Crista McHugh - The Sweetest Seduction

Adam ran his thumb over her lips. “Think about my offer.”

She didn’t need to think about it. She already knew her answer, but she was too much of a coward to tell him right then. She stood there while he followed Mr. Bates downstairs, forming the best plan. She couldn’t resurrect La Arietta on her own, and she couldn’t become a kept woman. Each beat of her heart confirmed the inevitable, deepening the ache in her chest.

She had no future with a man like Adam Kelly.

Now was the time to slip out of his life for good, before her body seized control of her better judgment and she surrendered to his touch. She pressed the button for the elevator and caught a cab home to her mother’s apartment, carrying only the memories of a few shattered dreams with her.

Adam punched in Lia’s number one more time. Like every time he’d tried to call her over the last two days, it went straight to voice mail. He hadn’t heard a word from her since the fire except for a text telling him she’d gone to her mother’s, followed by the e-mail he’d received less than an hour ago letting him know that he could give the lease to Amadeus Schlittler.

“Damn it, woman! Why are you being so stubborn?”

Her silence didn’t just hurt—it tore at his heart like some sadistic punishment that inflicted pain every time he thought of her. He’d offered to have her move in with him and let him take of everything that worried her. In truth, it was the closest he’d come to proposing to her. Maybe he would’ve been better off doing that.

He pulled up the e-mail again and let her cold words prick his skin like dozens of little daggers.

Dear Adam,

Seeing as how the damage to La Arietta will require extensive time and money to repair, I think it is in your best interest to offer the space to Amadeus Schlittler and forget about me.

Sincerely,

Lia Mantovani

He slammed his keyboard against his desk in frustration. Maybe he’d been wrong in his assumption that she’d really cared for him. Maybe it had all been an act to seduce him into letting her keep the restaurant, and now that she couldn’t afford it, she was done with him.

But when he remembered the way she’d told him she loved him in that sleepy voice a few days ago, he knew she hadn’t been pretending. She loved him as much as he loved her. He just needed to find out what had her running scared.

A brisk knock sounded at his door. Bates came in carrying two folders. “Mr. Kelly, Mr. Volowski has been rather, um, insistent to learn your final decision on the Michigan Avenue property. I’ve taken the liberty of drawing up two different leases—one for Mr. Schlittler and one for Ms. Mantovani.”

Bates placed each folder on his desk and opened them up to the documents inside. It was time to make a decision. He skimmed over the prospective agreement with Schlittler, then the one with Lia. He halted when he saw the monthly rent on her lease. “Is this correct?” he asked, pointing to the number that was a quarter of what he’d normally charge.

Bates put on his reading glasses and checked the figure. “Yes, sir. That is the amount in her original sublease.”

“Who authorized it?”

His assistant flipped past the new lease to reveal the original one. On the very last page, the delicate loops of his mother’s signature filled the owner’s line.

Adam took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. He should’ve known there was one more piece of the puzzle that he’d overlooked. “I think I need to have a conversation with the owner before I do anything else.”

“And what should I tell Mr. Volowski when he calls again?”

Adam stared at Schlittler’s lease, then Lia’s. He’d promised her he’d do everything in his power to let her keep La Arietta. If he wanted to win her back, he needed to start by proving he was a man of his word.

He picked up Schlittler’s lease and tore it in half. “Tell Mr. Volowski that Chef Amadeus and I failed to reach an agreement.”

Bates raised a brow but took the shredded paper without asking why. A faint smile played on his lips. “Very good, sir. I’ll arrange a lunch date with your mother when she returns to Chicago on Tuesday.”

“Thank you.” He closed the folder with Lia’s leases and patted the cover. It was a start, but he could take it one step further. “Also, could you please find the photos you took of La Arietta before the fire and show them to the contractor? I want everything restored to the way it was.”

“Right away, Mr. Kelly.” Bates nodded in approval, adding before he shut door behind him, “By the way, Robert Curry called and has asked to set up a meeting with you. Said he found what you were looking for.”

Adam cracked his knuckles. Time to deliver the one-two blow, especially if Curry’s cryptic message meant he had the dirt on Ray. He picked up the phone and dialed Curry’s number. “I understand you’d like to set up a meeting?”

