Sometimes the grind of South Florida was just too much. Plus, he had accumulated too much excess baggage living there for so long. All he wanted to do was to lighten his load. But even though Horseback Hollow had been a good fit for his father and siblings—his dad was in love again, and his brothers and sister had met and married their future spouses there—the laid-back pace was way too slow for him.
He’d wanted to make a new start, but after being there only a couple of weeks he’d felt as if he was stuck in a different kind of rut in the small Texas town. When his brother Matteo’s wife, Rachel, offered to put in a good word for him at Robinson Tech, Joaquin had jumped at the chance to move to Austin when Gerald Robinson, the man himself, had offered to bring him on to consult on a temporary project.
“Since you’ve been here,” Zoe said, “you’ve worked pretty closely with my dad and you’ve had a chance to get to know him.” Her words trailed off.
“I haven’t worked directly with him that much. But your dad is a computer genius and I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for Robinson.”
Zoe raised a finger. “That’s precisely my point. He is so smart. Sometimes too smart for his own good. How can I put this delicately? Because I adore my father, I just want what’s best for him.”
“Right,” Joaquin said. “Everyone knows you and your father are close.”
“Joaquin, will you please help me help my father improve his image? He’s not exactly a diplomat or even a people person for that matter, and it’s really starting to take its toll.”
Oh, hell, no. That was a recipe for disaster if he’d ever heard one. He was a computer geek, for God’s sake. Gerald probably knew more about diplomacy than he did. Well, that was stretching it, but not by much.
“Just the other day,” Zoe continued, “I called a Robinson client who works with the South by Southwest Festival to see if I could interview him for that lifestyle blog I do for Robinson Tech. I was going to tie it into the calendar software program we have and, you know, have the event on the calendar. But you know what happened?”
Joaquin shook his head. “What happened?”
“The guy hung up on me. Before he did, he asked if this was Gerald Robinson’s company and when I said it was, he called my dad a bunch of names I won’t repeat and said he didn’t want anything to do with anything that Gerald Robinson was involved with and he would be taking his business elsewhere. The he hung up on me. I mean, my dad has even started offending clients. So someone needs to stage an intervention. And quick.”
“You want me to help you stage an intervention for your father?”
Gerald Robinson was a gruff, cranky old genius who certainly wouldn’t appreciate a temporarily contracted employee butting in where he didn’t belong. That was the quickest way to get him a first-class ticket out of there. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.
Yet one look at Zoe’s earnest face and he knew this time she was not kidding. He’d have to find a way to let her down easily.
He smiled and shook his head. “You must have me confused with someone else, Zoe. I’m the guy who’s good with computers, not people. In fact, I could probably borrow some of those tips you’re trying to gather up for your father. This is a delicate issue. You, his daughter, might be able to go there, but the rest of us need to tread carefully. If I got involved, I guarantee you it wouldn’t be pretty.”
She didn’t say anything. Just stared at her hands in her lap. He hated disappointing her, but this was way out of his league.
“That website you were talking about a minute ago?” he said. “I’d rather do that. It’s more my speed than making over your father’s image.”
She looked up and blinked as if her mind was changing gears.
“Are you saying you’ll help me with the website?”
“Wait. What? No.”
“But you just said you’d rather do that, and I was only half joking when I brought up the new site a minute ago. Phil in design is swamped and I could really use some help. Otherwise, I’ll have to outsource the job. I can write the content, but all that technical HTML stuff is like a foreign language to me. Will you help me, Joaquin? Please?”
She wrinkled her nose and gave him a tentative smile that almost seemed as if she was holding her breath waiting for his answer.
The woman was a force of nature. He wasn’t quite sure what she’d just done there, and he obviously didn’t know what he was doing when he heard himself saying, “Sure, I’ll help you with the website. Why don’t we schedule a meeting?”
He thought he saw a flicker of surprise in Zoe’s eyes. “Oh, thank you. Does tomorrow at three o’clock work for you?”
He called up the calendar on his phone. “I can spare a half hour.”
“Well, we will just have to make the most of that time, then.”
She smiled at him as she stood and smoothed her skirt. Before he could stop himself, his gaze followed the path her hands were tracing. When he realized what he was doing, his gaze skidded back up to her face so fast, if there’d been a music to accompany the moment it would’ve sounded like a needle scratching across a vinyl record.
Had she just played him? The treacherous waters of possibly hosting an intervention to teach Gerald Robinson manners had certainly made the thought of designing a website for the FX350 seem like a child’s birthday party in comparison.
The victorious glint in her eyes tempted him to backpedal, but he didn’t. And when the unspoken window of opportunity to back out closed, he knew he’d need to be careful.
He had to admit he was attracted to her. He’d have to be dead or barely breathing not to be. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, but he was not going to cross that line. He could exercise some self-control for the duration of their thirty-minute meeting.
“So, your place or mine?” The flirtatious note was back in her voice.
But before he could answer, someone knocked and opened the door. “Sorry to bother you— Oh!” Steffi-Anne Bunting, the office manager, stuck her blond head in but stopped midsentence when she saw Zoe standing there.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked back and forth between Zoe and him.
“Do you need something, Steffi-Anne?” Joaquin asked.
“I was just, uh—” She pointed at a clipboard in her hand. “I just noticed that we don’t have your RSVP for the executive office trip to Cowboy Country. We leave this Thursday afternoon and we need a final head count. May I put you down as a yes?”
Steffi-Anne was another one who tended to pop into his office regularly. She could’ve emailed him about this. But since she was here now... “Actually, I sent my regrets last week. Didn’t you get it?”
“Yes,” Steffi-Anne said, “I got it, but—”
“You’re not going?” Zoe cried. “You have to go.”
Joaquin shook his head. “This is a team-building thing. I’m a temporary employee. I didn’t think it was appropriate.”
“It’s completely appropriate,” Steffi-Anne countered with a slightly condescending tone. “That’s why you were invited. That’s why I’m following up.”
The truth was he just wasn’t good at this rah-rah, team-building bull. It made him uncomfortable. No, uncomfortable wasn’t a strong enough word. It made him feel like a caged animal. And all he wanted to do when he felt backed into a corner was get the hell out.
He looked at the two attractive women standing in his office and knew that he should’ve loved the fact that they both seemed to take extra interest in him. There was a time not so long ago when he would’ve dated both