“So maybe I haven’t done anything that’s technically inappropriate or spontaneous. Big deal. It doesn’t mean that I’m a prude or anything.”

“Alright. If you say so.”

“It doesn’t,” she insisted.

He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk off.

Suddenly hit with a burst of inspiration, Sofia grabbed Ram by his hand and pulled him back. When he turned back, laughing, she cupped both sides of his face and laid a kiss on him that was so powerful he couldn’t help but let out a grunt of pleasure. He raked one hand through her thick hair and settled the other against the small of her back.

Ram couldn’t believe how sweet she tasted or how soft her small curves were. Was this a dream?

Sofia pulled her lips back all too soon but he chased after them for another intoxicating dose. It only lasted for a few extra seconds before she pushed back.

“There,” she whispered, while gulping in air. “Is that spontaneous enough for you?”

Before he could answer, she stepped past him on wobbly knees and quickly rushed toward her room before she spontaneously ripped his clothes off.

Behind her, Ram watched her go with a widening smile. Things were finally moving in the right direction.

Lovers Premiere
Adrianne Byrd

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

It’s time to step back into the Limelight! Lovers Premiere is the final book in this passionate, glamorous Hollywood series, and this time around we are getting the scoop on Sofia Wellesley and Ramell “Ram” Jordan. Ram’s had a crush on Sofia since they were both just kids, but the journey to love can be full of obstacles, and somewhere along the way they became the worst of enemies. When a business assignment forces Sofia and Ram to work together, it will cause them to reevaluate just what they mean to each other. And it will become difficult to deny the passion that’s been steadily building between them.

The sensuality meter has been turned all the way up in this sizzling story, and the couple’s romance brings the Love in the Limelight series to a scorching close. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Be sure to look for my Kimani Romance novel

My Only Desire in April 2011.

Wishing you the best of love,

Adrianne

This book is dedicated to A.C. Arthur, Ann Christopher and Brenda Jackson.

It was a pleasure working with you talented ladies.

Prologue

Los Angeles, April 1983

“Sofia Wellesley, will you marry me?”

Ten-year-old Sofia’s amber-brown eyes sparkled at the bundle of wild daisies Ramell Jordan thrust toward her. Daisies were her favorite flower and always put an instant smile on her face—which he knew very well. As for his ridiculous question, she just rolled her eyes and pretended not to have heard it.

“For me? Thank you.” She took the flowers and shoved them under her nose so she could inhale their fresh spring scent.

Ram waited and then his wide smile crumbled into a frown when his girlfriend walked away. “Aren’t you going to answer my question?” he asked, as they strolled through the back gardens of the Wellesley Estate.

“What question is that?” she asked absentmindedly, still drifting away from him in her bubble-gum-pink sundress.

“C’mon. You know.” He stopped following her and folded his arms under his chest. “I’ve only been asking you every day for the last two weeks.”

Sofia kept walking and smelling her flowers. About a minute later, Ram ran and caught up with her just like she knew he would.

“Well?” he tried again.

“I told you that I needed to think about it. Marriage is a very important decision in a girl’s life and it’s not something to be taken lightly,” she said, quoting her mother perfectly. “And just because I’ve known you all my life doesn’t mean that we’re destined to be together. We may grow up and want to see other people.”

Ram frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that. “See other people like who?”

Sofia shrugged her thin shoulders. “I don’t know. There’s like a gazillion people in the world.”

“You want to date a gazillion people?” he asked with his eyes practically bugging out. “Do you have any idea how long that would take?”

“I don’t know. Probably like five years.”

“Well, five years is a looooong time.”

Finally, she stopped walking and turned toward him. “Momma said that if a boy really liked you then he would wait, no matter how long it takes.”

Ram tossed up his hands. “That’s ridiculous! What am I supposed to do while you’re out dating a gazillion people—play Atari and drink juice boxes?”

“Oh stop being overly dramatic.” Sofia rolled her eyes. “You’re going to do what all boys do: work and save a lot of money.”

“Wait a minute. I work while you date other people? That hardly seems fair.”

“Oh, I’ll work too,” she said, beaming. “I’m going to work with my dad and Uncle Jacob. I’m going to work with movie stars, directors, writers—you name it.”

“You’re going to do all that and date a gazillion people?” He rolled his eyes and then shook his head. “All of that is going to take forever. We’ll be old—like thirty or thirty-five.”

Sofia’s brows stretched upward. “Are you saying that you won’t want to marry me when I’m old?”

“What? No. I didn’t say that,” Ram backtracked. “I’m just saying that I want to marry you while you’re young, too.”

“Well we’re young now. And we see each other every day as it is so what’s the problem?”

“I didn’t think we had a problem until you said you wanted to date a gazillion people. If you can lower that number down some then maybe…”

“Okay. How about a bazillion?”

He crossed his arms and gave her a stern look. “Lower.”

“A billion.”

“Lower.”

“A million.”

“Lower.”

“Umm…a thousand?”

Ram shook his head. “No.”

“Lower than a thousand?”

“Definitely.”

“A hundred.”

“Lower.”

“Fifty.”

He paused as if it was a number he could work with but then started shaking his head. “Lower.”

“Oh, I give up. You’re being totally unreasonable.” Sofia turned and stormed toward the sprawling mansion.

“Fine. If you’re going to start dating other boys then I’m going to start dating other girls—starting with Twyla Henderson.”

Sofia stopped in her tracks and turned around. “What did you just say?”

Pleased to see that he’d finally gotten her attention, Ram thrust his chin up and puffed his chest out. “You heard me. I’m going to date Twyla Henderson. She’s pretty enough and I know for a fact that she likes me.”

“And you also know very well that I don’t like that big bully. All she does is talk bad about people and think that everyone should kiss her butt because her father knows a bunch of famous people.”

“Whatever. She’s always nice to me.” Ram turned and started to stroll in the opposite direction, mimicking one of Sofia’s slick moves. He smiled when he heard her stomping up behind him.

“Ramell Jordan, I forbid you to go out with that knock-kneed cow.”

He turned around, laughing. “Knocked-kneed?”

“You heard me.” She pushed up her chin. Her anger made red splotches on her smooth brown skin.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Hardly seems fair that you can date millions of people but I can’t see one girl that goes to our school.”

