He closed the open laptop on the table and stacked his legal pad on top. “I can’t. I have plans tonight,” Gavin answered. At the moment, he and Leah had no specific plans other than to spend time with each other, but Dad didn’t need to know that.
“Maybe next time then,” Dad replied.
His father stood and Gavin sent up a silent thank-you.
“If you change your mind, Fredrick and I are meeting at five o’clock. Fredrick’s daughter, Laurel, will be there as well. I was hoping to introduce you to her.”
Gavin had known Fredrick much of his life, but he’d never met his only daughter. From all accounts the woman was and always had been a high-maintenance spoiled princess.
“Isn’t she married?” The only reason he remembered the woman had gotten married was because Piper had been her flower girl. She’d talked about little else for months leading up to the ceremony three or so years ago.
Dad shook his head and sat back down again.
Me and my big mouth.
“Her divorce from Blake Goldman was finalized back in the winter, and she just moved back to the city. I think the two of you would get along well together.”
Never in his life had Dad showed any interest in his love life. If he was doing so now, it wasn’t because Dad wanted him to be happy. No, he had a specific reason, and Gavin had no interest in knowing what it was.
“Set her up with Harry. I’m not interested.”
“After the way he blew things with the Sherbrooke woman? Not a chance.”
Before he heard any more and had even more reason to dislike his father, he needed to nip this one in the ass. “I’m with someone.” And he needed to get back to work so he could focus on her for the next two days. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to finish up before I call it a night.”
Dad didn’t argue, but the muscle twitching in his jaw told Gavin everything he needed to know. “Have a nice weekend,” he offered up before he exited the office.
I plan to.
Gavin carried his laptop and legal pad back to his desk. Opening the device, he got ready to get back to work. The ringing coming from his pants pocket stopped him.
Immediately he assumed the call was from Erin. Leah never called him during the day. Instead she sent him a text message, and if she needed to talk, she’d ask him to call when he had a moment. Vivian rarely called him before eight o’clock, his time.
Pulling the device out, he checked the screen. Instant dread shot through him when he saw Leah’s name displayed there.
“Are you okay?” he asked in lieu of a proper greeting, because if she was calling at three in the afternoon, something must be wrong.
“Of course,” she assured him. “I just need to know what’s the earliest you think you can get home tonight.”
He ran through his mental to-do list. He had enough to keep him here well past dinnertime. “Why?”
“I have something special planned, and I need to have an approximate time.”
Curiosity piqued, he replied, “Does six work?”
“Yep, thank you.”
“Do I get any hints about what you have in store for me?” Over breakfast they’d talked about playing it by ear this weekend rather than making any specific plans.
“Nope. I’ll see you in a little while.”
Leah ended the conversation and dialed her cousin’s flight crew so they knew approximately when to expect her and Gavin this evening. With their travel plans settled, she turned back to the open document on her computer.
As the global chief communications and public affairs officer for the company, one of her many responsibilities was to oversee Sherbrooke Enterprises’ philanthropic efforts. One project they were considering getting involved with was Anderson Brady’s Clean Water Matters project. Although her meeting with Anderson had been promising, before she moved ahead she needed to review the large amount of information he’d presented her with. Since the meeting was still fresh in her mind, she’d start wading her way through it before she left.
The office door opened and Diane, her personal assistant, stuck her head inside. “Mr. Talbot is here to see you. Are you available?” she asked.
“Please send him in.”
Dylan Talbot, the current CEO of Sherbrooke Enterprises, entered her office, closing the door behind him. Although not related except through marriage, she’d known Dylan her entire her life and thought of him as more a cousin than a mere friend and coworker.
“How was your meeting with Anderson?” he asked in his oh-so-lovely British accent. Regardless of how she viewed him or the fact he was married to her cousin, she would happily sit around any day of the week and listen to him speak, even if it was to deliver a weather report.
“Good. He’s done far more with the project than I realized.”
When she first learned of the actor’s project, she assumed it was some kind of publicity stunt, that once Anderson milked the project for all it was worth, he’d dismiss it and move on to something else. Rather than dismissing it, he’d expanded the charity and helped bring clean drinking water to people who needed it most.
“He left me with a lot of data to go through.”
“Gray’s only had good things to say about the project,” Dylan replied. He sat in one of the two chairs near her desk and moved the large vase of flowers Gavin had sent her off to one side so they could have a conversation without it between them.
Dylan made sure he kept well informed about as many aspects of the company as humanly possible. “I can pass this data on to you once I’m finished,” she offered.
“No need. I didn’t actually come down to talk to you about Anderson. I wanted to let you know Callie’s going to invite you to dinner tonight. Dad and Pauline are here,” he explained.
Prior to the birth of Dylan’s son, she’d only met Dylan’s father and stepmother, who lived in England, once, and it had been at Dylan and Callie’s wedding. Since the birth of his first grandson, she’d seen Dylan’s father and his wife countless times at Callie and Dylan’s home. And although not people she’d call if she wanted to hang out for an evening—they were a little uptight—she liked them both.
