Read Online A Win-Win Proposition by Cat Schield - Free Book Online Page B

took a great deal of effort, but he locked away his erotic musings. “It should never have happened.”
    â€œBut it did.” She met his gaze, her eyes soft with curiosity.
    She wanted to know why he’d made love to her when he’d been so determined it was the wrong thing to do. He hadn’t quite answered that question for himself. He could blame it on intense sexual chemistry, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth. Grasping the whole truth might just lead him into uncharted territory where his assistant was concerned.
    A familiar figure emerged from the pool and reminded Sebastian that he had more problems at hand than hiswayward assistant. “Did my mother give you any hint of what my father is really doing here?”
    Â 
    Reeling from what she’d glimpsed in Sebastian’s somber gray eyes, Missy scrambled to reorient her thoughts. “She said your dad went golfing this morning. I assumed they came here on vacation.”
    â€œHe took Lucas Smythe golfing. Probably intends to talk him out of selling Smythe Industries to us.”
    Missy’s chest tightened. Sebastian’s relationship with his father was uneasy. During the years she worked for the eldest Case son, she’d had a front-row seat to Sebastian’s battle with his father over business strategies and the direction the company should move in the future.
    When Brandon’s health problems had surfaced and he’d announced his plans to retire, Missy had assumed Sebastian and Max would at last have the chance to run things their way. Then the surprise announcement—Brandon had convinced Nathan to return to Houston and join the family business.
    Although everyone at the company knew Nathan was a half brother to Max and Sebastian, Missy suspected she was the only one outside the family who knew that Nathan was a love child produced by Brandon’s long-time mistress who died when Nathan was twelve.
    Because Missy had gotten to know Sebastian’s mother fairly well, Susan had discussed those early days when her husband first insisted that Nathan move in with them. Missy wasn’t sure she could have put aside her hurt and anger at a husband’s betrayal the way Susan had. In fact, she’d treated Nathan no differently than if he’d been her own son.
    Nor had her biological sons made things any easier. Susan had described a house in turmoil. Sebastian and Max were old enough to understand how deeply their father had hurt their mother and resented the appearance of a half brother that didn’t belong. Bitterness led to bad behavior. It was nosurprise when Nathan took off after college. And from what Missy had gathered, he might have stayed away if Brandon’s heart problems hadn’t grown serious. Too bad having Nathan work for Case Consolidated Holdings was just the first of many times Brandon had interfered since his retirement.
    â€œMy father’s planning on attending the summit,” Sebastian continued.
    â€œAre you going to be okay?” She put her hand on his arm, sympathy spilling into her voice.
    â€œFine.” His terse reply was typical of how Sebastian coped with any emotion having to do with his father. Shut it down and pretend nothing’s wrong.
    She offered up an inaudible sigh to St. Monica, the patron saint her mother often prayed to for patience. “This is your summit, Sebastian. He won’t interfere.”
    â€œHe’s here, isn’t he?” His gaze shifted from her to his mother. “He’s already interfering.”
    â€œMaybe he won’t.”
    â€œStop being so damned positive.”
    Rarely, in all the years that they’d worked together had she dared physical contact. Sebastian wasn’t the sort of person who invited anyone to enter his space.
    But last night, a shift had happened. A connection, however tenuous, had formed between them. Before she considered her actions, she dropped her hand from his arm to his