“You can date anybody but her!”

“Okay. How about Jill Marshall?”

Sofia’s face twisted in disgust. “The girl that makes bubbles in her milk every day at lunch? Why would you want to go out with her?”

“Connie Woods?”

Sofia opened her mouth but then closed it. She liked Connie. Everybody did. When she hesitated, Ram took her silence as a stamp of approval.

“Great! I’ll go over to her house right now. Maybe she’d like to go to the arcade or the roller rink.” He started to march off.

“Ramell Jordan, you’ll do no such thing!”

He had her now, but he quickly fixed his face so that he looked confused. “Why not?”

“Because I forbid it,” she said, as if it made all the sense in the world.

A smile ballooned across his face. “Admit it. You don’t like the idea of me dating other girls just like I don’t like the idea of you dating a gazillion boys.”

Sofia pressed her lips together like she wasn’t about to admit to any such thing.

Seeing that she was going to continue to be stubborn about the issue, Ram shrugged his shoulders and said, “Fine. I guess I’ll go see what Connie is doing.”

He took one step forward and Sofia grabbed his wrist so fast that she dropped half of her fresh-picked daisies. “Don’t go!”

Ramell cocked his head and waited for the words he wanted to hear.

“All right. Fine.” She snatched her hand back and folded it across her chest with her other one. “I don’t want you to date other girls. There. Are you happy?”

“Extremely.” He turned toward her. “So how about getting married?”

“Sofia! Dinnertime! Time to come in!” Gloria, the Wellesleys’ housekeeper, hollered out through the French doors.

Sofia’s face split into a smile. “See you tomorrow!” She turned and shot off toward the house.

“Wait!” Ram called after her, but it was no use. She was already running as fast as her long legs could carry her.

He crossed his arms dejectedly. “Women!”

Sofia raced into the house, laughing because she had managed to get away from Ram once again without having to answer his proposal. Of course their game would resume tomorrow and she’d have to come up with a whole new set of stall-tactics. Heaven knows that she wasn’t opposed to marrying Ramell. The two times that he’d managed to sneak a kiss from her from underneath the oak tree in her backyard she actually thought it was rather nice. Sofia liked Ram. She especially liked how his dark brown eyes would shine like two new marbles when she’d let him. But they were only ten years old. What was a girl to do?

“Go on and wash up,” Gloria said, pulling her from her reverie. “Your parents are busy with something in your father’s study, but when they’re done they’ll join you and your sister in the dining room.”

Sofia nodded and then ran through the house and up the long spiral staircase to her bedroom. Once inside, she hurried over to the pink vase on top of her chest of drawers and added the four remaining wild daisies she clutched in her hand with the other ones Ram had given her this week. It was starting to look like one of the huge bouquets her father usually sent her mother.

“Mrs. Sofia Jordan,” she practiced saying the name a few times in the mirror. “Mrs. Ramell and Sofia Jordan.” It had a nice ring to it, she decided. After standing there and admiring her wildflowers for a minute, she sighed and then turned toward her adjoining bathroom to go wash her hands for dinner. On her way back down the hallway, she stopped by her sister’s bedroom to peek inside.

A year ago, when her parents first brought Rachel home, Sofia was absolutely not in favor of the whole kid-sister idea. But the moment her mother had put Rachel into her arms for her to hold for the first time, things changed. Sofia didn’t expect the new baby to be so cute and adorable. It was love at first sight. She knew from that moment on that she would be like a second mom to her sister. And so far, that’s exactly what she turned out to be.

Seeing that Rachel was still fast asleep, Sofia carefully tiptoed backwards and continued to head back downstairs. However, she hadn’t even reached the middle stair before a tide of angry voices rose from her father’s study. If she had been told once, she had been told a million times not to go into her father’s study when the door was closed. But given the amount of yelling that was going on, her curiosity took over and the next thing she knew she was creeping into the room.

As she poked her head in, the first thing she noticed was her father’s handsome face distorted and inflamed with anger.

“You think that I don’t know what the hell is going on in my own house?”

“John, John. Calm down,” Uncle Jacob, her father’s twin, tried to pull him away from Emmett Jordan.

“No, Jacob. Wait until you hear about this…this lowlife son-of-”

“JOHN,” Sofia’s mother yelled.

“This backstabber,” he yelled, “has been sneaking around here with my own wife!” His narrowed gaze shifted to his wife. “Isn’t that right, Vivian?”

“No, John!”

“Don’t lie to me!” He charged toward her, but once again Uncle Jacob jumped in and blocked his path.

Vivian gasped and stepped back.

“I know what’s going on! I’ve seen you two with my own eyes!”

Her mother dropped her head into her hands and sobbed.

Her father’s rampage continued. “Fine! You want her…you can have her. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let you take my children and my company away from me!”

“John, please,” Sofia’s mother wailed.

Uncle Jacob kept his hold around his brother. “Everybody just needs to calm down.”

“Calm down?” John questioned wildly as he twisted his way out of his brother’s arms. “You know what? Everybody get the hell out of my house!”

A hand landed on Sofia’s shoulders and she nearly jumped ten feet into the air.

“What are you doing in here?” Gloria hissed.

“I was just…I was…”

“Sofia?” Vivian Wellesley turned her stunned, tear-stained eyes toward her and the housekeeper. “Get her out of here!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Gloria grabbed Sofia’s arm and dragged her out of the study and shut the door.

“What’s going on, Gloria?” Sofia asked with panic settling in her bones. She’d never seen her father so angry before.

“Don’t worry about it,” the housekeeper said, escorting her to the dining room. “That’s grown folks business. None of that concerns you.”

Doesn’t concern me? Her father had just yelled at her mother and Ramell’s father for sneaking around and then accused him of trying to steal his company—a company that he and Uncle Jacob had poured blood, sweat, and tears into. Everyone knew how much her father worked and loved that company. And her mother…how could she?

Sofia plopped down at the dinner table and folded her arms in a huff. She knew how. Emmett Jordan was every bit as much of a charmer as his son, Ramell. Clearly, neither one of them could ever be trusted.

Ever.

And that belief would be held for a long time, because Sofia’s parents were killed in a plane crash two days later.

