Free So Far Into You by Lily Malone

know where Charles de Gaulle airport is.’
    â€˜Sorry.’ He kicked himself yet again, for being a patronising arse. Seth sucked in a breath. ‘When I get back from Bordeaux—how about we go out and have that coffee for real. I’d like to get to know you properly. Start again.’
    â€˜There’s still the workplace memo.’ She pinched the seam of her work pants. ‘I don’t see how we can—’
    â€˜That memo is there to discourage personal relationships between staff where they might endanger a safe workplace. A few years ago one of the cellarhands crashed a forklift and knocked a stack of oak barrels. It just missed crushing another worker, and this was because he was flirting with a girl from cellar door and he wasn’t paying attention.’ Seth pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘We know we can’t tell our staff who they can and can’t’—he’d been about to say fall in love with, but he changed it to: ‘see.’
    â€˜ Hell and Tommy. No wonder they call it the no bonking in the barrel hall policy.’
    He laughed. ‘Hell and Tommy. Where does that come from?’
    â€˜My father used to say it. It’s about the only thing I kept of him.’ She smiled, with her mouth but not with her eyes. A small, sad smile and seeing it, something inside him broke. He wasn’t sure it was a part that could be fixed.
    â€˜Don’t be sad, Rem.’ If he kissed her again, could he kiss that sadness away?
    Remy was on her feet, moving, stealing his heart. He didn’t want to meet her halfway, because she was so very lovely to watch walk across the room, but her hands came out and he reached for them, and he was about to hug her tight to his chest when the handle of his office door rattled and they sprang apart.
    â€˜Seth? Are you there?’
    â€˜I didn’t lock it,’ Remy muttered, patting at her tangled hair.
    â€˜Seth?’ The handle moved and the door was pushed open. His mother stepped into the room, twisting to her left to grope for the switch to the overhead lights.
    â€˜Don’t switch the—’ Light stung his eyes. ‘Never mind.’
    Ailsa’s gaze flicked over Remy like she wasn’t there. ‘I thought you were driving to Perth tonight, Seth?’
    Remy cleared her throat and said, ‘I was just leaving. Thank you for that discussion, Mr Lasrey, it’s very helpful. I feel a lot clearer about the policy now. Goodnight.’ She turned to his mother: ‘Goodnight, Mrs Lasrey.’
    Remy ducked around his mother and fled.
    Ailsa sat heavily on the cushions of his couch and wiggled her shoulders. ‘She’s left me a warm spot.’
    â€˜What did you want, Ailsa?’
    â€˜I knew that girl was trouble. What are you thinking? Have you lost your mind? What would your brother think?’
    â€˜She’s not with Blake.’
    â€˜That doesn’t mean I want her to switch her attention to you.’ She recrossed her legs. ‘Please will you invite Helene to visit for a few weeks after Bordeaux? That will stop tongues wagging. Or start them. Depending on how you want to look at it.’
    â€˜I’m not inviting Helene anywhere.’
    He stonewalled her glare for a while and it was Ailsa who spoke first. ‘Have you said anything else to Blake about this surfing thing?’
    â€˜Not since I saw him Sunday morning.’
    â€˜Well, he’s just been up at the big house and he says it’s definite. He’s going to try out for the qualifying tour.’
    â€˜Did you wish him luck?’
    â€˜ Luck? ’
    Seth shrugged. ‘He’s doing it whether you approve or not.’
    â€˜No I didn’t wish him luck .’ Ailsa had sat forward, now she relaxed into the cushions. ‘At least, darling, I’ve still got you.’
    â€˜That’s something else I’ll be putting on the agenda for next board