“No one else benefits,” Louis said firmly. “Everyone else wants the company to make money. Charles wants a bad quarter so he can point the finger your way at the board meeting. Someone is feeding him information, and we need to figure out who it is before we put in another set of bids next week.”
Louis was right. “Nothing is more important than this. I’ll clear my afternoon and we can strategize.”
He might need to hire someone to come in and audit his systems for suspicious activity. He didn’t want to do it, but he might have to call home and let them know he was in for a bunch of late nights. More proof for Sylvie that he wasn’t a good bet.
There was a knock on his door.
Hopefully it was his assistant with some information. “Come in.”
The door opened and pure sunshine walked in. Sylvie had changed out of the business suit she’d worn this morning and into jeans and a yellow T-shirt, hiking boots on her feet, and her hair up in a pretty scarf. She held a picnic basket in her hands. “Hey, I’m sorry to barge in but no one was at reception. I took the afternoon off and was wondering if you wanted to have lunch. I thought we could go out to the island.”
“Yes.” He couldn’t stand up fast enough.
Louis’s lips had curved up in a grin. “Nothing is more important?”
He’d said that about finding the spy, and now he realized what a lie that had been. The most important thing in the world had just walked through the door. “You can handle it, right?”
Nothing was more important than her.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” She bit her bottom lip in a way that nearly had him panting. “It was a silly idea. I didn’t think about the fact that you probably couldn’t get away. Maybe we could go to the cafeteria.”
He was already pulling his tie off. “No. I can absolutely get away. I could use an afternoon off. I’ve got some more casual clothes up here for when I need to go to job sites. I’ll change and we can go grab my boat.”
A brilliant smile crossed her face. “Okay. I haven’t been out on the bayou since I came home, and I was thinking about it this morning at yoga.”
“I would love to take you,” he replied, a sense of satisfaction running through him. She’d come to him. She’d taken time off and wanted to spend it with him, and that meant she was willing to give this thing a try.
“I’ll wait out here for you to get changed.” She turned and walked back out.
“And you say you’re not passionate.” Louis sighed. “You’re crazy about her. Stop worrying about the words you use. Love is different for everyone. There’s no one be-all, end-all definition. You want to learn how to be a good husband? Ask her to show you. I’ll handle everything and give you a report in the morning. But be careful. I heard there was a storm brewing.”
Rene glanced at his window. The day was bright and shiny. The weather report was often wrong.
There was no way anyone was raining on his afternoon. Not when his world finally seemed sunny.
chapter seven
Rene slammed the door to the cabin shut as the walls seemed to shake with the force of the thunder. He could hear the way rain pounded on the roof, and he hoped the cabin had already gone through its yearly maintenance.
“I guess I should have looked at the weather report.” Sylvie was shaking, too, her clothes soaking wet because they’d been sitting in the boat when the heavens had opened up and dumped sheets of rain on them. “It’s lucky we were close to your fishing cabin or we would have had a long ride back to the marina.”
It would have been a dangerous ride, too. Lightning filled the sky, and it was hard to see anything through the pouring rain.
The afternoon had started off lovely. They’d gone out to the island and shared the sandwiches and cookies Sylvie had packed. They’d watched the butterflies and talked about everything from what movies they’d watched lately to stories of their travels. Everything with the singular exception of their relationship. They seemed to be treading carefully around that subject.
Then he’d realized it would be dark soon, and the bayou could be dangerous at night. They’d gotten back in the boat and the storm had come on them so suddenly they’d had no choice but to look for shelter. Luckily they hadn’t been far from the fishing shack his grandfather had built. Shack was a complete misnomer since his grandfather had believed in luxury. It was more of a cabin, and while it wasn’t as well appointed as his home, it was far from rickety. The cabin was warm and there was food and a roof over their heads. It was all he could ask for at this point.
“I don’t know that I would have made for the marina with the rain coming down like that.” He would have worried about lightning hitting them. “I would have found the nearest land and looked for a place to wait it out.”
Thunder cracked overhead and Sylvie looked up as though she could still see the deluge. “Then I’m spectacularly happy about this cabin. The thought of riding this out under a tree isn’t appealing.”
It hadn’t been to him, either, which was precisely why he’d taken the chance to come here. “Are you all right?”
Sylvie gave him a shaky smile. “Of course. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten stuck in a storm, though it is the first time someone has swept me away to his private cabin.” She glanced around with that look of wonder she always seemed to find. It didn’t matter if she was looking at a master work of art or an old cabin. Sylvie found the world interesting and worthy. He was pretty sure she looked at the world the way he looked at her. “It’s been years since I’ve been here. Do you still have a generator?”
“Yes. It’s out in the shed.” Despite the fact that spring was making its way to summer, there was a definite chill from the storm. “I’ll get the lights on and then I’ll build us a fire. There’s no central heat out here.” He stopped in front of her, looking down into those gorgeous eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have taken better care of you.”
Her head tilted back so she could look up at him. “Maybe I should be apologizing. After all, it was my idea to take the afternoon off. I didn’t know about the storm, either. You could be warm and cozy in your office.”
And then he would have to concentrate on finding the spy in his organization. He would way rather be worried about warmth and food. He would definitely rather worry about taking care of her. “I don’t know that I would call my office warm or cozy.”
Oh, but her eyes were warm. “If you don’t like your office, we should talk about renovating it. It doesn’t look like you’ve redone it. And honestly, it’s not so bad being stuck here with you.”