By Wednesday I’d hardly had time to catch my breath. Oliver had done three television interviews at the boatyard, and twice that number for magazines, news outlets and radio. I loved watching him in action. He was a natural at this stuff and I teased him that any moment now he’d be getting calls from both major political parties to stand at the next elections.

I’d just had a call, a bolt from the blue, and I could barely stop myself from skipping along the hall to his office. The door was closed, but Gail had told me Oliver was expecting me and to go on in. I knocked first, catching his muffled call to enter.

I pushed the door closed behind me, pressing myself against it.

Oliver was on the phone, but he glanced up and gave me a big smile. He owned this space. His presence filled it in a way I’d never seen a person do before, as if by just occupying the room, there was no place for anyone else. I’d been around some serious hitters in the past, but not one had ruled their space like a kingdom the way Oliver did.

He pushed back from his desk and waved me around to his side. I guessed by the mocking banter going on that he was talking to Luther. I really wanted to get along with Oliver’s best friend but there was something forced in the way he dealt with me, as if I wasn’t to be trusted. As if he wanted to protect his friend from making a terrible mistake.

Worse, Luther unnerved me. He was a lawyer, and lawyers know how to get information. So Luther gave me dark looks, which he excelled at, and I was reduced to a state of stupidity whenever I tried to have a conversation with him. I sympathized with Ginger who found herself in a similar state when she was in Luther’s firing line, except her issue was all about lust, rather than trust.

I perched on the corner of the desk waiting for the call to finish. Oliver rolled his chair toward me, reaching for the hem of my skirt, tugging, trying to get me to shift toward him. I shook my head and frowned. Although it was late in the day, there were still a number of staff about. Gail was leaving when I arrived, and without Oliver’s PA as sentry, anyone could barge in.

Anyway, I had news for Oliver and I didn’t want to be distracted before I had the chance to discuss it with him.

He finished his call. “Why are you over there?” He gave my skirt hem an extra hard tug.

“Because you have an obscenely large desk, Oliver. I can’t imagine why you need something this big.”

“I have big ideas, and big meetings, and I build big boats.”

“You also have a big boardroom where you can discuss your big ideas with your big brainy team.”

“Sometimes we don’t make it that far. I’ve got a different big idea for this desk right now.” He shoved his laptop away from the spot in front of him. “Why don’t you come and sit here,” he slapped his hand on the space he’d just cleared. “Hike up your skirt, put your feet here,” he said, pointing to the arms of the chair, “and I’ll lick your gorgeous pussy until you purr.”

A tide of desire washed through me. I eyed the desk, flicked my gaze over to Oliver with his beautiful smirking mouth, and shook my head. “Not happening; I’ve got something to tell you. It’s even better than my pussy.”

Oliver snorted. “I doubt that, unless you’re about to confess you have two pussies and the other one’s a virgin.”

“Why? Have you got two cocks?”

“I could work something out.”

“Serious now.” I pulled my skirt from his grip and crossed to the other side of his desk to face Oliver because I couldn’t stand being this close to him when he was talking about my pussy.

“Fire away, Miss Darcy. What is your news?”

“Pearl’s management just called. She’s offering to sing at the fundraiser, and to host a table. We can sell tickets for an obscene price for those rich enough to sit and have dinner with her. She’ll stay the entire evening. Apparently she’s recording at Reuben Creed’s studio on Ahunui over summer, and you know she has the big anti-drug thing going on.”

“Fuck me, Darcy. That’s massive. New Zealand’s biggest singing star. One of the biggest in the world right now. How on earth did you swing it?”

I shrugged. I had no idea. “Apparently, she saw one of your television interviews, knew she’d be in the area, and decided to ‘give something back’ as they say.”

“How do we lock this down?”

“I have to go to Auckland tomorrow. They want to meet with me at 10:30, so it’ll be an early start. I should set off now, drive up and stay in a hotel.”

Oliver came around the desk. “Look at you: Miss Cool, all flustered.”

“Shit, Oliver, what if I get to meet her? I have her music. I know all the words.”

“Well, you can offer to sing a duet. Seriously,” he said, stepping behind me and rubbing my tense shoulders, “you’ll be fine. I’m sure her people are lovely. Luther’s going to Auckland first thing in the helicopter so you can travel up with him.”

“Not doing anything for my nerves, Oliver.”

“I don’t know why you’ve got this thing about him. He’s a pushover. Anyway, you can run through legal stuff with him. If you want, I’ll see if he can go to the meeting with you.”

“I think that’s a bit premature. It’s just a meeting to get the feels for each other. I doubt Pearl will be there. I’ll handle this first meeting myself, find out what they’re proposing and we can work out what we can do with it. Not a word to anyone. When we announce this, we want to make a big splash.”

