Page 57 of Falling for the Bad Boy

That made sense. Why hadn’t I thought to ask before? “Can’t you do that at home though? Go back and work for your family’s vineyard?”

“It’s not that simple.” He sat back in his chair and his eyes took on a look that made it seem like he was far, far away.

I waited to see if he’d say anything more.

“My dad would love for me to come home and work with him.” He turned to meet my gaze. That wasn’t the whole story, I could tell by the way his brow furrowed, and something flashed across his face. Regret? Pain? Loss?

“But?” I prompted, suddenly desperate to get to know him better. I knew his body like I knew the back of my own hand. I’d run my tongue over every square inch of him. Knew where he liked to be kissed, how he liked to be stroked, where he was the most ticklish. But I had no idea what he held in his heart.

He reached over and covered my hand with his. The weight of his touch caught me off guard.

“I need to tell you something.” His gaze burned into mine.

My pulse ticked up and a sinking feeling started pulling at my gut. “What is it?” Possibilities raced through my head.

“I…” He glanced away.

My phone pinged. I ignored it. This was more important.

“Hey, what is it? You can tell me.” I gave his hand a squeeze. Whatever he had to tell me, I wanted to know. I needed to know. The urge to flee came on strong, pulling me toward the door like an industrial-strength magnet. But I held my ground against it, bound and determined to see this through. For once in my life I wasn’t going to run.

“So my family back in New Zealand…”

“Yes?” My phone pinged again. I nudged it away.

“Don’t you want to check that?” He nodded toward my phone.

“No, just tell me what you were going to say.”

“I haven’t been—” The sound of my ringtone drowned out his words. I’d turned up the volume, so I’d hear it if I set it down somewhere in the warehouse.

“I’m so sorry.” I flipped it over to dismiss the call. The sign company. I needed to take the call. Moving my hand from his, I held the phone to my ear with one hand and lifted a finger to signal I needed a minute with the other. “Hello?”

“Ms. Ryan?” A gruff voice barked out my name.

“Yes? This is she.”

“We made the changes on your sign, and our team is outside ready to install right now. Are you in the building?”

I pushed back from the table. “Yes.”

“If you could meet my crew on the street, they’ll need access to the roof.”

“Of course. Just give me a few minutes and I’ll be down right away. Can you hold for just a moment?” I held my hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to Oliver. “Sign’s here. I’ve got to go.”

He nodded.

“Can we talk about this later?” The last thing I wanted to do was walk away from him when it seemed like he was about to share something important.

“Yeah, go take care of your sign.” The carefree grin I’d come to love spread across his face.

“We’re not done talking about this. I want to hear what you were going to say.”

He stood and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Promise?”

He nodded then spun me around and gave me a playful swat on the ass to propel me toward the door.