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It was time to get her happy ending.
It was time to get her man.
Chapter Eleven
As it turned out, Riley had an ally in her oldest brother.
Granted, Liam didn’t know he was an ally. If he did, he would have canceled his business trip to Amsterdam and bought Riley a one-way ticket to a faraway convent. But as it was, Liam’s firm had landed a high-profile case with a Dutch hotshot, resulting in her brother being rather conveniently out of the country.
It was all the opening Riley needed to put Emma’s plan in motion, and Operation Don’t Mind Me, Just Think of Me as Your Sister was about to commence.
“Sam? You here?” Riley asked, opening the sliding door from his living quarters into the distillery. Apparently the man hadn’t learned his lesson from her last invasion and thought to lock the back door.
Of course this little visit wouldn’t end with a sexual proposition. Oh no. Quite the opposite.
Riley absently ran her hand along a wooden barrel, breathing in the now familiar sweet, bread-like scent. She’d never given much thought to the process that went into cranking out whisky, but she could sort of see how one might get enthralled with it. It somehow fit Sam … being out here alone with just the grains and the … well, whatever else went into whisky.
Or maybe not so alone, she realized as she stepped into the main part of the distillery and heard voices.
They were low, male voices, and she followed the sound until she spotted her prey. Sam was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt—gray this time—and talking to a couple of guys she’d never seen before.
Her throat hurt a little at the sight of him—at the memory of what they’d been doing last time she saw him.
Right before he walked out the door and left her naked and aching.
For a brief second, she thought about retreating. She hadn’t been counting on an audience for this performance. Then again, spectators might work to her advantage. He was less likely to be wary if he had his employees as a buffer.
His shoulders went back at the sound of her heels tapping, and his spine went stiff.
Okay, so maybe he was still wary.
Smart man.
Riley had dressed carefully for this occasion, per her friends’ instructions. Simple black pants, a plain white blouse, and a formfitting black blazer complete with everyday black pumps that were professional without being stuffy.
It was the essential New York City work outfit that hopefully screamed, hey, you’re just another errand I have to check off on my way home from work.
Anything too sexy would put him on edge. Anything too far the other way would set off warning bells that she was up to something.
Although, judging from the deer-in-headlights look on his face, warning bells were going off regardless.
Don’t worry. I’m not here to seduce you. At least not in the way you think.
“Hey!” she said, throwing him a megawatt grin. It wasn’t her usual I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile, and she saw from the slight narrowing of his eyes that he noticed the difference. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Obviously,” he said darkly.
His companions weren’t quite as grumpy, and the tallest of the group gave her a welcoming smile. “I can’t even remember the last time we had a woman at ROON. Much less a pretty one.”
Riley gave a tinkling little laugh as she came to a stop beside the men. “Aren’t you sweet? And I’m so sorry to barge in like this. I thought you guys would be all wrapped up by six, but I should have called.”
“Oh, why start now?” Sam asked.
“I’m Riley,” she said, extending a hand to the shorter man on her left and ignoring Sam altogether.
“Rob,” the man said, giving her hand a quick shake after a nervous glance at Sam. “And this is Adam and Cory.”
“You guys all work here?”
