Scandalizing the CEO (10 page)

Silence buzzed on the open line for a long minute. “I wanted to stay. I wanted to come into the shower with you and make love to you—to hell with the consequences. And that’s not who I am.”

She flushed at his words. Realized that he wanted her with the same intensity as she wanted him.

His fears mirrored her own. They were both so used to going their own way that coming together seemed like it
would be an immense challenge. A challenge that might be too much for them.

“I feel the same way, Steven. But at the end of the day, you’re worth the risk to me. That’s why I called you on your actions. If I’m not worth the risk to you then fine—just say so and we can end this now.”

“And if I think you are?” he asked.

“Then we try to figure this out. We figure out how to make this relationship work for us.”

“Relationship?”

“Yes. I don’t want to be one in a line of lovers you have. I have too much respect for myself to get involved with a man like you unless there is more than just sex.”

“A man like me?” he asked.

She had said too much. Steven was the kind of man she could fall in love with and saying that to him would leave her feeling like she’d stripped her clothes off in the center of the office.

She thought for a moment. No risk, no reward, she thought. “I could fall for you.”

“Ainsley…”

“Don’t say anything else. I know you aren’t the kind of man to fall in love, but I am that kind of woman. If you aren’t looking for at least some kind of solid relationship, then I have to end this now.”

“I don’t want to see you hurt, but I have to tell you I’m not…I’ve never been a forever kind of guy. But I’m not ready to let you go, either.”

“Is it me or any woman?”

“Damn. I can’t believe we are having this conversation on the phone,” he said.

“Stop stalling, Steven. Is it me?”

“Hell, no, Ainsley. It’s not you. I’m not ready to let you go. So yes, I want to pursue this.”

The not-loving thing she’d deal with later. It was enough for her that he wanted to keep seeing her. Because she wasn’t ready to let him go, either. “Okay. That’s all I wanted to know.”

“Glad you’re happy,” he said.

“I want you to be, too,” she said.

“I will be when we’re together again. I have to go to Berne so I’ll be out of town for a few days.”

“To see your mum?”

“Yes. She’s busy at the accelerator and won’t answer her cell,” Steven said.

“Is it an emergency?” she asked. “Something with your family?”

“No. It’s you. I told you I’d get my half brothers and our mothers to talk to you and mum won’t unless I go there and ask her in person.”

He was doing it for her. Suddenly it didn’t matter that he’d left her this morning. No matter how confident Steven seemed, this “relationship” between them was throwing him off his normal game. She wasn’t sure that was a good thing. The two of them might be destined for something greater—maybe to fall in love or perhaps to destroy each other.

S
teven entered the secure facility in Berne and found Roman waiting for him. The older man hugged him and greeted him like an old friend.

“Hello, Steven. Lynn will be up here in a few minutes. How was the drive?”

“Long,” he said. He could have flown, but he needed time in the car alone to try to figure out why he was doing this. He’d always been careful to give his mum space, never wanted to be too clingy to her and yet he was in Berne because Ainsley needed an answer. He’d hurt her by walking out on her.

He’d made up the excuse that his Moretti roadster was made to be driven. So he’d taken it on this cross-continent trip. But on the drive he’d had a chance to put things into perspective and had made sense of his decision to do the
articles. They were for the good of his company, not just for Ainsley. Now he felt more like his old self.

Ainsley had overwhelmed him during the night they spent together, but he had decided that it was only because it had been the first time they made love that he’d reacted like that. Once he got back to London and saw her again, she’d be like all the other women he’d dated. She was hot, but she wasn’t any different from any other woman he’d slept with.

“Steven,” his mum said from the doorway.

“Hi, Mum,” he said, walking over to her. She hugged him close and held him for a few minutes before letting go. She always did that. He didn’t know why she held him for so long, but a part of him liked it. When she hugged him he felt like she was just his mum, not a brilliant physicist everyone in the world wanted a piece of.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t call you,” she said.

“It’s okay. I needed to get in my car and drive,” he said.

She laughed. His mum had changed very little over the years. She was tallish, almost five-foot-eight, and had thick, curly brown hair with streaks of deep red woven through it that she wore in a very casual bun at the back of her head. Tendrils of hair escaped it to drift around her face. She had on her lab coat and the earrings he’d given her for her last birthday.

Roman watched them both, as he always did, like an indulgent father figure. Steven suspected that Roman was Lynn’s lover, but his mother had never said anything about a romantic relationship between them so he kept that thought to himself.

“Do you have time for me?” he asked his mum.

“I’ve got an hour, sweetheart. I’m all yours.”

“Want to go for a drive?” he asked her.

“I’d love to. I haven’t left this facility in days,” she said. She glanced over at Roman. “Will you call me if anything happens?”

“Of course. Enjoy your time with Steven. I’ll take care of everything here.”

