“So it’s worked. For twenty years. You’ve never talked about any of your employees in terms of their looks or their date-ability—”

“Because I don’t think of them that way,” Sierra insisted.

“My point exactly. You don’t think of them that way, until Cole. Which tells me that Cole might be special. He broke through.”

“It’s because he went to the wedding with me.”

“It doesn’t matter why. Something made you say yes when he offered.”

“Desperation,” Sierra said with a scoff-laugh.

Hayden slid down from her stool and walked around the mini-bar, planting herself across from Sierra, peering into her eyes. “All I’m trying to say is, maybe Cole could be important to you on a personal level. All these years, maintaining your anti-involvement rule has worked…until this one guy. So maybe you should see where it goes.”

“And just throw out twenty years of rules?”

“Why the hell not? Maybe Mr. Foreman is worth it.”

“What if he’s not?”

“You won’t know until you try.”

Sierra closed her eyes, a hundred thoughts spinning through her head. “You make it sound so easy.”

“Maybe it is.”

“But what if it’s not? This is my company, my livelihood, my way of life, and I don’t want to do anything to screw it up.”

“You’re being overdramatic.”

“I’m being smart,” Sierra said. “Or trying to.”

“Maybe smart and heart don’t go together.”

“I need to be smart right now. Things are starting to line up for the company. The Eldridge Mansion thing could be life changing.”

“It could be,” Hayden said, who’d listened to Sierra ramble about the pros and cons of the competition a few days ago. “But so could Cole North.”

“Now who’s being overdramatic? I’m talking about sleeping with him, not marrying him.”

Hayden shrugged. “Either way. I’m just saying Cole broke through the barriers you lived by for two decades. Maybe you need to see where it goes. Otherwise, you’ll always wonder.”

Sierra blew out all the air in her lungs, thinking. “I don’t even know whether he’s interested. The point could be moot.”

“Maybe so. Maybe not. At the very least, I think you should kiss him again.”

At those words, the memory of kissing him came flaring back, and Sierra couldn’t lie to herself. She wanted to feel that way again, wanted to explore that sizzling chemistry that had risen between them suddenly. She wanted to know what it would be like to get closer to him, to be naked with him, to have him on top of her, bearing down on her, inside of her…

Sierra reached for her wineglass, tipped it back, poured more than a delicate sip down her throat.