Crista McHugh - The Sweetest Seduction

“And what should I tell Mr. Volowski when he calls again?”

Adam stared at Schlittler’s lease, then Lia’s. He’d promised her he’d do everything in his power to let her keep La Arietta. If he wanted to win her back, he needed to start by proving he was a man of his word.

He picked up Schlittler’s lease and tore it in half. “Tell Mr. Volowski that Chef Amadeus and I failed to reach an agreement.”

Bates raised a brow but took the shredded paper without asking why. A faint smile played on his lips. “Very good, sir. I’ll arrange a lunch date with your mother when she returns to Chicago on Tuesday.”

“Thank you.” He closed the folder with Lia’s leases and patted the cover. It was a start, but he could take it one step further. “Also, could you please find the photos you took of La Arietta before the fire and show them to the contractor? I want everything restored to the way it was.”

“Right away, Mr. Kelly.” Bates nodded in approval, adding before he shut door behind him, “By the way, Robert Curry called and has asked to set up a meeting with you. Said he found what you were looking for.”

Adam cracked his knuckles. Time to deliver the one-two blow, especially if Curry’s cryptic message meant he had the dirt on Ray. He picked up the phone and dialed Curry’s number. “I understand you’d like to set up a meeting?”

The private investigator chuckled. “I went digging like you asked, and you won’t believe the sewer line I hit.”

He grinned. “That bad, huh?”

“Worse.”

He checked the clock on his desk. Three o’clock. Normally, he’d be counting down the minutes until he saw Lia again by this time of day, but now he itched to learn what Curry had unearthed and how he could use it against Ray. “When can you be here?”

“I’m just a couple of blocks down the road from your office.”

“What a coincidence—I happen to have an opening in my schedule right now. I’ll tell Bates to let you in when you arrive.”

“See you in a few.” The phone clicked dead, but it didn’t kill Adam’s enthusiasm.

He buzzed Bates. “Hold off on letting Ray know my decision. I’ll deliver it to him personally after I meet with Mr. Curry.”

“Very good, sir.”

At least there was one thing going in his favor. Adam glanced at the e-mail on his screen again. If she wouldn’t answer his phone calls, then hopefully she’d read her e-mail. He clicked the reply arrow and started typing. Business first, and once that was settled, then hopefully he could go back to the pleasure of having her in his arms once again.

* * *

The phone buzzed in her lap again. She looked at the number and silenced it.

“It’s him again, isn’t it?” her mother asked as she took the off ramp for O’Hare Airport.

“What does it matter?” She’d made her break with him, much like yanking a bandage off in one swift stroke. Yes, it stung, but the pain would be over sooner than slowly drawing it out.

“Maybe he has something to say to you.”

She stared out the window at the tails of all the planes lining the terminals. “He’s said enough for me to realize he’s no different than Trey.”

“Bullshit. No son of Maureen Kelly would ever be like that arrogant prick. She raised them better than that, just like I raised you better than the way you’re acting now.”

Lia closed her eyes and counted to ten before her temper got the better of her and resulted in her mother making a U-turn back to their apartment. “I told you before—I just need some space to figure out what I’m going to do next.”

“No, you’re running away from your problems, and I’m ashamed of you.”

“Ma, please, just let me deal with it.”

“But you’re not dealing with it. You should be back there at your restaurant starting the repair work, not catching a plane to mope around Italy with my cousin.”

Lia pressed her fingers to her temples. “It’s not that simple. For starters, I don’t own that space any more. My lease ends today.”

“So you assume.” She pointed at Lia’s phone, swerving into the next lane as she did and earning a blaring reprimand from someone’s horn. “Maybe that’s what Adam’s been trying to tell you all morning, but you’re too pessimistic to answer him and hear what he has to say.”

“No, that’s not what it’s about.” She drew in a deep breath, knowing her confession would probably earn her a swat across the back of her head...and probably have her mom veering off the road in a fit of rage. “I gave up the space.”

“What?” The rear tires her mother’s 1992 sedan squealed, and the steering wheel resembled one of those carnival rides that spun back and forth without any rhyme or reason.

Lia straight-armed the dashboard and prayed she’d make it to the terminal alive.

The car rocked from side to side as her mother found the center of the lane again. Her lips formed a thin line, and the furrows in her brow spoke more harshly of her displeasure than any lecture ever could. “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

“Yes, Ma, there is.”

“You’re not knocked up, are you?”

Lia’s jaw dropped. “What kind of accusation is that?”

“Why else would you give up the thing you loved the most unless you knew you had a little one on the way?” The anger in her face melted into the exciting prospect of possibly becoming a grandmother. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?”

“Keep dreaming, Ma. There is no baby.” As evidenced by the monthly reminder that she’d wasted another egg this morning. Someone said confession was good for the soul, so since she was baring it all to her mother, she continued, “Someone was threatening to sue Adam if he renewed my lease.”

“And you think he isn’t man enough to stand up for you, huh?”

“No, I—” What would Adam have done if La Arietta hadn’t caught on fire? Would he have renewed her lease and faced the consequences without telling her? Would he have bowed down to pressure? She glanced down at the phone, wondering if she should even bother asking him. “Jules is already looking at places for me, and when I get back, I’ll make a decision on what the next step will be for La Arietta.”

