Callum was sure that over the years his mother had pretty much kissed that notion goodbye, because there wasn’t a single day that passed when his father didn’t show his mother how much he loved her. Maybe that’s why it came so easily to Callum to admit that he loved a woman. His father was a great role model.
But still, when it came to an Austell falling in love, Callum had a feeling that Gemma would be just as skeptical as his mother had been. So there was no way he could tell her the full truth of why he had spent three years practically right in her backyard.
“I needed to get away from my family for a while,” he heard himself saying, which really wasn’t a lie. He had been wild and reckless in his younger years, and returning home from college hadn’t made things any better. The death of his grandfather had.
He had loved the old man dearly and he would have to say that his grandfather had spoiled him rotten. With the old man gone, there was no one to make excuses for him, no one to get him out of the scrapes he got into and no one who would listen to whatever tale he decided to fabricate. His father had decided that the only way to make him stand on his own was to make him work for it. So he had.
He had worked on his parents’ ranch for a full year, right alongside the other ranch hands, to prove his worth. It had only been after he’d succeeded in doing that that his father had given him Le’Claire to run. But by then Callum had decided he much preferred a ranch-hand bunk to a glamorous thirty-floor high rise overlooking the harbor. So he had hired the best management team money could buy to run his corporation while he returned to work on his parents’ ranch. That’s when he’d met Ramsey and the two had quickly become fast friends.
“I understand,” said Gemma, cutting into his thoughts.
He lifted a brow. He had expected her to question him further. “You do?”
“Yes. That’s why Bane left home to join the Navy. He needed his space from us for a while. He needed to find himself.”
Brisbane was her cousin Dillon’s baby brother. From what Callum had heard, Bane had been only eight when his parents had been killed. He had grieved for them in a different way than the others, by fighting to get the attention he craved. When he’d graduated from high school, he had refused to go to college. After numerous brushes with the law and butting heads with the parents of a young lady who didn’t want him to be a part of their daughter’s life, Dillon had convinced Bane to get his life together. Everyone was hoping the military would eventually make a man of him.
Callum decided that he didn’t want to dig himself in any deeper than he’d be able to pull himself out of when he finally admitted the truth to Gemma. “Would you like to go into the office with me for a while today? Who knows? You might be able to offer me a few decorating suggestions for there as well.”
Her face lit up and he thought at that moment, she could decorate every single thing he owned if it would get him that smile.
“You’d give me that opportunity?”
He held back from saying, I’ll give you every single thing you want, Gemma Westmoreland. “Yes, but only if it’s within my budget,” he said instead.
She threw her head back and laughed, and the hair that went flying around her shoulders made his body hard. “We’ll see if we can work something out,” she said, moving toward the stairs. “It won’t take long for me to dress. I promise.”
“Take your time,” he said to her fleeting back. He peeped around the corner and caught a glimpse of long, shapely legs when she lifted the hem of her outfit to rush up the stairs. His body suddenly got harder with a raw, primitive need.
He went over to the counter to pour a cup of the coffee she’d prepared, thinking he hadn’t gotten that kiss yet, but he was determined to charm it out of her at some point today.
“Welcome back, Mr. Austell.”
“Thanks, Lorna. Is everyone here?” Callum asked the older woman sitting behind the huge desk.
“Yes, sir. They are here and ready for today’s meeting.”
“Good. I’d like you to meet Gemma Westmoreland, one of my business associates. Gemma this is Lorna Guyton.”