Free For Business...Or Marriage? by Jules Bennett Page A

hand, gesturing her ahead of him to the steps. “Let’s go.”
    Distance. He needed to maintain distance, at least on a personal level. Keeping the topics on business and how his wedding plans were going was the safest thing he could do.
    Except, he didn’t want to discuss wedding plans. He wanted to learn more about Abby and what made her, well…Abby. How did this humble, yet dynamite woman land in his father’s office? What really made her seek a different career after her mother’s death? And why the hell hadn’t some man taken one look at her and gotten down on bended knee?
    By the time he stepped outside, he was perspiring and the beads of sweat trickling down his neck had absolutely nothing to do with the ninety-degree heat and everything to do with the ray of sunshine smiling over her shoulder at him.
    “Are we walking?” she asked.
    “We’re not going far.”
    Because she had on killer heels, he took hold of her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm to assist her. The gesture had nothing whatsoever to do withthe fact he wanted to touch her smooth skin. Really, it didn’t.
    He escorted her around the side of the house beneath a canopy of lattice work, vines and blooming flowers. And, just as he’d requested, there was a table for two set up in the corner, nestled against a backdrop of bright pink bougainvilleas and a trickling waterfall that spilled into a small pond, complete with lily pads.
    “We’re eating here?”
    Cade smiled at the surprise in her tone. “I know how you love simplicity and I wanted to do something you liked to show you just how grateful I am to you for discovering that resort at such a great price.”
    She waved a hand. “Oh, Cade, I was just doing my job. I’ve told you that. But I do appreciate the gesture.”
    He took her hand from his arm and guided her across the small, wooden bridge over the pond and led her to her seat.
    “I have to admit,” she said with a wide grin as he sat down across from her, “This is probably the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
    What? Cade couldn’t believe that. But all the more reason he was glad he had made these plans for her. She deserved the best of everything.
    He smiled. “Had I known, I would’ve done more. This is just a simple dinner.”
    She lifted one bare, sexy shoulder. “I’ve been on my own for so long, taking care of my mother andthen working to pay off her bills. So, pretty much if I get pampered, it’s of my own doing.”
    Cade sat back in his seat, watched as she took the cloth napkin from her plate and placed it in her lap. How on earth had he not seen how hard she was working herself? She didn’t even get out to meet people. Was it any wonder she was still single? The only males she’d been around were him and Brady.
    “I’m sorry.” He watched her eyes dart up from her lap where she’d toyed with her napkin. “I’m sorry that we worked you too hard and you couldn’t enjoy life. I guess I just assumed when you left the office you would go out with friends or…I don’t know, do something.”
    “Like ride a mechanical bull?” she asked with a smirk and lift of her brows.
    Cade laughed, something he didn’t do often. “Not exactly what I’d pictured you doing.” God. Had he thought of her in the off hours before now? Obviously so, seeing as how he’d just admitted as much.
    Damn. That’s how slick she was with her…wiles. She’d been in his head for quite a while now. And he wanted nothing more than to call off this wedding and see if he and Abby had anything in common other than real estate dealings and mergers.
    But if he called off the wedding, he’d also diminish any hopes of teaming up with the world’s most renowned real estate mogul.
    And what the hell would he call off the wedding for? Because he had developed a sudden case of hotpants for his assistant? How cliché and pathetic was that? But there was a niggling feeling deep down that told him this…whatever it was