He had his head cocked to the side and he was looking at me curiously with those sexy blue eyes. “Sure. Did I say something wrong?”
“No, not at all,” I told him. It was me. I was feeling guilty about the one thing that had been most important in my life for over a decade. I forced another smile and then reaching up, I ran my hand alongside his beautiful face and said, “I’m just a little shaky from the horseback ride. Let’s eat and refuel. I’ll be as good as new.”
He took down the picnic basket and the blanket and we spread it out underneath one of the trees in the soft, green grass next to the clear little pond. I sat down on a flat rock and he took a seat next to me on the blanket. We spent the next twenty minutes feasting on cold cuts, cheeses and crackers. They had even put in a couple of little bottles of wine. I hadn’t been on a picnic since I was a little girl. The weather was beautiful and the air smelled like the flowers that bloomed in the gardens not far away. There was a bird in the trees above us that seemed to be singing a serenade as we ate and talked. We kept the conversation light and when I finished eating, I laid back on the rock and closed my eyes. The sun was so warm and it all felt so good on my sore muscles.
Embarrassingly enough, I think I drifted off for a few seconds or maybe longer. The next thing I consciously registered was the feel of Seth’s fingers gently twisting the curls around my face and then sliding them down along my jawline. I opened my eyes to look at him, squinting against the bright sun. He smiled at me and I felt my heart racing as once again he closed in for a kiss. When we broke it he smiled again and said, “Did you have a nice nap?”
“The best,” I said. “I should come out here and nap every day and then you can come out and wake me up just like that.”
“It sounds like a fine idea, but it’s a ways from the office. You’d need at least a three hour lunch… longer if you were going to get a good nap…”
Closing my eyes again I said, “If I were CEO everyone would get a nap. It would be mandatory.”
“Really? What else would you change if you were CEO?”
The name of the company. Damn! I let the conversation take a turn right back to where I needed to be, but didn’t want to go. I took a deep breath and said, “I wouldn’t have to change much else. The current CEO is doing a great job.”
I pushed myself back up to a sitting position as Seth said, “Why thank you. Our CMBO is pretty amazing herself.”
“Did you always want to go into business?” I asked him then.
He looked thoughtful for a few moments, like he was trying to decide how to answer that. Finally, with a pained expression he said, “I honestly never had a choice, not unless I was willing to walk away from my father.” My heart ached when he got that look in his eye. I was beginning to think that James Hunter had been as bad of a father as he was a human being. Wanting nothing more at that moment than to make it better, I wrapped my arms around him in a tight embrace. He held me like that for a long time. When I finally pushed back he said, “I’m so glad I met you, Erin Summers.” I had to wonder how glad he was going to be when he finally learned the truth.
CHAPTER TEN
As the days went by and then the weeks, Seth and I grew closer. I did my best not to tell too many lies when he would ask me about my past. It would be too easy to slip up and forget one later on. If he asked me a direct question about my past, I would answer it as honestly as I could. Otherwise I tried my best to just not let it come up at all. It wasn’t hard, Seth obviously was not interested in talking about his either. When the subject of his father came up, it was the only time I saw that self-assured, cocky mask that he wore slip and reveal the vulnerability that he hid so well.
At work we remained professional, except for the occasions when he would call me to his office and lock the door for one of our make-out sessions. They were getting hotter all the time and I wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before I couldn’t think of excuses any longer and I ended up in his bed. I had issues with that if I was going to continue this quest to ruin his father. I didn’t want to have to struggle with the idea that I possibly used my body to get ahead. It was contrary to every moral fiber in me, so for now, I resisted.
We worked well together, bouncing ideas off of one another and coming up with new ways to promote the company and entice clients to sign on with us. After work we often dined together and on the weekend we would take turns deciding what we would do. We went to concerts one weekend and then ice skating the next. We saw movies and took walks and we even spent an entire day at the zoo. I was falling for him, hard and fast and what I needed to do was getting all twisted up with my emotions… just like Grant had told me they would.