“Ms. Cannon, I trust you slept well,” Valentine said when I stepped into the office.

“We thought you must be unwell, taking such a long lie-in,” Delilah purred as she languidly raised her exceptional bosom from where it had been dangling perilously close to Jay valentine.

We?

I wish I could say I made a swift retort to her snarky remark but the emotion jack-knifing through my body was so terrifying, I didn't dare say a word in case I regretted it. The impulse to turn around and stalk back through the door, slamming it behind me was almost unbearable. I fought it down and stood the space while Valentine lifted his eyes and watched me closely.

Was he feeling my every sense at that moment? Did he know how much I wanted to annihilate the B and possess him totally? I should leave. I should get away from the Valentine winery before I was completely consumed by these terrible feelings racketing through me. But if I could only learn to control the desire I felt for my employer then surely I'd be a much stronger person, unmoved by tempestuous emotion.

Valentine and Delilah were still behind the desk, as close to each other as possible to get with clothes on, gazing at me with the same inquisitive stare. Like I was an exhibit at the freaking zoo, or some freak at the circus. Suddenly I felt a desire for the safe haven of Josh and wished fervently that I'd told him to book a flight and get his ass out here.

I had to stay and battle through this torment as though it were a prison sentence. I needed Josh to take me out of my overwhelming attachment to Jay Valentine and scorching envy of Delilah. I would not let my boss or his assistant get the best of me.

“Do you need me for anything?” I mustered my courage so my voice didn't crack. “Sir.”

“Actually I do,” he replied with a pronounced attitude of professionalism. I guessed that was for the assistant's benefit. “I'm flying to San Francisco tonight for a meeting and I want you to come with me. We'll leave at seven.”

“Whatever you want, Sir,” I replied, gratified by the look of dismay that flittered across Delilah's snotty pointed face.

“I'll be in my office until then- if you need me.”

I turned my back on them with a brief glimpse of the surprise in Valentine’s face, before tugging the door shut on their tete-a-tete, as though frankly, my dear, I didn't give a damn.

How'd ya like that sass, then? Sir.

I strode down the hall to the seclusion of my private space and immediately pressed the direct link to Josh's number. When it went straight to V-mail, I told him that I was snowed under at work but desperate to see him for real, not virtual, sex.

Please, please, I begged, would he come out to Napa for the weekend and take me to the most luxurious and decadent hotel room he could find. There, he could do whatever, wherever, he wanted with my willing, pliant, body. Two hours later I received a Vine of a very happy bunny spanking a tortoise across its shell in perpetuity.

Once I had Josh alone face to face, I'd find out what exactly his relationship to Valentine was and why he hadn't told me he'd been set up to test me for the master. It may not even be true- Valentine had exhibited a bizarre fascination for my relationship with Josh. He may have made up the story as another test of my resilience, or to break my security blanket back home. The only one I had remaining.

The confusion of untangling the knotted maze of connections was making me nutty. I was exceptionally pleased with myself for managing the situation and looking forward to getting to the answers in a couple of days.

The heli’s propeller was already whirring by the time I met Jay Valentine on the pad behind the estate. He arrived from the opposite end of the house, carrying two black briefcases and helped me into the passenger seat while the pilot stowed his luggage. Then Valentine got behind the stick and the pilot stepped away as he lifted the helicopter up into the air and left my stomach back on the ground.

“I had no idea you could fly,” I shouted.

He indicated the headphones and I put them on, but decided not to repeat my idiotic statement.

From the air I was treated to an eagle's view of the massive estate and the vineyards stretching for miles. The house was far bigger than I'd been able to envision from the inside and I now pictured my design for the glass extension on the end.

“I imagine you’re no longer wearing your tail.” Valentine's dulcet voice fell directly into my ears through the phones.

I smiled out the window and didn't respond. Leave him to his fantasies.

“You must think me a monster,” he probed.

Again I smiled and remained silent. I knew I was pushing his limits by not answering him immediately as I was required to do.

“You did very well last night- Incredible,” he said in a half whisper before looking to the side window, averting his face from me.

I smiled even wider. He was as much enamored by our connection as I was. What a fantastic trip this was going to be. I was determined to impress him and make him proud at the business meeting we were headed to.

Now I regretted asking Josh to meet me for the weekend. All I could think of was getting closer to Valentine, probing behind that enigmatic exterior for what made him need to pleasure unknown women while taking none for himself. Then I would make him surrender to his passion and realize that I had the power to take him there.

In barely minutes, the Golden Gate Bridge appeared in a half shroud of mist.

“Oh, we're in San Francisco,” I murmured.

“Don't you like my city?” Valentine's rich voice in my ears.

“I've never actually spent time here. I just assumed for some reason we were headed to LA.” Then I realized my dopey mistake. “That's way too far to fly isn't it? We'd never make it.”

“We would in this bird, in less than two hours.”

The mat black helicopter was like no other I had ever seen and always made me think of the Batman movie. Not that I had much experience with this style of travel, but even I could tell it was moving impossibly fast through the air. He lowered the machine to a pad on the rooftop of a skyscraper and we took an elevator down one floor to emerge directly into a massive pale gray room with a curved wall of glass looking directly out across the bay.