Remaining focused on business was easier said than done as Nate pulled up a chair next to hers and brushed against her as he keyed in the URL that would take her computer onto the Jackson Importers portal.
“You’ll need your own password. I’ll get IT onto that immediately. While I go and sort that out, why don’t you cruise around the website and make a list of questions you want to ask me?”
She merely nodded as he stood again, sucking in a deep breath of relief when he left the office. She’d thought her anger and resentment toward him would allow her to cope better with his close presence here in the office. The opposite couldn’t have been more true. She’d found her eyes riveted on his long fingers as they’d flown over the keyboard of her new laptop, and had been forced to quell the memory of what those fingers had felt like as they’d flown over her body.
Nicole leaned back in the high-backed, leather office chair and swung around to face the view out over the Waitemata Harbour. Even on a workday the water was scattered with yachts making the most of the autumn sunshine and the strong breeze. How she wished she could emulate their freedom. But freedom was something that would remain in limited supply for her until she could work a way out of this mess. Somehow, someway, she’d find a way to get her own back on Nate Jackson, and, like his father before him, he’d be sorry he’d ever tangled with a Wilson.
Six
Nate spent the rest of the afternoon with Nicole, discussing the wines they imported and the systems that Jackson Importers had in place both in New Zealand and overseas for distribution to their worldwide network of buyers. By the time the sun was dipping below the Waitakere Ranges in the distance, they were both looking pretty exhausted.
“I think it’s best if we stay in town tonight, at my apartment,” Nate said as he stood and stretched out the kinks he’d gathered in his back from sitting at his desk so long.
“Whatever you say,” Nicole muttered.
“Would you rather head out to Karekare? We’ll have to swing by the apartment and collect your new things first.”
“I’d rather go home—to my home—but since that’s not going to happen, I don’t really care one way or the other where I sleep tonight.”
Her dark brown eyes met his in a silent challenge—as if she was daring him to contradict her. Nate knew full well when to pick his battles and she’d be disappointed if she thought he was going to rise to her bait this time around.
“Good then, it’s settled. The apartment it is.”
A flush rose in her cheeks. Annoyance, perhaps? Irritated or not, she gathered her bag and followed him out the office. She remained silent until they reached the undercover parking below the apartment complex.
“Is that my car?”
While she’d been interested and had plied him with questions about Jackson Importers all afternoon, this was the first sign of genuine animation he’d seen in her face since the weekend.
“Sure is. I have two spaces here. It makes sense for you to have your own wheels easily available, but we’ll probably commute together most of the time.”
She hastened out of the Maserati and he watched as she checked over her vehicle, examining every panel.
“It’s a Roadster, right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied, finally satisfied the vehicle had come to no harm. “A ’58 300 SL, to be precise. Good to see your people didn’t do any damage.”
“I only use the best,” he replied.
Nicole eyed him over the soft top of her car. What would he do, she wondered, if she just jumped in, started it up and gunned it out of here? The instant the thought blossomed in her mind she knew she’d never carry it through. Not when he held such damning evidence over her and especially not now that the photo of the two of them last Thursday night had probably been brought to her father’s attention.
“I’m pleased to hear it,” she finally managed.
“Come on up to the apartment. You must be starving by now.”
Now that he mentioned it, she was pretty hungry. She’d only had a nibble of the muffin at breakfast and had refused to stop and eat lunch.
“Sure, it’s not like there’s anything else to do,” she said with a touch of defiance.
For some reason he gave her a look that she could only describe as approving. What? She’d subtly insulted him and he beamed back at her? The man was a conundrum, all right. A very powerful and sexy conundrum with an inordinate amount of control over her life right now. She may not like it, but she would just have to get used to it, she told herself. Even so, she didn’t have to make him positively happy about the situation.
The trip in the elevator was smooth and swift and the doors opened to a corridor lined with expensive artwork. Her heels sank into the thick carpet as they walked to the end of the corridor where Nate swiped a key card and then pushed open one of two massive double doors and gestured her inside. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the vista in front of her. She’d thought the view from his office was stunning, but this was something else. She could see over North Head and Mt. Victoria, out to Rangitoto Island and beyond.
“You certainly like your sea views,” she said, dropping her bag on one of the wide and comfortable-looking leather sofas that faced out to the balcony.
“I do.”
His answer was short and succinct and came from right behind her. Suddenly she was aware of him. Painfully aware. Every nerve in her body attuned to the knowledge that right now very little space separated them. After that one kiss in the boardroom, he’d kept his distance. She hadn’t realized up until now just how much she’d craved his touch. But she wouldn’t give in. Couldn’t. She had some pride left.
Before he could do anything, she stepped away, creating a void between them as she turned and faced him. A void that left her body silently screaming but which she refused to acknowledge, because that would only have her fall very firmly exactly where he so obviously wanted her, again. She might not be able to control much else in her world right now, but she could have some mastery over herself—however hard fought for.
