Endless Summer Nights by Delansy Diamond Grace Octavia Donna Hill Page B

You have to get your head back in the game.”
    Sydni slowed her step. One by one, all the reasons why she was hired in the first place came hurtling toward her. Her stomach seesawed. What if Lynn was right about Gabriel? She didn’t want to believe it, but it could be true. She’d let his looks, his charm and his lovemaking disconnect her from reason. There was no way that anything could become of their relationship. Deep in her soul she knew that, as much as her body tried to tell her otherwise.
    She expelled a long breath. “You’re right,” she finally said barely above a whisper.
    * * *
    Gabriel’s driver arrived at Sydni’s hotel at five. The plan was an early dinner, perhaps a drive along the mountains and then home for the night. Mentally, she’d steeled herself against any of his advances. Tonight they must get back to business. She could not delay the process any longer.
    The driver dropped her off and she let herself in. She placed her purse on the table and went in search of Gabriel. He liked to spend this part of the day on the veranda, taking in the air and the view. She walked to the back of the house, sure that she would find him.
    She heard the murmur of his voice before she saw him. The door to his office was open. His back was to her and he was on the phone. She started to walk away but his words reached out and held her in place.
    “We’ll see each other soon, sweetheart. I promise. Yes. I love you, too.”
    Sydni’s heart nearly stopped and then began to race. Her face heated. Somehow, she managed to turn around and go back the way she had come. She went to the bar in the living room and poured herself a glass of wine. She downed it in one long swallow. Her hand shook. Lynn was right. What had she been thinking? She poured another glass. That was the problem. She hadn’t been thinking, but she was now. She finished off the wine and lifted her chin and blinked back the burn in her eyes.
    “You’re here. I didn’t hear the car pull up,” Gabriel said as he walked up behind her and placed a kiss at the base of her neck.
    Her body tightened. His arm glided around her waist. His hand slid across her belly, then up to cup her breast in his palm. “I’ve missed you,” he breathed into her ear.
    As always her body responded even as her mind fought against it. She squeezed her eyes shut as the electric sensations of his touch rippled through her. She wanted to weep at her own weakness. But now was not the time for tears. She drew in a breath and stepped out of his reach. She turned to face him and his expression registered surprise and concern.
    “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me it’s nothing. It’s in your eyes and in your body. I know your body.”
    “It’s just that...I leave in two days and we still have unfinished business to settle. It’s what I came here for.”
    His expression tightened. The corner of his mouth jerked. He stepped back, then walked around her to the bar. He took a tumbler from the counter, then selected a bottle of bourbon and poured it without ice. He gave her his back as he downed the amber liquid. “You’re right. Sometimes distractions get in the way and you forget.” He turned to face her. “We’ll make sure not to let that happen again.” His gaze bore into her and she felt a chill that stiffened her limbs. “Some of my best deals were settled during a good meal. Since we are back to more formal terms, let’s eat in the dining room, discuss this proposal further and then, if I’m satisfied with the answers, I will sign your deal and you can leave. I’ll have Hector take you back to your hotel. Fair enough?”
    Her throat was so tight that she barely managed to say that it was perfectly fine with her.
    Gabriel turned on the music to fill in the periodic gaps of their silence during dinner. The only conversation between them was Gabriel’s probing questions into the viability of hosting lower-income families at his five-star resorts. “I’m not in