“Before she does and you say yes, I feel it’s only fair I warn you Callie has an ulterior motive. Chase will be there too. He arrived last night,” Dylan continued.
Dylan’s younger half brother lived in England too, and much like their father, he’d rarely made the trip across the Atlantic before the birth of James, Dylan’s son. Now Chase made regular visits to Dylan and Callie’s home. At one point Callie had mentioned that he was thinking about buying a home in the area. Since he still crashed at Dylan and Callie’s when he came, he’d either not found the right one or he’d changed his mind.
“Callie wants to get the two of you together,” he finished.
“When did she start playing Cupid?”
“You’re her first victim,” Dylan admitted.
“Lucky me.”
They hadn’t talked since before the party in Newport, and since Callie and Dylan hadn’t attended the bash that weekend, Callie didn’t know Leah was no longer single.
“But she’ll have to use her love arrows on someone else. Maybe Juliette.” Having only met Chase a handful of time, she didn’t know him well, but she got the impression he wouldn’t be a good match for her cousin Courtney, which left Courtney’s sister as the only remaining possibility. “I’m with someone,” she explained.
“Bring him with you. Callie won’t mind.”
“We’re heading to Martha’s Vineyard this weekend.”
After suggesting they should visit the island back on the Fourth while talking to Tasha, she’d dismissed all thought of the place from her mind. It hadn’t returned until yesterday. Gavin had put a lot of thought and effort into making the previous weekend special, and she wanted to reciprocate. Whisking him off to Martha’s Vineyard for a few days fit the bill.
A quick call to Sara before her meeting with Anderson had
taken care of their lodging needs. A second call to Scott had taken care of their transportation needs, leaving her with nothing else to do except pack.
“Have fun.” Dylan stood. “I’ll see you next week.”
For the remainder of the afternoon, she found her thoughts continually veering off what she should be doing and to what she would be doing once they arrived at Sara’s house. Spending time with Gavin, regardless of whether they were lounging on the sofa or naked in his bed, was always delightful. She never felt the need to act, think, or even dress a certain way. With him she could be herself. Until their relationship, she hadn’t realized how much of herself she held back with other men. For the first time in her life, a man was seeing the true Leah Sherbrooke.
***
When she walked in the door and told him to pack, he did as she’d asked without demanding additional details. When she drove them to the nearby state airport and escorted him onto the awaiting Gulfstream jet, he’d only asked whom it belonged to because he knew it wasn’t hers.
But as the wheels touched down and the plane rolled to a stop, he couldn’t keep from asking where they were. They’d been in the air for less than an hour, so it limited the possible destinations.
“Are you going to tell me where we are now?” he asked, moving his lips away from hers again. They’d spent a fair amount of the trip enjoying each other’s company as much as possible without actually stripping each other’s clothes off, making this by far the most enjoyable flight he’d ever had.
She ran the hand still under his shirt down his chest and across his abdomen, causing his muscles to contract. “Nope.” With a wicked smile, she removed her hands from his body and reached for the purse she’d tossed on a nearby seat. “I need you to put this on.” She held up a blue-and-white bandana.
He accepted the material and started tying it around the lower part of his face. “We’re holding up a bank? Can I drive the getaway car?”
“Very funny.” Leah untied the knot behind his head and moved the bandana up over his eyes. “I better not see you remove this until I tell you to.”
Whatever she had planned, she’d thought it out. And while he was dying to know where they were, he’d play along tonight. “Just don’t let me trip walking down any stairs.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you,” she promised, taking his hand and leading him off the plane.
Gavin learned one thing on the car ride from the airport to their final destination: he didn’t like being blindfolded, at least not in a car that was moving. Thankfully the ride was short, and in no time Leah was telling him to sit tight until she came around to the passenger side of the car.
The smell of the ocean and crashing waves gave him his first good clue of the evening.
“You have one step here,” she told him before she released his hand.
He heard a series of short beeps, and he guessed she was putting in a code to unlock a door.
She slipped her hand into his again and they moved forward, the sound of the ocean disappearing.
“Did you have enough time to get everything done?” Leah stopped and spoke to someone.
“I came by and set everything up earlier, so it didn’t take me long to finish once I received your text.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
“Would you like me to return in the morning to prepare breakfast?”
“No, we’ll be fine. Enjoy the rest of your night,” Leah replied.
Whoever she’d enlisted to help walked away, their footsteps gradually receding.
What are you up to? If Leah had sent any text messages, she’d done it after blindfolding him.
“You only need to leave the blindfold on for a little longer,” she said, resuming their trip.
Fresh air again washed over his face, and Gavin took in a deep breath of ocean air. “I need to spend more time at the beach,” he said.
“We’ll work on it. For now, have a seat and I’ll be right back. Do. Not. Peek.”
Yeah, right. “Whatever you say.”
