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Cade took his phone from his pocket and called Mona’s father.
“Tremane International,” the chipper receptionist answered.
“Cade Stone for Mr. Tremane.”
“Just one minute, Mr. Stone.”
Within ten seconds, Phillip answered. “Cade, good to hear from you.”
“I just wanted to inform you that I purchased a resort in Puerto Vallarta. It’s on the brink of closing, but I think with some major renovations and updating, we could make this resort into the best in town.”
Phillip’s robust laughter filtered through the phone. “Don’t waste any time, do you? I assume you’re there now?”
“I am,” Cade confirmed with a bit of pride.
“When you get a chance, send me the information on the new property. Pictures if you have any.”
As Cade got ready for his date—no, his business dinner—with Abby, he went over the specifics with Phillip. The price he’d paid, the number of rooms in the resort, his ideas for updating.
“Sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” Phillip confirmed. “What’s your brother think?”
A bit of guilt crept up. “I haven’t talked to him yet.”
Cade knew Brady also wanted to go global, but he had no idea he was marrying Mona Tremane to do so. He wasn’t quite ready to break that little announcement just yet. Though Brady would have to be informed soon that Phillip Tremane was putting up the capital for them to go global. Amazingly he’d kept the engagement out of the press so far, in part to Abby’s discreet work ethic. He’d announce the plans when it was time—after he’d talked to Brady. Which he really needed to do soon, since the wedding was less than a month away.
“We’ll all meet when you get back from your honeymoon,” Phillip went on. “Keep me posted.”
Cade disconnected the call.
Why was his first call to his soon-to-be father-in-law instead of his brother?
Because after that encounter with Abby in the hallway, he’d needed to remind himself he was engaged and he needed to hear Phillip’s voice to affirm he was going in the right direction.
But how “right” was it when he excluded his best friend and business partner? Second-guessing his actions had never happened before, but Cade was having second and third thoughts on what he’d gotten into.
Taking a deep breath, Cade pocketed his cell and his room key and went across the hall to get Abby. He only prayed she didn’t have another of those sheer dresses on.
When he knocked, she was quick to answer.
Be careful what you wish for.
She stood there with her hair in some low bun, swept away from her face, a bit of pink gloss on her lips, a strapless pale yellow dress that hit her just at the knee and a pair of gold heeled sandals with straps all over the top of her dainty feet and going on up her ankle and calf.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, dropping her hand from the door.
He forced his eyes back up. “I reiterate my previous statement about your beauty. You’re stunning.”
And she’d been ready in the fifteen minutes as promised. Amazing.
She slipped her room key into her small, gold clutch, stepped out and shut the door. “I am going to start getting a big ego if you keep complimenting me.”
He hadn’t stepped back when she’d come out, so now they stood toe to toe and Cade couldn’t comprehend a single sane thought. How could he? Her glossy lips begged to be kissed; her eyes held so much passion he couldn’t believe they had ever gone unnoticed. And her signature floral scent surrounded him, drawing him deeper under her spell.
And the most amazing fact about Abby and her hypnotic ways was she had no clue the power she possessed. Hell, he’d had no clue until a week ago.
Had she always been so spellbinding?
“Are you ready?” she asked, looking up at him with those big, sparkling green eyes.
To slide that dress down her body? Yes. To take her back into his room—or hers, it didn’t matter—and lose himself in her sweetness? Yes.
To lose a multi-billion-dollar deal? A week ago he’d have said no. Now…well, he wasn’t sure anymore.
He held out a hand, gesturing her ahead of him to the steps. “Let’s go.”
Distance. He needed to maintain distance, at least on a personal level. Keeping the topics on business and how his wedding plans were going was the safest thing he could do.
Except, he didn’t want to discuss wedding plans. He wanted to learn more about Abby and what made her, well…Abby. How did this humble, yet dynamite woman land in his father’s office? What really made her seek a different career after her mother’s death? And why the hell hadn’t some man taken one look at her and gotten down on bended knee?
