going to Napa.”
* * *
Ashley hadn’t expected the trip to Napa Valley. Now, she stared out the window, taking in the green trees and the acres of rolling hills and vineyards along the way. Inside the limousine, she breathed in, smelling Sebastian’s intoxicating scent and trying not to think about what had gone on the last time she’d been alone in the back of a limo with him for an extended length of time. But she found herself shifting in her seat anyway, sneaking glimpses of him when he wasn’t looking.
He, too, stared out the window, deep in thought, she assumed about the problems with the business and the possibility of Mandy’s culpability in some way. If she let herself think about it, the worry for Ethan when he found out would consume her.
Instead she focused on the fact that she was going out of town with Sebastian. True, she’d been sharing a suite with him without incident, unless you counted the limo, but this was a cottage in Napa Valley. There’d be wine. And conversation. And … did she want sex?
Sure, she’d told him sex wasn’t important, but that was before he’d kissed her until she couldn’t think or feel anything but him. Last night she’d lain in the room next to his, thinking of nothing but sleeping with him. Of smelling the scent of his aftershave, her body revved up with desire, his big hands traveling over her breasts, tweaking her nipples, making her so wet that when he was ready, he’d glide into her, thick and pulsing.
“Jesus.” She trembled at the thoughts going through her mind and pushed her hands against her thighs.
“Everything okay?” Sebastian turned her way, the scenery speeding by through the window behind him.
“Yes. I just didn’t expect to take this trip,” she hedged, not wanting to get personal with him just yet.
“I hope you don’t mind. It’s just another night in a different room. And maybe a tour of the vineyard and a drink or two of some of the best wine made.” His easy grin made her smile.
“No, of course I don’t mind. It actually sounds wonderful. I hope you get some good news from Stephan Romano about your contract with him.”
Sebastian rolled his big shoulders. “I’m counting on the fact that he wouldn’t send us his limo and bring us all the way up to his vineyard just to sandbag me.”
“You’re probably right.” She liked his optimism.
“Besides, I appreciate the break. It gives me time to think about how to handle things when we return to the office tomorrow. What direction to go in when it comes to figuring out what’s wrong and Amanda’s role in it. I’ve gone over and over those papers Katherine gave us. It’s something we’ll deal with when we get back.”
She nodded, reaching out and grasping his hand. “We’ll figure this out together.”
“We’re a team,” he said.
She glanced down at their joined hands, his skin darker than her paler flesh. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and thought back.
What did she want from Sebastian?
Was sex on the table?
She knew if she gave him any indication she was willing, he would be, too. Her nipples tingled at the possibility of his mouth on them, his big hands gliding over her breasts. Yes, she wanted to sleep with him. She just had to quell the intellectual part of her brain sending warning signals that she couldn’t get further involved with him and walk out unscathed emotionally.
But.
Sebastian didn’t do relationships. He’d admitted as much. And she was going back to London when this situation was over and she knew Ethan was settled. So how much damage could a sexual relationship cause, especially when she was an expert at keeping her heart to herself?
She squirmed in her seat, knowing the decision was made. If the opportunity arose while they were alone in Napa, she was going to devour Sebastian like he was the tastiest chocolate bar she’d ever had.
* * *
Sebastian stepped out of the limousine and stretched his cramped legs. Ashley joined him, climbing out of the car and drawing her arms up over her head, her breasts lifting enticingly with the motion. He watched in fascination, the tips of her nipples showing through the fabric of her white dress. His mouth watered at the sight.
“It’s warm out,” she said, and he shook his head to clear it of any dirty thoughts threatening to take over after the long car ride, where he’d been achingly aware of her nearness with every breath he drew.
“It’s hot,” he agreed, sweating in his dark suit.
“Welcome!” A pretty brunette woman came rushing out from the nearest building to meet them, dressed in a tight black skirt and a silk blouse that hugged her curves. “I assume you’re Sebastian Knight?”
He nodded. “And this is my … associate, Ashley Easton.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said, her gaze fully on Sebastian. “I’m Corinne Fields. We spoke on the phone earlier.”
She shook his hand, holding on longer than was appropriate for a business greeting, as she demurely fluttered her lashes.
He’d been this route before. She was interested. And in the past, he’d have reciprocated that interest for the time he was here. But for the first time, his attention was occupied with thoughts of another woman, rendering him uninterested in what this woman was offering.
Ashley was all he could think about. Being alone with her here. Seeing where things could go.
Ashley cleared her throat as he slid his hand out of Corinne’s grip, aware of Ashley’s gaze on the prolonged shake.
Not wanting either woman to get the wrong idea, he took a step closer to Ashley and away from Corinne.
Corinne stiffened, obviously getting the message. “Well, I’ll send someone to take your bags to the cottage,” she said stiffly. “It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a fully stocked kitchen. You’ll be very comfortable,” she told them with a forced smile.
“Sounds wonderful,” Ashley said, not engaging the other woman at all. “Can you tell me a little about the vineyard?”
“Sei Bellisimo means you are beautiful in Italian,” Corinne said, explaining the name. “We’re a boutique winery, a small, out-of-the-way vineyard, but even so, summer is a busy time in Napa and our tastings are all booked. However”—she turned to them with a professional smile—“we will be providing you with our very best wine at the cottage and during your private tour.”
Sebastian nodded. “And we’re very grateful, but my focus here is to meet with Stephan Romano.” Although Sebastian had expected a tour, he’d hoped to do business f
irst. “I’m sure you realize there’s a lot on the line for our two companies.”
Stephan Romano, however, was an eccentric, something he knew from his grandfather. Not only was he one of the biggest defense contractors in the world, he owned this vineyard, and he was reclusive and hard to get in touch with.
“Yes, of course. He has every intention of meeting with you,” Corinne assured him vaguely.
Beside him, Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder, her first sign of personal interaction in front of Corinne. It was as if she’d read his thoughts and understood his frustration with the situation. Not only did he appreciate having her here, but her innate comprehension of what he was feeling and her ability to soothe him was something he wasn’t used to.
“Would you like to change before I take you on a walking tour of the property?” Corinne asked.
In anticipation of a meeting with Stephan Romano, they had both remained in their work clothes.
Ashley glanced at Sebastian, and he inclined his head, leaving it up to her. He apparently wasn’t going to be able to rush things.
“I’d love to change. I have sneakers in my suitcase,” she said.
They were taken to their cottage and their bags were brought in. Ashley chose one of the rooms and disappeared into it. Sebastian had brought a pair of cargo shorts and a tee shirt, and it took him no time to switch clothes. Ashley emerged a few minutes later, wearing a cute pair of striped drawstring pants and a tank top, sneakers on her feet.
“Ready!” She bounced on the balls of her feet, obviously looking forward to the vineyard tour.
Corinne met them outside, and soon they were following her throughout the estate. As they walked along a crushed stone pathway, the crunch of their footsteps seemed loud in the utter silence surrounding them. It was hard to believe they were in Northern California and not some private villa, something out of another era. Mr. Romano had obviously had visions of his Tuscan ancestry when he’d built the estate. The fountains, marble statuary, and small wrought iron benches set in secluded, tree-and-vine shaded nooks practically invited one to laze away the day sipping the decadent wine they’d tasted that the vineyard was so famous for.
Take Me Again Page 7