“Then I’ll stay late.” She smiled back at Caro. “Your mother was nice enough to invite me to lunch. It would be rude to leave her now.”
“You can go back to the office and I’ll have lunch with her.”
“But—” Sydney began, but then broke off. Glancing back at Griffin, she said, “Perhaps we should discuss this in private.”
Griffin looked like he’d rather discuss it back at the office, but instead he gave a tight nod. “Mother, if you’ll excuse us?”
“Yes, of course,” she murmured.
“Come on, then.”
Sydney stood, leaving her shoulder bag at the table because that way he couldn’t just show her out. However, instead of taking her out the front of the club, which she’d feared he would do, he guided her out the back, through one of the many glass doors, onto the sprawling patio that overlooked the expansive golf course.
Even though it was late October and theoretically the temperatures should be dropping, it was still in the eighties and the persistent humidity made the air feel sticky. The view of the pristinely manicured lawns of the River Oaks golf course was stunning. It was almost oppressively beautiful. Too beautiful, actually, like the photo on a postcard that’s been touched up so much it no longer looks like a real place.
And she knew that was true of the River Oaks Country Club. There was nothing here that was real. Nothing solid. It was all surgically taut skin and chemically brightened grass.
But perhaps she was prejudiced, her opinions colored by her status as an outsider.
Beside her, Griffin said, “Don’t pretend you came here to lunch with my mother just to admire the view.”
She glanced up at him, taking in the lean lines of his face. Griffin also had that otherworldly quality to him. Not false, exactly, but still too pretty to be real. Unbelievably handsome.
She turned to face him fully. No, she was done pretending.
“Of course I’m not going to pretend. I’m here to talk to your mother, just like you are.”
“The question is, why are you here when you’re supposed to be back at the office?”
“Your mother called me. She offered to help in any way she could. I tried to get a hold of you, but you weren’t available. When she offered to talk to me instead, I accepted. I wanted to strike while the iron was hot. I didn’t do this to undermine you or go behind your back. I was trying to help. That’s all.”
He opened his mouth, his hand raised like he was about to jab a finger toward her to emphasize his point. Then he snapped his mouth shut, spun around and paced about five steps away. Only to turn back around, fists clenched at his side, and glare at her. “You do not need to be here.”
“I feel like she’s really starting to open up to me. Maybe I—”
“If you feel like she’s starting to open to you it’s because that’s what she wants you to feel.”
“You’re saying she’s manipulating me?”
“That’s what my mother does best.” Suddenly, there was no belligerence in his tone. No frustration. Just exhaustion. “Just go back to the office and let me handle her.”
She responded with as much honesty as she could. “I don’t think I should,” she answered simply. “I’m supposed to be helping you find the missing heiress. Your mother obviously has information that we need. If she’ll open up to me—”
“We don’t know that.”
“She must! And I’m sorry, but the fact that you can’t see that makes me question your judgment.”
“My judgment?”
“Yes, your judgment. This argument we’re having is ridiculous. I’m trying to do what’s best for Cain Enterprises and I really believe your mother will open up to me. You’ve admitted to me that you don’t get along with her. Maybe I’ll have more luck. Shouldn’t you at least let me try?”
*
And this, Griffin realized, was why sleeping with his assistant was a dumb-ass idea.
Marion might be nearing fifty and matronly, she might be a little slow to navigate the latest software and she might even be still reporting to his father—which he’d long suspected, but never had any firm evidence of—but at least Marion followed directions. If he’d sent her back to the office to dig pointlessly through boxes, she’d have done it with a cheerful smile and brought him cookies later.
But no, not Sydney. Because Sydney knew him too well to fall for his bull.
“Look, there is nothing wrong with my judgment. Let me question my mother.”
Her brow furrowed with doubt. Hoping to push the argument over the edge, he ran a knuckle across her cheek. Her eyelids dropped a fraction and she swayed just a little. And this was the advantage of sleeping with your assistant. At least when she was as responsive as Sydney was.
“Trust me,” he coaxed.
Her eyes snapped open. “Trust you?” She stepped back, putting more distance between them. “I’m supposed to just trust you? That’s really rich coming from a guy who won’t even let me glance at his Day-Timer.”
