of fresh Italian bread and homemade pasta sauce, Wade had been a goner. She’d knocked him to his knees.
“No. But thank you.”
She spoke the words carefully and instincts told Wade that she’d been tempted to take the job. Hell, one look at her and he knew he couldn’t let her walk out of his office. Not until they finished what they’d started nine years ago.
“There’s a big bonus involved,” he said, catching her attention. Her brows lifted provocatively. He shrugged. “I’m in a bind. My personal assistant chose last month to get pregnant. She’s down with acute morning sickness and took disability leave. The other qualified assistants are busy with their own projects.”
“How big a bonus?” she asked. Wade knew he’d gotten her attention once again. Money, it seemed, spoke volumes with her. Why was he disappointed? He’d known the sort of woman she was, but he had to admit that back in his youth, she sure had him fooled. “It’s a thousand dollars a week to start and once the project is settled, win or lose, you get a ten-thousand-dollar bonus. But I’ll warn you, you’ll be working long hours. Take it or leave it, Gina.”
He could almost see her mind working, calculating, figuring. She must need a job badly. Wade had the upper hand and he knew it. She was tempted.
He sat down at his desk and rifled through papers, coming up with information on the Catalina project. He had figures to check and hours of work to do before making a bid on the biggest contract Triple B might hope to gain.
He felt her presence, breathed in the heady scent of her exotic perfume. His better judgment told him to let her go. He’d be better off not complicating his life by choosing to work alongside the only woman he knew who could turn him on with just one look. He’d had to sit down to conceal an unwelcome yet healthy erection that pulsed from underneath the desk.
He must be crazy.
“I must be crazy, but I accept,” she said softly.
Wade lifted his head and nodded, more satisfied than he wanted to be. “I expect a decent hard day’s work from my employees. If you can manage that, you’ve got the job.”
Her chin jutted up. “I can manage that. I always give one hundred percent.”
Wade’s mind drifted back to his uncle’s barn that night so many years ago. She’d given one hundred percent of herself to him, generously offering up her body with passion and pleasure, but it had all been a trap.
This time, he’d have to be more careful.
“I’ll pick you up later this afternoon. Oh, and dress comfortably. We’ll be working at my home through the evening.”
Gina recalled Wade’s instructions and wondered at her sanity. She would never have taken this job if the compensation hadn’t been so tempting. She had debtors knocking on her door and that big bonus Wade had offered would surely keep them happy for a while.
She’d changed her clothes three times before settling on a pair of white slacks and a soft-pink knit top. She brought the whole outfit together with a matching short sweater. Comfortable, but still a professional enough look for a woman about to embark on a new job with an old lover.
Gina shook her head. She still had trouble believing she would be working with Wade Beaumont after all these years. He resented her. She’d seen it in his eyes each time he glanced at her. No amount of Beaumont charm could conceal that look.
Gina lifted her briefcase filled with documents that Wade had asked her to review this afternoon. She glanced around the tiny guest apartment she lived in behind the large Spanish-style house in the Hollywood Hills. Once Wade saw where and how she lived, he would realize how desperate she’d been for this job. It was a tidy place with three rooms: a small cozy living space with one sofa, a kitchen that amounted to one wall of the living room with a range, a refrigerator and a café table for two, and a bedroom beyond that.
Her apartment suited her needs. She’d had to downsize everything in her life since Mike Bailey had betrayed her. They’d dreamed the same dreams, or so she had thought, and had gone into partnership together. The day GiGi Designs was born was the happiest day in Gina’s life. The day she found out he’d absconded with all of her money and designs only compared with the day she’d had to leave El Paso and Wade Beaumont forever. She’d been heartbroken on both accounts.
Gina sighed and walked out the door, deciding to meet Wade out front. Not a minute later, he drove up in a shining black Lexus convertible. She watched him get out and approach her, his eyes focused on her clothes and she wondered if he approved of her choice of attire. Though not one of her original designs, she always chose her outfits carefully. When the door of the main house slammed, Gina turned her head to find the owner locking up.
“Hey there, Gina. Are you going out?” Marcus’s eyes narrowed on Wade and she couldn’t help but laugh. Her handsome fifty-something landlord was always watching out for her.
“Yes, but it’s business. I have a new job.”
“Ah. Well then, good luck.” He headed for his car in the driveway.
“Ciao, Marcus. See you tomorrow.”
When Gina turned back around, Wade’s intense-green eyes burned into hers. “Do you live with him?”
Gina blinked away her anger. Wade had no right to ask her personal questions. She wondered why it mattered, anyway. He had nothing but contempt for her. “No. I don’t live with him. I live in the guesthouse in the back.”
Wade’s mouth twitched. “How convenient.” He put his hand to her lower back and ushered her inside his car. She took her seat and adjusted the seatbelt as Wade started the ignition. He took one last look at the house and gunned the engine. They drove in silence for a while, until he asked, “Is that guy married?”
Gina leaned her head back against the seat and smiled inwardly. Marcus and Delia had the kind of marriage her parent’s had had. That kind of love and commitment was rare and it saddened Gina to think that her parents’ love had been cut short by a freakish accident. “Yes, happily.”
“He’s your landlord?”
“My landlord and a very dear friend.”
Wade shot her another glance, this time with a dubious look in his eyes. Gina let the subject drop and stared out the window, her eyes focused on the mountain on one side of the road rather than the blue ocean waters on the other. As Wade drove down Pacific Coast Highway, the wind blew her long hair out of its tight knot.
Ten minutes later and completely wind-blown, Gina was pinning her hair back up, noting Wade’s eyes on her as he killed the engine. She marveled at the impressive two-story house that sat on a strip of beach in the Malibu Colony. Wade hopped out of the car and came around to open her door. She stood and looked around for a moment, her gaze traveling past the house to the surging surf and then beyond to the stunning western horizon. “All of this is yours?”
Wade grabbed her briefcase from the car then nodded, staring directly into her eyes. “It’s mine.” She shivered from the cold assessing look he cast her; a look that said, “It could have been yours, too.”
Or maybe Gina had imagined that. It had been nine long years and surely Wade hadn’t brooded over her too long. Handsome and successful, Wade