“Where is my bedroom?” she asked.
“The master suite is right through there,” he said, pointing down a wide hallway.
“No, not your bedroom,” she said pointedly, “mine. I agreed to work for you. I never said anything about anything else.”
“Anything else being?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“Oh, you mean this?”
Nate traced the neckline of her dress with the knuckle of his forefinger, smiling approvingly when her skin reacted with a scatter of goose bumps. Nicole didn’t move, she could barely breathe. One touch from him was about enough to send her up in flames. Already her entire body was invested in that tiny point of contact. She steeled herself for more, knowing she daren’t so much as betray another measure of reaction.
“Are you going to force me, Nate?” she asked, her voice deadly calm and at total odds with the swirl of desire that fought for dominance.
“Force you? No, I don’t think so.”
“Believe me, I don’t want you.”
“You don’t want me—or you don’t want to want me?”
She held her ground, refusing to answer, still not moving so much as a muscle. Eventually Nate let his hand drop.
“There’s a guest bedroom and en suite second on the right. I’ll move your things in there.”
“Thank you.”
Nicole allowed herself to breathe again. It was a small victory but an important one. She felt as if she’d conquered Everest.
It was Thursday evening, a week since they’d met, yet it felt as if it had been a lifetime. Nicole shut down her laptop and grabbed the overseas market reports she planned on using as her bedtime reading tonight. Sleep
had been elusive these past few days. Knowing Nate was only meters down the hall from where she slept each night was unnerving. It was your own choice, she reminded herself sternly.
She’d been surprised to find Nate appeared unperturbed by her insistence on separate rooms, and it made her wonder whether she was alone in believing their lovemaking had been way outside the usual realm of experience. Maybe he was like that with all his women. She was surprised at the bitter taste that formed in the back of her mouth at the thought. How many other women lay in their bed each night reliving, caress by caress, the exquisite beauty of his touch against their skin, the possession of his body as it filled theirs?
She closed her eyes as a surge of need billowed through her body. It was just sex, for goodness’ sake, she reminded herself as she shook her head slightly and opened her eyes. She could live without it. Liar, an insidious voice in the back of her mind whispered.
The office door swung open and the object of her thoughts filled the doorway. Her eyes roamed his body, taking in every aspect of his perfection from the hand-tooled leather of his Italian shoes to the sharp line of his tailored suit jacket. Slowly she raised her eyes to meet his, cursing the flush she knew colored her cheeks.
“I’m glad I caught you,” Nate said, dispensing with any social pleasantries.
He was like that, she’d noticed. Charming as all get out when necessary, but straight to the point when it wasn’t. Clearly she fell into the “not necessary to be charmed” pile now, Nicole thought with an internal grimace. Or maybe, that little inner voice whispered again, he’s just as frustrated as you are and this is how he shows it.
“What’s up?” Nicole answered, forcing a nonchalance into her voice she was far from feeling.
“Your brother and Anna Garrick headed down to the Marlborough region today.”
“Judd and Anna? Why?”
“I was hoping you’d be in the position to answer that. We all know it’s one of New Zealand’s major wine producing areas but Wilson Wines has only ever sold imported product for distribution before.”
“Oh, no!” Nicole lifted a hand to her mouth.
“You know why they’re there?”
She shook her head. “I can’t be certain. Dad pretty much dismissed my study as being a waste of time and energy.”
“Study?” Nate’s expression became intent, every muscle in his body drawn tight.
“With the rising cost of international freight and the fluctuation of the New Zealand dollar, I thought it would be a good time to explore the internal distribution of a solid range of New Zealand wines. Wines not already being sold through major liquor retailers and supermarkets. The kinds of wines people might find in upmarket restaurants, bars and hotels. But make those wines a bit more accessible to the average consumer,” she explained.
“Makes sense.” Nate nodded. “Why did your father dismiss the study? Was it not feasible?”
Nicole laughed. “You think my father explained his decision to me? You don’t know him as well as you think. No, he just told me we weren’t pursuing it any further and not to waste any more of my time on it. So I didn’t. Judd or Anna must have found my reports and somehow persuaded him the idea had merit.”
“They’ve gone down to solicit new suppliers?”
“I’d say so.”
Nicole fought to hide the hot rush of anger she felt toward her father for his about-face on her recommendations.
“You must have put a lot of work into this. It pisses you off, doesn’t it, that your brother is getting to see through what you started?”
“That’s a polite way of putting it,” Nicole said. She was angry and hugely disappointed that she hadn’t had the opportunity to see it all through. “I’d already approached several wineries whose management teams were very keen to come on board.”
“Then I’d suggest you stop wasting time,” Nate said, a half smile on his face.