Chapter One

Los Angeles, Today

Sofia sat on the edge of the doctor’s table with her cell phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear while her fingers raced across her iPad as she fired off one contract counteroffer after another.

“Sorry, Larry, but that’s not going to happen. You’ve only locked down Ethan Chambers for two seasons of Paging the Doctor. And you got off cheap, if you ask me. If you want to get him on board for another four years then you’re going to have come up with a figure that doesn’t insult my intelligence.”

She only half listened to Larry Franklin’s response because she knew that this was the part when studios start crying broke or downplaying just how important her client is to their hit shows. But in this case, it would all be irrelevant because Ethan Chambers dominated the tabloids and magazine covers—despite the mild hiccup with him, her sister and the paparazzi a couple of months ago.

“Larry, if you feel that way then we can just let the contract run out and I can dedicate more attention to the numerous movie offers that have been flooding my inbox. You know Denzel Washington started off on a medical show and then exploded on the big screen. That just might be the way to go here. Ethan has the looks and the talent, after all.”

“Damn, Sofia. You’re really going to bust my balls over this.”

That managed to put a smile on her face. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sure you don’t.” He laughed. “Just like I’m sure this hard bargain you’re driving has nothing to do with Ethan Chambers being in queue to become your brother-in-law.”

“You’re right. I fight for all my clients.”

“Duly noted. I’ll get back with you with a counteroffer.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Sofia sing-songed before disconnecting the call. But as soon as she had her phone started ringing again. She was about to answer when Dr. Turner’s bored baritone startled her.

“You think you can fit in time for your checkup?”

Sofia nearly jumped and flashed him with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, Brian.” She quickly put her phone on vibrate and sat it and her iPad down.

“How long do I have before you pick that up again?” he asked, flipping open her chart.

“Two minutes,” she answered honestly. Her addiction to her gadgets was well known and quite frankly not a laughing matter.

Her longtime friend and doctor shook his head. “I said it before and I’ll say it again. You work too much, Sofia.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. When you love what you do then it’s not considered work.”

Still shaking his head, Dr. Turner reached for the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around her arm. “When was the last time you had a vacation?”

Exhaling, Sofia rolled her eyes while she tried to recall the date. “Honey, I don’t know. A couple of years ago, I think.” She reached over to take a peek at her vibrating phone.

“Let it go to voicemail,” the doctor ordered while pumping air into the cuff.

She withdrew her hand from the phone and tried to pretend that she wasn’t about to look at it.

“Not good,” he said, listening through the stethoscope and watching the needle on the cuff.

“What?” Sofia looked down as if she could decipher the numbers he was reading.

“Your blood pressure is up…again.” He pulled the cuff off of her arm and leveled her with a stern look. “Look, Sofia. I’m talking to you as both your doctor and your friend. You have to do better about controlling all this stress. You keep going down this road and you’re going to have a meltdown.”

“Ugh.” She fought hard not roll her eyes. If she had a nickel for every time someone told her that—mainly her Uncle Jacob—she’d be…well, she was already rich, but she would Bill Gates rich.

“I’m serious, Sofia. You need to cut your stress levels,” Brian warned, pulling out his prescription pad.

“What are you doing?” Sofia asked when he started scribbling.

“What does it look like? I’m putting you on medication.”

“Great. Then what’s the problem? I just pop a pill and everything is cool.” She picked up her phone and Dr. Turner quickly took it out her hands.

“No. You don’t just pop a pill. You still need to try and slow down, watch what you eat and what you drink or you’re going to go down the same destructive path that all workaholics go down that leads to an early grave.” He handed over her prescription.

Sofia frowned at his scare tactics. “Will that be all?”

“How’s your love life? Are you seeing anyone?”

“What the hell does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

“I’m going to take that as a no.” He folds his arms. “You need to get out. Relax. Get a life. Meet someone.”

“Limelight is my life. It’s all I need.”

Thirty minutes later, Sofia strolled into Limelight Entertainment Management while switching back and forth between two different business calls on her Bluetooth. Still, she flashed smiles to staffers while she continued to chew studio executives and directors out without missing a beat.

“Mrs. Wellesley, your uncle wants to see you in the conference room,” Sarah Cole, perhaps the best assistant in the world, whispered to her. “He said to direct you there as soon as you walk into the door.”

Sofia just smiled and ignored the order by continuing her march toward her office. Her Uncle Jacob was the last person she wanted to talk to. His little stunt to merge their family company with Artist Factory, Inc.—Emmett and Ramell Jordan’s company—despite her numerous verbal protests, was a slap in the face that she just couldn’t ignore or bring herself to forgive him for anytime soon.

But when she entered her office, she stopped short upon seeing her uncle sitting on her office couch.

“Larry, something just came up. I’m going to have to call you back.” She tapped her ear once. “Frasier, I have to call you back.” She pulled the gadget from her ear and made a beeline toward her desk. “What are you doing in here?”

“I came to see you since I knew that you wouldn’t come to the conference room like I requested.”

“I’m busy, Uncle Jacob. What is it?” She asked absently as she plopped into her seat and turned to face her computer.

Jacob heaved himself up from the couch and strolled toward her desk. “First things first. How was your doctor’s visit?”

She cut a look toward him as if to ask are you serious? Still he stood there waiting so she answered with a slight lie. “Fine.”

His brows lifted slowly until they stretched to the center of his forehead. “So I look like an idiot now? The shakes, the occasional vertigo and chest pain is all normal for a healthy thirty-five year old woman?”

Sofia gasped. “Allegedly thirty-five.” She glanced around him to double-check that they were alone in the room together. Then she said quietly, through clenched teeth, “A woman, especially in this town, never reveals her age.”

“Come on, Sofia. It isn’t really your age we’re talking about anyway. Tell me the truth.”

“Fine. Dr. Turner said something about my blood pressure being slightly elevated. He gave me a prescription. It’s no big deal.” She glanced at her watch. “Now if we’re finished discussing my health, I have a ton of calls to get through today.”

“They can wait. We need to discuss details about this merger with A.F.I. I’ve been calling your assistant for weeks now to book a joint meeting with all the parties involved so this transition can go smoothly, but the one person I can’t seem to get on the phone is you.”

