His concessions surprised her—and warmed her. But she couldn’t believe the way her body reacted to the idea that she hadn’t fallen so hopelessly in love that there was no turning back.

Because that’s exactly what I’ve done. She pressed her hand to the cool glass, her heart so full of love she wanted to drop the phone and run right into Brodie’s arms. She never wanted to leave those arms again.

“After the vote, things will be different. Between the two of us—and this goes no further—I will be firing Henri. And that means his son will go, as well.”

“You’re firing them? Papa.”

“There can be no other interpretation to him showing us the picture than to either manipulate or blackmail us into controlling our daughter. He’s never disguised his ambitions, but anyone who works for the Villeneuve family must place honor and country above his own ambitions.”

“But he holds all our secrets.”

“And that’s why we conduct ourselves the way we do, sweetheart. So that we have no skeletons in our closets.”

Her father was a good, honorable man, and all she’d done was pile on the stress during the hardest period in his life. “All right, Papa. I’ll come home.”

When Brodie straightened, eyes narrowing on her, she knew what her expression revealed.

The clock had just about run out. “Give me one week to finish up here. I’ll be home before the vote.”

Chapter Twenty

“Can’t sleep?”

In six days, Rosalina would never get to hear that deep, rumbly voice again. She’d never have this intimacy with him, their naked bodies under the covers, the heat of him stretched alongside her. The clutch of his hands in the middle of the night, and the sexy murmurs in her ear.

“Not really.”

Brodie rolled onto his side, slung his arm across her, and nuzzled her neck. “Still buzzed?”

After giving away every sample, Rosalina had been wired. It wasn’t just the fantastic response they’d gotten to the lotion, but the idea it had prompted. Brodie would open an online store for the hotel to sell not only their spa products but other gifts specific to Owl Hoot.

The spirit of Calamity and the Bowie family…she’d never felt more inspired. The freedom to create had opened the floodgates. It was exhilarating.

“No.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“I was thinking about the way you laugh. Usually, you’re all serious and badass—even when someone teases you or says something funny—but every now and then you let loose a smile or a laugh that just slays me. You’re so incredibly handsome, but your intensity can be intimidating. So, when you smile? It’s like…it’s like on an overcast day, when the sunshine breaks through the clouds?” She rolled to look at him. “It’s like that.”