Page 31 of Unspoken Promises

I don’t need to know her to work with her. Yet it’s touching me somehow to know she would spend a wish just to stay here in my town, at my company. When my mind returns to my fingers, I notice they have absentmindedly run dangerously close to the edge of her breasts and that goosebumps have sprouted underneath them.

Dangerous.Me warming to her is dangerous. Me being attracted to her is dangerous. Me touching her is dangerous.

I stop rubbing the cream on and pull down her shirt, and hope covering her perfect skin makes me feel more decent again. “What’s your third wish?”

“Well…” she says breathily, a glint returning to her eye, “that you give me something else to prove my worth here.” She crinkles her nose, awaiting my reaction.

It almost makes me smile. Damn, she has a way about her.

Maybe Santi was right. Maybe I have to give before I take.

11

I hada shower in our pool house after my training session this morning, because the last thing I wanted to do was walk by Ava and glimpse her again through the open door of my guest room, hair fanned out, a sea of fire. Her lips were puffy, legs toned, freckled arms clung to my mom’s old blanket. I insisted she stay, just in case she had a delayed reaction, like my dad told me. She was still sleeping when I left. I crept like a goddamn jewel thief around her this morning, stealing glances at her beauty, hoping she wouldn’t wake and notice I took the sight of her with me.

I can still see her now. I can still feel her on the pads of my fingers as ifshe’s made new prints.

Of course I noticed how gorgeous she was the moment she came to Monarch Hills. But some sort of wall broke down between us last night. Physically, mentally… now I can’t unsee or unfeel her. And moreover, her confession about how she feels about GhostEye seems to have closed the distance I’m working hard to maintain.

But maybe I don’t need to. Maybe she has pure intentions?

Now in our family offices above our gym, I sit down heavily into a work chair that’s not nearly as comfortable as the one in my home office, and it reminds me to stay alert.

Maybe she does have pure intentions, but that doesn’t change the fact that Ava Scott doesn’t really exist anywhere that I can see. I haven’t even found a birth record now that I’ve dug deeper. I’m so sure I won’t find one, I told Debbie to stop chasing both of us for documents.

I can’t pay Ava from the company without documentation so I’ll do it from my private accounts. I hope she proves to be the asset she wants to be. For some reason, GhostEye means a lot to her. Someone with as much talent as she has and a deeper motivation to boot is the kind of employee I should be vying for. This, I seem to constantly remind myself, is the reason I’m being patient, giving her a chance… wanting her to be as pure as she seems on the surface.

Santi interrupts my haze. “What are you doing out of your dungeon?”

He walks into the office with Brandon, his stable manager and lead trainer. They approach Santi’s desk and sit.

I left a note for Ava to come here and for us to work together as some sort of olive branch.

“I’m working with Ava here today.”

We all have a desk up here in the offices on the ranch,but nobody really uses this space but Santi. Where it’s close to the stable yard, it’s handy for him. It’s handy for me, too, but I prefer the quiet of my home and the clean floors. My eyes track down to the carpet. It doesn’t get very muddy in California, not like during Starlight Canyon winters and spring. Santi keeps it pretty nice in here to be fair.

Then I guess he needs to keep it clean since he has meetings with high-net-worth individuals looking to train their horses here. Training is a new revenue stream Santi can offer alongside his stud business now that he has Bran. Brandon is not a simple stable manager, he is a world-class trainer, with an impressive list of clients. Santi hired him not too long ago to diversify the business and offer training and rehabilitation facilities for racing thoroughbreds in addition to the breeding. I like Bran all right, he’s been helpful with Julia in offering to stop in and help with her needs and he’s taken to Echo Valley as if he’s been here for years.

He seems like a good guy.

Until he and my brother start talking about Ava.

“That Ava…” Santi says, typing something and gazing at his computer screen. “After last night, I realize she’s even more special. Isn’t she? What a winner.”

I dart my eyes from my laptop and catch a glimpse of Bran’s eyebrow rising. I’m no longer a fan. What does he know about Ava apart from that she’s gorgeous?

I type an email and hope that by not fueling the conversation I can douse it.

Santi sits back, swiping his mug off his desk casually. “She’s a stunner, too.”

A growl forms low in my throat. “She’s our employee, Santi. Don’t forget that.”

“She’syouremployee.” He sips. “Anyway, it’s not like we can’t find someone attractive because they work with us.”

I don’t glance up. “Forus.”

“See it how you like. Personally, I deliberately left out a no-fraternizing policy in my contracts.”

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