“Whatever and wherever you want.”
Allison had to hand it to herself—dinner was incredible. Her mom and Aunt Angelique would be proud.
Zane sat back in one of the lounge chairs out on the patio, rubbing his belly and gazing up at the stars. “That was unbelievable. I don’t think I’m going to need to eat again anytime soon.”
“You went back for seconds. I’m impressed.”
He turned and smiled at her, and, even in the darkness, with only the faint light from inside the house, she was struck by just how damn handsome he was—kissable lips, stormy eyes and the smile of a heartbreaker. The sight of him made her breath catch in her throat in a painfully familiar way. It was exactly like every other time she’d tormented herself with the conscious thought of how perfect he was. “Like I said, feed me and I’m happy. You fed me so well, I’d have to say I’m euphoric.”
It was reassuring to know she could do this much right, but this entire evening had too many echoes of the past—the friendship was there between them, but she wanted more. She would always want more. The itch to be with him would never go away unless she had the chance to scratch it. “Any interest in working off that meal tomorrow?” She knew that there was a little too much innuendo in the wording of her question, but it was meant to be a test.
“What’d you have in mind?” He returned his sights to the night sky, not taking the chance to flirt with her.
Any other woman might be deterred or discouraged, but Allison hadn’t come this close to give up now. She would forge ahead with her suggestion and keep the ball in his court. “Snorkeling. If we hike around to the north side of the island, the water and fish are unbelievable. If we’re lucky, we’ll see sea turtles, too. We can swim out right from the beach.”
He was doing that thing with his tongue and his lower lip again, driving her crazy in the process. “Yeah. Cool. That sounds fun. What time?”
Allison wanted to spend the entire day with him, and the sun would be too strong by midday to spend too much time in the water. “Morning is best if you can haul your butt out of bed. Nine o’clock?” Just then, her phone rang. Out of habit, she’d brought it with her out onto the patio. She glanced at the caller ID and knew she had to take it. She didn’t want to interrupt her evening with Zane, but this was one of her Black Crescent candidates, someone she’d been trading phone calls with for a few days. “I’m so sorry. I need to get this. You can go if you want to. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She scrambled up out of her seat and pressed the button to answer the call. “Hello? Ryan?”
“Hi, Ms. Randall. I’m so glad I reached you,” Ryan Hathaway answered.
“Me, too. I’ve been waiting to talk to you.” Allison shuffled off into the house, but something stopped her from going too far—Zane’s hand on her bare shoulder. She froze, but only because that one touch was making her head swim. The power he had over her was immense. If anything ever did happen between them, she might burst into flames.
“Hey. I thought we were having a nice night.” Zane glanced at the phone. “Now I feel like you’re blowing me off for someone else.”
Allison raised the receiver back to her ear. “Ryan, can you hold on for one minute? I need to take care of something.”
“Sure thing,” Ryan replied.
“Thank you. I promise it’ll only be a minute.” She pressed the mute button on the screen. “We were having a nice night, but all good things must come to an end, right?” She didn’t want to brush off Zane, but this call was incredibly important. Not just for her, either. Kianna was counting on her.
“Well, yeah, but you’re also the one who was talking a big game to your brother about relaxing and unwinding while you’re here. I turned off my phone completely. It’s back at my place.”
“This is work, okay?” The realization hit her hard. It wasn’t merely work. This was Black Crescent, and Zane might never forgive her if he found out she was working for them. The decision to pursue business with BC had been easy enough to rationalize when Zane was living on the opposite side of the country. After all, it had been fifteen years since Vernon Lowell took off with all that money, and the current powers that be at BC were not like him. But now that she and Zane were inches away from each other, and her mind had been flooded with memories since seeing him, she understood just how betrayed he might feel if he discovered the truth.
“It’s nine thirty at night.”
“I know. My work calls happen at odd times sometimes. I’m sorry, but I really need to take this. So you can either stay or go, but I need a few minutes.”
Zane nodded, but seemed entirely suspicious. “Cool. I’ll clean the kitchen while you talk.”
Dammit. Allison knew there was no way she could talk to Ryan with Zane in the same room, and she ran the risk of him joining her if she went back out to the patio. “Great. I’ll take the call in my bedroom.” Without further explanation, she ducked into her bedroom and closed the door. “Ryan. I’m so sorry.”
“No problem, Ms. Randall.”
“Please. Call me Allison.”
“Okay, Allison. I’ve rearranged my schedule so I can be back in Falling Brook for the interview next week. I’ll get in the night before.”
Allison loved how prepared