Sofia tossed her hands up in the air. “I don’t know what you need my help for. You certainly didn’t want to listen to me when I told you that I thought that this merger was a big mistake. Apparently my opinion doesn’t matter around here despite supposedly being second-in-command.”

Jacob sucked in a frustrated breath. “I’m not going to keep going around and around with you on this. This merger is a done deal. I know in my heart that this would’ve been something that even your father would’ve approved of.”

“Like hell he would have.”

“Sofia!”

“What? I’m just being honest here. You used to appreciate my honesty. Has that changed, too? Just let me know and I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”

Jacob slammed his hand on her desk. “How about you just keep the attitude?”

Stunned, Sofia was momentarily unable to respond.

“Now I appreciate and respect your opinion on this matter, but I’m still president of this company, and our merging with A.F.I. makes sound financial sense. Plus, Ramell can go a long way in helping to lighten your load around here and you need to take advantage of it.”

“I don’t need Ramell Jordan’s help with anything.”

“Use him anyway. In fact, I’m ordering you to delegate some of your workload to him. No more ninety-plus hour work weeks, Sofia. You need to start taking better care of yourself.”

Sofia opened her mouth to protest, but her uncle cut her off.

“You fight me on this then I’ll have no choice but to fire you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Since you’re too hardheaded to take care of yourself then it looks like I’m going to have to force you to do it.”

With her mouth still hanging open, he turned and started to march out the door.

“By the way, Ramell Jordan is waiting for you in the conference room. You have five minutes to get in there.”

Chapter Two

Ramell glanced at his watch and then resumed pacing back and forth in the conference room. He was more than a little annoyed about wasting a whole hour to meet with Sofia to discuss the transition between the two companies. This was a power move, plain and simple. He knew Sofia well and he knew that she was still fighting this merger tooth and nail.

He, like her Uncle Jacob, saw the financial advantage in merging their two companies together. Together they would be able to give some of the big-name agencies some real competition in this town. When his father and the Wellesleys started their family agencies back in the day they were more like boutique operations serving a niche market for African-American actors. For Limelight, it was Sofia who expanded their clientele to include other artists in the entertainment field, but now it was time to expand their scope to include all actors, musicians, models and directors, no matter their race, in order to compete in today’s mainstream market.

On top of that, merging their Los Angeles and New York offices would also free up capital to open new offices in Paris and London. As far as Ramell was concerned this was a no-brainer. Sofia—not so much. In fact, the only thing she’d said to everything proposed so far was a steadfast no. Limelight was a family company and she wanted to keep it that way. End of story.

By now he shouldn’t be surprised. He’d been running into the same brick wall with Sofia for the past twenty-five years. He would’ve thought by now that he would be used to the pain, but he wasn’t. The main reason being that he was still in love with Sofia, despite the fact that she made it clear that she couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him.

The reason? That was one thing he didn’t know. One day they were best friends, talking in her backyard about marriage, and the next she was avoiding him like the plague. Thinking she was just playing games again, he’d gone through with his promise to date Connie Woods, only for it not to faze her. Or if it did, she sure as hell didn’t let it show.

Before he could get to the bottom of it, John and Vivian Wellesley were killed in a plane crash. They were flying into Aspen, Colorado, on their private jet. Their death sent a shockwave through the Black Hollywood community and even caught the attention of the rabid mainstream paparazzi.

The whole thing came as a shock to the Jordan family, as well. Ram remembered his father being distraught over the whole incident because there had been some kind of falling out a couple of days before their death. Ramell tried to get to the bottom of what happened but whenever he tried to discuss the matter, his father would clam up, even to this day, which was odd considering how close he was to his father. If Ram didn’t know any better, he would’ve sworn that his father blamed himself for what went down and that just didn’t make any sense.

Regardless, he thought that eventually the whole situation would settle down after some time had passed and Sofia and her sister Rachel moved in with her aunt and uncle. That never happened. Whatever the story was, Ram suspected that Sofia knew what really happened and she was equally determined to keep him in the dark as everyone else.

Still, his love for her remained true. If anything it only grew. From a distance Ram watched as Sofia transformed from a pretty young girl into a gorgeous woman. A tall, willowy woman who looked more like the models that graced glossy fashion magazines than a woman who represented them. Sofia stunned everyone who met her because she was as smart as she was beautiful.

The only balm for his broken heart was the fact that he hadn’t been forced to watch her settle down with another man and bear a house load of children. He didn’t know whether he could survive something like that. Still, he did have to watch her turn herself into a workaholic in order to carry on what she perceived as her father’s dream. Of course, that was a little bit like the pot calling the kettle black since Ram also put in long hours since he took control of A.F.I. But he still managed to squeeze in some time off and even the occasional vacation.

Sofia did not. She lived and breathed Limelight. It was her husband, her children—her life.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,” Sofia said, breezing into the conference room and not even bothering to glance in his direction.

Ram’s head swiveled toward the tall hurricane that just blew into the room. His eyes immediately landed on her long, cinnamon-brown legs streaming from a short dark blue mini skirt. He quickly placed a hand over his mouth as if he just had a thought, but in truth it was just a sly way to do a hidden drool check. As Sofia dropped down into a chair, Ram’s gaze was forced to take in her small waist, her flat stomach and her in-your-face D-size breasts that if he didn’t know any better would swear they were calling his name. Just her being in the room erased his previous annoyance, but it didn’t mean that he was just going to let her blatant lie slip past him.

“Somehow I doubt inconveniencing me troubles you in the slightest,” he said, returning to his chair.

She smiled as if to validate his assessment. “Let’s just get down to business, shall we?” She flipped open a fat folder and started reading the contents as if it was the first time she’d seen the documents. He doubted that, since it was well known that she went over everything with a fine tooth comb. But while she pretended to be engrossed with what was written on the page, Ram took a brief moment to mentally photograph her flawless face. Her long lashes looked like two perfect black fans and her strong cheekbones and long flowing black hair hinted at the American-Indian heritage that was buried somewhere in her family tree. He could sit there for the rest of the day admiring individual parts of her just as he could sit back and appreciate the entire package. Most of the time, he liked to do as much of both as he could.

Sofia drew a deep breath. “I guess the best way to tackle this is to decide who is ultimately in charge of which department in order to avoid overlap in duties.”

