She shook her head at him. “They’re not here anymore, silly. It’s just for lounging.”
The lawn was enormous—it had to be over a dozen acres—and ringed by trees, with buildings rising beyond. It was peaceful, though. People sat in the new grass, or lounged, as Gina had said. Stone followed her over to a spot in the middle, in full sunshine.
After spreading out both of their jackets, she sat on one and patted the other for him to join her.
“Gina, I don’t mind sitting on grass.”
“Oh, right.” She giggled. “I’m delirious from lack of sleep. Cut me a break.”
But when he sat beside her, she shook her head and patted her lap.
“Lean back. And take off your hat. I want to play with all this glorious hair of yours.”
He’d be a fool to argue. With his head resting in her lap, his tired body relaxed amid the smell of fresh spring grass and Gina’s signature sweetness. Stone closed his eyes, soaking up the warm sun and Gina’s soft, sensuous touch in his hair. Her fingers sifted through the strands with gentle tugs, stimulating the nerves in his scalp and sending answering bolts of pleasure through him. Being this close to her was an exquisite torture, but he didn’t want it to end.
When her strong fingers moved to massage his scalp, he groaned.
“You like it?” she asked, her voice breathy.
“Mm.” He didn’t trust himself to reply. He liked ittoomuch.
But the week’s activities took their toll, and he started to nod off.
“Stone.” Gina’s voice was right by his ear.
He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. “Yeah?”
“Let’s take a nap.”
He shifted over to make room for her on their jackets and pillowed his head on his arms. She stretched out beside him and cuddled against his side, a warm, soft presence.
“I set an alarm on my phone,” she said. “When it goes off, I’ll take you to get some New York City pizza, and then we’ll go uptown to my mom’s place.”
“Sounds like the perfect day.”
He closed his eyes. Drifted off. And woke when her phone beeped.
Gina sat up to fish it out of her pocket. He wanted to pull her back down beside him.
“Huh? It’s a call.” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello? Oh, sure, he’s right here.” She passed the phone to Stone, her expression sleepy and puzzled. “It’s for you.”
Stone stared at the sky while the guy on the other end rattled a name at him that sounded vaguely familiar, along with a series of instructions. He grunted a few times in response, then ended with, “Fine, I’ll be there.”
He hung up and gave the phone back to Gina.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“Dinner. With some of theLiving Wildexecs. At the hotel.” He blew out a breath. “Sorry. Your mother—”
“It’s okay.” She cut him off before he could find the words to explain how much he’d rather have a home-cooked meal with her family. “Work comes first.”
He ground his teeth. Work didn’t come first, not for him. Family did. He always dropped everything to come to his family’s aid. It was why he was here in the first place.
Right now, the pull offamily—real family, crammed around a dinner table to eat and fight and laugh—warred with the commitment he’d made to his own family back in Alaska, to do whateverit took to keep their secrets safe and makeLiving Wilda success. When was the last time they’d had a family dinner that hadn’t been filmed?
He also just didn’t want to leave Gina. He didn’t want this day to end.
“I don’t want to go,” he finally said. “But I have to.”
