Her eyes stung with tears of missing him, wishing things had been different. There had to be information in there that would help get them out of the financial mess they were in. She had to have faith that her father had a way to save the company. That had to be why he’d been in Matagalpa.
As she went deeper into files, she found documents—more than she’d seen on the other computer. As she read, her eyes grew wide, and her body tightened with rising excitement.
Parker had been meeting with Javier Alvarez because of a coffee bean he was growing in a small valley at the high end of his farm. A very special bean that produced an extraordinary cup of coffee—Paquita. The description of it made Samara’s mouth water—a sweet-toned aroma with a distinct honey character; a syrupy mouth feel, lush with cherry fruit; Cognac-chocolate notes; and a long, honeyed finish. It was apparently comparable to a coffee that had sold at auction earlier in the year for a wicked high price, coveted by the best coffee connoisseurs. That particular coffee had a very low yield, which also accounted for the high price.
Wow. If Dad had found something equivalent to that...or even better...wow. She read on.
Parker’s plan was to assist the farmer in expanding growth of this extraordinary coffee, in exchange for the exclusive right to purchase all the beans. They were also going to have to make changes to the co-op arrangement to be able to pay the price that kind of bean was worth. Based on the numbers projected in a spreadsheet she located, this special bean could potentially bring in millions of dollars to Cedar Mill coffee, although the numbers seemed a bit off. She nibbled her bottom lip as she studied them. Surely it would cost more than that for the equipment Alvarez would need to produce that kind of yield? That kind of profit? Even so...she recalculated in her mind, adjusting the figures. Yeah.
She’d studied the financials Travis had given her. That amount of money would make a big difference in the bottom line.
She sat there, hands in her lap, and stared at the computer screen. Holy Godfrey. That’s what her father had been doing. No wonder he’d been interested in the quality of the beans in that area. No wonder he was willing to pay more. No wonder he’d been so secretive. She could imagine that if other importers were to find out about the deal, there’d be savage, cut-throat competition for those beans. So, it was no wonder he’d kept quiet about it. Even to Travis.
Her mind raced with the new knowledge as she tried to sort everything out in her head and figure out what to do about this.
If her father had thought this could be the answer to their financial problems, then it had to be worthwhile for her to pursue it also.
She’d been considering a trip to Matagalpa before, but now it was certain. She was going to Matagalpa. No one else thought she could run the business—not Travis, not the other executives, not even her own mother. But she could do this. She could go there and pick up where Dad had left off and complete this deal.
A knock on her door jerked her head up. Her hands froze on the laptop. “Who is it?”
She clicked the computer shut and shoved it under her pillows just as the door opened and Travis walked in.
Oh. Her breath left her all at once. He was so big and gorgeous and sexy. Her heart tripped, and her tummy fluttered down low at the sight of him, at the memory of him doing her up against the wall right over there.
“Hey. How’d it go?”
She sighed and looked down at her bare feet. “Not so good.”
He walked over and sat beside her, the bed shifting beneath his weight. “She kicked you out?”
She looked up and saw the hint of a smile on his mouth. Her own lips curved in response. “No.”
“Ah.”
“She was pretty upset though. She...needs time.”
“I guess that’s fair enough.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to tell him about the conversation she’d had with her mother about the vote. Damn him. Let him stew about that, although he and her mother had probably already talked about that, even though Mom said they hadn’t.
“Looks like you did some shopping.” He lifted a brow as he took in all the shopping bags.
“Oh. Yeah. My mom insisted on taking me shopping. I only needed a few things, I have lots of clothes back in San Francisco. But she wanted to do it. Then we had lunch. And we talked.”
“That must have been hard.”
It was, dammit, and she hated even talking about it. Surprisingly he wasn’t all condescending and judgmental. Just...understanding. And...his hand was on her ankle, rubbing the sensitive skin on the inside of it. Tingles were traveling up her leg and coalescing right at the apex of her thighs.