* * *

The airfield at Waitapu was typically small, catering predominantly to private aircraft and the one small commercial operation that hops around the peninsula and up to Auckland. Joe had been delayed leaving Wellington where he’d taken a paying group earlier that morning, so I was stuck with Luther in the coffee shop while we waited for his return. Luther insisted on paying for my flat white, muttering something I didn’t quite catch.

I glanced around for a vacant table. There was one free outside and I headed toward it, preferring to be in close quarters with the other clientele, but Luther barked a ‘this way’ at me, and I followed him, reluctantly, to a secluded and empty corner.

I sat down and immediately whipped out my iPad in the hope that looking busy would prevent the need for conversation, but Luther slapped the cover down before I’d managed to get it open beyond an inch. I sighed, pushing it aside.

“Thanks for the coffee,” I said, reaching for the cup. It was way too hot to drink, but I pretended to, anyway.

“You’re welcome.” He smiled, but that didn’t fool me. His lips may have curved, but the reach of his warmth got nowhere near his eyes. He looked at his short black that only half-filled the demitasse cup. That amount of undiluted caffeine in one hit would give him the sort of energy boost he had no need for. The guy was like the proverbial bunny on new batteries, and I worried that his mind worked at a similar speed.

“Tell me about Sydney, Darcy.”

Well, that didn’t take him long to get to the point. I glanced toward the hills behind the airfield willing the chopper to appear. “What would you like to know?” I replied, my best business smile plastered across my face. His eyes were intense glacial blue, sharp enough to lacerate you with a fleeting glance.

“Surprise me. Give me something you left off that carefully crafted CV of yours.”

“Let me see.” I drummed my fingers on the table, praying the annoying tapping would draw his attention from my rapid pulse I swear I could feel beating in my neck. “I used to do a lot of running. Fun runs, Wednesday night pub-to-pub over the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Great views. Have you walked it?”

“Did you spend much time on the harbor, sailing, sipping cocktails on big launches?”

I shook my head. “Not my scene.”

“Not even a Sunday afternoon on a gin palace, watching the yachts race?”

My thoughts darted around as I tried to stay a step ahead of him, to figure out where his questions were leading. “No,” I told him because that was the truth. “I also wasn’t into horse racing or tiddlywinks so you can cross both of those off your list, too. You’re fishing, Luther, so why don’t you come straight out with it?”

He downed his coffee shot in one hit and didn’t even shudder. “Do you know the Alberinis?”

Oliver’s stepfather. How odd he asked that. “Why on earth would I know anyone by that name?”

Luther shrugged as if he no longer cared what I answered. “You know…Sydney.”

“There are a lot of people in Sydney—”

Luther suddenly stood, grabbing his phone and laptop. “Chopper’s coming. We’re on a tight schedule, come on.”

I scrambled for my stuff, jamming it into my bag. Although Luther strode ahead, he waited at the edge of the apron to walk me to the helicopter.

When it was time for us to board, Luther assisted me in a manner Oliver would have approved, but as I raised my foot to the first step, he bent his face close to mine.

“Message for Ant Alberini: If he tries to hurt Oliver, or his business again, I will fucking destroy every one of them—the Alberini family, and you, too, Darcy. Don’t think you’re immune just because you’ve been in his bed. Any trouble for Oliver and you will all pay. That’s my promise.”

The tone of his voice chilled me more than his words. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was determined to find out. For the moment, though, I’d make him understand that I wasn’t about to wilt because he’d turned up the heat.

I still had one foot on the step so I lifted my other foot to the next step, bringing our eyes level. “Message for you, Luther. Your loyalty to Oliver is admirable, but I’m not the enemy. I’ve never met any member of the Alberini family. Lighten. The Fuck. Up.”

The noise inside the helicopter prevented us from talking throughout the short flight to Auckland, and I spent the trip feigning acute interest in the view, while fuming inside. If Luther had deliberately tried to unnerve me before a meeting where it was essential I presented an image of total professionalism, he’d managed to shoot close to the mark.

Alarmingly close, for the simple reason that Oliver’s and my relationship was fast edging over the line, away from summer-fling status into something more serious. I’m sure he felt that, too. It was time to make a decision about whether this would end with the completion of the contract and my inevitable shift to a larger city, or if I would strive for something more.

Whatever conclusion we reached, though, was no business of Luther’s.

A black Mercedes waited for us when we landed at Mechanics Bay. My meeting was only a few minutes’ drive away in Parnell, and I was pleased our journey together would be short. Luther was heading uptown.

“Good luck with your meeting. Text me when you’re done,” he said as I climbed from the car, as if all that Alberini shit had never come to the table. If I had my way, I’d hire my own car and drive back to Waitapu, rather than share another flight with Luther. I watched as the Mercedes slid into the line of traffic and disappeared around the corner.

As I approached the bank of elevators inside the foyer of roughly hewn volcanic rock and glass, I pushed all thoughts of Luther and his threats aside. I was here to secure a rockstar for our event, and I’d do everything possible to ensure Pearl’s management recommended she support us.