Page 21 of Turning Up the Heat

Gemma looked up and saw they were standing in front of Agent Provocateur. She recalled the night she stood in front of Tom wearing mismatched underwear. It hadn’t concerned him, but she’d felt like an idiot. Too bad she hadn’t come here last week...

“All right,” Lila said. “We’re going in.”

“Maybe I can find something Quin will like.” Celia held up a lace teddy that had more straps than Gemma knew what to do with. “Like this.”

“You know, it kind of makes me uncomfortable that I’m here with you while you pick out sex clothes for my brothers.” But Gemma’s eyes caught on a piece of red material. It was a sheer bodysuit. It was kind of plain, had no extra straps or buckles. It was simple but it was stunning.

“Ooh, you need to get that,” Lila said over her shoulder. Gemma had never been one for expensive lingerie, but god, there was something about it that drew her in. “Your Mr. Cain will love it.”

“Please,” she said. “I don’t even know if I’m going to see him again.” She tried to tell Lila that she was wrong. But she knew that it was the truth. Mr. Cain would love it. She fingered the sheer material.

“Are you going to buy it?” Celia asked.

Gemma thought about it. It was ridiculously expensive—more than she’d ever spent on lingerie—but she nodded and plucked the hanger from the rack. “I think I will.” Maybe she’d have to show it to him in person.

The Saturday game night rush was in full swing when Tom entered the sports bar where he was meeting his friends. It was only Thursday, but their favorite place was packed. He’d known Shane and Darren since college. After graduation, they’d both gotten jobs at Cain Rum’s corporate office. They might be adults now, but they still found time for beer, wings and a hockey game, just like they had back in the day. He walked into the crowded restaurant and found them sitting in their usual corner booth.

“Hey, guys.” He took a seat and poured himself a beer from the pitcher in the center of the table. He drank. “It feels like forever since I’ve done this.”

Shane tapped Tom’s glass with his own. “Yeah, you were in Jamaica. And you bailed on us last Monday.”

He’d completely forgotten about the plans he’d made before his impromptu trip to Miami. He had no regrets, but he should have told his friends, and he knew he’d have to account for his absence. “Yeah, I had some things to take care of in Miami.”

Darren drained his glass and poured another. “Man, you should have invited us along. Miami’s great—we could have partied it up.”

“It was a pretty unexpected trip.”

Darren narrowed his eyes at him. He worked in the corporate travel division of the company. “What did you have to do down there? I didn’t know about any business trips to Florida.”

“Well, it might have been a personal trip,” he revealed.

“So, it’s a woman, then.”

“Isn’t that where Rexford is based?” Shane asked. “What are you doing, a little corporate espionage?”

“I wouldn’t mind doing a little espionage with Gemma Rexford,” Darren said with a snicker.

“Man, she is hot,” Shane added as Tom balled his hands into fists under the table. “I swear, I saw a picture of her in the trade newsletter from the conference...” He trailed off with an appreciative, wolfish whistle.

“You tell us, Tom. You were there. Did she look that good in person?”

Tom’s body was tensing with the talk of Gemma. He’d had enough and didn’t want to talk about her any further. “Guys, she’s also one of the best distillers in the world, and we owe her the respect she’s due.”

His friends were shocked into silence. Tom hated to admit that he’d been just as bad as them when it came to talking about women. It wasn’t right, and he wanted to change. But he knew Darren and Shane could sense the difference in his behavior.

“Sorry,” Shane said, putting his hands up in surrender. “What’s up with you?”

“It’s nothing.” He couldn’t tell them that he was currently infatuated with the woman who was partly responsible for the decrease in Cain Rum’s profits. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about a woman, especially a colleague, that way. But sorry, I’m frustrated lately.”

“With your dad?”

Tom nodded. They’d been in the last meeting with him, where John had ignored Tom’s warnings and desire to change. Shane and Darren had been his main confidants over the years, and he’d vented many times about his frustrations with his father. He wouldn’t normally turn to anyone outside the family with his issues, but Darren and Shane were his best friends. He trusted them, and they felt the same way. “Yeah, and the company. You’ve seen the numbers. He’s convinced it’s only a temporary dip and not part of a downward trend. He’s a dinosaur who doesn’t understand where the market is and is too stubborn to step aside.” He didn’t want to see Cain Rum fail. It had been in his family for generations, and until recently it had been successful. It was important to Tom to keep the family business going. The only way they would survive would involve following current trends, adapting and changing strategies.

“Just look at what Rexford is doing,” he started, his temperature rising at the thought of Gemma. “They’ve grown considerably in the past couple of years because of their willingness to diversify. They have a huge online presence, and they adapted to make the changing market work for them.”

“But tell that to your dad,” Darren said.

“Man, I’ve tried. We have to do something, though.” He thought about it. Maybe if he spent more time with Gemma, he might get a little more insight into how Rexford worked. It couldn’t hurt. He had to do something to save the business.

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