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip. Too much. Dealing with Travis and her feelings for him and all the emotion and uncertainty had her mind reeling. The uncertainty of wanting him, having sex with him, then wondering what she really had with him...and then on top of that, the disappointment of her mother taking his side, and the shocking news she’d just discovered...too much. Disoriented, dizzy, she couldn’t think and didn’t know how to react to him.
But her body knew how to react to him.
And the truth was her heart was pretty helpless to resist him too.
* * *
After spending another night of muffled passion in Samara’s room, Sunday morning Travis murmured against her hair, “Come with me. To look at apartments.”
She rolled over in her bed to face him. “Seriously?”
“Sure. I have to find a place and quick. I’ve got a few lined up to look at this afternoon.”
“I have work to do.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “You don’t have to work all day.”
She gave him a look that held a hint of suspicion, and he sighed.
“Fine. Work all day.”
It was her turn to sigh. “I can take a few hours off. I just want to be ready for the meeting next week.”
“I know.” He didn’t think she could ever be ready, even though she was busting her cute little ass trying. She was just too inexperienced, not to mention young. She had a passion for coffee and the coffee business, and he had no doubt she had some leadership abilities that had helped her move up in the company, but that in no way prepared her to lead the entire organization. She thought she was going to tell the other executives, some old enough to be her father, what to do?
But he wasn’t going to say that again. They’d tried to keep their agreement that work stayed at the office. That conversation never went well with her. She was so damn stubborn.
And hot.
He moved over her and pressed her down into the mattress. Her arms came up around his shoulders as she kissed him back, and her thighs parted to cradle his body. He buried his hands in her hair and slid his tongue into her mouth. So many times they came together frantically, hot and desperate, but not now. Now, he kissed her with long, lush kisses, his hips moving against her body in slow pulses, sliding into a warm half-awake dream.
Her hands roamed over his body, fingers digging into his biceps then gliding up into his hair. He touched her, too, exploring her soft skin everywhere, her shoulders, her breasts. He captured her arms and pushed them up over her head, holding them there against the pillow as their bodies rocked gently together. Blood surged through his veins, and pleasure poured over his body. He dragged his tongue over her bottom lip, nipped at it, and made her gasp. He rubbed his whiskered face against her jaw, eyes closed, drawing her scent deep into his lungs as if he could inhale all of her and take her inside him.
He reached over and snagged a condom, then rolled to the side to put it on. When he moved back over her, he looked down at her face, at the sexy little smile on her lips and the slumberous droop of her eyelids, her arms still lifted above her head. He smiled slowly back at her.
So gorgeous. His gaze lowered to her breasts, and he shifted his body to rub his face there too then closed his lips over one puckered nipple. She arched up into his mouth, and he sucked then used his teeth on the very tip.
“Oh god.” She started to reach for him, but once again, he clasped her wrists and held her arms up as he suckled and played with her beautiful breasts until she was trembling and flushed.
He released her hands again and reached for her thighs, pushing them apart as he spread his own knees wide. He found his throbbing cock and pushed inside her in a long glide of ecstasy.
“Oh yeah,” she breathed. “Travis...”
“Mmm.” As he pushed in deeper, he got even harder, her silky warmth clasping him so tightly. He fell over her, his hands finding hers, fingers twining with hers, pinning them to the pillow on either side of her head as he moved slowly in and out. “So good.”
Her breath caught, her head moved in a tiny nod, and he pulled out then thrust back in, watching her. She licked already wet lips, and he lowered his head to nuzzle her hair, her ear, opening his mouth on the side of her neck to taste her.
Her legs came up around his waist, so erotic, so fucking hot he almost lost his mind, sliding deeper into that hot haze. With her taste on his tongue and her scent filling his head, her tight, hot pussy pulled him in as he rocked into her over and over, the sensation building, and the heat sliding down his spine right to his balls. She lifted her hips into him, meeting his strokes, deeper, harder, still not rushed even though his blood raced. She gripped his fingers and gave a soft cry, her body tightening beneath him and around him, gripping his cock in tiny pulses, and the heat in his balls suddenly spread everywhere as he came, too, pouring himself into her as waves of hot pleasure swept over him.
