by Jess Dee
Dedication
Kelly Kappmeier, this one is both for you and with thanks to you.
With Thanks
Kitty, thanks for your beta read (again).
And as always, thank you to Jennifer—for challenging me every day and making me a better writer
Chapter One
Andrew Stafford walked through the doorway and ground to a surprised stop. “Looking for something?”
Blake Seymour raised a finger without looking up. “Give me a minute and we’ll talk.”
“Oh, take your time,” Andrew drawled. “I’ll pretend this isn’t my office and that isn’t my chair or my computer. No worries.”
His business partner took him at his word, paying him no attention whatsoever. He hit a few keys, grinned at the computer screen, then sat back with a satisfied smirk.
Andrew squinted, knowing that expression all too well.
The computer gave a familiar ding, and Blake’s smirk broadened. He took the iPad from beside the computer, opened the cover and tapped on the screen. After swiping his finger a few times, he typed something only he could see, waited a few seconds and pressed down on the power button. A minute later he set the tablet down and finally acknowledged Andrew with an extended hand.
“Phone, please.”
Andrew narrowed his eyes. “My computer and iPad aren’t enough?”
Blake wiggled his finger, pointing at himself. “C’mon. Hand it over. It’s important.”
Andrew gave him the phone.
“Excellent.” Blake didn’t so much as glance at it. He just slipped it straight into his pocket.
“Um…” Jeez, so much for having blind faith in the man he’d worked with for over nine years.
“Problem?” Blake asked.
“You tell me. You just shut down my iPad, stole my iPhone and did God knows what to my desktop.”
“Shut it down,” Blake supplied helpfully.
“Right. Shut it down.” Andrew nodded calmly, as though Blake usurping his desk and switching off his electronics were daily occurrences.
“Don’t worry. I got you another phone.” Blake held it out to him.
Andrew stared, perplexed, at the very dated Nokia. He was so used to smartphones, he doubted he even remembered how to use a model like this.
“I got you a SIM card too, with your number.” Blake looked exceedingly proud of himself. “Activated it a couple of hours ago.” He checked his watch. “There’s no Internet access, but the mobile line should be connected by three. So don’t worry. You won’t be on the road without a phone.”
Andrew gaped, at a loss. “Since I hadn’t planned on being on the road at all today, I never saw that as a worry.”
“Here you go. You’ll need these too.”
Blake tossed him a set of keys, and Andrew caught them just in time, almost dropping the Nokia in the process.
He did a quick mental rundown of the rest of his day. Conference call at two. Meeting at Onyx Solutions at three thirty. Then off to his parents to check on them and the nurse he’d employed to monitor his dad’s pneumonia and keep an eye on his mum’s tendency to wander.
The longest he’d be driving were the twenty-minute trips from here to Onyx, and from Onyx to his folks. From there it was ten minutes home. Granted, he spent almost every minute in the car on his phone, but he’d never considered the trips from one meeting to another as being “on the road”.
Besides, if he was going to be on the phone while driving this afternoon, he wanted his iPhone. Not the piece-of-crap antique he currently held.
He set the Nokia and keys on the desk and looked at his friend. “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Lily.” One of Blake’s lovers. The man had two, and all three were crazy about one another.
Lucky bastard. Andrew would be happy with one.
Blake grinned. “No such thing, mate. If anything, I’m not spending enough time with her.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re sure acting like her right now.” He searched for the right word. “Loopy.”
“Lil’s only loopy when you don’t understand what’s going on in her head.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on in your head.”
“I’m taking control. Making executive decisions.”
Andrew snorted. “Yeah, right.” Blake was way too laid-back to ever take control or make executive decisions. He preferred to take on the creative role in their partnership, come up with ideas, motivate and excite their staff. It was Andrew who controlled the day-to-day running of the company, who hired and fired and ultimately made decisions. Their roles had always worked just fine for both of them—up until right now.
