Jet Set Confessions. Maureen Child

much could jeopardize her job and that had to come first. She’d been offered a twenty-thousand dollar bonus if she succeeded. And she needed that money.

      With an actual savings account, she could buy a car that didn’t run on hopes and dreams and invest in her own business to help it grow.

      “What are you thinking?” His question shattered the thoughts he was asking about.

      Fiona had to scramble. “Just wondering how a man gets into tech toys,” she said, and silently congratulated herself on coming up with that so quickly.

      He took a sip of his scotch and set the heavy glass tumbler down again. “Started in the family business.” He shrugged. “Recently I went out on my own.”

      “Really. Why?”

      He gave her a suspicious look. “Why do you care?”

      “I don’t,” she lied. “Just curious. Is this about your disagreement with your grandfather?”

      “And why should I feed a stranger’s curiosity?”

      “Oh,” Fiona said with a slow smile, “after what we’ve already shared, I don’t think we’re strangers anymore.”

      He laughed shortly and inclined his head. “Point taken. Okay, you’re right. My grandfather and I couldn’t see eye to eye.”

      “Isn’t there a compromise in there somewhere?”

      “Not with Pop. He prefers the past, and I want the future.”

      Basically what she already knew. “Sounds dire.”

      “No.” One firm shake of his head. “Just business.”

      “Even with family?”

      “Family adds another layer, but it still boils down to business.” Frowning, he said, “My grandfather and I had a plan. He changed his mind, so I’m going ahead with the plan on my own. Simple.”

      “Is it? Simple, I mean.”

      “It will be,” he said, nodding to himself.

      He clammed up fast after that, and Fiona once again silently warned herself to go slowly. Carefully. His eyes were closed off, shuttered as if he’d erected a privacy wall around his thoughts. And she had a feeling that she’d never get past that wall by using a battering ram. He was clearly a private person, so that would make getting him to open up to her more difficult. And despite what he’d just said, she knew there was nothing simple about his situation.

      Yet she had to wonder how he could shut out a grandfather who loved him. Fiona didn’t have family. She had friends. Lots of friends, because she’d set out to create a family. She couldn’t imagine turning her back on a grandfather who loved her.

      Wistfully, she wondered briefly what that might be like and wondered why Luke couldn’t see how lucky he was to have the very family he was at odds with.

      Their lunch arrived then and they both went quiet as the waiter set the plates in front of them, then filled water goblets.

      Luke had ordered the same burger she had, but with avocado. “Sure you don’t want to try it?”

      She held out one hand in a “stop” gesture. “Way sure.”

      “You could look at this as an opportunity to expand your horizons.”

      She laughed. “With an avocado?”

      “It’s a start.” His eyes flashed and a new jolt of heat swept through Fiona.

      “I think we could find a better place to start expanding those horizons,” she said quietly. “Don’t you?”

      He looked at her for a long moment, the heat in his eyes searing every inch of her skin. “I can work with that.”