“Time?” She felt like an idiot. What on earth was he talking about.
“Yeah, get down there and win back your business. Show me you can go at this with everything you’ve got.”
Nicole looked at him in amazement. Carte blanche to progress her idea? Just like that? What if it failed? There were already so many wonderful and inexpensive New Zealand wines on the market, could it support more? Would there be a demand for the more exclusive vintages? And what about the upmarket imported wines they already sold? Would they be eating into their current business instead of growing new opportunities?
Her market analysis and research had borne out a definite niche of demand. Maybe she’d been too quick to let her father quash her idea. Maybe she just should have fought harder for what she believed in, what she knew to have great potential. Excitement began to bubble through her veins.
“Right, I’ll get right on it,” she said, reaching into her handbag for one of the backup memory sticks she always carried with her and powering her computer back up. She’d show Nate, all right. Success or fail, she’d show him, and maybe—just maybe—somewhere along the line she’d get to show her father her true worth to him, after all.
“Need any help?” Nate offered.
“No, I think I’ll be okay. I’ll start making calls first thing tomorrow and plan to head down on Sunday. I’d rather not bump into Judd and Anna while I’m down there so if I can work out who they’re likely to be seeing first, and when, I can follow along behind and make an offer the wineries can’t refuse.”
“I like the way you think. I take it you have those reports on your drive?”
She nodded, automatically pulling up the files even as he spoke.
Inside, however, she alternated between disbelief that Nate believed in her ideas and the sheer joy of being told to implement them. She hesitated before sending the print command, waiting for him to reveal the catch or to shut her down, but, to her surprise, it didn’t come.
“If you print me off a set we can go over them together. I’ll order some dinner up for us while you do that.”
Nicole nodded again, forcing her focus on the screen in front of her as Nate left the room. He was really going ahead with this. She’d reprinted her list of contacts and her feasibility study by the time Nate returned to the office.
“I’ve asked a few others to stay back in case you need them,” he said as he grabbed a chair and pulled it next to her.
“Really?” she said, trying to control the sudden acceleration in her heart rate as his large body filled the space next to hers.
“We’re a team here, Nicole. I wouldn’t expect any of my staff to do this all alone. Besides, when it comes to you making an offer your clients can’t refuse, I think it would be best if that offer came from a brainstorming session among us all so that it is completely unbeatable.”
Nicole murmured her assent and concentrated on her computer screen as unexpected tears sprang to her eyes. A team. Even though she was here under duress, Nate still trusted her with all the resources of his company, backing her play and giving her room to develop her plan collaboratively, with all the help she needed. It was quite a change from Wilson Wines, where an idea of hers would have had to be fully formulated, presented and approved by her father before any backup was given.
It was a system that had probably worked well when the company first began, and it had been so crucial to have a clear chain of command to keep the business stable and the employees on track. But even when the company had grown past that stage, the management style had never changed. At Wilson Wines she’d had to fight for change tooth and nail, losing more often than not to her father’s dictatorial management style. When she had her emotions in check she asked Nate a question.
“Has Jackson Importers always done everything by committee?”
She aimed to keep her tone light, teasing even, but she knew she
’d come off as sounding critical when Nate shot her a dark glance.
“For the very important stuff, yes. When we succeed, and we do tend to do that a whole lot, we succeed together. When everyone has a hand in it, everyone works harder and feels far more satisfaction on an individual level. Why, don’t you think that’s important?”
“No, no, it’s not that. I’ve just…not really come across that before.”
“Well, you have only ever worked at Wilson Wines, right? Even on your school holidays? You never took any other kind of after-school job, did you?”
She was surprised he knew that information. He seemed to know a terrible lot about her. Just how much? she wondered, feeling a little as if she was under a microscope—pinned, as she was, by his intent gaze.
“No, I didn’t. All I ever wanted was to work with my father.”
Nate’s expression softened and, if she wasn’t mistaken, his eyes gleamed now with something more akin to compassion.
“I know what you mean. From when I was very young and I knew that Dad was working all the hours that God sent so he could provide for me and my mother, I knew that I wanted to help him. I couldn’t qualify soon enough. If he’d have let me, I’d have started with Jackson Importers straight from school, but he insisted that I complete university first, and that I take jobs and internships with other companies while I was a student, so I could be sure Jackson Importers was where I wanted to be. At the time, I was upset that he thought I didn’t know what I wanted, but now I can appreciate the experience I gained. It helped me have more insight than I would’ve had if I’d only ever worked here.”
“And then you went overseas?”
“Yeah, first of all for a bit of a holiday—again, at his insistence—then, while I was there I just saw so many opportunities for our company if they had a man on the ground right there in the heart of our major European suppliers.”
“Your father just let you do that without any experience in the company? You must have been so young.”
A Forbidden Affair Page 7
