The CEO(13)

Callum’s gaze bore down on her. ‘You know something about gardens?’

‘Yes.’

‘Talk about an understatement. She doesn’t just know about gardens,’ Ellie piped up. Her baby brain seemed to have made her over-exuberant as well as forgetful. Or maybe she was always that way, it was hard for Ava to know. ‘She’s a landscape designer, so she’s an expert.’

‘A landscape designer,’ Callum repeated.

‘And she’s going to do some work for the Malone Foundation.’

‘Is that right?’ Callum asked.

‘Yes,’ Ava said.

‘You … plant things.’ That tone in his voice was one inch from patronising.

‘In the same way you … build things.’

His serious expression transformed into what looked like a reluctant smile.

‘Why didn’t I know that about you? I thought you mowed lawns and cleaned pools.’

‘I can’t answer that.’ Ava was used to not being noticed by Callum Malone. It was no surprise that he had no idea before today about what she did for a living. But in that moment, in that blink of an eye, something changed. She had become a person in her own right, not simply Lulu’s big sister.

‘Are you a good landscape designer?’

‘Yes,’ Ava answered and lifted her chin confidently. She stared right up into Callum’s blue, blue eyes and tried not to stop breathing.

‘So,’ he said, his voice a teasing drawl as his gaze intensified. ‘What would you do with a building site like this?’

That quiet calm Ava had noticed, which had been overtaken by conversation, was suddenly back. No-one else spoke. Everyone was watching the two of them. Callum moved in closer. Ava stood her ground. She propped a hand on a hip and titled her head to the side. ‘Ever heard of intellectual property, Mr Malone? I don’t give away my valuable ideas for free.’

‘In that case, you’re hired.’





Chapter Five




‡


If Callum wasn’t mistaken, that sudden look in Ava’s wide brown eyes and her open mouth indicated sheer panic.

He’d had a shit day, an even shittier week, and a shit-full year since the divorce. He needed a distraction from everything and he decided, that minute, that it might as well be Ava the Terrible. Pity for her that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right now, he didn’t want to think about the company or its future without his father, or the major construction project in Woolloomooloo that was running two months behind schedule, or what he and his brothers were going to do with The Meadows, the now-vacant family pile on Sydney Harbour. All that would come later, he knew. He would deal with it rationally and dispassionately like the chief executive that he was, with a cool head and a critical eye.

But right now? He didn’t want to be that man.

And that distraction he was after? She was staring at him with wide eyes and a suddenly attractive blush in her cheeks. The tension had pinched a little crease at the top of her nose.

‘You’re hiring me?’ Ava finally said.

‘I’m hiring you. I’ll pay to you fix up these gardens.’

That pink in her cheeks reddened and he felt something came alive in him that he hadn’t felt for a very long time. Maybe it was a sense of fun, of not knowing what was going to happen next. Today had made him think that life was short and maybe it was time to loosen up a bit.

Fun. He could have fun and it surprised the hell out of him to realise he was thinking about having fun with Ava the Terrible.

‘I …’

He was enjoying the game, was getting a kick out of reeling her in, so he made it more fun and so much harder for her to say no. ‘I’ll pay double what you normally charge. Plus extra for the complexities of this site.’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous.’ Ava took a huge gulp of wine.

Chris, Cooper and Ellie watched the sparring like carnival clowns.

Callum took a step closer. He got a hint of something floral. How appropriate for a gardener. ‘So you don’t want me to pay you double? I thought you’d take a delicious pleasure in someone like me paying you that much. You must be doing extremely well for yourself if you can afford to say no to double your normal fee.’

‘That’s not what I meant. It’s just that I’m completely booked up at the moment. I have worked lined up for …’ she hesitated, ‘two months.’

The way her eyes darted from side to side told Callum what she probably meant was two weeks. Or possibly two days.

‘And I have just promised Ellie that I’ll do some work for the Malone Foundation.’

‘We’re going to have to come to some arrangement, Ellie.’ He addressed his sister-in-law but didn’t look at her. His eyes were still on Ava. ‘Now that you’ve whetted my appetite, I want this done immediately.’