LITMIR.BIZ

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been there. She watched Nicole head out the restaurant before she went to the cashier to settle their account. To her surprise, it had already been paid.

      “There must be some mistake,” she said.

      “No, there’s no mistake,” said an all too familiar voice from behind her. “I figured it was worth the price of lunch to find out what you were up to.”

      Judd caught her elbow in a firm hold and guided her out the door toward the car park.

      “What are you doing here?” she asked, hating the panic in her voice.

      “More to the point, what are you doing here?”

      “Nicole asked to see me for lunch, that’s all.”

      “All? Seems kind of interesting that the week we lose a considerable amount of business to Jackson Importers you should meet her for lunch. Are you sure you weren’t discussing anything else, like the Californian wineries on our list, for example?”

      “Of course not! I wouldn’t dream of doing anything of the sort.” Indignation fueled her to add, “I don’t know where you managed to form this incredibly low opinion of me, and I really don’t care, but don’t keep bringing your insinuations to my face. They are, without exception, wrong.”

      “So why were you together?”

      “We’re friends. We’ve been friends for most of our lives. Did we need a reason?”

      “I understood that your friendship was pretty much severed over me.”

      “Don’t rate your effect on people so highly. As I said, we’ve known each other a very long time. It would take far more than someone like you to destroy that. Look, if you feel that strongly that you can’t believe me, why don’t you just fire me? In fact, forget that. I quit. I can’t work for someone who doesn’t even begin to know the meaning of the word trust.”

      Anna pulled her arm free of his hand and headed for her car. She was shaking with anger to think that he could even begin to imagine that she’d do anything to deliberately sabotage Wilson Wines. It would be like slitting her throat, both professionally and personally.

      She heard his footfall behind her and she dug in her handbag for her car keys, desperate to get away from him. She wouldn’t let him know how much his words today had hurt, just like she hadn’t shown him how his belief that she and Charles had been lovers had also cut her.

      “Anna, wait!” he called.

      But she didn’t want to wait. She wanted distance and she wanted it now, before he saw the sheen of tears that now glazed her eyes. Damn it, where were those keys? Long, warm fingers closed over her hand as she finally extracted her keys from the depths of her bag and her finger depressed the remote to unlock her car.

      “Anna, stop. I’m sorry. I jumped to conclusions.”

      “You’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?” she said bitterly, blinking back the moisture that stung her eyes.

      “What can I say, I have a suspicious mind.” He smiled back at her, and despite herself she was charmed by his self-deprecating tone. And that was more than half the problem, she acknowledged. He could get under her defenses with no more than a smile.

      “I need to get back to the office. Please let me go.”

      She stared pointedly at his hand, which still captured hers within its warmth.

      “Not yet. I want to apologize to you properly. I’ve been an idiot and I’ve treated you very unfairly. In my defense I can only say that it started back in Adelaide.”

      “But surely you can understand why I didn’t tell you the truth about why I was there right from the start? For all I knew, you would have just shipped me off the property—which is what you pretty much did anyway after you read the letter.”

      “I can understand now. And like I said, I am sorry for allowing myself to let that color my judgment about you.”

      “Fine, I accept your apology. Now let me go.”

      “Ah, Anna, in such a hurry to leave me?”

      He stepped a little closer and Anna felt that all-too familiar thrum of awareness course through her veins. He was like a drug to her, and she was rapidly losing, becoming addicted. She’d let herself become dependent on his kisses, his touch, everything.

      “Don’t, please.”

      She dropped her handbag and put up her hand, but he didn’t stop moving, not even when her hand became trapped between the wall of his chest and her breasts. He was so close she could see the silver striations that feathered his irises and lent his eyes their particular vivid blue hue. Her heart quickened as she watched his pupils dilate.

      “Don’t what?” he asked, his voice soft, enticing.

      “Don’t kiss me.”

      “Afraid of me, Anna?”

      “No,” she admitted. “I’m afraid of me.”

      “I’ll keep you safe,” he said.

      His kiss was short and incredibly sweet. The seal of a promise that offered so very much—perhaps even a chance of a future together that was no longer threatened by the shadows of his family’s past. She was trembling when he released her, her entire body screaming for more than just that brief embrace.

      Judd bent to collect her bag and handed it to her, then opened her car door, holding it for her as she slid into the driver’s seat.

      “Will you be okay to get back to the office?”

      “Sure,” she said, willing her body back under her control.

      “I’ll see you there.”

      “Judd? How did you know where to find me?”

      He gave a small frown before answering. “There was a page missing from the report you gave me. I went to your computer to reprint it and you’d left your email open.”

      So for all his apparent mistrust of her, he hadn’t been actively snooping. And, he’d listened to her—really listened. The thought gave her another little thrill of hope. Anna nodded and pulled her door closed before starting the engine and backing out of the car space. Judd stood to one side, watching her leave. She gave him a small wave and drove out of the car park.

      Judd went straight into Anna’s office when he arrived back at Wilson Wines.

      “About your resignation,” he started, closing her office door behind him.

      Anna looked up, surprise on her face. “My resignation?”

      “Yeah, back at the restaurant. You quit, remember?”

      “Ah, yes, so I did.”

      “Just for the record, I don’t accept it.”

      “For the record,” she repeated, a tiny smile on her face, before slowly nodding. “Okay. So we’re all good now—I can get back to work?”

      “No.”

      “No? What’s wrong?”

      “I miss you,” he answered simply.

      “Miss me? But we see each other every day,” she protested.

      “Is that enough for you? Really? Tell me, Anna, how are you sleeping at night, knowing I’m just down the hall from you—wanting you as much as you probably want me?”

      He watched the muscles in her throat work as she swallowed.

      “What? Lost for words?” He moved across the office and sat in the chair opposite her desk. “Seems to me that we have a pretty good thing between us. Wouldn’t you agree?”

      “Physically, yes,” she finally concurred, although he could see how reluctant she was to admit even that.

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