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“I could. But the details would be boring. It’s a Japanese-American merger of two aerospace companies.”
“The space station?”
“Mars.”
“You call that boring?”
“They’re not actually going to Mars. Not this weekend, anyway. It’s all about testing systems and innovations that might someday help with a Mars mission.”
“That still doesn’t qualify as boring.”
“I’m just the money guy.”
She touched her necklace again. “That you are.”
Inspiration hit him. He leaned forward and took her hand, holding it across the table. “Come to New York with me?”
Her surprise was obvious.
“Come with me,” he repeated. “We can stay at the Plaza, dine at Daniel, take in a show.”
“What about the kids?”
“That’s why we have two housekeepers.”
“But overnight?”
“They love Kristy. They’ll barely notice we’re gone.”
“I don’t know… It seems…”
He raised her hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. “Come to New York with me. We deserve a weekend to ourselves.”
She gazed deep into his eyes, and he felt like time stopped.
He wanted her in New York. He suddenly realized how much he needed her in New York. Making love with her, then sleeping in separate bedrooms wasn’t cutting it for him. He wanted to hold her in his arms all night long.
“Please,” he whispered.
She hesitated but then gave the barest of nods.
His smile went wide. “If we weren’t already drinking champagne, I’d order some.”
“This is a strange life I’m leading,” she said half to herself.
“Just relax and enjoy the ride.” He handed her a leather-bound menu. “Now, tell me about your day?”
She opened the menu on the table. “I registered for college.”
“Good for you.” He waited. He knew there was more.
“Funny thing,” she said, her gaze staying fixed on the menu pages.
“What’s that?”
“They asked me something else.”
“Oh.” He kept his expression neutral.
“They asked me to serve as a trustee.”
TJ immediately grinned. “I hope you said yes.”
“Bernadette Thorburn was very convincing.”
“Bernadette is like that.”
“I’m really not sure I have enough experience.”
“You’re going to be fantastic.” He opened his own menu, thrilled to learn she’d agreed to serve on the college board.
It was exactly what she needed to use her talents and get more involved in the community. He wanted her to like it here in Whiskey Bay. No, he wanted her to love it here.
“When are you starting?” he asked.
“Not until October.”
The answer confused him. “But they said—” He quickly stopped himself.
She slowly raised her head to stare at him.
He stilled. Then he swallowed.
It took her about three seconds to figure it out. “You put them up to it.”
He shook his head.
She clearly wasn’t about to buy his denial. “You used your money and influence to get me a trustee gig?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
The tone of her voice rose. “Why would you do that?”
“I merely suggested they might consider you.”
“You made a suggestion? Did you threaten to pull your donation?”
“Sage, stop. I only suggested. They could say yes or they could say no. And they knew that. The rest was all you.”
She closed her menu. “I don’t believe you.”
“Have you decided already?”
“What?”
He looked pointedly at her closed menu, hoping against hope to move the conversation along.
“Yes, I have. I’ve decided to go home and make myself a sandwich.”
“You don’t want to do that.”
She couldn’t be that angry. It wasn’t possible for her to be that angry over such a little thing.
She reached for her purse.
He touched her arm. “Don’t. Stop. Look at me.”
She paused, gazing at him with suspicion.
“How do you think these things work?”
“I don’t really want to know how they work. And I sure don’t want to be involved.”
“You wanted to be involved two minutes ago.”
“That’s when I thought I legitimately had something to offer.”
“You do have something to offer. You have a lot to offer. That’s why I put your name forward, and that’s why Bernadette agreed to set it up.” He took a breath.
She didn’t immediately bolt.
He took that as a good sign. “The way these things work is you get a little bit of influence, and then you parlay it into more influence, and so on, and so on. You did a fantastic job with the festival.”
