Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,30

been unnerved by what he said, that it wasn’t awkward. Maybe they could put what he’d said behind the two of them. Maybe he should apologize for being a dick and listening when he shouldn’t have.

“I know, right,” Emerson said. “The temperature is actually lower here, but it didn’t feel this hot in Cabo. Maybe it was the effect of the ocean breeze.”

“Or maybe it’s those poolside showers you can use to cool down in,” Cassie said, catching his eye while Emerson focused on opening her soda. “Cold showers are essential when it’s really hot.”

She emphasized the word hot just enough so Em wouldn’t notice, but he got the message all the way down to his balls. He narrowed his eyes at Cassie.

Cassie bit down on her lip to hold back her smirk, while Jake tried to mentally list the monoterpenes that made up the composition of juniper berry oil to stop his dick getting any harder at the flashback of her in the shower. Any shower. Hot or cold.

And he made a mental note that if she wanted to play games in public, he’d play.

And more importantly, he’d win.

7

It was Friday.

Cassie’s flight was meant to leave in three hours and she still hadn’t decided if she was going to be on it. Her bags were packed. Everything was cleared off the shelf in the bathroom. She’d said her goodbyes to Jake, just in case.

She ran her fingers over the notes she’d made from time spent on her father’s three biggest projects. The harsh reality was if any of those projects were hers, she’d likely have been fired. ArCon’s hiring had hit every part of her dad’s business. Losing key people meant her father had been spread so thinly that things had dropped through the cracks . . . a scaffolding order here, a crane hire there.

Nothing was unfixable, and she had to fight the urge to put them all to rights. She knew how she’d strategically hire, which timelines she’d move, how she’d make the changes cost-effective. The projects couldn’t be brought back on track, and she wasn’t a miracle worker, but she could get them back in hand.

And given her father would be severely incapacitated for the foreseeable future, she was needed. It wouldn’t be as much fun as her work in New York, or as complex a project, but she could really have an impact.

Then she turned and looked at her laptop. Twenty-seven detailed emails from Brandon asking her questions both big and small about The Grosvenor’s project plan, the one she’d worked on for months before they’d ever stepped foot on the site. It felt a little like someone else raising her child. She didn’t want Brandon’s inept fingers all over it.

Her family versus her career. And wasn’t she the shittiest person on the planet that it wasn’t an easy decision. Emerson, Jake, and Olivia had all pitched in when their father died to keep the distillery going. They were invested in their father’s legacy.

But she wasn’t invested in her father’s.

And helping him save his career would damage her own.

She flopped back in the stool and put her hands on top of her head.

What she needed to do and what she wanted to do were two completely different things.

It might be easier to get a quarter and flip it. Heads, she’d explain to her dad she was really sorry she couldn’t help him any more than she had the last few days. Tails, she’d explain to her boss that she couldn’t bring the school to completion before Christmas because she had to stay home and help her dad.

Her dad was a good man. Elijah was . . . a businessman. One who expected his pound of flesh.

Staying in Denver would allow her to . . . No. Jake couldn’t be the reason she was doing any of this.

Even though he’d become someone special.

She missed that connection . . . to anyone. She’d not dated in a while. Too long. Too busy working every hour God sent.

Like Jake.

She picked up her pen, then threw it back down on the pile.

She reached for her phone and dialed a number. When Elijah answered, she took a deep breath.

“Elijah, we need to talk.”

“We can talk when you get back. Come see me in the office on Monday.”

She looked at the high-tech proposal, project plans, software, and tools she had at her disposal, and then at the pile of papers and crumpled notes. “I think we both know I can’t do