The car pulled up to the curb in front of her airline. Her gaze flew from the phone to the ticket counter and back again. She closed her eyes and prayed for an answer. Instead, all she heard was Adam telling her she could move in with him and never have to worry about a thing. If she believed in signs, that would be the one alerting her that he didn’t really know who she was. She turned her phone off and tucked it into her purse.

“Bye, Ma.” She reached over to give her mom a quick hug and a kiss goodbye. “I’ll call you when I get to Carolina’s.”

Her mother sat in the driver’s seat, her arms crossed. “It’s your life, Lia.”

Which meant she thought Lia was making a huge mistake.

Lia got out of the car and tugged her suitcase from the backseat. “Yes, it is my life, and I’m making the best decision I can at the moment.” Her chest ached when she acknowledged that it meant giving up Adam in the process. “It’s what’s best for both of us,” she whispered before slamming the door shut.

“Good afternoon, dear.” His mother leaned over, surrounding him in a cloud of Chanel No. 5, and kissed his forehead. “So good to see you again. How’s Jasper been?”

“Moping all week.” Much like me. He waited until his mother sat down across the table from him at the tiny little French café she adored. “I’ll bring him by the house tonight.”

“Thank you so much for dog-sitting at the last minute. You know how I loathe putting him in a kennel.”

“You spoil that dog way more than you ever did any of us.”

“That’s because all my boys have grown up, left the house and haven’t given me any grandbabies to fill the void.”

Adam inwardly groaned. Not the guilt trip again. Instead, he pulled out the folder containing Lia’s lease. “I stumbled across something very interesting while you were away.”

His mother pulled out her Kate Spade reading glasses and skimmed the contract. “Oh, that. I was wondering when you’d make your mind up. Have you told Lia the news?”

“I will, if I can ever get hold of her.” He pulled out the prior contract and flipped to the last page bearing his mother’s signature. “I wanted to know about the original deal you struck with her.”

She removed her glasses and took a sip of the wine he’d ordered for her. “You know Emilia and I are dear friends. When she mentioned to me last year that her daughter wanted to open a restaurant but was having trouble finding a location, I thought I’d be nice and offer her that space.”

Little warning bells went off in the back of his mind. His mother rarely meddled in the family business unless she had ulterior motives. “At a quarter of its normal rent?”

“Now you’re just exaggerating.” She squinted at the amount on the original contract. “Yes, I agree it’s at a discount, but it was a sublet. I figured it was something she could afford just starting out, and it wasn’t doing us any good after that night club broke their original lease with us.”

“Why didn’t you run any of this by me?” He crossed his arms and zeroed his gaze in on her.

She smiled sweetly, not at all intimidated by his stance. “Adam, dear, you may have taken over running the business when your father passed away, but I’m still legally the owner.” She raised her glass to her lips, her grin widening.

His jaw tightened. He had no rebuttal for that argument. “So if I had terminated her lease for Schlittler?”

“I would have stepped in and vetoed your decision. After all, I am the owner, and you’re basically my property manager.”

His mother had spent so many years raising a family and playing the role of society wife that he’d forgotten she was a truly intelligent woman behind the polished veneer, a woman who’d gone to law school and was interning at one of the top law firms in Chicago when she’d met his father.

Maybe that’s why he could never win an argument with her.

The waiter interrupted their conversation to take their orders. His mother gave hers without even looking at the menu while he mumbled that he’d take the special—some sort of crepes with ham and cheese. He really didn’t care what he ate. None of it compared to Lia’s food.

Once the waiter left, his mother tapped on the folder. “I take it you’re going to renew her lease then. What changed your mind?”

Her question seemed innocent, but the tone of her voice in combination with the knowing light in her eyes hit him like a sucker punch. The last month had all been one big setup orchestrated by his mother. He sucked in a breath, held it until his temper simmered down, and slowly exhaled before he dared to ask, “Let me guess—you didn’t win a charity auction.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His mother checked her reflection in her spoon, patting her hair as though one of the meticulously styled strands had moved out of place.

“That dinner at the lake house—you arranged it.”

She said nothing, but the corner of her mouth rose ever so slightly.

His fingers curled into his palm. “And I suppose Lia was in on it, too?”

“No, no, no.” A look of panic flashed across his mother’s face. “Lia was as innocent as you were, dear. Emilia and I thought we could create a situation where her daughter could be introduced to several of my sons and see if there were any sparks.”

Sparks was putting it mildly. Try full-blown inferno. “And where does her lease fit into this?”

“Well, I was hoping once you met her and tasted her cooking, you’d think twice about shutting her down.” She set her spoon back down, nudging it until it was perfectly aligned with the rest of the silverware on the table. “But when I saw the chemistry between you two when you first met, well, I....”

“It’s kind of hard to have chemistry with someone while dragging a big hairy dog off of her.”

His mother hid her laugh behind her hand. “I knew that if Jasper loved her, one of my boys would, too.”

A pain formed in his chest, growing more intense with every beat of his heart until he was forced to close his eyes. And when he did, he saw Lia’s face after he’d made love to her that last night. Yes, his mother had been right. One of her boys had fallen in love with her.

She was watching him with her head tilted slightly to the side, one brow arched as though she were waiting for his confession as he opened his eyes.