Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
When he smiled, she did not allow herself to melt.
“Did you stay up all night working on this?”
He’d literally walked in, laid the plans on her desk, sat down, and fallen asleep. Of course he’d been up all night.
He grinned. “No big deal. I work on stuff overnight all the time.”
She folded her arms beneath her breasts and raised one eyebrow. “I’m not sure I buy that. You’ve got a lot of people working for you to pull the all-nighters. Just like I have.”
He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “You want the truth?”
Did she ever—not just about this, but about their past, and why he’d never come back after she’d found her own success. But of course she’d never ask.
She only nodded.
His eyes crinkled attractively. “I haven’t pulled an all-nighter in years.” He paused, then added, “Clearly, I’m too old for it.”
She had no compunction about saying, “Well, you are pretty ancient.” That had always been their joke. With their ten-year age difference, she’d razzed him about being an old man, and she couldn’t help doing it now.
Yet it hit her like a punch to her rib cage. Not only was she working with him, now she’d made another inside joke. What the hell was she doing? Why was she letting him back in? Yes, she needed him to do the job. But exchanging cute inside jokes? It was untenable.
Things between them hadn’t ended with a bang heard around the world. They’d simply ended without a single explanation. They’d never spoken again, as though she’d been nothing more than a casual fling or his temporary mistress, and since she hadn’t accepted his offer, he had no further use for her. His rising star had only been climbing higher in the sky, and he’d invited her along on his journey, completely ignoring her dreams. When she’d become angry, he’d ghosted her for fifteen years.
That was the thing she couldn’t forgive. Being erased from his life as if she were nothing important to him.
* * *
She was so damn beautiful in her pale blue power suit—tasteful, elegant, while the lines accentuated all her curves.
As he’d stood naked in the shower with her only a few steps away, Ransom remembered all the showers they’d taken together. All the sexy, mind-blowing things they’d done with each other beneath the hot water. And he’d wanted nothing more than to drag her in there with him, strip her down, and make love to her with his lips, his hands, his whole body.
They were dangerous thoughts in the here and now.
She might still feel the temptation of their past, but she hadn’t forgiven him. He’d seen that clearly in the tense lines of her body when she’d walked into his office yesterday. There was history there. Bad history. And coming on to her would only make everything worse.
So he went back to what he’d planned to say when he walked in earlier. Before he’d collapsed on her couch. “I need to see one of your facilities. The kitchens. The equipment. The dining room. Everything. As soon as possible, since we’ve only got twelve days to pull this all together.”
She stood abruptly, without even teetering on those sexy high heels of hers. “How about now? We’ll go to San Juan Bautista.”
He rubbed his hands together. Not just because she’d agreed to his suggestion, but because he’d have more time with her. “Great. I’ll call my driver.”
She wagged a finger. “No. I’m driving.”
She probably had a sedate luxury vehicle that would be far more comfortable than his sports car. And if she was doing the driving, he could do all the watching—her, not the scenery. He didn’t even know how good a driver she was, since they’d been apart far longer than they’d been together. When they’d gone anywhere, to a park for a hike or the beach for a swim, he’d done the driving.
But he knew Ava. She was good at everything she did.
Absolutely everything.
The car was waiting for them when they stepped into the garage, and Ransom almost let his jaw drop.
All those years ago, lying in bed with her in his arms, he’d told her every one of his dreams. About the restaurants he wanted to own, his vision of his future. And more. As soon as I get rich, the first thing I’m buying is a Pantera.
And there it was, the car he’d coveted. The red 1972 De Tomaso Pantera was a beauty, with its flying buttress styling in the back that made it such a classy sports car. Elegant Italian design paired with a brawny Ford engine, the car had been a joint venture between Ford and Italian sports-car maker De Tomaso. Only seven thousand of the cars had been produced, which made them rare in the current market.
Ava shot him a knowing smile as he drooled over her car as if it were a woman. As if it were her. “I haven’t taken a good long drive in quite a while,” she said. “I’d really like to feel her tearing down the highway again.”