“Actually, Jacob and I have already discussed that part. I was under the impression that you were bringing me some of your client files to this meeting.”

Sofia’s head snapped up. “Excuse me?”

Hit with the full force of her beautiful brown eyes, Ram sucked in a long breath. It was already bad enough that he had to sit there and pretend that her Marc Jacobs perfume wasn’t working a number on his senses, but to pretend like those eyes, those cheekbones and that beautiful, full mouth wasn’t causing his pants to fit a little tighter in the inseam would require better acting chops than he possessed. He coughed and then pulled his gaze away from her. “I came here to help lighten your load. Jacob said—”

“I’m not about to turn over my clients to you. Are you crazy?”

Ram blinked and stared back at Sofia silently for a moment.

“Do you know how long it took me to develop my list? Do you have any idea how much work it involved to develop a rapport with my clients and studio heads?”

“I think I have some idea, yes.” Ram shook his head. “You know it’s not my first time to the rodeo here,” he said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.

Sofia leaned back in her chair and calmly folded her arms beneath her very lovely breasts and said simply, “No.”

Ram forced his gaze up from her creamy brown cleavage peeking through her white top and met her steady gaze again. “No?”

“Good. We understand each other.” She slapped her folder shut and jumped up from her chair. “Now that we got all that settled, I have some work to do.” She flashed him a frosty smile and attempted to leave.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Ram instantly popped up and snaked a hand out to grab her by her wrist.

Sofa stiffened while her gaze dropped down to his offending hand.

Without her saying a word, he got the picture and released her. “Sorry.”

She turned and squared off. “Look. Let’s get something straight. I’m against this merger.”

“Clearly.”

“And I think the way you and Jacob went about this was sneaky and underhanded. And since you and my uncle cooked this whole thing up behind my back, if there’s anyone’s client list you should steal it should be his.”

“Steal?”

“I don’t need your help and I didn’t ask for it,” she continued. “This whole thing was a big mistake and I suspect that it’s just a matter of time before my uncle realizes that, too. And until that time, I’d appreciate it if you just stay the hell away from me. Are we clear?”

“Sofia—”

“It’s Ms. Wellesley, thank you.”

He blinked unbelievingly. “Are you for real?”

She simply lifted one of her perfectly arched and groomed eyebrows to telegraph that she was dead serious.

“All right.” He stepped back. “In that case, no. It’s not clear,” he said in the same dead tone that she used. “As president of A.F.I., this merger makes me second in command of our new business together. Jacob being number one, of course.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“So just in case you’re having a hard time connecting the dots that means that you work for me. And I’m no longer asking you to produce your client list. I’m telling you. If I don’t have the list in my office before five o’clock today then I’ll simply have your assistant compile the list and I’ll chose which ones you keep and which ones will be divvied up to the other agents.”

Sofia’s eyes bulged in shock. “You can’t do that!”

“Watch me.” He turned toward the conference table, snatched up his briefcase and then headed toward the door.

“Five o’clock, Sofia. I wouldn’t advise you being one minute late.”

He could feel her eyes blazing a hole in the back of his head as he exited the conference room, but at this moment, he really didn’t give a damn.

Chapter Three

“Just who in the hell does he think he is?” Sofia fumed as she stormed back down the hallway to her office, feeling as if smoke was coiling out of her ears. Ramell had the nerve to insinuate that she worked for him? Had the world gone crazy? What was up was now down and vice versa? “Give him my client list? It’ll be a cold day in hell!”

An intern looked up and then rushed to move and jerk his mail cart out of Sofia’s path before they were both bowled over. The practically comical scene caught everyone’s attention, except Sofia’s. She was too busy challenging the strength of her Christian Louboutin heels as she continued to pound them against the agency’s marbled floor. Never in her professional life had she allowed anyone to strong-arm her, and she wasn’t about to let Ramell Jordan be the first.

Her boss. Ha! That would be the damn day. The more she thought about his smug attitude back there in the conference room the more she wished that she had said something that would’ve put him in his place. Anything to wipe that satisfied look off of his face. Sure, he might be decent looking or even handsome by industry standards. Six foot one, close-cropped hair, sexy goatee and fit enough to bounce a quarter off any portion of his body—but none of that meant she was going to allow his well-honed charm to work on her.

No sir.

So what if most industry insiders liked him and she had a few unsuccessful tries at poaching a few of his clients. It just proved that he was good at fooling people. And she didn’t even want to get started in thinking about the harem of women he’d collected over the years, never settling down with one for longer than a few weeks. That’s a major red flag.

Never mind that she hadn’t been able to maintain any serious relationship herself. Circumstances are different for women. Men usually run off screaming from professional women. It had been her experience in Hollywood that men tended to like their women young and dumb, or at the very least women who put in the effort to pretend to be dumb around them. She didn’t play that game.

Sofia reached her uncle’s office and breezed inside without saying a word to his assistant, Elisa, who was just a little too slow to stop her.

“Um, Ms. Wellesley,” she called out feebly as Sofia marched right past her.

“We need to talk,” Sofia declared, interrupting Jacob in the middle of his practice golf swing.

Her uncle let out a long breath. “Meeting over so soon?” Jacob glanced at his watch. “I figured that it would be at least another five minutes before Ramell pissed you off.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Wellesley,” Elisa said from the door.

“It’s all right.” He waved her off. “Just shut the door behind you.”

“Yes, sir.” Elisa rushed to do just that.

“What? Was she supposed to play goalie and block me from coming in here?”

Jacob sat aside his golf club as he admitted, “She was at least supposed to give me a heads-up.”

“Very funny.” Sofia folded her arms. “Just like I find it hilarious that Ramell Jordan seems to be under the illusion that he’s my boss.”

“Oh good Lord.” Jacob headed over to his desk and removed the bottle of Tums he kept in the bottom drawer.

“Want to tell me what that crap is all about?”

“Well, I guess technically he is sort of…kind of, your boss. Technically speaking.”

“Come again?” she asked, cupping her ear. Sofia wanted to make sure that she heard her uncle correctly before she snapped, crackled and popped off all up in his office.

“Sofia, just listen. Now, I know that you’re upset.”