He waited until he could no longer hear her footsteps and reached for the material covering his eyes. She’d left him in an outdoor living room. To the left of him stood a large fireplace. At the moment it was empty, but on a cool evening it would be just the thing to keep the home’s owners comfortable. The sofas were arranged in such a way that regardless of where you sat, you’d get a great view of the ocean, and fans hung from the ceiling. A bottle of wine sat chilling on the end table closest to where she’d left him, and whoever left the wine had also lit candles.
Before she came back and caught him, Gavin pulled the blindfold back down, because under no circumstances did he want to ruin whatever surprise she had planned.
He just lowered his hands back to his lap when she said, “I hope you didn’t peek.”
“Of course not.” Gavin tried to reach for her, but she pushed his hands away. Reaching behind him, she untied the material over his eyes and let it drop to the ground.
And he almost followed.
The barely there lingerie she’d changed into revealed far more than it covered. She’d taken the braid out of her hair and left it loose around her shoulders. The slight breeze coming off the water made the flames on the candles dance, casting light across her sun-kissed skin.
Leah straddled his lap and smiled. “Welcome to Martha’s Vineyard. I hope you enjoy the visit.” She didn’t give him a chance to reply.
Chapter Nine
They hadn’t spent a weekend apart since the Fourth. In fact, since the evening he cooked Leah dinner almost two weeks ago, they’d only spent three nights apart. Most of the time she went to his place, but occasionally Gavin drove to her home in Connecticut after work instead. That had been the case last night, and when he left Leah’s house this morning, she woke up long enough to ask him to call her once he got settled at his hotel.
Traveling around the country for work had never bothered him too much unless it interfered with seeing his daughter. All week though, he’d dreaded this trip. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been any way around it. The only upside to the trip was he’d get a chance to see his sister. Vivian had invited him to stay with her rather than at a hotel, and while he appreciated the offer and would’ve normally accepted, he knew he’d get more done if he was able to return to an empty room each night, and he needed to make sure he stayed on top of all his projects while away.
In another week, Erin would be with him, and he intended to spend very little time worrying about anything other than enjoying their time together. Which was why, after checking into his hotel a few hours ago, he’d called Leah and then got right down to work. But with everything prepared for his meeting tomorrow, he could call it a day. He hadn’t seen his twin sister in months, and he planned to spend the rest of the evening with her.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Vivian said, giving him a hug before he managed to enter the house. “I’ve missed you.”
He returned the embrace and kissed her cheek before stepping inside and closing the door. “I’ve missed you too.”
Vivian had lived on the opposite coast for years, so he should be used to her being so far away. He wasn’t. In fact, he wished Harry were the one who’d moved to California instead of her.
“When did you do this?” He gestured toward her hair.
People often joked Vivian was an attractive female version of him. He had to agree. They’d both inherited their dad’s dark hair and eyes, although Vivian’s hair contained subtle red highlights that had been passed along by someone on their family tree. And while no one would ever call either of them short, they were both several inches shorter than their father, who was almost six foot six, and Harry. Today though, her dark hair was several shades lighter and much shorter than the last time he’d seen her.
“Back in June. I wanted a change,” she explained. “You hate it.” It wasn’t a question but rather a statement.
When it came to his sister’s fashion or
hairstyle choices, of which she’d made some questionable ones in the past, he went with the old adage “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” “You’re saying that, not me, Viv.”
“You might not be saying it with words, but I can tell what you’re thinking.” She shrugged. “I’m not crazy about it either. The color and style looked much better in the magazine than they do on me. But it’s only hair. It’ll grow back, so I’m not stuck with it forever.”
She studied him for a moment before she spoke again. “You look different. Happier or something.”
The reflection greeting him every morning in the mirror looked the same to him. If it could somehow reflect how he felt on the inside, the man in the mirror would look much different than the one who’d been there a few months ago.
“I ordered some pizzas as soon as I got home. They should be here soon.” She put an arm over his shoulder and started walking toward the kitchen. “And since I love you so much and I know you never get around to making it, I got everything ready so we can have Cranachan for dessert.”
“I appreciate the effort, but you’re wrong. I made it the weekend before last, along with a meal Gigi would approve of.”
Vivian stepped through the French doors and onto the deck. A pitcher of what looked like iced tea was on the table along with two glasses. She reached for the glass already filled. “Sounds like we’ve got a lot of catching up do to.” She took a sip from her drink before continuing. “And just so you know, I’m not letting you leave tonight until you tell me everything. And I really mean everything, Gavin.”
When they’d spoken the previous week, he’d been driving to Connecticut, so their conversation had remained on the short side. Although he’d answered Vivian’s questions about his time in Newport with Leah, he hadn’t provided any additional details. Since they’d been on the phone, it’d been easy to keep the specifics to himself. Now that they were face-to-face, keeping anything from Vivian would be impossible. If they were in the same room, she always knew when he was either withholding information or lying. It was a trait he shared as well. Growing up, Vivian hadn’t been able to keep anything from him either.
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