Her eyes flickered. "When did you know? Did you already know when you came here with the courier package?"
"No, not until after that. When I gave you my card, I didn't know. I wanted to know you, the woman. That was my only motivation. After that, things got complicated."
"You knew when I came to The Hub."
"Yes, by then I'd taken over. When you came to The Hub I tried really hard to resist getting involved." He shrugged. "I couldn't."
She stared at him, listening. Then she frowned. "I feel as if I should've known."
"Why? You could never have guessed. This was no ones fault, it just happened. We just happened. But we were meant to."
She nodded, silent as she took in his words.
He never tired of looking at her, eating her up with his eyes. "Today and what it signifies doesn't have any bearing on how much I want you or how I've felt about you since I met you. Abby, I believe that this isn't about what and who we are, it's about a connection that would have happened whatever jobs we did and how we met."
"You were at the auction, at Fitzsimmons, weren't you?"
He stared at her, shocked that she'd seen him. "Yes. I'm sorry. I had to know before I left for Paris. I wanted you to get the place so badly. The night before, we..." He remembered the night, and he ached for her.
She nodded when his words trailed away. "I know. The castle purchase became special. The whole time I was looking at it, I was thinking of you."
He nodded. Relief hit him and hit him hard. He needed to know. "Did you mean what you said in Paris? Do you still feel the same?"
"I did. I love you, Zac, you know that. But this is a lot for me to take in. You were demanding a level of trust that might have been beyond me."
"Might have?"
"Might have." A tinge of amusement warmed her expression.
He felt the barriers between them falling away, and his chest filled with emotion. "Where do we go from here?"
She turned away from him slowly.
"Tell me about this job," she said, carefully.
Hope had him firmly in its grip. She hadn't thrown him out, screamed or accused him of all sorts of dishonest activities. But then she wouldn't would she, logic said she'd keep her head. God, he loved her.
She wandered further into the office and shifted something on her desk, dropping her papers onto it and sitting on the edge of it.
He looked around the space, taking her other life into his consciousness. They still had so much more to learn about each other, it was going to be good. He began to walk in her path.
"I would want you to take full responsibility for all matters relating to the Ashburn account. You would be independent. I'm aware that you need that." He paused significantly and looked at her. "You may even want to work from your own company, as a consultant for us."
Her eyes glistened softly. That meant a lot to her, he knew it would. "Go on."
He reached into his pocket to pull out some papers.
"A draft contract for your perusal." He moved closer to her. His gaze roamed her body and he stroked the folded sheets over her shoulder, to lie across her breast.
"You've taken a lot for granted." She arched her eyebrow at him, but a gentle smile lifted the corners of her beautiful mouth.
He wanted to kiss her and take her in his arms. "No," he said and assured her that he didn't with a serious expression. "But I like to have every eventually covered." He reached down to kiss her gently on the lips.
She leaned up to meet the kiss, as hungry as ever for him.
He pulled away after a moment and reached into his pocket again. "However, I have taken the liberty of booking us a flight to Ireland next weekend. I thought you might like to come and look over this property I recently acquired?"
"You've got a bloody cheek, Zachary Bordino." Her eyes flashed at him and her hand rose as if to slap him.