“Fair dinkum, Ando, for the rest of the week, I’m in control. I’m making decisions, and you’re going along with them, no questions asked.”
Yeah, right. Andrew knew the disbelief was clear on his face.
“You’re taking a break, mate. Getting out of Sydney for the long weekend. And…you don’t get to have a say in the matter.”
Laughter boomed from Andrew’s chest. “A break? Really?” As if he could take time out of his life right now. As if he could leave his desk with the deal with Onyx looming, or walk away from his parents while they were both in crisis.
Given the opportunity, he’d head for the hills in a heartbeat. Or Europe. Get as far away from reality as he could. Hell, Mars sounded good at this point. But the thing about reality was you couldn’t ever get away from it, and much as Andrew needed a break, he couldn’t take one. Not with the kind of responsibility he currently shouldered.
Blake pointed at the keys. “Those fit the door to my private suite at the Rolling Hills. The rest of the hotel is booked up for the long weekend, so it’s the only room available. You are gonna take your ass up to the Hunter Valley today, enjoy the wine country and forget about anything to do with Sydney until Monday afternoon, when you can come home again.”
Andrew opened his mouth to object, but Blake just spoke over him.
“Your meeting with Onyx is postponed ’til Tuesday morning, ten thirty, and I’ve just put the phone down from Martin and Hugh. Conference call is over. We chatted earlier than you’d planned.”
“What the fuck—”
“Quit panicking. No one died in the process. We managed just fine without you, and Martin’s going ahead with the software development. He already has the specs. If he needs anything else, he’ll phone.” Blake pointed to himself. “Me. Because you, my friend, are out of commission for the next five days.” He rose, picked up Andrew’s briefcase and handed it to him. “Go home, Ando. Pack a bag and drive up to the Hunter. Have a bottle of wine on me. Hell, have a case of my best.” As the new owner of the hotel and winery, Blake bragged that all his wines were the best. “Relax, unwind and take a break. You need it.”
Yeah, right. As if. “My parents—”
“Your parents are fine. They’re in good hands. Soon as the day shift ends, the night nurse is coming in. It’s all organized. And your old man says have a good weekend and don’t even think about visiting before you leave.”
“I can’t just go.” Jesus, he had a mountain of paperwork. He’d been looking forward to coming in to an empty office on Saturday just so he wouldn’t be interrupted.
“Yeah, you can.”
“No—”
“Ando, you’re twenty-nine, and at the rate you’re going, you’re not gonna make thirty.” He tapped Andrew’s chest. “You’re a heart attack waiting to happen.”
Andrew pursed his lips, powerless to argue. His blood pressure was way out of whack, and his doctor had threatened to put him on medication if it hadn’t dropped in the next two weeks. The ulcer currently threatening his g
ut didn’t help matters either. Andrew lived on a staple diet of Zantac and Tums.
But then what twenty-nine-year-old in his position wouldn’t? Andrew not only shouldered the weight of a multimillion-dollar business, he also watched his parents’ health diminish on a daily basis. The two issues prevented him from sharing Blake’s devil-may-care attitude.
An attitude Andrew envied.
“I’ve spoken to Maria, the hotel receptionist. The room’s ready for you, and room service is available anytime you need it. Bill’s on me, tipping is on you. Take a book and get the hell out of Sydney for a while.”
Fuck, it sounded tempting. So damn tempting. But there was no way he could put aside the three reports that needed typing up, the contract he had to send through to legal and the mountain of paperwork piling up on his desk. “A book? You have my iPad, remember?” He hadn’t read a paperback in years. It was way easier reading on one of his apps.
Blake shot him an easy grin. “Got that angle covered too.” He grabbed a leather-bound…something from the desk and offered it to Andrew. “My Kindle. Feel free to download as many books as you want. They’re also on me. And consider Amazon your only access to the net this weekend. Otherwise you’ll feel compelled to work.”