She nodded and waved three fingers at Roman before linking her arm through Steven’s. “Let’s go.”

He led the way to his car and got her seated. Then he put down the top of the convertible.

“Why are you in Berne?” she asked as he drove the car to a park that his mother suggested.

He parked the car and they got out and walked around the grounds. His mother was always very touchy-feely when they were together and he remembered as a small boy how much he’d enjoyed the fact that when she left the lab, she’d given him her full attention.

He suspected a part of her knew that he was lonely from spending so much time by himself. He hated how weak he felt when he was with his mum. He’d always wanted to make their time together last longer but yet, eventually he’d just found a way to let her go. It had meant shutting down everything, especially the hope that she’d stop being a physicist.

“Remember when Malcolm contacted you about me?” he asked, knowing that she would need all the details before she could make a decision about doing the interview with Ainsley’s magazine.

“Yes. Did that work out?”

“Well, he laid out a challenge for all three of his heirs. We’re all competing to see who can make the most profit in one of the business units and I need your help,” he said.

“I don’t know anything about business,” she said.

“Mum, is it my first day being your son?”

She laughed. “I guess not. What can I do?”

“I’ve arranged for
Fashion Quarterly
to do a series of articles about the Everest Group. And the editor-in-chief wants her writer to interview each of our mums. As a fashion magazine, they want to talk to the women involved.”

“About Malcolm?” Lynn asked.

“I don’t really know. Maybe about your work.”

“Is this important to you?” she asked.

Steven thought about it. No one had been important to him, but he knew that Ainsley was. He didn’t want to be the reason why her article didn’t fly.

“Yes, she is.”

“
She
is?”

“I meant
it.
The articles are important. They will reintroduce the world to a brand that they may think of as passé.”

“Don’t even try it, Steven. You said
she.
Do you like the writer who is doing the articles?”

“No, Mum. I like the editor-in-chief.”

“What’s she like?” Lynn asked.

“She’s American.”

“Oh. What’s that mean?”

He wanted to laugh. “She’s different. She works in publishing and she’s smart and funny.”

“Sounds perfect for you. Did you take her to meet Aunt Lucy?”

“No. I’m not going to, either. You know how Aunt Lucy can be.”

“I know she loves us,” Lynn said.

“Yes, she does. But she can be pushy. She calls me once a week.”

“Me, too,” his mum said with a laugh. “Poor Lucy, stuck with two workaholics as family.”

“Yeah, poor Lucy,” he said.

“Do you ever resent me for the way your childhood was?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Why?”

“Roman said that I compartmentalize people. And I thought about when you were little and you wanted to spend time with me but I was always in the lab.”

“You were the best mum you could be.”

She shrugged. “That’s true, but was it enough?”

“I have no idea. You’re the only mum I have.”

She smiled at him. “I don’t want you to feel like I ignored you because I didn’t want you.”

This wasn’t about him at all, but something was bothering his mother. He wondered if being with Roman had made her realize that family was more important to her than she’d acknowledged. “I always knew that your job takes all your attention. And you’re brilliant at what you do, so that’s okay.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Steven.”

“You’re welcome.”

Her watch alarm went off. “I have to get back.”

They walked back to the car and when they got there, Steven asked her, “Will you do the interview?”

“Only if the writer e-mails me the questions.”

“That’s all I ask. Bye, Mum,” he said, wanting to be the one who said goodbye first.

“Steven?”

“Yes?”

“I…I’ve been thinking that maybe I didn’t do a very
good job of showing you that life is about more than work.”

He didn’t respond to that. “Why does that matter?”

“If you like this woman, don’t make the mistakes that your father and I did. You might find yourself looking back on life with regrets.”

“What do you regret?”

“Not making more time for you,” she said.

“Why now?” he asked her.

“Roman asked me to marry him. And I…I’ve said yes.”

“Good. Congratulations,” he said. But inside a door was closing. His mum and Roman would have their world together. Their life would be in the lab most of the time and that was something Steven couldn’t be a part of.

“Thanks, sweetheart. I want you to be happy, too, Steven. Don’t wait until it’s almost too late to realize that life is more than work.”

He nodded. He doubted that he could change the way he was. And he wasn’t too sure he’d ever be able to be with a woman like Ainsley. He already knew that she made him react with jealousy and that wasn’t the thing he needed to keep a calm head and stay focused on business.

Yet at the same time he’d always been determined not to repeat the mistakes his parents had made. He was going to pursue Ainsley and see if she could be the missing link in his relationship DNA.

At this moment everything seemed easy, but he knew it wouldn’t be. He didn’t love her. In fact he wasn’t sure he had the capacity to love. He only knew that he wanted her and it was damn hard to work when he kept thinking about her. And he thought—knew—that Ainsley felt the same way about him.

