The guilt hit her, but she had to shove it aside. Zeke had every good intention of making his brother take a forced vacation...but her carnal thoughts that were accompanying them weren’t so innocent. Still, she had to hold firm if she ever wanted to discover if this sexual attraction was only one-sided.
Kelly figured one minor lie in the grand scheme of things was nothing compared to what Luke had already been through. He would forgive her—she hoped. If this plan procured some new idea, then he might even give her a raise.
Her breath caught in her throat.
And if the plan produced a successful seduction? Well, she honestly didn’t know what that would mean once they returned to the office, but she couldn’t think about that right now. There was too much on her mind to crowd any more worries in there.
“Ready for me to set this up?”
Luke blew out a sigh and held out his hands. “At this point, I say we give it a try. What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing.” Kelly started toward the door. “Just leave it all to me. What time should I have the private jet ready for tomorrow?”
“Let’s do noon,” he told her. “I can’t miss the nine o’clock meeting with my brother. Ava wants to see us.”
“Perfect,” she said, her nerves now in full force. “I’ll make all the arrangements.”
Ava was their aunt who had lost her husband, Trent, to a stroke. It hadn’t taken much time for Keith Cooper to swoop in on her during a moment of weakness. While he might have been infatuated with her, Ava hadn’t returned his feelings. She’d only moved in with him platonically when her estate had been foreclosed. That had turned out to be a mess since, shortly after she moved into her own place, Keith’s nephew had revealed it was Keith who had embezzled money from Wingate Enterprises.
Among his many crimes against the family, Keith had used Ava to get closer to the Wingate money and pilfer funds, falsify records, arrange a fire, and frame them for drug trafficking over a period of time. And that’s how the free fall had started and how Keith had wound up arrested and why Luke and Zeke ended up hating Keith for taking advantage of their aunt and nearly destroying the entire family.
Really, the whole sordid nightmare was a complete disaster. Kelly was glad to escape from all of that drama for a while, too.
She left the office and closed the door at her back. Leaning against it, she shut her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. She honestly hadn’t been sure if he was going to say yes or not, but now that he had, there was no turning back.
So how was Luke going to react when he realized she’d double-crossed him and there was no investor? Not only that, but how would he respond when she finally made a move to seduce him?
* * *
The woman deserved a raise, or one hell of a hefty bonus for Christmas.
Kelly Prentiss had stood by his side through thick and thin. She’d been right there through his broken engagement, offering advice and never judging. There was something so comforting about having someone who would not only listen to him no matter what, but who he could also trust implicitly.
Then, with all of the destruction that had befallen the Wingates, she hadn’t wavered one single time. She’d put in just as many hours as he had and she had also delivered her sound advice where needed. She was literally his right-hand woman, and he would be lost without her.
Luke had never met anyone more loyal, more hardworking or more dependable than Kelly.
And now she had a lead on a possible investment that could help not only Wingate Enterprises come back from the dead, but could also boost his reputation and get them on the fast track to regaining their billions.
Kelly was still keeping the meeting location a secret, but he counted on her to bring him only the prospects that would help the company. She understood time was of the essence and not to be wasted. Bottom line? If she was so excited about this potential investor and she wanted to keep everything under wraps, then he’d go along with her plan.
His work as of late had only taken him to the office and once to Dallas for the day. Getting out of Royal, Texas was going to be refreshing, and he almost didn’t care where Kelly was taking him.
Luke relaxed against the soft leather sofa in his plane and glanced through his emails. He answered a few, but moved the others into their appropriate files to get to later. He’d barely slept last night...story of his life over these past few months.
The stress of carrying a company into a new territory and practically starting over was quite the load to bear. But Luke knew he could do it—he refused to admit defeat or ever give up and Kelly was just as much of a fighter.
He glanced across the aisle to where she sat with her laptop. Her tortoiseshell glasses outlined those remarkable green eyes, and her wavy hair had been pulled up on top of her head. With her legs crossed and her little pink toenails showing through her sandals, she looked like a mix of summer vacation and complete professional. He shouldn’t find both attractive, but he couldn’t deny Kelly was a beautiful woman.
No, beautiful seemed too tame a word to describe all of her complexities. Striking and captivating were much better descriptors.
An odd stirring shifted through him, and he chalked it up to lack of sleep and an overworked mind.
No funny business could ever happen between Kelly and him. Because no way in hell would he risk his one and only trusted right-hand woman just for a fling. And besides, he was in no position right now to even think of being with a woman. He couldn’t even get his work under control, let alone have the time to feed into anything such as a relationship.
A relationship? That was so absurd. Clearly he was so stressed from lack of sleep, he was now delusional. Luke wasn’t going to be that creeper boss. He respected the hell out of Kelly. Beauty was only part of what made her so special. She was extremely intelligent, with a sharp mind and quick wit. There was nobody else he’d ever want in the boardroom with him, fighting for his ideas and vision...just as soon as he had said ideas and visions.
Damn it, no wonder he was so confused about his unwanted attraction for his assistant. He’d never thought of her in a romantic manner, but now he couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was the way she’d gotte