Diego did not want to be here.

Cocktail parties were his least favorite part of being the CEO of his company. He had to attend them. He’d copped to that fact a long time ago but he still didn’t like them.

He sipped his beer from the bottle, because yeah, he might be in the corporate suite now but he’d grown up in a garage surrounded by no-nonsense mechanics who saw no need to dirty a glass when the bottle worked just fine.

Around him, his employees mingled with the employees of London Automotive. He smiled tightly at Jeffrey London, the CEO of the business he was looking to merge with.

“This was a good idea.” Jeffrey London sipped on some fancy concoction with a sprig of greenery. “Quaint, provincial, and neutral for both companies.”

They were as opposite as hot and cold. Jeffrey came from a long line of upper crust Bostonians who had been in the states since the Mayflower, while Diego was second generation Puerto Rican from Dorchester. His parents hadn’t fared well here—that was putting it nicely— and Tío Raul had been an Army mechanic before he opened his garage.

On paper, their companies meshed extremely well. But in person, Diego had a hard time sustaining conversation that didn’t pertain to business with London.

“I can’t take credit.” Because Diego believed in transparency and giving recognition where it was due. “My assistant, Zinnia, suggested a corporate retreat. She found the venue and designed the program with the owners.” They’d rented out the entire camp for their private function.

The welcome cocktail party was in the old boathouse, which the owners had decorated with little white twinkling lights. A rustic bar set up in the corner served drinks, and round tables with white tablecloths and what looked like twigs and pinecones from the woods were piled in the center of the tables. The nature stuff was lumped artistically around flickering candles, he’d give them that.

He smiled politely at London and wondered how long he needed to stay at the party. He couldn’t wait to get back to his cabin and crash.

Penny Hastings slipped through the large doors of the boathouse. In a long flowy dress in a sage green, her auburn hair loose, cascading over her shoulders and curling delicately over her breasts, she glowed.

Delicate, vulnerable, ethereal.

She looked like a wood nymph or fairy. All she needed was flowers twined in her hair and she’d blend in with the woods as if she belonged there.

And Jesus, what was wrong with him? Wood nymph? Fairy?

He’d helped her this morning, her ethic more like a sturdy workhorse than a soft fictional creature. Diego shook off the fanciful thoughts and observed her. He seemed to be the only one at the party who noticed her hesitation at the entrance.

“Well, who is that?” London’s frosty demeanor perked up. “One of yours?”

“No.”

Before Diego could say more, London said, “Perhaps I’ll go introduce myself.”

London’s wife was not in attendance. She’d gone to Europe for the summer, which Diego knew because the man had mentioned it at least twice in conversation.

“That’s Penny,” Diego drawled. “She’s visiting staff for the camp.”

He hoped that since she was “the help” that might put London off. But if anything his attitude brightened even further.

“An introduction, please.”

He couldn’t approach her on his own? Diego gritted his teeth. “Sure.”

Michael Tully paused next to Penny and spoke to her for a few minutes. She nodded and he headed out of the boathouse. He’d mentioned earlier that Heather, their regular camp director and Michael’s wife, had the stomach flu.

After Michael left, Penny drifted around the room, pausing to speak with each group of people. Her smile open and relaxed, her face animated as she spoke with her hands. She charmed everyone she met. But her energy seemed to be waning as she made her way toward the bar, and Diego.

Earlier when they parted, he’d had the feeling she was annoyed with him. For which he had no idea why. After all, he’d helped her set up her damn boxes.

But he flagged her down anyway. If possible he’d try to warn her about London. Since he was Boston society, he was sort of surprised that Jeffrey London and Penny didn’t know each other.

Finally Diego was able to catch her attention. “Penny, this is Jeffrey London, CEO of London Automotive.”

“Nice to meet you.” She smiled but the weariness beneath her curling lips seemed obvious to Diego.

Then he realized she’d been going strong since five a.m. and it was closing in on nine. The sun had begun to set. The last time he’d seen her, when he’d moved his duffel from the lodge to his private cabin, she’d been sweaty and dusted in dirt from moving wheelbarrows full of soil from the giant pile to the beds.

“Pleasure is all mine.” Jeffrey lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her skin.