“Try pissed. In fact, I think I’ve just discovered a whole new level of pissed off. I’ve been busting my butt for years now trying to make full partner, or even take over the family business, and now you go and throw a monkey wrench like this at me. That man out there now has more pull and say in my own father’s company than I do! How could you?” She stomped her foot, feeling a tantrum coming on, which was completely unlike her. Sofia prided herself for always being calm, cool and collected, but today’s surprises were making that impossible.

“Calm down, Sofia. When I retire, I fully intend to turn the presidency over to you. Ramell knows that and he knows that he will remain vice president.”

“But until then…”

“Until then…well, yeah, I guess technically—”

“There you go with that technically stuff again.” She tossed up her hands. “This isn’t going to work. It’s just not going to work,” she said as hysteria started creeping into her voice. She had worked too hard to cut Ramell Jordan out of her life only for her uncle to undermine all of her efforts now.

“Sofia, what’s the big deal? Ramell is a fine businessman with a lot of good and creative ideas to help take this company to the next level. We’ve known his family for years. They’re good people.”

“Ha!” She rolled her eyes.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Emmett and Ramell Jordan are not to be trusted. I know that for a fact. They have always had their eye out for this company and now you’ve just handed it over to them on a silver platter without so much as a fight.”

“Yes. Emmett Jordan has always expressed an interest in merging our two companies together. And there has always been an interest on our end to do so.”

“Not by my father.”

“I think I’m a little more qualified to know what my brother wanted and what he didn’t want,” Jacob charged back. “I did, after all, start this company with him. I’m also the one who kept the business afloat long before putting you on the payroll.”

“Why do I keep getting the distinct impression that you’re trying to force me out of the company?”

“Because you’re too stressed out and it’s making you paranoid.” He marched over, turned her around by her shoulders and directed her back toward the door. “This discussion is over. Just trust me on this one. Now get back to work, and try not to stress yourself out too much.”

“But—”

“No buts. Just do me a favor and try to get along with Ramell.”

“I don’t know if—”

“That’s all. Thanks,” he said, pushing her out the door and then closing it behind her.

“How rude.” Sofia huffed and stormed off toward her office.

Sarah glanced up from her desk and caught the look on Sofia’s face. Instantly she was on her feet, anticipating a list of duties to be rattled off to her.

“In my office,” Sofia barked, breezing past her assistant so fast that a small gust of wind ruffled the stacks of papers on Sarah’s desk.

“Yes, ma’am. Right away.” Sarah grabbed her iPad and rushed in right behind her boss. When they entered the office Sofia seemed content to just pace in a circle. It wasn’t just a regular oh, I’m trying to think kind of pace. No. Sofia Wellesley looked more like a dangerous wild animal plotting her next attack.

“Is everything all right?” Sarah asked, backing up. If Sofia was going to pounce she didn’t want to get too close.

Suddenly, uncharacteristically, Sofia stopped pacing and began to smile. “Sarah!”

“Yes, ma’am?” Sarah asked, taking another cautionary step backward.

With her smile still abnormally wide, Sofia walked over to her assistant and linked her arm through hers. “How do you feel about taking a vacation?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I want you to leave. Take the rest of the month off.”

“A month?” Frowning, her assistant’s brows started to stitch together.

“Yes, a month.” Sofia insisted as she brightened. “You deserve it. How long have you been working for me?”

Sarah shrugged and stammered, “Um—five years.”

“Five years,” Sofia repeated. “And you get what—two weeks vacation a year?”

“Well, actually I haven’t actually had a vacation in three years.”

“Three years?”

“We both haven’t,” she reminded Sofia.

“Humph.” She frowned at that for a moment. “Well there’s no time like the present, don’t you think?” Sofia started out, directing Sarah back to her desk. “Now you grab your things and I’ll just see you next month.”

“What? You mean leave right now?” Sarah double-checked.

“Absolutely.”

Sarah stopped and dug her heels in. “Okay,” she said tentatively. “Am I being fired? Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Sofia reassured her. “It just occurred to me that I’ve been working you too hard. Your family lives in New York, right?”

“Y-yes. But—”

“Then it’s a perfect time for you to go drop in for a visit.” Back out at Sarah’s desk, Sofia helped the girl by grabbing her purse and leather laptop bags. “Oh, and I need to change your computer pass code.” Sofia rushed around to her assistant’s computer and started keying in numbers.

Sarah’s eyes glossed over. “Are you sure I’m not being fired? Whatever I did wrong, I can fix it.”

“You’re not being fired. You have my word on that.” Sofia popped back up and started escorting her toward the door. “Go. Have a good time. I want you nice and refreshed when you come back.”

“Um. Okay,” Sarah said. What else could she say? But Sofia didn’t just walk her to the door, she walked her all the way to her Honda Hybrid and even stood in the parking lot and waved goodbye.

When Sofia returned to her office, she couldn’t help but dance around her office like she’d just scored the final touchdown in a Super Bowl game. Hips shaking and arms waving, she couldn’t wait to see the look on Ram’s face when she told him that Sarah wouldn’t be available to compile him her prized client list and she’d changed the pass code to ensure that no one else could generate the list, either.

“I feel bad that I don’t have any cash on me so I can make it rain up in here.”

Sofia jumped and spun around to see her new boss leaning against her door frame. “What are you doing in here?”

“Well I was enjoying the show. I think you missed your calling. You should’ve been a dancer.”

“And you should have been a jerk. Oops! I forgot. You are a jerk.” She rolled her eyes and marched to her desk. “Now if you’re finished annoying me…I’m busy.”

“Busy getting that list together, I hope.”

Sofia cocked a smile. “Tell you what. Why don’t you hold your breath and just wait for it?”

“All right. Five o’clock.” He tapped his watch.

“I’m not sure if that time frame is going to work for me,” she said, flashing him a smile. “I’m really very busy, so you’re going to have to wait for Sarah to prepare it.”

He glanced over his shoulder to Sarah’s empty desk.

“But don’t bother looking for her. She’s on vacation…for a while.”

“Aww. Well that was awfully nice of you, seeing how you work her about as hard as you work yourself.”

“Thank you, vice president,” Sofia said, before adding under her breath, “of the peanut gallery.” She motioned for him to leave her office. “Now if you don’t mind.”

