Page 11 of Overnight Inheritance

The next day, Mae stepped out of the elevator into the reception area of Bellavista Holdings. She’d left early and walked to get her bearings, but five minutes into the walk, she’d regretted her decision. Not only had the streets been busy, but she had taken a wrong turn and then had to hurry so she wasn’t late, and now she was hot and rumpled.

She didn’t have any business clothes, so she had borrowed a pantsuit from Sarah, and it was scratchy and a little too loose. The outfit was a long way from the linen and cotton sundresses she wore with open-toed shoes back home in Noosa.

The reception area was large, with a lot of glass and reflective surfaces. It was light, bright, and sterile. From behind a long desk, a guy wearing a headset smiled at her. “Can I help you?”

“My name is Mae, and I’m here to see Sebastian Newport.”

He glanced at a screen. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Not really, but he—”

“I’m sure he did,” the guy said, heavy on the condescension. “Mr. Newport has a heavy schedule, but if you’d like to take a seat, I’ll see what I can do. Or you could call and make an appointment with his personal assistant.”

Mae hesitated. “He really will be expecting me. If you could just—”

From her left, a woman came barreling into the reception area, hair in disarray, the bright yellow glasses on top of her head in danger of falling off. “Mae?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Rosario, Mr. Newport’s PA. Did you meet Reuben?”

Mae glanced around, feeling more out of her depth by the minute. The guy at the desk raised an eyebrow. “We met briefly. She didn’t have an appointment, so I was just about to call you—”

Rosario threw up a hand. “This is MaeRutherford,” she said, emphasis on the surname.

Reuben’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Ms. Rutherford. I had no idea. You’d be surprised how many people show up unannounced and ask to see the boss.”

“It’s fine, really—”

Rosario turned. “This way,” she said over her shoulder.

Mae followed her into the elevator for a quick trip up one floor, then down a wide corridor, with offices off each side and people in each one, tapping away at keyboards, or talking into headsets. She was used to school grounds, which were similar, full of movement and noise, but they also had flow. This just felt busy, with everyone in their own spaces, disconnected and isolated.

They reached the end of the hallway and entered a large office.

“This is mine,” Rosario said, “and through that door is Mr. Newport’s office. You can go in.”

“Thanks,” Mae said and only hesitated a second before grabbing the door handle. As she entered, she caught sight of Sebastian on his cell, writing something on a notepad, talking faster than she’d heard him in all the conversations they’d had. He was clearly in control of the conversation, though the topic was beyond her, as he used words she didn’t recognize in this context, his tone firm yet collegial.

She was glad one of them was in control of themselves. She was having trouble just getting air into her lungs.

When she’d seen him in the Hamptons, he’d been casually put together in shorts and T-shirts. Now, though... Now his suit was charcoal, the cut emphasizing the breadth of his shoulders and his narrow hips. The white business shirt beneath contrasted with the smooth olive of his skin, and the deep blue patterned tie at his neck sat in a perfect Windsor knot. Why did the suit make such a difference? An alarm in her brain told her that if she didn’t get a proper lungful of air soon, she’d probably swoon, and that was something she didn’t want to do, so she gulped in a breath.

He glanced up and saw her, and a slow smile spread across his face, changing his features from something that might be carved in marble—coolly beautiful—to something warm, appealing. She wanted to reach out her fingertips and touch...

Catching herself again, she straightened. She couldn’t be sidetracked by a nice smile. She’d agreed to shadow him for a month so she could find out what was really going on in the company. Naturally, he was going to try and hide things, no matter what he’d promised. He’d made no secret of his goal to convince her to sell to him, so now she just had to see what exactly he was hiding.

She was fairly certain he was going to try to ditch her—perhaps get her to talk to other staff when he had top secret meetings, or ask her to grab coffee when he wanted to open a sensitive file. She’d keep focused and would not be swindled. Spending her days teaching young children had made her good at spotting attempts at distraction. She could dig her heels in if she had to.

She headed to the other side of the room, where a cream chaise sat under a window. The view of Manhattan was expansive. Buzzing and gray-toned, a world away from the ocean’s deep blues, the white sand, and the greenery of the national park of her laid-back hometown in Queensland. Heath looked to be putting down roots here, and she couldn’t imagine her life without her brother nearby. Could she get used to this view? The pace of life here?

Sebastian wound up his call and she turned as he stepped around his desk. “Mae. You’re here.”

“Isn’t this the time we agreed to?” Had she misjudged how long it had taken to walk here?

“The time is good.” He set his cell and pen on his desk. “I wasn’t one hundred percent convinced you’d show.”

He crossed the room and stuck out his hand. She shook it, feeling the smooth, warm skin of his palm slide across hers and then lock their hands together. Awareness skittered across her skin.

---