Really? Did that actually work?

And he wondered how Jeffrey London would feel if he knew that an hour ago Penny had been covered in fertilized loamy soil.

Penny removed her hand from London’s. Her expression didn’t change, but Diego sensed her discomfort. He leaned closer, “Can I get you a drink?”

“Just a club soda.” Her husky voice triggered a rush of arousal that took him unawares. “Thank you.”

“London?”

“Another of these.” Jeffrey London tossed back the rest of his cocktail and handed Diego the glass.

“So, Penny.” London literally turned his back on Diego to push them into a small bubble. “What is it you will be doing?”

Diego waited for a drink at the bar. The rest of the camp would be family-style meals and self-service bars but for the first night Zinnia had set up a more formal cocktail party. After the groups checked in, they had gotten tours of the camp grounds and activities available. Zin had presided over a quick ice-breaker activity that Diego had avoided. He hadn’t had a chance to check in with her to see how it went. Prior to this weekend, the employees from the two companies—with the exception of Diego, London, and their attorneys—hadn’t interacted.

When he got back to the pair, Penny was lecturing animatedly about her corporate garden program.

Jeffrey London might want in her pants, but he clearly had no interest in her project. His eyes were glazed, from a combo of boredom and consuming three martinis in less than an hour.

“Thank you, Ramos.”

Diego inclined his head. “Not a problem.”

Penny smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

“So Farmer Hastings was pitching her employee garden idea?”

At first when she’d explained, he hadn’t been convinced, but the more she talked about the project her enthusiasm was contagious. And after just a day in the woods, and helping her, working with his hands, he was calmer, more relaxed, and feeling a sense of peace. While he needed to see more financial data and consider the startup costs, the idea was growing on him.

“Hastings?” Jeffrey London sneered. “Penelope Hastings?”

Penny lifted her chin, the vulnerable animated woman gone. “Yes.”

London snorted. “See you tomorrow, Ramos.” He disappeared into the crowd.

“Well, I’d best mingle some more.” Penny’s smile was forced, stiff, and she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Diego frowned as she stalked away. What was that about?

* * *

Penny crept out of the boathouse and headed for the dock.

God, she ached.

She sat on the dock, removed her strappy sandals, dipped her toes in the cool water, and lay back. The dark blue evening sky sparkled with stars. Peace settled over her as she relaxed against the warm wood. Sounds filtered in, a dreamy ballad playing in the boathouse, crickets chirping, the woods rustling with nocturnal creatures. Fireflies lit the campground, and the water from Lake Waawaatesi lapped gently against the pilings.

She let exhaustion wash over her. Once she’d stopped hauling the dirt, her arm muscles had stiffened almost immediately. Jeez, she was tired.

Penny’s jaw cracked as she yawned. Her eyes drifted closed as she listened to the music of nature.

She’d lived through plenty of cocktail parties when she’d been a kid. Learned the art of small talk and how to identify the overserved in the room with just a glance. Attending a formal party never failed to remind her of her former life, the good and the bad all rolled in one.

She used to love getting dressed up. Her mother’s maid would curl her hair, and if it was a particularly special occasion, sometimes Penny would get to put a flower in her hair and be allowed to wear a little lip gloss.

But attending parties now reminded her of what happened after her parents had skipped the country and the news they’d swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars from their customers became common knowledge. The public censure on her, as if she’d had something to do with their crimes, had been intense. Jeffrey London certainly brought all that back. Eleven years and she was still being judged for her parents’ crimes.

Looking on the bright side, she would not be where she was today if that girl, who liked dressing up and attending parties, had grown up the way her life had originally been destined.

And she liked who she was, what she did.

She’d had enough money from her grandmother to purchase a working farm after college. She tended her organic farmland and hired kids from the local Ag programs to learn the business and help with labor. With her minor in accounting, she did her own books and was completely self-sufficient.

She loved her life, barring the fact that she was sometimes lonely. Late at night after her employees were gone and the chores were done for the day, it would be nice to share a meal with a lover. Share the mundane details of her day with someone. But if that’s all she had to complain about, she was incredibly lucky.

The musical sounds of the night lulled her into a semi-conscious state. She drifted on the summer night’s breeze, content to let everything flow around her.