Having her officially as his own would take away the doubt and hopefully the jealousy. He called Ainsley’s office and found out that she was in Milan. Good, he thought. That gave him the time he needed to plan.

His mother’s engagement to Roman had planted the seeds of his own engagement. To Ainsley. As his mum had said when he ’d left…don’t wait until it’s too late.

Ainsley flew back from a meeting in Milan and arrived at Heathrow close to midnight. She was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep in Steven’s arms. But she hadn’t seen him in over three weeks. The logistics of a relationship like theirs was harder to figure out than she’d expected.

Steven had gotten his mother to agree to the interview, and she was using every contact she had to try to get in to see Malcolm Devonshire. But she had almost given up. Okay, that was a lie; she wasn’t going to give up on getting him until the issue was on the newsstands.

She walked down the gateway wheeling her laptop bag behind her. It was one of those with a compartment for carry-on clothing as well and she found it was perfect for the short-haul business trips she took a lot of the time. Especially in the spring when all of the fashion weeks were in full swing and she traveled every week.

She turned on her BlackBerry as soon as she was down the gateway and found a message waiting for her from Cathy, informing her that a car would be picking her up at the curb.

It was times like this when she really adored her assistant. She was too tired to even think of dealing with a cab. She walked out of the terminal building, past the
barriers and saw Steven standing by his car, leaning on the hood and watching for her.

She was so happy to see him. She had forgotten how much she liked his handsome face and that half smile of his made her feel like she really was home.

“Are you my ride?” she asked.

“I am. I figured the only way we’d be able to see each other was in the middle of the night when the rest of the world doesn’t need us.

“Is that the only bag you have?” he asked.

“Yes. I hate to wait for luggage, so I ship it wherever I’m going.”

Steven walked beside her and a part of her liked it. He opened the door for her and she climbed inside, relaxing back against the leather bucket seats as he climbed into the car.

He was playing music by one of the newer Everest Group recording artists, Steph Cordo. “This song is so popular right now. You must be excited to have a company artist doing so well.”

“No, I’m not. I’m trying to beat Henry financially,” Steven said.

“You are? Is that one of the stipulations of the deal with Malcolm? I know you are all competing.”

“Yes. How was Milan?”

“Busy. But it was a productive visit. We’re getting ready for the fashion shows coming up in the fall.”

“Do you go to them all?”

“Usually. We sponsor a runway for upcoming artists and do other events,” she said.

“Do you like it?”

“Most of the time. When I get home I generally take a week off to recover.”

She glanced out the window and realized that they weren’t heading toward Notting Hill. They were on the A3 heading south. “Where are we going?”

“My place.”

“Oh.”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’m going to need a ride to work tomorrow.”

“No, you won’t. You’re taking the day off.”

“I am?”

“Yes. As luck would have it I have the day off, as well. I thought we’d spend it together.”

She smiled to herself. “That sounds wonderful.”

Her eyes drifted closed for a minute and when he stopped the car, rousing her, she found they were in a large rustic garage.

“We are at my country house in Cobham,” Steven said.

She had spent little time outside London and she wished it were daylight so she could see the Surrey countryside surrounding his house. “I slept the entire way. Sorry about that.”

“You were tired,” he said. He got out of the car and took her bag from the trunk. He led the way up the path from the garage to the house. It was very modern and large, especially compared to the townhomes she was used to.

They entered through a side door into the kitchen. It was outfitted with all the modern conveniences and a large restaurant-grade stove. “Do you cook?”

“It’s a hobby. My aunt Lucy is a chef and she taught me when I was little.”

“Did you spend a lot of time with her?” Ainsley asked. All the articles she’d read about him in magazines and
on the Internet had been about his business interests and nothing had been about family.

“Yes, whenever my mum was needed in Berne. She’s been working on the particle accelerator for years.”

“Is she working on the God particle?”

“Mum started working on it with Peter Higgs. He found the Higgs Boson. Then she started doing her own research. It’s been her life’s work. I’m sure she’ll talk to your writer about it, but only via e-mail.”

“That will be great,” she said.

He led the way through the house. She had a vague impression of dark blue hues and a very British-looking den before he led her upstairs.

“Spend a lot of time here?”

The master suite had a large king-size bed in the middle of it and an en suite bathroom. There was a flat-screen, LCD TV on the wall and a love seat in front of it with a large padded ottoman.

“It’s my retreat,” he admitted.

“Do you bring a lot of people here?” she asked.

“You’re the first,” he said.

Ainsley didn’t want to read too much into that. After all, this was only the third time they’d been together, but she couldn’t help but feel special.

Steven had been busy over the last three weeks but mostly he’d been aware of how much he’d missed Ainsley. She was a busy woman and though she’d made a big deal about having a relationship with him he suspected she’d gotten scared because she hadn’t had a free moment since they’d slept together. He thought her actions were deliberate.