What the hell had just happened? He hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her. Never had desire and emotion combined in such a heady concoction that he’d seriously contemplated pushing Everleigh up against the nearest wall and burying himself inside her.
Slowly, breath by breath, he calmed his racing pulse. He continued on down the street and stepped onto the main road outside the restaurant in time to see Everleigh getting into a cab. Casa de Cabrera was well known in Granada. The cab driver would see her back to his home safely.
An hour later his limo pulled up in front of Casa de Cabrera.
Diego met him at the front door. “Did you have an enjoyable evening,señor?”
“Yes, thank you.” He glanced at the stairs. “Is Miss Bradford in her room?”
“Sí, señor.”
Diego, ever the professional butler, didn’t even blink an eye. The man had a better poker face than Adrian.
“She arrived thirty minutes ago.”
“Thank you.”
He went to his study and, once the door was closed, yanked his tie off with a curse. What the hell was going on? Where had his iron control disappeared to? Above all, why was he so attracted to a woman he couldn’t spend more than five minutes with without arguing?
He needed time. Space. No more conversations with Everleigh.
He’d arrange for her to meet and work with his marketing team. He’d screen candidates for the position of director, although the chances of finding someone better than her were unlikely. But that was a conundrum he’d deal with at a later date.
From now on he’d be dealing with Everleigh Bradford from a distance. For both their sakes.
CHAPTER TWELVE
EVERLEIGHWOKEWITHa gasp. Her arm flailed out and knocked into the juice glass perched on the patio table. It fell onto the balcony with a crash, the glass shattering across the pavestones. Her chest rose and fell as she sucked in a breath. She ran shaking fingers through her hair.
It was just a nightmare.
Knowing that didn’t slow her thundering pulse or wipe away the sorrow squeezing her lungs so tight she could barely breathe.
Ten years later and it was still so vivid—the horrid memory of her mother on that hospital bed, her frame almost skeletal beneath the stark white sheets, whispering, “I love you,” her words weak and raspy. Everleigh had smoothed the hair back from her mother’s face and forced a smile to her own as she’d promised that they’d spend Christmas in Paris.
Not five minutes later her mother’s hand had gone limp. And the shrill, unending beep of the heart monitor sometimes echoed in her mind—the soundtrack of the worst day of her life.
A knock on the door startled her out of her morbid musings. Diego had probably heard the glass break.
“I’m fine, Diego,” she called over her shoulder.
The door opened and a second later clicked shut. The butler had been so kind to her these past two days, bringing her food in her room since she’d holed up there to avoid Adrian as much as possible and recover from the jet lag that had overcome her with a vengeance.
A cowardly move on her part, but also effective. She’d accomplished quite a bit during her self-imposed exile.
She’d also had multiple video calls with her dad. Just being able to see him had eased some of her worry. The impending sale of the winery and knowing that his employees would be safe had taken quite a bit of stress off his plate. That was evident in his voice and the glimmer of energy in his eyes. It was a positive in what seemed to be an endless cycle of bad news.
But, lovely as her brief sabbatical had been, Adrian had set up a meeting between her and his marketing team for tomorrow. She hated to leave the haven of her room, but she knew the longer she hid, the more difficult it would be for her to rejoin the world. Her chances of being named director were probably slim to none by now, and she certainly wouldn’t win herself any points by playing hermit.
Doubt whispered in her ear. If a forbidden kiss with her new boss sent her into hiding, was she even capable of leading? No matter how hot the kiss had been, and no matter how incredible Adrian’s rock-hard body had felt against hers, she should have pulled herself together, acted like an adult and put their interlude out of her mind.
Easier said than done when the taste of him still lingered on her lips... He’d left his mark on her—from the woodsy scent she couldn’t get rid of, no matter how many times she showered, to the lustful heat that had sunk its roots deep into her heart.
She closed her laptop as the footsteps behind her grew louder. “Diego, there’s really no need...”
She turned in the chair and felt the words die on her lips. Adrian stood in the doorway, dressed in dark jeans and a black cable-knit sweater, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Stubble shadowed his jaw and his hair was tousled, as if someone had been running their fingers through it.
Just like she had two nights ago, when she’d nearly given up her virginity in a side street.