‘Definitely something I will mention to Gary, the manager, when we meet him later. How did your parents take you being absent from another weekend because you’re here with me?’
Erin was thrown by the abrupt change of subject and she blinked like an owl for a couple of seconds.
‘Meant to ask at the airport,’ Raffaele drawled, sitting back to look at her with his head tilted to the side. ‘But we got wrapped up in work chat. How dependent is your father physically on you being there on the weekends? I know you said something about arranging for someone to come and help him…’ He paused and looked at her thoughtfully for a couple of seconds. ‘Which suddenly makes me wonder something…’
‘Shouldn’t we stick to working out what we’re going to concentrate on when we meet the hotel manager in…’ Erin glanced at her phone, which was on the table, and was gutted to see that they still had over an hour before they were due to meet Gary. ‘Er…soon?’
‘I think our time would be better used having a stroll through the grounds and assessing the property and the outbuildings. Finished here?’
‘Yes, sure…’
‘Good!’ He smiled brightly at her and vaulted upright, waiting for her to follow suit. ‘We can start with the cabins,’ he said, waiting while she faffed and got her things together.
‘My laptop…’
‘I’ll get someone to stash it in the room we’ll be using for our meeting.’ He nodded to a member of staff who came along and obligingly whipped it away, leaving Erin feeling vaguely deprived of an essential prop.
‘But getting back to what we were talking about a minute ago,’ he murmured, slowing his pace so that she could fall in alongside him. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘I’d rather you didn’t.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘Because I’d rather we stick to work. Feels like there’s a lot to discuss without us getting bogged down in chit-chat about other stuff.’
‘Oh, we can spare a few minutes, Erin. Relax and go with the flow for a change.’
‘I relaxall the time, Raffaele.’
‘Really? You don’t seem very relaxed now. I’m just making conversation. There’s honestly no need to get hot under the collar. This isn’t an interview and your job isn’t going to be on the line depending on what answers you give me. In fact, you don’t have to give me any answers at all. I know we agreed that it would a good idea if we moved our relationship along a notch or two, got it into a more normal place, but if you feel a little panicked at the thought of that, then of course I’ll back off and we can return to where we were.’
‘Where we were?’ This was to buy time, because the ground underneath Erin seemed to have suddenly turned to quicksand.Why?‘And I’m notpanickedat the thought of making conversation with you, Raffaele!’
‘I can’t tell you how pleased I am to hear that. I feel that we’re more than just boss and secretary. I feel that we’refriends.’
‘Friends…’ Erin thought of the way her body responded when she was around him, the way her mind soared off into fantasy land with him playing the lead role…Frienddidn’t come close to describing his interaction with her in all her forbidden imaginings.
‘So why is it that you had to be the one to arrange help for your father?’
Erin sighed. He was like a dog with a bone. It was one of the many reasons why he was so successful. He was primed to tenaciously pursue what he wanted until he got it. She’d known that; it was just that that tenacity had never been directed at her. But now it was and there seemed to be little she could do about it without giving the impression of being scared, which inevitably would lead him to question why that might be.
Besides, the heat and the sounds of birds and insects, the smell of the sea in the air, the exuberance of the trees and bushes and flowers all around them…it was all having a lulling effect on her.
Could she bother to be on her guard?
Why should she?
The lesson she should take from all this wasn’t that she had to keep her defences up around him just in case he caught a glimpse of her inappropriate crush.
Nor was it that she might shatter into a thousand pieces if she wasn’t scrupulous about who she decided to let into her life.
No, what she should take from this was that she needed to get a move on, needed tostart living.
What Raffaele did or didn’t know about her was irrelevant because she wasn’t involved with him.
Outside the work arena, he had no impact on her life. She would never tell him how shefeltabout things, what her thoughts were onloveormarriage, and he would never know anything of her dreams or fears or desires.
But questions about her dad?