Where the hell had that come from? “That has nothing to do with this.”
Her gaze narrowed slightly. “Try to see it from my point of view. How am I supposed to trust you when you never explain anything? Do you deny that you’re hiding things from me?”
He turned away from her and stared out at the lush green lawns of the golf course. He gritted his teeth. “I was just trying to protect you.”
“I don’t understand…protect me from what?” Her expression was blank with confusion.
“I’m trying to protect you from my parents. They’re not nice people,” he admitted. “Bitter. Angry. Manipulative. Pits of nuclear waste are less toxic. And things at the house have only gotten worse since this crap with the heiress started. Why the hell would I want to expose you to that?”
He heard her steps behind him, felt the air shift as she propped her hip against the limestone. The rock was cool beneath his palms. Solid and strong. Everything about the country club, everything about this entire neighborhood was designed to convey strength and power. It was designed to intimidate and exclude.
He waited for her to speak, but when she didn’t say anything, he finally looked up at her.
Though her body was facing him, she’d turned her head to stare out over the lawn, too. “So you think…what? That she would intimidate me?”
There was confusion in her voice, but also something else. Something he couldn’t quite identify. Like she was hurt maybe.
“It’s not just you. My mother intimidates everyone. Except for the people she manipulates. One day she’ll treat you like she’s your best friend, the next she cuts you out entirely. Friendship, affection, love…for her, those aren’t emotions, they’re currency. It’s not that I didn’t think you could handle her, but…” He straightened and turned to face her. “You’re not used to this world. You grew up in a world where people cared about each other. Took care of each other.”
She gave a snort and he instantly regretted his words. Because he now knew that wasn’t entirely true. Her own mother was worse even than his. But horrible in a different way. It was only after Sydney had been removed to foster care that she’d had anyone to take care of her. Only then had she lived in a world where people loved one another.
If he’d thought it through first, he would have phrased it differently, but he couldn’t very well apologize now. Not when she didn’t even know he knew about her birth mother.
Still, he said, “I’m sorry. I never meant for this to be a big deal.”
She cocked her head to the side again. “Then why is it such a big deal?”
He shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious. He wasn’t used to talking about his family with anyone. He didn’t like to play the poor little rich boy card.
“Next time,” she said, “if you have a logical reason for doing something, just tell me. You don’t have to be so damn secretive about everything.”
“Neither do you,” he pointed out, thinking about all the things she hadn’t told him. Things he knew only because of that damn background check.
She nodded, slowly. “Okay. It’s a deal. From now on, we talk more. We’re in this together, right?”
“Right.” And suddenly, he found himself smiling at her.
Right up until she added, “If we don’t get better at sharing information, we’re never going to find this girl.”
“Right,” he said again. Of course that was what she talking about. “Come on, let’s get back in there and finish up with my mother.”
He walked a few steps before he realized she hadn’t followed. When he turned back, he saw her watching him, her mouth twisted into a wry smile.
“What?” he asked.
She gave a self-conscious shrug and crossed to his side. “I’ve never had anyone try to protect me from anything, even if it was misguided,” she admitted in a soft voice. “Thank you.”
All he could do was nod because if she knew the truth, she sure as hell wouldn’t be thanking him. If she ever found out how much he knew about her past, she’d be furious.
But, as she pointed out, they were only in this together until they found the heiress. After that, all this talking, and sharing and intermingling of their lives would end. So that was something to look forward to. After that, he could go back to ha**ng s*x with Sydney instead of sharing all this emotional crap.
Nine
Sydney tried to keep a silly smile off her face as she walked back into the dining room to rejoin Griffin’s mother. Everything she knew about the woman, everything Griffin had said and her own instincts told her that Caro Cain would not be pleased if she knew her son was involved with anyone’s assistant. She was the kind of woman who would want her sons to date and marry debutantes.
Plus, they’d been out on the patio talking long enough that she was probably already suspicious. Despite all that, Sydney was unexpectedly pleased by Griffin’s words. They filled her with a warm fuzziness that had nothing to do with the afternoon’s high temperatures. By the time she reached Caro’s table, Sydney made sure her expression was carefully professional. Polite but distant.