Andrew wanted to scoff at his partner. He also wanted to laugh at the idea of escaping his life for a few days. But he did neither. The thought of getting away was far too tempting.
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “You’re serious about this?”
“’Course I am. Thing is, I need you alive. No way I can handle the business without you. And if you carry on pushing yourself the way you have been, you’re going to kill yourself. Slowly but surely. Which, in the end, works out badly for me. So call it selfish, but yeah. I’m dead serious.”
“My folks…”
“Are in good hands. And I’ll phone them every day and visit on Saturday. Besides, your dad told me if you came by the house this weekend, he wouldn’t let you in.” Blake picked up the keys and Nokia and pressed them into Andrew’s chest, leaving him with no choice but to take them. Then he placed his hands on Andrew’s shoulders, turned him around and steered him back towards the door. “Go home, pack a bag and get on the road before traffic gets crazy. I’ll see you back here on Tuesday morning.”
Tuesday. That gave him five days to do nothing but relax. Which equated to a veritable lifetime of doing sweet bugger-all.
Paradise.
Christ, he wasn’t sure he knew how to relax anymore. Hadn’t tried for so long.
“The gardens are incredible, Ando, and the vineyards stretch as far as the eye can see. You’ll come back a new man, I promise.” Blake grinned. “’Specially after a few glasses of my award-winning wines.”
If wine could help him forget his problems, he’d gladly indulge in a bottle or two. Or ten. Whatever worked.
“Hah,” Blake shouted in triumph. “I sense capitulation.” He stuck his head out of the door and yelled, “Clear the aisles, people. Ando Stafford is taking a five-day holiday.”
With his hands full of the antique phone, Blake’s Kindle and keys, and his briefcase, Andrew did just as Blake had announced and walked out of their offices—ignoring the ten staff members who stared at him, slack-jawed, as he went.
Andrew only turned down the music’s volume when his navigator announced his destination was ahead on the right. Coldplay, Maroon 5 and the Script had kept him company for most of the drive from the city through the countryside. Tapping the steering wheel in time with the tunes had released some of the tension that knotted his neck and shoulders. Some.
He slowed at the large sign advertising Rolling Hills Vineyard and Boutique Hotel, and took the necessary turn onto the estate. The Range Rover nosed its way up a long, narrow road, surrounded on both sides by row upon row of vineyards. Fat, black grapes hung from the branches, and Andrew made a mental note to walk back down here at some point and try the fruit.
Five minutes and thousands of vines later, he pulled in to the car park in front of a stunning, modern, glass-and-wood lodge. He nodded appreciatively. Blake had made a great purchase buying the place. Andrew almost wished he’d thought of it too. But then owning a vineyard and small hotel while managing their business at the same time as dealing with two aging, ill parents was way too much for one man to handle. Instead of wineries, he’d invested in health care and accommodation in a retirement home.
He took a minute to inhale deeply as he stepped from the car. Fresh air, tinged with the intoxicating sweetness of the grapes he’d just driven past, filled his lungs in a rush. Breathing out here felt easier somehow. He closed his eyes, enjoying the peace. The constant drone of Sydney traffic was conspicuous in its absence. The silence was liberating. Along with the noise, Andrew had left his concerns over two hundred kilometers away.
A little more tension eased from his muscles.
He grabbed his bag from the passenger seat, tossed it over his shoulder and set off to find reception. Two steps later, a hard thud followed by a muffled oath stopped him in his tracks. Andrew turned to see a woman standing beside the open boot of a car, frowning down at a huge suitcase lying flat on the ground.
“Stupid thing,” she groused, and Andrew thought she might kick the case. But then her lips tilted and broke into a smile, and all he could do was gape, because with her mouth curved up like that and amusement shining from her face, she was, undoubtedly, the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on.
She placed her hands on her hips and stared from the case to the open boot contemplatively, leaving him with no doubt that she had too much luggage to carry inside in one go.
“Need a hand?”
The woman looked up, her dazzling smile still in place.
