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Grant smiled back. “And you can’t stand sitting around waiting to be cleared to fly, so you’re making yourself useful here in the meantime?”
Gene grinned. “That about sums it up. But I didn’t mean to barge in on whatever the two of you were doing.”
Chelsea felt the heat in her cheeks again at the memory of what they had been doing—of what they were about to do. Grant lowered his gaze and looked away.
Gene seemed to pick up on the tension in the air. “I can either catch you later, Chelsea, or I can act as a diversion if either of you needs it?”
Grant looked up in surprise, but Chelsea laughed. Gene was good at bringing things out in the open and getting everyone to move past them.
“Actually, you could be a very welcome diversion at this point, Gene. I’ve just remembered that I have a couple of calls I need to make this morning, but I’m supposed to be giving Grant the grand tour. Would you mind taking him out to the vineyards and I’ll catch up with you in a little while?”
“Sure.” He smiled at Grant. “I always enjoy a walk amongst the vines. Be warned though; I love this place, and I’m a talker. I’ll probably tell you everything you never needed to know.”
“That’s fine by me. I need to know all about it, and I want to know.” He caught Chelsea’s eye as he spoke those last few words. Was he trying to tell her something, or was she just imagining it? What did it matter?
“Thanks, Gene.” She nodded at Grant. “I’ll catch up with you as soon as I get done here.”
“You take your time. Whenever you’re ready will be good with me.”
She nodded but didn’t reply. Was she reading too much into his words again? She hoped so.
Chapter Nine
Grant looked up at the sound of a tap on the door. “Come in,” he called.
Chelsea popped her head around but didn’t come in. “It’s time to wrap it up for today.”
He looked at the clock on the wall; it was almost seven. “Wow, sorry. I had no idea it was that late already.” He started to gather his things and shut down the computer. “I hope you haven’t been waiting on me, so you can get out of here for the weekend?”
She smiled. “No, I just got finished myself.” She smiled, but still didn’t come in. She’d been this way all week—ever since that near miss kiss on Monday morning. She’d been polite, helpful, friendly even, but she was deliberately keeping a distance between them. She was available to him for anything he needed, but whenever she could, she found someone else who could take care of him rather than spend any more time with him than she had to.
“You don’t have any plans for the evening?” He wanted to kick himself as soon as he asked.
For a moment she looked wary, but then she smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do. I have a date with a bubble bath and a very nice bottle of Cab. Later on, I’ll be meeting up with Netflix and watching a movie.”
He laughed. “That sounds like a good time to me.”
“It’s my idea of a good time on a Friday night after a long week.” She looked as though she was going to ask about his plans, but she changed her mind.
He closed his briefcase and made for the door. She backed out into the hallway as he came, making him smile to himself. She was keeping her distance so carefully that he had to wonder if she didn’t trust herself to be close to him.
Either politeness or curiosity—he hoped it was the latter—got the better of her as they made their way outside. “What does your evening hold?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet. I might meet up with a friend, but there’s something I need to ask you first.”
She stopped walking and turned to look up at him. The wariness was back in her eyes. “What?”
“Is it okay if people know I’m here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, usually there’s an element of client confidentiality about my work—not just what I’m doing, but who I’m working with. Once I start work, the word usually gets out pretty fast, and there’s not much that can be done to stop it. However, I don’t know if the word is out that I’m working with you yet, or if you’d rather people didn’t know.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t care.” Her expression softened a little. “Sorry, that wasn’t aimed at you. I think some people will gloat that you’re here and see it as me failing, and others will be supportive of me and think that you’re here to help. But I don’t tend to live my life around what other people think. I go my own way.”
“I gathered that much, but I wanted to check with you. If I go out, you don’t mind if I tell people what I’m doing here?”
“What people?” she asked quickly, and he saw the flash in her eyes before she hid it.
