Page 52 of Turning Up the Heat

“What I do in my personal life is none of your business,” he said. “And it in no way affects what happens here.”

“It’s my business when you’re seen with our competitor,” his father told him. “You’ve never gone against the family like this before. I believe that woman is a bad influence on you.”

“A bad influence?” Tom asked. “I’m not a goddamn teenager.” He was so angry he almost forgot the reason he’d gone in there. “What are you doing running ad campaigns, anyway? You’re not in marketing. You’ve never had any input into it at all.”

“I still run this company, and that means I still make the decisions. When Carolina showed me those pictures of her online—”

Tom caught his father’s slipup. “Carolina showed you? I knew she was behind this. You did this to embarrass Gemma and slander her name in the industry. Typical—we can’t beat her product, so you do something shady like this.”

Since his father had married that woman, Tom hadn’t taken the opportunity to get to know her. He didn’t trust her. All he knew about her was that she had been capable of betraying the Rexfords by stealing their recipes. There’s no way he could trust someone who could do that, and he didn’t understand how his father could, as well.

“That’s besides the point. You’re threatening the future of the company with Gemma Rexford. How do we know you aren’t trading corporate secrets? A little pillow talk.”

“Why would I try to ruin the company that’s been in our family for generations? I’m the only one who’s trying to save this business.”

“Son, you have a choice to make. You want to run Cain Rum, right?”

“Yes. I always have.”

“You can’t run this company if you’re seeing Gemma Rexford.”

Tom had been expecting the words. He’d often thought them as well during those nights he’d spent with his arms wrapped around her body. He’d heard them clearly as he said them to himself. Deep down, Tom had always known he would have to make a choice, and as he stood in front of his father, his anger rising, he knew which choice he wanted to make. He wanted to storm the fuck out of there and never return. But he knew it wasn’t that simple. He couldn’t walk away from the business, not like that. No matter how he felt about his father, the business was his birthright, and was something he’d always striven for. It had been his goal for as long as he remembered.

Maybe he needed some space from Gemma, just a little time on his own to figure out what it was he wanted. He knew what he wanted, but what was for the best was a different matter altogether. But first, he had to make sure that the ad featuring the Gemma lookalike didn’t see the light of day.

His father, always astute, was watching him carefully and must have seen the indecision on his face. “Let me know what you decide,” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

Gemma was in front of her makeup table, getting ready to go out with Celia and Lila, when her cell phone rang. She’d had plans to go out for dinner and drinks with the girls. Well, drinks with Lila, she realized, and smiled, remembering that Celia was pregnant. But either way, Gemma was looking forward to dressing up and having a good time. She paused in applying a steady black line to her upper eyelid and frowned, because she knew she would never be able to complete it so flawlessly again. She looked at the screen and, seeing it was Tom calling for a video chat, she smiled and accepted the call. “Hey babe, what’s up?”

He sighed. “I’m still at the office.” He looked tired, and she wished she was there with him. “Are you going out?”

“Cocktails and tapas with the girls,” she told him. “It’s been crazy at the distillery lately.” Especially with the plans for the aggressive summer launch that will target Cain Rum, she thought, but left it unsaid. They had been working hard for the launch, and even though she was seeing Tom, her brothers didn’t care. They were moving ahead with it. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, just the typical frustrations that come along with a family business.”

“Oh, I know what that’s like.”

“I know you do.”

“But at least it’s almost the weekend,” she said with a smile. “You know what that means.”

His sigh caught her attention, and she frowned. “Listen, Gemma, I don’t think I’ll be able to come down this weekend.”

“Oh, really?” she asked. Since they’d started their relationship, they’d managed to spend every weekend together. Gemma hated how desperate she sounded.

“Yeah, sorry,” he said. “Something came up, and I can’t get away.” His lack of an actual response was startling.

“Something came up? Anything you want to talk about?”

“No, not really,” he said.

For the first time, she could feel the distance between them, and it wasn’t just physical. “I hope everything is okay.”

“Yeah, it will be.”

She frowned. “Work?” A black pit formed in her stomach. Gemma had a bad feeling about the conversation. She was worried for him, sad that he didn’t confide in her, annoyed that he was being so dismissive. This was why she didn’t deal with serious relationships.

He sighed. “It’s nothing I want to talk about right now.”

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