“Penny?” Diego’s husky voice rumbled from the shore.

Dress shoes, loafers maybe, scuffed against the dock. Penny lay there knowing she’d have to get up in a second to resume her role as an ambassador for corporate gardens and the camp.

But for one more lovely moment, she just was.

“Penny.” An urgency that hadn’t been evident threaded Diego’s voice. He was running now. “Are you—is everything—”

She sat up abruptly and he skidded to a stop. “I was just admiring the stars.” She tilted her head back and stared at the sky. Had that been panic in his voice?

“Jesus.” He dropped down next to her. He gulped the rest of his beer and put the bottle on the dock with a thud.

Since she couldn’t very well comment on his unexpected concern, she searched for a safe topic. The weather. The outdoors. Innocuous subjects. “Gorgeous night.”

“Yeah.” Diego cleared his throat. “I don’t spend much time outside.”

“That’s a shame.”

He shrugged, and his biceps brushed her shoulder. The light contact should have been nothing, a mere whisper against her bare skin, but her nerve endings suddenly sizzled with awareness.

Diego Ramos was close. His body radiated a subtle heat, warming her left side. A shiver shimmied over her spine.

“Cold?” The question was hushed in the quiet night air.

Lights from the cabins twinkled along the paths, but out here on the dock, dark wrapped around them, protecting their privacy.

Sexual awareness shimmered between them, thick in the humid air.

“I’m fine.” But a little tremor in her voice gave her away.

“What was that all about?”

She didn’t pretend not to understand. “You sure are direct.”

“I live by a few credos, one of which is you never know unless you ask.”

She raised her eyebrows, her lips curled in a smirk. “That’s certainly true.”

But she didn’t answer.

The urge to rest her head on his shoulder, to lean against him even for a moment, was so strong. She yearned for that physical closeness.

“How was your day?” she asked, desperately wanting him to focus on something other than the way Jeffrey London had snubbed her.

* * *

Diego was silent for a moment. How was his day? “Fine.” Not exactly the truth but nothing that he could pinpoint was wrong. And yet dissatisfaction thrummed below the surface of his emotions. He couldn’t seem to shake this restlessness that plagued him more and more.

He’d rather think about Penny and their illicit attraction than his strange unsettled feelings about today’s merger meeting. But that topic should be a no-go too.

He couldn’t reconcile her hard work with his memories of the spoiled little girl, but she wasn’t a little girl any longer. She was a lush, sexy, earthy woman who pushed all his buttons, even some he didn’t realize he had.

“Well, I’d best get to bed,” Penny said.

His breath caught. Images of them in bed twined together, his dark flesh an erotic contrast to her fairer skin. His hand against her breast, her fingers clutching his shoulders as he tasted her. The visual images brought his libido to stunning immediate life.

“I’ll walk you to your cabin.” Diego jumped to his feet, pleasantly sore from his work today, and tried to banish those erotic visions from his brain. No sex with the help. And okay, shit he sounded like Jeffrey London right there.

No sex. Period. This weekend was to finalize the deal that would move him from a well-off millionaire into the upper echelons of billionaire CEO status.

After many years—sweat, heartbreak, and learning curves—he was within reach of the goal he’d been striving for since her words struck him during their altercation in the parking lot all those summers ago.

Penny hesitated another second. He held out his hand. Tentatively she placed her palm in his and he tugged her to her feet. Except she’d already started to stand, and the combined efforts propelled her right into him.

“Oh.” She lost her balance, falling against him, her breasts rubbing his chest. Her soft exhale puffed against his lips and they tingled.

He still held her balled fingers. He tugged her even tighter against his body and curled his other arm around her waist so they were pressed together from knee to collarbone. He stared into her shadowed green eyes, barely able to see her features. The new moon offered little visibility.

Her eyes fluttered shut. Giving him permission or shutting him out? He bent his head and paused a hairsbreadth from her mouth. “I’m going to kiss you.” Business 101, use declarative sentences to state your intentions rather than as a question.

“Mm’kay.”

He brushed his lips against hers, butterfly soft. He didn’t want to scare her. She was already skittish, as if she would bolt if he let go.

What the hell was he doing, kissing Penelope Hastings?

