by Maisey Yates
She appeared a moment after the door opened, looking severe. Overly so. Her blond hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, and she was wearing a black sheath dress that went down past her knee, but conformed to curves that were more generous than they’d been thirteen years ago.
In a good way.
“Hello, Liam,” she said, her tone impersonal. Had she not used his first name, it might have been easy to pretend that she didn’t know who he was.
“Sabrina.”
“Lindy told me you wanted to talk about a potential joint venture. And since that falls under my jurisdiction as manager of the tasting room, she thought we might want to work together.”
Now she was smiling.
The smile was so brittle it looked like it might crack her face.
“Yes, I’m familiar with the details. Particularly since this venture was my idea.” He let a small silence hang there for a beat before continuing. “I’m looking at an empty building on the end of Main Street. It would be more than just a tasting room. It would be a small café with some retail space.”
“How would it differ from Lane Donnelly’s store? She already carries specialty foods.”
“Well, we would focus on Grassroots wine and cheese from the Laughing Irish ranch. Also, I would happily purchase products from Lane’s store to give the menu a local focus. It would be nothing big. Just a small lunch place with wine. Very limited selection. Very specialty. But I feel like in a tourist location that’s what you want.”
“Right,” she said, her smile remaining completely immobile.
He took that moment to examine her more closely. The changes in her face over the years. She was more beautiful now than she had been at seventeen. Her slightly round, soft face had refined in the ensuing years, her cheekbones now more prominent, the angle of her chin sharper.
Her eyebrows looked different too. When she’d been a teenager they’d been thinner, rounder. Now they were a bit stronger, more angular.
“Great,” he returned. “I guess we can go down and have a look at everything sometime this week. Gage West is the owner of the property, and he hasn’t listed it yet. Handily, my sister-in-law is good friends with his wife. Both of my sisters-in-law, actually. So I got the inside track on that.”
Her expression turned bland. “How impressive.”
She sounded absolutely unimpressed. “It wasn’t intended to be impressive. Just useful.”
She sighed slowly. “Did you have a day in mind to go view the property? Because I really am very busy.”
“Are you?”
“Yes,” she responded, that smile spreading over her face again. “This is a very demanding job, plus, I do have a life.”
She stopped short of saying exactly what that life entailed.
“Too busy to do this, which is part of your actual job?” he asked.
On the surface she looked calm, but he could sense a dark energy beneath that spoke of a need to savage him. “I had my schedule sorted out for the next couple of weeks. This is coming together more quickly than expected.”
“I’ll work something out with Gage and give Lindy a call, how about that?”
“You don’t have to call Lindy. I’ll give you my phone number. You can call or text me directly.”
She leaned over to the counter and took a card from the rustic surface, extending her hand toward him. He reached out and took the card, their fingertips brushing as they made the handoff.
And he felt it. Straight down to his groin, where he had always felt things for her, even though it was impossible. Even though he was all wrong for her. And even though they were now doing a business deal together and she looked like she would cheerfully chew through his flesh if given half the chance.
She might be smiling. But he didn’t trust that smile. He was still waiting. Waiting for her to shout recriminations at him now that they were alone.
But she didn’t. Instead, she gave him that card, and then began to look...bored.
“Did you need anything else?” she asked, still determinedly cheerful.
“Not really. Though I have some spreadsheet information that you might want to look over. Ideas for the layout, the menu. It is getting a little ahead of ourselves, in case we end up not liking the venue.”
“Like you said, you do your research.”
Her friendliness was beginning to slip. And he waited. For something else. For something to get thrown at him. It didn’t happen.
“That I do. Take these,” he said, handing her the folder that he was holding onto. He made sure their fingers didn’t touch this time. “And we’ll talk next week.”
Then he turned and walked away from her, and he resisted the strong impulse to turn back and get one more glance at her. It wasn’t the first time he had resisted Sabrina Leighton’s appeal.
He had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.
Copyright © 2017 by Maisey Yates
ISBN-13: 9781488020001
Wild Ride Cowboy
Copyright © 2017 by Maisey Yates
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