He didn’t move. “Well, I hope Sarah has fun wherever she’s going. I’m so glad I got her to compile that list before she went.”

“What? You did what? When?”

“After our meeting while you were in the office with Jacob.”

Sofia’s jaw nearly hit her desk.

“You know, I see why she works for you. She’s fast and efficient.” Ram winked at her. “I’ll review it and get back to you.” And with that he strolled off, whistling.

Chapter Four

The Latin Grammy Awards were being hosted in Las Vegas. Limelight Entertainment Management represented a number of Afro-Latin musicians that were nominated for everything from Best New Artist to Best Latin Album of the Year. The awards were always held in November—a good six months after the crazy award season in Los Angeles. It doesn’t mean that it was any less hectic—and this year it was doubly so for Sofia because she had foolishly sent her assistant on vacation and she was dealing with a temp, Stewart, that seemed permanently hyped-up on caffeine, had dyslexia when it came to writing down numbers, and had a habit of dropping more calls than a crummy cell phone provider.

If there was one silver lining to this dark cloud, it would have to be that she had managed to avoid Ramell Jordan for the past seven days. How on earth her uncle thought she was going to be able to control her blood pressure with him around, she never knew.

After Stewart screwed up with Armani on which date she needed her awards dress to be delivered and failed to mail out an e-vite to the nominees for Limelight’s pre-award private party, Sofia’s patience was pretty much ready to snap when the car that was supposed to take her to the airport never showed up.

“What the hell? Did he think I was supposed to hitch a ride?” Sofia yelled, rushing to throw her bags in the back of her sister’s car.

“Calm down,” Rachel said, laughing. “It’s all good. I don’t mind dropping you off at the airport.”

Ever since her engagement to Ethan Chambers, it seemed like nothing bothered Rachel anymore; not the drama of working on the set of Paging the Doctor or the hectic pace of putting a wedding together or even having her love life splattered across the pages of every tabloid across America. Growing up, Rachel wanted nothing to do with the spotlight so of course life dealt her a hand where she’d fallen in love with the hottest star on television. But when push came to shove, love triumphed.

Rachel glowed like a woman in love and Sofia was surprised to feel a prick of envy. That was unlike her too since she truly wanted the world for her baby sister. And if there was anyone who could give her the world, it was Ethan. Her future brother-in-love was a rarity in this city: a genuinely good man who valued family.

“I got to get Sarah back here pronto or I’m going to pull out every strand of hair on my head dealing with Stewart.”

Rachel laughed and started up the car. “Sounds like you’ve finally met your match with Ramell Jordan.”

Sofia’s eyes nearly rolled out the back of her head on that. “Puh-lease. That’ll be the day.”

Rachel glanced over at the passenger seat while Sofia hooked her Bluetooth on her ear and started powering up her iPad. “What’s the deal between you and Ramell anyway? You act like the man is our sworn enemy or something.”

“There’s no deal. Trust me. I just have to put up with him until Uncle Jacob comes to his senses. And I hope to hell it’s soon because the two of us in one office isn’t going to work.” She tapped her ear and immediately transitioned into her professional voice. “Hello, Akil. It’s Sofia. How’s it going? Are you and Charlene going to make it to the award ceremony this weekend?”

“You know it,” Akil Hutton boasted. “My first nomination for that joint I produced with Pit Bull. I’m all over it, baby.” Akil and his label Playascape were the hottest players in the game at the moment and Sofia was thrilled that her newest client, and Rachel’s best friend, Charlene Quinn’s debut CD was going to drop this spring on the label. Then the surprise of all surprises; while Charlene was down at Akil’s Miami home studio she won the mega-producer’s heart and landed an engagement ring.

“Good. I trust you’re bringing Charlene?”

“Of course. Every man needs someone gorgeous on their arms. In my case it’s going to be my beautiful fiancée.”

Sofia felt another twinge of jealousy, but she covered it by saying, “That’s great. I can’t wait to see you both there. Make sure you swing by the pre-award ceremony. Maybe we can set it up for Charlene to do a set. Give the people in Las Vegas a little teaser of what’s to come.”

“Yeah. Yeah. We can make it do what it do,” he laughed.

“Good deal. Catch you later. You can reach me on my cell if you need anything.” Sofia tapped her ear and rushed to finish her fourth counteroffer to Larry Franklin for Ethan’s next contract.

Rachel shook her head. “Does your brain have an Off switch?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” she laughed, but then suddenly experienced a wave of vertigo. “Oh, no.” She pressed a hand against the side of her head.

“What’s the matter?” Rachel asked, glancing back over at her sister.

“Nothing. I’m…I guess I just got a little dizzy there.”

“Are you sure you’re all right? Do I need to pull over?”

“Don’t you dare. I have to make this flight. I’m probably just dizzy because I skipped breakfast. I’ll grab something on the plane.” Her finger went back to zooming across the tablet on her lap.

Rachel went back to shaking her head. “Did you get your prescription filled?”

Sofia looked over at her.

“Uncle Jacob told me,” she said, answering the unspoken question.

“Figures. I love him dearly, but lately I swear the man is trying to run my life.”

Rachel shook her head. “He’s just concerned about you. We all are. Your workload—”

“Oh, Rachel, not you, too.” Sofia pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Yes, me, too. You’re the only sister I have and I’d kind of like to keep you around a little longer…or at least until you fulfill your duty as maid of honor at my wedding later this month.”

“Figures.” The two sisters laughed. After another twenty minutes of navigating through L.A. traffic, Rachel pulled into the private airstrip in Burbank where Limelight usually shared a chartered private jet with a list of other high-profile industry insiders. Given how her day was going so far, she had no idea why she was surprised to find that her wonderful temporary assistant didn’t book her on a flight to Las Vegas.

“Please say that you’re joking,” Sofia moaned. She had already had her bags unloaded from her sister’s car and Rachel had already taken off.

The pretty, plus-size woman behind the counter fluttered a sympathetic smile at her. “No. I’m sorry. And we’re all booked up. Everyone is trying to get to the awards ceremony for the weekend.”

“I know. That’s where I need to get to.” She let out a sigh and then tried to rein in her mounting frustration. If she got her hands on Stewart, he was a dead man. “There has to be something we can do. The chances of me getting out of LAX today will be close to impossible.”

