A Win-Win Proposition (Case Brothers 2)
Her gaze left the road and darted his direction. “Except you’re not looking at the scenery. You’re staring at me.”
“Exactly.”
She returned her attention to the empty two-lane road. “I don’t get it.” Her lopsided smile told a different story. She liked his attention.
“Don’t get what?”
“Why’d you leave your dad in charge of entertaining the executives tonight?”
“Rather odd for a control freak like me, isn’t it?”
“Are you planning on throwing that in my face all night?”
“I don’t know. Are we going to spend the night together?”
“I hadn’t given it much thought.” Missy’s breathless tone gave her away.
Sebastian grinned. “I have no plans in case you’re wondering.” He noted the time on the dashboard clock. Nine-thirty. They’d been driving an hour. “We can drive all night if that’s what you want.”
“But what do you want to do?”
“I’m not the one in charge of tonight’s entertainment. You are.”
The car slowed still more. “I don’t like being in charge.”
“Really? I’m enjoying it immensely.”
The car stopped. Missy made a U-turn and began to head back to town. Sebastian hid his relief.
“Why?”
“Because role reversal is a good way to broaden your understanding of someone else.”
“And that’s what we’re doing?” she prompted, her tone wry. “Broadening our understanding of each other?”
“You tell me. How does it feel to be in charge of all the decisions?”
“Exhausting. How do you do it all the time?”
He laughed. “It’s not so bad once you get used to it. And I don’t make all the decisions all the time. Why do you think I gave you my house to decorate?”
“When did you become so enlightened?”
“Around the time you called me a tyrant, I think.”
She shook her head. “I never called you a tyrant.”
“You told me my demanding ways were responsible for the company’s employee turnover. If that’s true, I’m not acting like a good leader, am I? And that’s what this week is all about—improving leadership skills.”
“I forgot to ask you how it went today. Is your father behaving himself?”
Sebastian entertained Missy with stories of his father’s preoccupation with his cell phone as they drove back to the hotel.
“I’m surprised,” she said as the lights of Las Vegas drew closer. “He seemed very interested in your speech.”
“When did you talk to him about that?”
“This morning as I was checking to make sure everything was ready to go.”