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“I’ve been myself. Beautiful place. Amazing wine.”

My eyelashes fluttered as I peered up at him. How had he gotten so close? There were barely a few inches between us now, and I was doing my level best not to let my gaze drop to the crotch of his wetsuit. I definitely did not need to know how well-endowed my boss was, although I did have a very faint memory of him getting hard the one time we’d kissed as teenagers. Though we’d both been fully clothed.

And okay, why on earth was I even thinking about that? I needed to focus. I’d come to get some facts about him, and he’d somehow managed to turn the conversation around on me.

“Where are you planning on going next?” he asked just as my phone started ringing. I pulled it out and saw it was my sister, then quickly flattened it against my chest because if Tristan saw her name, then he might remember me mentioning Sloane back in the day and finally put the pieces together.

“Um, I’m not sure yet. Morocco, perhaps. I’ve heard good things about Marrakech.”

Tristan nodded, his eyes heating in a way that warmed my skin, and it had nothing to do with the sun. My phone continued buzzing against my chest, but I was caught in Tristan’s gaze, and some part of me didn’t want the moment to end.

He arched an eyebrow, eyes flicking to my phone. “Do you need to take that?”

“Pardon?”

“Your phone is ringing.”

“Right, yes, I do, actually. It’s my sister, and she has some health issues that can be urgent. Could you email me a few more things before five-thirty? I need to finish the sheet by then.”

“Sure. I’ll email you,” Tristan replied, bending to grab his bag as he headed back up the steps. I watched him go as I lifted the phone to my ear, noticing how he stopped for a moment, smiling at me for a second before he shook his head and turned back around, continuing on his way. All the while, I had no clue if he’d spotted Sloane’s name before I’d had the chance to hide it.

8.

Tristan

The traffic was heavy on the drive from Bray back to Dublin, so it was almost six when I arrived outside Nuala’s building. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that there had been something odd about Rinnie back on the beach. I couldn’t tell if I’d been too forward wanting to get to know her, especially since I couldn’t resist asking if she had a husband or boyfriend. When her phone had started ringing, she’d gotten really nervous, but then she had mentioned her sister’s health issues, so that could be the cause of her nerves.

I swore under my breath and let my head drop back against the headrest before shutting off the engine. I really didn’t need to know that her sister was sick because she was married to the chef we were planning to let go. Moira and I had gone through all the options, and keeping him on as kitchen staff while trying to bring him up to head chef level was going to be far too costly and time consuming. Not to mention risky if it turned out he couldn’t hack it, and all of our investment in him would be for nothing. I’d already spent a scary amount of money buying the Astor Cove and renovating it, and there was very little wriggle room left in the budget.

That should’ve been what concerned me most about letting him go, but instead, I was mostly fixated on how Rinnie would react. I felt like we’d finally built a friendly rapport, she was smiling at me, opening up, and discovering I was firing her brother-in-law would likely ruin all that progress. I tried to remind myself that it shouldn’t matter. She was my employee, so I couldn’t date her anyway. But I still couldn’t seem to stem my curiosity and attraction.

Moira and I had scheduled a sit-down meeting with Cooke for tomorrow evening, and I wasn’t looking forward to it, but perhaps it was a good thing. I might not like the idea of Rinnie hating me, but maybe it was what I needed because I wasn’t sure I was capable of staying away. No, it was going to have to come from her.

Glancing at the dashboard, I noticed the time and realised I still hadn’t emailed her. I grabbed my phone, opening up a new message in my work email and finding her address. I started to compose the message without thinking.

A few more things about me:

My favourite food is Korean barbecue.

I’ve watched every season of Bones.

I have a twin (but you already know that.)

You have the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen.

Outside of my immediate family, I don’t think anyone’s ever really loved me.

Coming to my senses, I deleted out numbers four and five and replaced them with:

4. I’m afraid of needles.

5. Avocados taste like soap to me.

I hit send and tried to put Rinnie, her sister and the chef out of my mind as I climbed from the car and went to press Nuala’s buzzer. Her voice came through a few moments later, and she buzzed me up.

“I made Chinese dumpling soup for dinner,” Nuala said as she opened the door and motioned me into her apartment. “Will you eat that? I got the recipe for the broth from a cookbook, but the dumplings are store bought.”

“I’ll eat whatever you put in front of me,” I said with a sigh as I took off my jacket and draped it over the back of a chair before sitting down at her kitchen table. One of her cats, Honey, immediately came up and began rubbing himself on my leg, while the other one, Bunny, hid in the corner, watching me with distrust.