Probably the worst idea he’d ever had and yet… He sipped at her mouth, learning the texture. Her arms were toned and her hands callused and strong, and her lips were soft, sweet.

She melted against him, and her free arm circled his shoulders and held on as if he was the only thing keeping her from liquefying into a puddle on the ground. Her soft moan of acquiescence spurred him on.

The scent of lilacs rose in the heated air. She scraped her fingernails along his scalp and his dick hardened in a rush. Ever since that moment in the kitchen last night, he’d been thinking about kissing her. More than kissing her.

She sighed and opened for him. Her surrender easy, simple. Between one breath and the next she traced his mouth with the tip of her tongue, dipping inside in an uncomplicated stroke. But as she tried to retreat, he sucked her tongue inside his mouth. And the gentle, tender kiss turned fiercely passionate. Lust swamped him.

Diego slanted his head and dove into the kiss.

She moaned louder as the kiss became a battle. He skimmed his fingers along her back and pressed her ass so that she rocked into his erection.

Twined together, he held tight to her fist, having the irrational thought that if he let go of her hand, she’d flit away.

A shout from the boathouse interrupted their escalating embrace.

They broke apart. Diego’s chest heaved as he strained for breath.

Her eyes were wide, shocked, as they stood there, stopped on the precipice of a monumental mistake.

The commotion in the boathouse continued.

“Better see what’s wrong.” He brushed her loose hair away from her face.

“Yeah.”

They headed toward the noise.

When they entered the boathouse, Zinnia was sitting on the makeshift dance floor, tears tracking down her face. She didn’t typically drink but he’d noticed earlier she’d been over-imbibing.

“What happened, Zin?”

“Twisted my ankle, knocked over some chairs, hit my head.” Her lower lip stuck out like it had when she’d been two. “Generally made an ass of myself.”

“All in a day’s work.” He brushed his thumbs over her tears.

She snorted. But then her eyes filled again. “Hurts,” she whispered.

“I can take a look if you’d like,” Penny offered. “I have basic first aid training.”

“Does the camp have a doctor?”

“All the employees are certified in first aid and obviously CPR but for anything more serious, we rely on the hospital.” Penny gestured to a chair. “Let’s get her up on the chair so I can take a look.”

Diego lifted Zinnia onto the chair and tried to disperse the crowd around her. “She’ll be okay. Go ahead and enjoy the party.”

But the accident busted the party atmosphere and people paraded by, giving Zin either sympathetic looks or accusing stares, until soon the giant room was empty except for the servers and bartenders.

Penny asked Zin questions, pressing on various spots. But when Penny tried to rotate the injured ankle, Zin cried out. Purple already mottled her skin, and the muscles and tendons around the joint had puffed to twice their normal size.

Someone had grabbed the first aid kit off the wall. Penny wrapped Zin’s ankle tightly in a bandage. Then she pulled on the exam gloves and pressed against Zinnia’s skull. “Ow.”

Penny swabbed the cut and bump with an alcohol wipe, then tossed the gloves and supplies in the garbage.

Diego squatted beside Zin and held her hand. “Everything will be fine.”

“I ruined your party.” Tears dripped off her chin, likely exacerbated by the cocktails she’d been chugging.

“Mija, you planned the party. And you did a great job. Everyone had a blast.”

Penny cocked her head at Diego.

He patted Zin’s knee gently and stepped away from her.

“She needs to be looked at by a doctor.” Penny propped her hands on her hips. “I don’t think she has a concussion but I’m pretty sure her ankle is broken. If it isn’t broken it’s a bad sprain.”

Diego pulled out his cell but Penny shook her head. “Won’t work out here.”

No cell. He’d forgotten.

He rubbed his hand over his head. Zinnia had begun to cry softly again. “Can we call an ambulance at the lodge?”

“It will be faster if we just take her.” Penny let her shoulders slump for a second. “Let me wash up and then I’ll bring my car down to the boathouse.”

“I can take her.”

But Penny was shaking her head. “Can’t let you do that. You’ve been drinking and your employee was injured on camp grounds. The Tullys, and their insurance company, would ream me if I let you drive. I’ll take her.”

“Then I’m going with you.”