Ryan sighed. “I’m glad it worked out for you, Dennis. But from here on out, don’t put me in the middle of your business, okay?”
“That’s fair, sis. I just have one more request.”
“What?”
“You’re coming home next week, right?”
“How do you know about that?”
“Mom told me.”
“Yes, I’m going home. Why?”
“Adam wants to visit my, um, facility and I thought it would be cool if I schedule his visit at the same time you’re here so we can all have dinner together.”
“What’d I just say about involving me in your meat-factory business? I don’t want to take part in it.”
“I know, and after this, you won’t. It’s just that Adam is big on family, huge. Mom likes that and wants to have him over for dinner. Your being here could be a buffer. Mom isn’t always the most gracious person, you know.”
“Yes, I know.” She had a son who was just like her.
Ryan reached the block where her business rental was located. She pulled into the parking lot, found a space and parked.
“I get a feeling there’s more to this. What aren’t you telling me?”
“That’s it, I swear! Mom says you’ll be here Friday. I’ll ask Adam to come up then, and Mom will do dinner that night. Cool?” Ryan’s eyes narrowed as she tried to get a feel for what was really going on.
“It’s all about family, Ryan. I’m asking you to help me the way we’ve helped you, all right?”
Of course he’d pull that card. “I guess, but after this I’m out. Are we clear?”
Dennis laughed. “Don’t get all huffy just because you’ve got a billionaire interested in you. I could tell him a few things to make him change his mind.”
Ryan ended the call more conflicted than ever. Going on the date with Adam now felt like a bad idea. She found him super good-looking and was madly attracted, but did she really want to go on a date and maybe sleep with a guy that her brother might end up working with? Someone she might have to see after a fling?
No, she didn’t. She couldn’t, especially now, just as she was about to open her business. Few people knew what Dennis threatened to share with Adam, details of a painful past she’d worked hard to overcome. One that for twenty years her adoptive mother, Ida, had encouraged her to keep secret. She’d demanded that her “embarrassing” birth mother, Phyllis, be left in the past. That Ryan had been in contact with Phyllis off and on for the past five years would definitely anger her. As would the latest secret, that for the first time in Ryan’s life, she was going to try and find her birth father.
Dennis was right. There were things Adam didn’t know, facts hidden beneath a carefully crafted facade of perfectly placed secrets. Even without her dysfunctional history, a man like Adam was clearly out of her league. For a while, though, she’d forgotten, had allowed herself to believe that she could have the fairy-tale life of her childhood dreams. Happily-ever-after came only in books, something Ryan would do well to remember.
Adam strolled out of the hotel’s private entrance, eased into the roomy back seat of the car that awaited and clipped the hanger holding his suit jacket over the bar. He hoped Ryan wouldn’t consider his transportation choice bougie, although that was a fairly apt description for an executive limousine. Any other woman and he wouldn’t have given it a second thought, knew that picking up most dates in the company’s brand-new four-seater SUV limo would impress them right out of their undies. Not that he was thinking about Ryan’s lingerie. He’d be lying to say that since meeting her such thoughts hadn’t crossed his mind from time to time.
Ryan lived in Summerlin, just over ten miles from the Strip. Adam thought of a few things he could do in the twenty-five or so minutes it would take to reach her, longer if traffic didn’t cooperate. There were emails to answer, phone calls to return. But instead of returning calls or checking texts or browsing emails he dropped his head, closed his eyes and thought about how Ryan had tried to get out of attending the show with him tonight. He couldn’t remember ever having a woman try to break a date. Why had Ryan? And for a man who could go out with just about anyone he wanted, especially when only interested in a casual good time, maybe a bedroom rodeo, why had her canceling their date not been an option?
“Something came up,” she’d said. He’d told her she couldn’t cancel. When asked why he’d calmly replied, “This is a major event with huge implications for the continued success of this particular hotel venue. Every RSVP has already been tabulated into the report for our board. I can’t show up alone and there is no time to call in a replacement. You’ve given your word. I’ll be there in an hour.” Five minutes later, he’d walked to the car.
What Ryan didn’t know was that what Breedloves wanted, Breedloves got. Period, point-blank, end of story.
They pulled into one of Summerlin’s planned communities and onto a street ending in a cul-de-sac framed by townhome-styled condos. One had a red door with earthen pots on each side, brimming with flowers and greenery.
“A hundred bucks that’s Ryan’s home,” he said to the driver, who checked the address and nodded at Adam.
“Good thing I didn’t take you up on that bet.”
Adam got out of the car and strolled up to the door. A burst of excitement spread from his core to his groin. With a smorgasbord of women to choose from any given night of the week, he’d grown jaded to the art of wining and dining. It felt good to be excited. He rang the bell.
“Un momento,” she sang out. Gringo Spanish. He thought about Miguel and smiled.
In less than a minute, she opened the door. Adam turned, but wasn’t ready for the woman he saw. Not this Ryan—part innocent femininity, part femme fatale. The dress, long and flowing, following her curves like water followed the falls. The color almost matched her tawny skin, making him imagine her nude. At the restaurant her curls had been tamed by a band on top of her head but tonight they bounced wild and free, framing her face and brushing her shoulders. They teased his senses; he wanted to touch. He liked that she wore little makeup yet still looked flawless. Her lips kissed with a color of gloss that reminded him of a fine wine. He wanted a taste. How was it that with most of her body covered she managed to look so sexy?
“Hello” was all he said at first because it was all he could manage.
“Hi.”
“I’m sorry for earlier, and sounding so forceful. It’s just that I couldn’t take no for an answer.”
“It’s okay. Everything...worked out.” Ryan turned and locked the door. Adam offered his arm. Her touch was light, yet a thunderbolt of desire shot through his heart, ricocheted off a vein and zoomed into his groin.
He helped her enter the vehicle, then got in on the other side.
“You look...stunning.”
The smile that she gave him could have cured a disease. “I hoped it would be appropriate. I wasn’t sure.”
“It’s perfect.”
“Thank you.”
Adam’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“It’s just that... Yes. Really, I’m fine.”
The SUV pulled away from the curb. Ryan