Rhett swallowed hard. “I think it sounds great.”
“We’ll consider it. I know Hunter has a list already started.” Rhett heard the tap, tap, tap of Alex’s pen. “When will Gabriella be ready to share the scent? Are you focusing on one in particular or does she want to offer a few choices so we could narrow it down?”
Panic clawed at Rhett’s chest. He suddenly felt the need for a paper bag so he could hyperventilate into it. “Probably a few choices. She isn’t stuck on one particular scent at the moment.” Hell, he was making it up as he went along. Like usual.
“And you two are getting along, right?” Alex’s voice lowered. “No funny business involved?”
The king of funny business had the nerve to ask him that? “Aren’t you the one who messed around with your assistant while working in Europe?” Rhett pointed out not-so-kindly. All the questions made him irritable. Real life had a rude way of butting its ugly head in and ruining his good time.
“That was different.” Alex sniffed. “We were halfway in love by the time we got to Paris. You, on the other hand, hardly know this woman.”
Rhett knew he didn’t like the thought of being away from her for too long. Even now, with him inside the villa and her sitting outside nearby, he felt a loss. Like he needed to go to her and touch her, hold her tight. Make everything better just by being connected to her.
“I have to go. I’ll call you when we arrive in New York.” Rhett ended the call before Alex could say another word, guilt lingering within him. He hardly ever cut off his oldest brother, usually saving that sort of behavior for Hunter, but he didn’t want to deal with the questions. It all made him feel like a failure.
And he was going to fuck up this project, he knew it. He could feel it in his bones. It was his fault Gabriella was distracted and could hardly work on the scent. He kept her too busy in bed to think about much else.
Or maybe that was his problem. She was all he thought about. He thought his obsession was bad before he slept with her…
He stepped out onto the deck, noticed that she stared off into space, a dreamy expression on her face. Often he found her like that. Thinking, dreaming, over what, he wasn’t sure.
“What are you doing?”
She startled, turning around to glare at him with a hand resting over her chest. “You scared me to death.”
“Sorry.” He leaned in for a quick kiss before he settled in the chair next to her.
“Were you on the phone?”
He nodded grimly. “With Alex.”
“Oh.” She glanced down at her notebook, chewing on her lower lip. “Did he ask about the scent?”
“He did.” He tried his best to keep his voice neutral but it was difficult. “He asked how you were progressing.”
“And what did you tell him?”
A bunch of lies to keep him happy. “I said everything was coming together.”
Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away from him, covering her eyes with her hands. “Great, so you lied. Your brothers are going to hate my concept.”
“No, they won’t.” He reached for her, but she pulled away, dropping her hands to glare at him. “They’ll love it.” How he wished he could ask what the hell it actually was.
She slammed her notebook shut, making the table rattle with the force of it. “I doubt that. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” Sighing, she stood and walked toward the ledge of the deck, resting her arms on it so she could stare out at the ocean.
Rhett followed her, suddenly afraid to get too close. She’d been edgy, almost despondent for the last few hours, and he wasn’t sure what was bothering her or why. “Is something wrong?” Christ, he wanted to roll his eyes at himself. He sounded like a chick.
“Nothing you could help me with.” She kept her gaze trained straight ahead and he noticed her eyes were still watery with tears.
“Try me.” He leaned his arms on the wooden ledge close to hers.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at him. “My father called me this morning.”
Rhett frowned. “Is everything all right?” He knew somewhat of how guilty she felt, leaving her father back home. How odd he’d become over the years, how obligated she felt to take care of him. How he hadn’t necessarily encouraged her to take the job with Worth, which had secretly devastated her though she wasn’t one to go into details about it.
“He called to let me know he accepted a job offer. He leaves next week for Italy.” She slowly shook her head.
“With who?” Unease settled within him as he waited for her answer.