Page 26 of Turning Up the Heat

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEWEEKHAD dragged on, but it was Friday evening once again, and Gemma was back in Tom’s arms. Reid and Quin had moved on their plans to target Cain Rum, and every time they mentioned it, she’d felt the guilty pit in her stomach. But she was lying in her large soaker tub, her back to Tom’s warm, muscular chest, and at that moment, life couldn’t be more perfect.

Tom had arrived at her home only an hour earlier. She’d been cooking dinner, but it was left forgotten to cool on the stove top when he’d knocked on the door. They’d undressed each other in the foyer and didn’t make it past the living room before he was inside her.

In the bathtub, Tom cupped some water in his large hand and spilled it over her breasts. As his thumb smoothed over her nipple, she sighed. “The week feels so long now, don’t you think?”

“It’s true. The five days since I saw you last felt like a month,” he told her.

“I guess we have to make the most of our time together, right?”

“Yeah.”

An alarm chimed from somewhere in the house. It wasn’t her security or fire alarm, though. It was her cell phone. “Oh shit,” she said, pushing out of the bathtub. She tried to remember where she’d left it. Her bedroom. She walked quickly, naked and dripping water and soap bubbles on the way.

“Whoa, what’s the rush?” Tom called after her. “Do we have to evacuate?”

She didn’t answer and ran to her room, because she knew it wasn’t a regular cell phone notification. “Goddammit,” she muttered, looking at her phone. It was just as she’d expected.

“What’s wrong?” Tom asked coming up behind her. He had wrapped a towel around his waist and draped her robe over her shoulders.

“It’s the distillery.”

“Everything okay?”

“I don’t know.” She pushed a button to close the app, stopping the noise. “Celia, Quin’s girlfriend, set me up with a digital monitoring app. It’s telling me that there’s a malfunction on one of the tanks and pressure is dropping. I’ve got to get over there. It’s just for a minute. Long enough to check on it. Hopefully there isn’t a huge problem. Do you mind?”

“Of course not. You’ve got to make sure everything is okay.” He dropped the towel, and Gemma was distracted just long enough to slide her gaze up his lean body as he opened his suitcase and took out a pair of jeans. She turned back to her phone. “You had some wine,” he said. “Do you want me to drive?”

“You want to come with me?”

“Yeah. If you want me to.”

She thought about him being in her distillery again. Her brothers definitely wouldn’t like it, especially after hours with no one else around. But if there was a problem with one of the tanks, she would appreciate the second pair of hands. “All right, then. Thanks. You’d better get dressed.”

The ride to the distillery was quiet. She was worried about the equipment, of course, but it was weird to bring Tom there. He’d been there that one time before, but that had been a quick visit. This was different. It was after hours, and she might need his help to fix the equipment. She didn’t know. But she knew that Reid would throw a fit if he knew that she had brought a Cain into their business.

Tom parked in front, and he followed her to the door, which she unlocked. Gemma could hear the hiss from one of the gaskets from outside. She’d been hoping it was a false alarm, but not so. She entered first and stopped, blocking his way before he could enter. “Wait, Tom.”

“What?”

She looked at him carefully. “Can I trust you?” she asked. “In my distillery?” she amended quickly, hoping she could trust him there and in her heart.

“I hope you can.”

“Me too.” She shifted out of the door, and he entered. “Because I have a feeling that I’m going to need your help.”

He cupped her cheek, and didn’t hesitate to respond. “Well, you’ve got it.”

It took several hours, but Tom and Gemma were able to fix the mechanical problem that had threatened to ruin the entire batch. When it was under control, she went into her office to call Reid and Quin to let them know what had happened and to assure them that everything was under control.

When she came back out on the distillery floor, she saw that Tom was standing in front of her quick stills. He bowed his head and she could see his gaze following the tubes, checking out the tanks. She saw his cell phone in his hand. Was he taking a picture of it?

“What are you doing?” she asked, unable to take the accusatory tone out of her voice.

“I realized that we haven’t eaten yet, so I ordered pizza. It’ll be here soon.” He held up his phone and she saw the food delivery app was open.

Sounded logical enough, and she felt bad for thinking the worst. “We sure do order quite a bit of pizza.”

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