The private investigator chuckled. “I went digging like you asked, and you won’t believe the sewer line I hit.”

He grinned. “That bad, huh?”

“Worse.”

He checked the clock on his desk. Three o’clock. Normally, he’d be counting down the minutes until he saw Lia again by this time of day, but now he itched to learn what Curry had unearthed and how he could use it against Ray. “When can you be here?”

“I’m just a couple of blocks down the road from your office.”

“What a coincidence—I happen to have an opening in my schedule right now. I’ll tell Bates to let you in when you arrive.”

“See you in a few.” The phone clicked dead, but it didn’t kill Adam’s enthusiasm.

He buzzed Bates. “Hold off on letting Ray know my decision. I’ll deliver it to him personally after I meet with Mr. Curry.”

“Very good, sir.”

At least there was one thing going in his favor. Adam glanced at the e-mail on his screen again. If she wouldn’t answer his phone calls, then hopefully she’d read her e-mail. He clicked the reply arrow and started typing. Business first, and once that was settled, then hopefully he could go back to the pleasure of having her in his arms once again.

The phone buzzed in her lap again. She looked at the number and silenced it.

“It’s him again, isn’t it?” her mother asked as she took the off ramp for O’Hare Airport.

“What does it matter?” She’d made her break with him, much like yanking a bandage off in one swift stroke. Yes, it stung, but the pain would be over sooner than slowly drawing it out.

“Maybe he has something to say to you.”

She stared out the window at the tails of all the planes lining the terminals. “He’s said enough for me to realize he’s no different than Trey.”

“Bullshit. No son of Maureen Kelly would ever be like that arrogant prick. She raised them better than that, just like I raised you better than the way you’re acting now.”

Lia closed her eyes and counted to ten before her temper got the better of her and resulted in her mother making a U-turn back to their apartment. “I told you before—I just need some space to figure out what I’m going to do next.”

“No, you’re running away from your problems, and I’m ashamed of you.”

“Ma, please, just let me deal with it.”

“But you’re not dealing with it. You should be back there at your restaurant starting the repair work, not catching a plane to mope around Italy with my cousin.”

Lia pressed her fingers to her temples. “It’s not that simple. For starters, I don’t own that space any more. My lease ends today.”

“So you assume.” She pointed at Lia’s phone, swerving into the next lane as she did and earning a blaring reprimand from someone’s horn. “Maybe that’s what Adam’s been trying to tell you all morning, but you’re too pessimistic to answer him and hear what he has to say.”

“No, that’s not what it’s about.” She drew in a deep breath, knowing her confession would probably earn her a swat across the back of her head...and probably have her mom veering off the road in a fit of rage. “I gave up the space.”

“What?” The rear tires her mother’s 1992 sedan squealed, and the steering wheel resembled one of those carnival rides that spun back and forth without any rhyme or reason.

Lia straight-armed the dashboard and prayed she’d make it to the terminal alive.

The car rocked from side to side as her mother found the center of the lane again. Her lips formed a thin line, and the furrows in her brow spoke more harshly of her displeasure than any lecture ever could. “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

“Yes, Ma, there is.”

“You’re not knocked up, are you?”

Lia’s jaw dropped. “What kind of accusation is that?”

“Why else would you give up the thing you loved the most unless you knew you had a little one on the way?” The anger in her face melted into the exciting prospect of possibly becoming a grandmother. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?”

“Keep dreaming, Ma. There is no baby.” As evidenced by the monthly reminder that she’d wasted another egg this morning. Someone said confession was good for the soul, so since she was baring it all to her mother, she continued, “Someone was threatening to sue Adam if he renewed my lease.”

“And you think he isn’t man enough to stand up for you, huh?”

“No, I—” What would Adam have done if La Arietta hadn’t caught on fire? Would he have renewed her lease and faced the consequences without telling her? Would he have bowed down to pressure? She glanced down at the phone, wondering if she should even bother asking him. “Jules is already looking at places for me, and when I get back, I’ll make a decision on what the next step will be for La Arietta.”