Snowbound with the Boss(22)

“Yeah. The question is, how?” Sean jumped from the chair and prowled the office again, as if he was trapped and looking for a way out. Throwing a look at Mike, he said, “I don’t have time for this right now. We’ve got the big launch next week, and there’s a million details to refine yet.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We’re still putting together the storyboards for ‘Dragon’s Tears’—and that comes out in December, we’ve got to get those finalized...”

“Uh-huh.”

Sean stopped dead and fired a look at his brother. “Just say what you’re thinking. You agreeing with me so easily is a little creepy.”

“Fine.” Mike came off the desk and faced him. “We’ve always got a launch or a new game in the pipe and hopefully, it’ll be like that for the next fifty years. But you get to have a life, too, Sean, and sometimes you have to make the time for it.”

He scrubbed one hand across the back of his neck. “Make time.”

“Yeah. You brought Kate out here—take advantage of having her on your home court, so to speak. Figure out what the hell it is you want, then go and get it and stop giving me a headache.”

Sean laughed and shook his head. Leave it to family to wrap things up so neatly. “Wow. Touching. Okay, fine. Speaking of taking some time, I won’t be in tomorrow.”

“Good. Improve your attitude before you do come back, okay?”

“Gonna work on that,” Sean said and left.

* * *

Several hours later, Kate was sitting across the table from Sean in the most elegant restaurant she’d ever seen. Candlelight flickered on every table, white linen cloths were brightened by deep red napkins and the sparkle and shine of crystal and silver. Quiet conversations sifted through the room and soft, classical music was a whispered backdrop.

Kate smoothed her napkin across the lap of her new black dress and looked at the gorgeous man opposite her. In jeans and a work shirt, Sean was hard to resist. In a well-tailored black suit with a sapphire-blue tie, he was amazing. He looked as if he’d been born to be in places like this. Actually, he was as comfortable in this rarified atmosphere as Kate was uneasy. Just one more reason that loving him was going to bring nothing but trouble.

“You look beautiful,” he said, shattering her thoughts.

“Thank you.” She’d had to go shopping, of course, since she hadn’t brought anything with her that would have been good enough for a place like this.

There’d been a tension between them all day. Well, Kate admitted silently, Sean had been...different, since they’d left Wyoming. For her, realizing she was in love made her cautious, afraid she might somehow let the truth slip and set herself up for pain. So the two of them did a careful dance, where every word was weighed and measured and what wasn’t said lay between them like a minefield.

Conversation during dinner had been stilted, and Kate felt as though she was balancing on a tightrope, trying desperately not to fall.

“How do you like California so far?”

She smiled at him. “What I’ve seen is beautiful. I love the view from your terrace.”

He nodded, and one corner of his mouth tipped up. “That’s the reason I bought it. I like seeing the ocean when I wake up.”

“You can see it from your bedroom?”

One eyebrow lifted. “If you’d joined me last night, you could have found out for yourself this morning.”

“You didn’t invite me.”

“You don’t need an invitation and you know it.”

Oh, if she had joined him last night, the view would have been the last thing she was interested in. Even as her body stirred, she let that go and said instead, “This is actually my second trip to California. Of course, on the first trip I was ten and my parents took me to Disneyland.”

He smiled, and this time the smile reached his eyes. “Every kid should get the chance to go there.”

“You probably went all the time, growing up here.”

“Not really. My folks were more about going camping and exploring rather than amusement parks.”

“Tonight, you don’t look like a camping kind of guy.”

“And you don’t look much like a contractor who wears a tool belt like other women wear diamonds.”

“But that is who I am.” Waving one hand to encompass the restaurant, she said, “Places like this, not really a part of my life.”

“They could be,” he mused.

“Not a lot of five-star restaurants in a little town in Wyoming.” Her heartbeat sped up, but before it could get out of hand, Kate reined it in. Her life wasn’t here in California. Even if by some miracle she and Sean could find a way to make things work between them, she still couldn’t stay here. She had a business, people depending on her, and besides, she wanted to raise her child where she’d grown up.

In a place with more trees than people. Summer nights of lying on a blanket in the yard watching the stars. Fourth of July town picnics, snowmen and ice skating on the lake. Small schools and big dreams. She wanted that for her child and knew she wouldn’t be able to find it here in California.

His fingers tapped lightly against the table as he studied her.

“You’re staring at me again,” she said.

“I like the view,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

“You’re doing the charming thing again,” Kate said and smiled a little. “I wondered if I’d see it again.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Just that I’ve never seen you as quiet as you have been the last two days.”

His gaze dropped deliberately to her belly. “A lot to think about lately.”

“You’re right about that.” She shifted a little under his steady stare. So much to say, she thought, and no way to say it. She changed the subject to one less personal, one less fraught with emotions neither of them was willing to discuss. “So do you come here often for business dinners?”

He smiled and in the candlelight, his eyes glittered. “Not really.”

“But you brought me here.” She tipped her head to one side. “Why?”

“You didn’t enjoy your dinner?”

“It was wonderful, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Easy answer, then. I wanted to take you someplace nice.” He stood up, came around to her side and helped her to her feet. “Now, I want to show you something else.”

She slipped her hand into his and felt the sizzle of electricity that always happened when he touched her. How would she live without feeling that every day? Would she spend the rest of her life wondering what he was doing? Missing him?

Rising, she looked up into his eyes and asked, “Where are we going?”

His mouth curved briefly. “It’s a secret. You like secrets, don’t you, Kate?”

They drove down the coast and in his Porsche, the miles flew by. On her right, the ocean shone and sparkled in moonlight that danced on its inky surface. On her left was the man who had so thoroughly breached what she had believed to be well-honed defenses. His charm and his smile had attracted her and now his quiet distance drew her in even further. Was it the baby that had changed him so completely? Was he thinking about how to gain custody? Was he regretting saying he wanted their child?

And what had he meant when he said she liked secrets?

She glanced at him as he steered the sleek car down the crowded road that ran alongside the beach. Why was he suddenly so hard to read? When they’d first met, she’d dismissed him as an arrogant rich man—now she knew he was much more than that. But what was driving him now?

“Now who’s staring?” he asked.

“Just trying to figure you out.”

He laughed and it was a short, sharp sound. “I’m not that deep, Kate. You don’t have to try so hard.”

“I wouldn’t have to try at all if you’d just tell me what’s going on.”

“No fun not knowing what’s going on, is it?”

She bit her bottom lip to keep from responding. She knew he was making a crack about her not telling him about the baby. But she’d done what she thought was right, and that was all anyone could do. Besides, she’d apologized for that, hadn’t she?

She didn’t say another word as he steered the car into a right turn by a sign announcing View Point. He parked, got out of the car then came around and helped her out, as well. Tucking her hand in his, he pulled her along behind him as he walked to the short, white barrier that stood at the edge of the cliff.

Theirs was the only car in the narrow lot, and the roar from the cars on the road seemed muffled somehow beneath the sigh of the ocean below. A sharp, cold wind plucked at the hem of her dress, and the three-inch heels she wore weren’t made for crossing uneven asphalt at the pace needed to keep up with Sean’s long legs. But finally, he drew her to a stop beside him, with the really insufficient white fence the only thing between them and the long drop to the rocks below.

“This is one of my favorite spots,” Sean said, pitching his voice to carry over the wind, the sea and the highway behind them. “Used to come here when I got my first car. I’d sit on the hood and watch the sea for hours.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said. And only a little unnerving to be so close to the edge of a cliff.