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“Hold off until six,” he said.
It was just five thirty, but Amber said she’d be over after she showered and changed.
“Yes, sir.”
He took the mail into his office and opened letters from his accountant and lawyers, personal matters that he wouldn’t want going through the business office.
At ten to six, he got a text.I’m here, but I’m lost in your driveway.
Chuckling, he texted back,I’m coming out to get you.
He left his office through the French door that led out to a terrace and a huge inground pool with the bay beyond it. Over the lawn to the driveway and there she was in a beat-up Escort. Oh god, poor Amber.
He’d known her for years, since she was just out of high school and came with her class to volunteer at the wild horse preserve. With heart palpitations going full force, he grinned at her.
“You found it!”
“You’re really off the beaten path. Do you ever get trapped here when it floods?”
“All the time. It’s nice in the fall, the seclusion.”
He opened her door, and she stepped out, beautiful in a white sundress that accentuated her huge breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra, either, and didn’t seem to be self-conscious about their size. Amber might be a little taller than Phil, too, but he didn’t care. If they were out together, people would be looking at her, not him.
Taking her hand, he walked her to the front door. “We’re eating on the terrace if you don’t mind being outside. It’s cooler once the sun is down.”
“I don’t mind. This is beautiful. You live in a mansion.”
“I do. All by myself.”
She grinned, nodding. “So you said.”
After the foyer, which was more like a hotel lobby than the entrance to a private home, they walked straight through a cavernous living room to a wall of glass sliding doors that were open. A terrace surrounded by cooling misters was straight ahead. In the center, a large glass-topped candlelit dining table was set for two, overlooking the water.
“This is beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, pulling out her chair. “After dinner we’ll load up with bug spray and sit down by the water.”
Margaret brought out their first course, local shrimp cocktail and fried green tomato caprese salad. Thankfully, the portions were small, just a taste, really.
Slightly uncomfortable, Amber had never had a man more dominant than she was, and Phil wasn’t exactly bossy. But a combination of his looks, distinguished; his wealth, millions in old money; and his availability, divorced and widowed, no children, gave her an open door, which she’d pass through without much thought. His words to her that afternoon about how he was her greatest admirer had lingered. She was about to try to change her modus operandi once and for all and submit to a man who had more to offer her than she had to offer him.
“We’re having steak on the grill tonight, so we won’t get a whole lot in the first courses. You can certainly have more if you want.”
“This salad is delicious. I could make a meal out of that.”
They chatted about the house, the food, her likes and dislikes and, finally, them as a couple.
Ralph brought out their steaks next.
“Tell Margaret to leave dessert. I’ll serve it myself. Have a nice evening, Ralph.”
That was code for he didn’t want to be bothered again.
“Having you here is something I’ve wanted for a long time.”
“So what do you think? You said this afternoon I was an easy conquest. Did you conquer me?”
“I hope so, but here with you now, I feel like I might be too old,” he said, embarrassed. “I don’t think I can live up to Sheriff Chastain.”