They lay curled up together for a long time, half asleep again, drifting on a cloud of post-coital languor and bone-deep sexual satisfaction.
When much later he opened the bedroom door and peeked out into the hall to make sure Dayna wasn’t around, he grimaced. This sneaking around had to stop.
Getting his own place was the answer, but then he couldn’t help but wonder how that would change things. Living in the same house as Samara brought them into close proximity every night, and even though he didn’t much like the “sneaking” part, it was convenient that her room was just down the hall from his. How would they explain to Dayna when Samara slept over at his place?
Or would she sleep over?
He slipped quietly into his own room and stripped off the clothes he’d just dressed in to step into the shower.
What if he moved out and suddenly the “hot sex” stopped?
His gut clenched. Christ, he wished they could just tell Dayna what was going on. Why couldn’t they? Dammit, he was going to broach that subject with Samara that afternoon.
But that didn’t go quite the way he planned.
“Are you kidding me?” she said later, in his car. They’d just left the first apartment building. “Tell my mother?”
He gripped the steering wheel of the rental car. Another thing he needed to take care of. He couldn’t drive this rental car forever, but how the hell would he get his own car from Los Angeles to Portland? He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t like keeping this from her,” he said.
“It’s my business,” Samara said, her little chin lifting. “I don’t tell my mother about every guy I have sex with.”
His insides leaped. “There’s a nice thought,” he muttered, his mind going to all the other guys she’d had sex with. Whoever they were. Shit.
“What?”
He looked at her and caught a glimpse of softness in her eyes before she turned her look into cool detachment.
“Nothing. Never mind. What’s the address of the next place?”
Of course all the landlords thought they were a couple looking at the apartments. They didn’t bother to say anything to correct that. After all, that didn’t really matter.
“Which one do you like best?” Samara asked as they headed home later.
“All of them.” He shrugged, unenthusiastic about any of the places. They were all fine. But he was going to have to fly back to L.A. and make arrangements to move his belongings, and this was not a good time for that. “I guess the one downtown is most practical. It’s closest to the office.”
“True.” She nodded. “And it had nice views.”
“Yeah.”
After a few moments of silence while he drove, she said, “What’s wrong, Travis?”
He slanted a look her way then back at the road. “Nothing. Why?”
“You’re acting weird. Like you don’t really want to move.”
One corner of his mouth kicked up. “It’s just a lot right now. But I know I need to do it.”
She nodded and bent her head, her hair falling over her face.
He sensed her unspoken questions. Hell, they were probably both thinking the same thing. They’d gotten into this...affair, and neither of them really knew what it was or where it was going. They were on opposite sides of the battle for job of leading Cedar Mill Coffee, but in bed, they were totally on the same side. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Once again, guilt at letting down Parker rolled through him, along with guilt in general about being with Samara. After so many years of telling himself she was too young for him, it was still hard to accept that she was a grown woman. Once again, he asked himself if he should be the responsible one who put an end to this before things went too far.
He had a feeling things had already gone too far.
* * *
The following week, Samara took her seat at the long oak table in the boardroom. Parker’s seat at the head of the table sat empty, and even she didn’t have the guts to go and sit there. Yet.
She focused on breathing. Nerves fluttered in her stomach. This had become so important to her. She’d always known that one day she would sit in this boardroom as a member of the leadership team of Cedar Mill Coffee Company but hadn’t anticipated it would come this soon. She could do it.
Travis walked in and took a seat across the table from her. She met his eyes but didn’t smile. The fluttering inside her turned into a cyclone. Why did she have to go all warm and soft every time she looked at him? It totally distracted her from her purpose and made her self-conscious and edgy. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes.