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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 wouldn’t have to look far for female companionship. He had all the markings of a man used to getting his way with women and with life in general.
Gina followed Wade through the front door and into a large vestibule. From there it seemed that she could almost touch the pounding surf as the shore came into view with brilliant clarity through enormous windows. “Take a look around,” he said without ceremony. “I’m going up to take a quick shower.”
Gina watched him toss both of their briefcases down onto a soft moss-green L-shaped sofa before disappearing up a winding staircase. She felt safest standing there waiting in the safety of the living room, but curiosity forced her to walk through the French doors that led onto a sweeping veranda overlooking the ocean. Wade seemed to have all things necessary for the life of a single man; a hot tub surrounded by a cocktail bar sat in one corner of the deck while a fire pit took up the other corner. In the middle of the deck, patio tables and chairs were arranged to enjoy the view of waves crashing into the sand.
Gina walked to the wooden railing and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm her jittery nerves, but the combination of deep waters and Wade was too much for her.
Wade approached with two glasses of white wine. He handed her one. “To unwind.”
Gina accepted the glass, grateful for the fortitude, and both of them stood leaning on the railing, gazing out. “It looks peaceful here.”
Wade sipped his wine. “Looks can be deceiving.”
That’s exactly what Gina thought, but she was thinking of the deceptive calm of the uncompromising sea. She was certain Wade meant something altogether different.
Rather than stare at the ocean, she shifted slightly so that she could consider Wade Beaumont. His dark hair, still damp from the shower, was slicked back and tiny drops of water glistened on his neck. Late afternoon sunlight revealed a gleam in his eyes and highlighted high cheekbones leading to a beautiful mouth and the masculine line of his jaw. He had changed into a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a black polo shirt. Tan and trim with broad shoulders, his shirt couldn’t hide the strength of his powerfully built chest.
Now, as in the past, Gina had trouble keeping her eyes off of Wade. He affected her like no other man ever had. Her heart pumped twice as hard when he looked at her and an unwelcome tremble stirred her body when he came near. In those clothes, he reminded her of the man she’d once known during a time in her life when she could enjoy carefree days and hot summer nights.
Gina took small sips of her wine. She wasn’t much of a drinker and needed to remain in control. She couldn’t afford any more slipups.
“Only one more sip,” she said, “or my head won’t be clear for business.” Gina set the glass down on the table. Turning to Wade, she hoped that he would take the hint and lead her back inside so that they could begin their work together. She needed to prove herself on this job and, more importantly, she needed to keep her mind on business and not the glowing attributes of her new boss.
Wade didn’t move from his stance by the railing. He shook his head, his eyes fixed on hers. “Sorry, Gina,” he said, looking anything but sorry. “I can’t work with you.”
I can’t work with you.
Gina blinked as Wade’s words sunk in. A rapid shot of dread coursed through her system. She’d begun to think of this job as a means to an end. And she’d resigned herself to working with Wade, whether she liked it or not. Now, just like that, he dropped a bomb on her plans. What kind of game was he playing? She couldn’t control the anger in her voice, “I thought you hired me today?”
Wade slammed his glass down on the top rail and turned the full force of his words on her. “Yes, I hired you. Did you think I’d let you walk out of my office without an explanation? Did you think I’d let you go again? You ran away from me nine years ago and I need to know why.”
Two
Shocked, Gina stared into Wade’s stormy eyes. When she finally spoke, it was softly and devoid of emotion. “We were young.”
She had died that night. Leaving Wade had destroyed her and it had been a long hard road getting her life back. She didn’t want to dwell on the past or how her friend Sarah had duped her into leaving Wade. The truth had come out a few years later, and she’d long since forgiven Sarah. But the fact remained: Gina had left Wade in El Paso after one secret, glorious night with him.
“Not that young, Gina. You’d graduated from college. We weren’t exactly kids.”
“My parents died that year. I didn’t know what to do or how…or how I would survive.”
“My father solved that problem for you, didn’t he? He paid you off. And you took the money and ran, for all you were worth.”
Yes, Gina had taken Blake Beaumont’s money. It had given her a way out of a very serious dilemma. She’d fallen in love with Wade and the night she’d given him her virginity had been wonderful. She’d hoped for a future with Wade, but thinking back on it now, she wondered if she’d been too clouded by grief to see the truth. Later that night all of her hopes had come crashing down around her.
Sarah was pregnant and she’d named Wade as the father.
Gina went to bed that night, tears falling uncontrollably and her heart aching at how she’d been betrayed by the one man who had given her a measure of comfort and happiness after the death of her parents.
Blake Beaumont’s offer had come at exactly the right moment. She’d wanted to hurt Wade for his calculated cruelty. She’d wanted to make him pay for his betrayal. She’d hated him.
She remembered so vividly standing there, face to face with the older man who had abandoned his two sons in favor of building his company. Triple B had been Blake’s passion, not the two sweet young boys he’d pawned off on his sister and her husband to raise.
Blake Beaumont slid an envelope her way. “Take the money and this airline ticket and leave El Paso. You’re a distraction Wade can’t afford right now. I sacrificed his childhood so that he would one day stand beside me and run the company and that time has almost come. Sam, Wade and I, we’ll build an enormous empire together. There’s no room in it for you, dear.”
Gina’s first instinct was to rip the check up and toss it into Blake Beaumont’s smug face. The selfish man wanted his son’s full attention. He wanted to dictate his life—a life that didn’t include love. Blake Beaumont had made it clear that he fully intended for Wade to immerse himself in Triple B. The only relationship he wanted for Wade was one of dedicated service to the company.
If her heart hadn’t been broken, Gina would have laughed at the irony. Blake wanted her out of the picture but how would he feel knowing that it was really Sarah and her unborn child that would disrupt his plans? Gina had wished she could have stayed around long enough to see the look on Blake Beaumont’s face when he realized his troubles were just beginning.
Gina accepted the check and ticket out of town. She knew Blake was too ruthless not to tell Wade about the bribe. And that’s what she’d counted on.
Wade had a baby on the way with Sarah and that had been all that mattered. Sarah hadn’t known about Gina’s feelings for Wade and she’d kept it that way. By accepting his father’s bribe, Gina guaranteed that Wade would stay in El Paso with his family. She’d hoped that he would realize his responsibilities to Sarah, too.
Gina lost contact with Sarah then, deciding to deal with her pain in her own way. She moved to Los Angeles and dug her heels in, determined to make a good life for herself. It wasn’t until a few years later that Sarah had come looking for Gina with the whole truth.
“Answer me, Gina. Why did you run away?”
“I had good reason, Wade. It’s not important now. But you have to believe that leaving El Paso when I did broke my heart.”
“It broke your heart?” he said, coming to stand right in front of her, his anger almost tangible. “Funny, but I remember it differently. I remember you letting me strip you naked and take you in my uncle’s barn. I remember every little moan, every whimper, every time you cried out my name. I never once heard you say your heart was broken and that you were leaving town the next day.”
Tears welled in Gina’s eyes and her body trembled with unspoken grief. She had loved Wade then and had felt the cold slap of his betrayal. She shed tears all the way to Los Angeles, but had made up her mind not to look back.
“Wade, when I came to see you that night I didn’t know I would be leaving so soon. I…wanted you.”
Wade let out a derisive laugh. “And Gina always gets what she wants, right?”
Gina hadn’t gotten what she wanted. She’d lost her best friend that summer and the man she’d loved.
Wade had been so sweet, so caring. Once he kissed her and touched her skin, she’d reacted with primal, desperate need. She’d wanted Wade, thought maybe they could have a future together. His every touch and caress excited her, warmed her, told her that she’d been smart to wait to give up her virginity to the right man. They’d spoken of love and the future in vague terms, the relationship too new to know for sure. But Gina fully believed that Wade Beaumont had been the right man for her.
“It wasn’t like that,” she said in a calm voice, one that she almost didn’t recognize.
But Wade didn’t really want her explanation. He wanted to lash out. “You were a virgin, Gina. Don’t think that didn’t weigh on me. I wasn’t a boy. I was a twenty-one-year-old man. I didn’t know if I’d hurt you physically or emotionally. I didn’t know what to think. I was half out of my mind when I learned that you had left El Paso the next day, catching the soonest flight out of town.
“I made the mistake of telling dear old Dad that I’d found the right girl for me during a phone conversation days earlier. Even before we made love, I knew I wanted you in my life. Next thing I know my father makes a rare visit to El Paso. He couldn’t wait to tell me that you’d taken a hefty bribe from him. The man was so damn cocky. He didn’t realize that I’d hate him for his part in it. He thought I’d appreciate knowing that I’d been wrong about you. But it didn’t matter anymore. I pretty much wrote you off as the biggest mistake of my life.”
His harsh words cut like a knife. He didn’t know the agony she had gone through that night, her emotions running hot and cold, thrilled to have finally given herself to him only to find out later that he had been deceitful. She managed to bolster her courage and hoist her chin. “If that’s the case, why did you bother seeing me today? Why did you hire me?”
“Because Sam asked me to. I did it as a favor to him, Gina. And now we’re stuck with each other.”
She gasped silently from the immediate shock to her system. She’d seen Sam a few months ago, crossing paths with him at the airport, his new family in tow. They’d exchanged pleasantries and when he’d found out that she was living in Los Angeles he’d offered her a job if she ever needed one.
With her pride deeply injured, Gina shot back. “Consider yourself, unstuck. I won’t ask you to work with the biggest mistake of your life.”
Gina turned her back on Wade and walked toward the French doors. She wanted out, away from Wade for good. But just as she stepped inside the house, Wade grabbed her from behind, his hands holding her gently just under her breasts, the zipper of his jeans grinding into her derriere. She felt the pins being pulled from her hair, freeing the tresses from their knotted prison. Wade wove his hand in her hair and brought his lips to her throat, his voice a gruff whisper. “Don’t run away again.”
Gina’s traitorous body reacted to Wade and, angry as she was, she couldn’t deny the overwhelming heat pulsing through her. “You don’t want me here.”
“That may be true.” And then he added softly, “But I need you.”
Gina slammed her eyes shut. She felt herself softening to Wade and when she turned in his arms to face him, she witnessed the depth of his sincerity. “You need me?”
She glanced at his mouth just as his lips came down onto hers. He cupped her face and deepened the kiss, slanting his mouth over hers again and again. Gina reacted with a little whimper, urging her body closer. His heat was a fire that burned her. And when she sighed, he took the opportunity to drive his tongue into her mouth, mating them together. Soon, Gina’s body swayed in rhythm and Wade wrapped his hands around her waist, his fingers pressing into the curve of her buttocks, drawing her closer.
She felt his erection, the hot pulsing need rubbing into her. Heart pounding out of control, she felt dizzy and wanted Wade with undeniable urgency.
“Yoo-hoo, Wa-ade? Are you home? I brought you chili, honey. Just the way you like it, hot and spicy,” the low throaty rasp of a woman’s voice startled Gina. She pulled away from Wade in time to see a young redhead coming up the deck steps from the beach. In a flowery bikini covered only by a hip-riding sarong, the woman held a hot bowl in her potholder-clad hands. She stopped up short when she reached the deck, finding Wade and Gina together. “Oh, sorry, Wade. I guess I had the wrong night. I thought we were on for the hot tub. My mistake,” she said casually. “I’ll just leave this here for you.” She set the chili on the deck table.
“Shoot, Veronica. Sorry. I forgot.” He winked at her and smiled. “I’m working tonight.”
“I can see that,” she said, taking a quick glance at Gina, before backing down the stairs. “Don’t work too hard, honey.” Gina heard her chuckle as she disappeared onto the beach.
Gina stared at Wade and abruptly everything became clear. For a moment she thought that she was back in El Paso with the young, sweet man she had given herself to unconditionally. Suddenly, she felt foolish. And stupid for thinking that nothing had changed, when, actually, everything had.
She tried to brush past him to get away, but he was like a block of granite, too strong to move without his willing surrender. He reached for her arms and held her without budging. When she glared into his eyes, he shrugged and said calmly, “She’s a friend.”
Gina wasn’t a fool. She doubted Wade had female “friends” who came over just for a quick meal and a splash in the hot tub. She shook her head adamantly. “I think not. I’d better go. Will you drive me home or shall I take a taxi?”
“Neither. We have work to do. When I said I needed you, I meant it. I need a personal assistant for this project and we have to catch you up on the details.”
“You mean you’d give up your hot-tub date?” Her voice was deliberately rich with sarcasm.
“I just did, didn’t I?” Wade shot back.
Gina bristled. “Yes, you did. You dismissed her quite easily. But what about what just happened between us? Can you dismiss that just as easily?” His kiss had stole Gina’s breath, but she had regained normal breathing.
Wade pursed his lips. He stared at hers, well-ripened and swollen from his powerful assault. “I never could dismiss you, Gina. You’re hardly the kind of woman a man can forget.”
“That does not answer my question.”
“Listen, maybe I was out of line a minute ago. But I’m not kidding when I say I need you. As my assistant. We’re setting sail first thing tomorrow so—”
Gina snapped her head up. “Setting sail? For where?”
“For Catalina island. You should have been briefed during the first interview with Helen in Personnel. It was a stipulation of the job.”
Wade seemed full of surprises. First he stunned her with that incredible kiss and now this unexpected announcement of an island trip. “I wasn’t informed about a trip.”
“You knew about the latest project the company plans to bid on. It could be the biggest contract in Triple B’s history and I intend to get it. It’s right there in the file I gave you to review.”
“Yes, but I didn’t think—”
“It’s the reason for the big bonus, Gina,” he interrupted to clarify.
“But that’s what I don’t understand. That’s a great deal of money for a trip to Catalina. It’s only a few hours away. Surely, one day isn’t worth such a large sum of money.”
“One day? Gina, we’ll be on that island for a minimum of one week and I guarantee you’ll be working long hours.”
Gina slumped her shoulders. “One week?”
He nodded. “Seven days, including the weekend. So are you in or am I going it alone tomorrow?”
Gina slammed her eyes shut. She hated her own cowardice. She hadn’t been on the water in any capacity since the boat accident that claimed her parents’ lives. She’d dealt with the guilt at being the sole survivor, but she hadn’t been forced to face her fear—until now. And she was ready. She’d been praying to find a way to conquer her anxiety and now she had the opportunity. If she didn’t face her fears, she’d not only lose the revenue to rebuild her future, she’d lose part of herself all over again.
Gina made a split-second decision. She needed this job for more than one reason. But she would accept the position under one condition, and one condition only. “I’m in. Under one condition.”