Desire hit him like a runaway truck.
Sexy didn’t begin to describe her. Her legs stretched forever from a pair of short denim cut-offs, and a snug white singlet hugged firm breasts that instantly gave him a boner. Long, dark hair was captured in a ponytail, but several strands had escaped and fluttered around her heart-shaped face in the breeze. The smile reached her blue eyes, and in them he could see both relief and gratitude.
But it wasn’t the relief that held him rapt, keeping his attention on her face and away from the extraordinary legs and breasts. It was the obvious happiness in her features. Joy radiated off her in waves, making Andrew want to smile himself.
“I would love a hand. You’d think I’d have realized I packed too much when I filled the boot and the backseat of the car for one week, but nope. It never occurred.”
“Hey, no worries.” He made his way over and lifted the suitcase with ease, setting it upright. “When you need your gear, you need your gear.” He looked inside the car. “And, er, you obviously need your gear.”
“I do.” She grinned. “Big week ahead. Need to be fully prepared, you know.”
Actually, he didn’t. He’d taken half an hour to get home, throw some clothes and toiletries into his bag, drop his dog, Bruiser, at the neighbors’ for babysitting, pile his bike and cycling gear in the boot and leave before common sense told him this was a bad idea. Before an overwhelming sense of responsibility dictated he couldn’t leave his parents or work for five days.
He figured he’d packed more than enough clothes, and if it turned out he hadn’t, he could always pick up a couple of T-shirts in the Hunter.
“I’ll take the case for you. Anything else I can carry while I’m at it?”
She eyed her case and his bag, then let her gaze sweep over his chest and arms. Obviously deciding he could cope with a little extra, she pulled a bag with a shoulder strap from the car. “Think you can handle this too?”
“Sure.” He hung the strap over his shoulder, surprised by its substantial weight. “And the matching one too.”
She looked dubious for a second, then passed him the bag, this one just as heavy as the last. “Thanks, that makes a huge difference. I can handle the smaller ones. Maybe I won’t even have to make two trips
.”
When she reached into the car again, Andrew gave silent thanks for the gear in his arms, restricting his ability to run his hands all over her tanned skin. The tiny pair of shorts rode low on her hips and finished high on her firm thighs, so when she leaned forward, they exposed the tiniest curve of her ass. And what an ass it was. Lush and rounded, curvy in all the right places. It was mouthwatering. Tempting enough to make him take a voluntary step back.
There’d be no stopping him should he ever get his hands on that ass.
Hell. When had he turned into such a horny bastard he had to stop himself from grabbing a stranger’s ass?
The radiant brunette hung a bag over her shoulder, took out a smaller suitcase with wheels, carefully draped a suit—nope, dress—bag over her arm, shut the boot and, tugging the case behind her, set off towards the ramp beside the staircase leading to the hotel.
“I owe you big-time for this.” She flashed him a smile as she looked back at him.
The matching case Andrew pulled also had wheels, making it easier to handle. Still, the woman had packed major stuff in there. He smiled back easily. “I’ll accept payment in the form of a drink later. Red wine or white. Your choice.”
“Red, always.” Something sparked in her eyes before she turned back to watch the path ahead of her. “But later’s going to be difficult. I have serious commitments this weekend.”
Knocked back.
It’d been so long since he’d been with a woman, Andrew had obviously lost his touch. A quick mental check told him his last date had been over three months ago. His last relationship? Way more than that.
He and his palm had become intimately acquainted of late, which was pretty damn pathetic when all was said and done.
Pity he’d lost his touch. Sharing a drink with this woman held a ridiculous amount of appeal. But of course she had commitments. Why else would she have six bags and suitcases for one week?
“You know…” She came to a stop halfway up the winding path. “I’m sorry I can’t grab a drink with you. You seem awfully nice. Plus you have the most amazing eyes, and I’m a sucker for brown eyes. Especially amazing ones, like yours.”