“I don’t know, ma’am. Like I said, every flight is completely booked.

“Are you sure? There has to be some room. I can sit in the back with the stewardess. Hell, I can be a stewardess. Anyone want some time off? How hard can it be to serve drinks?”

Still shaking her head, the lone booking agent held firm.

“I don’t believe this,” Sofia said, jerking away from the counter only to come face to face with a smiling Ramell, dressed casual in a pair of black jeans and a white short sleeved top. Instantly, Sofia’s gaze zeroed in on his arm’s bulging bronze muscles. What Ram looked like in a suit versus what he looked like dressed down were two totally different animals; this one much more dangerous to her peace of mind.

When her eyes shifted across the wide span of his chest, her hand started twitching at her side. She had a sudden curiosity of what it would feel like to run her fingers across it or even lay her head against it.

Ram cleared his throat and Sofia’s gaze jumped up to his mirrored aviator sunglasses. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

“No,” Sofia lied.

“Yes,” the woman behind the counter contradicted. “Ms. Wellesley is looking for a flight to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, we’re all booked up.”

“Oh, is that right?” Ram’s smile stretched wider. “If you’re looking to hitch a ride, you’re more than welcome to ride shotgun with me.”

She hesitated.

“It’s not a private jet. It’s just my own personal plane.”

“What? You’re a pilot?”

He chuckled. “I got my pilot license before my driver’s license.”

“I think I’ll pass,” she said and then tapped her ear to place a call. “Stewart, I need a car.”

Ram shrugged his big shoulders. “All right. Suit yourself.” He turned and started for the hangar.

“You know what, Stewart. Just give me the number. I’ll call them. You just call the airline and—scratch that—get me the number and I’ll call them, too.” She asked for a pen from the frowning woman behind the desk and jotted the numbers down. “Thank you.” She tapped her ear and pulled out her phone to start dialing.

“Excuse me,” the counter girl said, interrupting her.

“Yes.”

“Let me get this straight. You’d rather call and wait for a car to come get you so you can fight traffic over to LAX where you’ll wait for a flight that may or may not be available to Las Vegas rather than just get on the plane that’s right there in the hangar and can have you in Las Vegas in less than an hour?”

Sofia opened her mouth to confirm that was exactly what she preferred to do when the ridiculousness of such a response hit her. She was a busy woman with a million things to do before Sunday night’s award show and she was about to throw away a whole day just because she didn’t want to be on a plane with Ramell.

“I think I see your point,” Sofia acquiesced. She handed the woman back her pen and then rushed out of the hub. “Ramell! Ramell!” Sofia raced as fast as she could in heels. “Did anyone see where Ramell Jordan ran off to?”

A few of the guys in the hangar just looked up and smiled as she darted by. When she finally spotted Ram strolling casually toward a white and red single-engine plane, she sped up, screaming his name. “Ramell, wait!”

“Seems like I’ve been doing that half my damn life,” he mumbled under his breath before he forced on a smile and turned around. “Yes? What can I not help you with now?”

Sofia pulled up, out of breath, which once again drew Ram’s attention to her heaving breasts. Good thing his eyes were hidden behind his shades or he would’ve really embarrassed himself.

“About that, um, flight…?”

“Yes? What about it?” He was not going to make this easy for her.

“Well, I was thinking…” She smiled. “Since you’re here and I’m here…?”

Ram folded his arms. “Yeah?”

“Well…I guess it would be pretty silly of me to try to book a commercial flight and fight traffic and whatnot.”

“That sort of crossed my mind, too. Well, I actually thought it was more like ridiculous…childish…juvenile.”

“All right, all right. I get the picture.” She frowned. “So can I hop a ride or not?”

It was definitely her attitude that rubbed Ramell the wrong way so he said, “No,” before he turned away and continued toward the plane.

“No?” she echoed and then had to chase back after him again. “What do you mean ‘no’? You just offered me a ride back there in the hub.”

“That was then. This is now.” He reached the door of his beloved plane and pulled it open.

Sofia huffed out a frustrated breath. “What’s the difference between now and then?”

Ram tossed in his lone overnight bag and turned to face her. “Back then I sort of felt sorry for you. Now—not so much.”

“W-what?” she sputtered.

Taking a deep breath, Ram crossed his arms. “Has anyone ever told you that you really have a nasty attitude?”

She blinked.

“Well, it can’t be towards everyone, I suppose. Seems that most people I talk to actually like you. Your clients and studio executives—they all rave about your work and your professionalism. So that must mean this frosty routine is designed just for me. Though I can’t imagine why. I’ve never been anything but nice to you.”

Sofia’s eyes narrowed. “Is this about to become a sermon?”

Ram pulled in a deep breath, shook his head and turned away from her. “Goodbye, Sofia. Undoubtedly, I’ll see you in Vegas.” When he started to climb up into the cab of the plane, Sofia panicked and grabbed him by the arm.

“Wait!”

Carefully removing his shades, Ram turned his head and looked down at the slim fingers that were clutching his biceps.

Sofia tried to swallow what felt like a sharp-edged rock in the center of her throat while an intense wattage of electricity singed through her fingertips she could practically see the fine hairs on her arm stand up.

“Do you mind?” he asked.

His warm baritone managed to break whatever weird trance she’d fallen into, but just barely. “All right.” She lowered her hand and forced on a smile, but Ram just frowned and stared at her suspiciously. “You’re right. I’ve been a little…”

“Bitchy,” he supplied.

“Short,” she corrected. “I was going to say short around you.”

He rolled his eyes and waited for her to finish.

“It’s just that…you know a lot of this…merging stuff…I don’t like it.”

“Actually yes, you made that pretty clear. But it still doesn’t excuse…let’s compromise and call it rude, shall we? It doesn’t excuse you for being rude.” He glanced at his watch. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I have a ton of things to do before the pre-award party our company is throwing for our nominated clients.” He turned to climb back into the cab.

“Wait!” Sofia grabbed his arm again. “Are you really not going to give me a lift?”

Ram continued to pretend that he didn’t feel the heat blazing up his arm when he shrugged off her touch. “Are you really not going to apologize for your rude behavior?”

She dropped her hand again and pulled up straight, but the one thing she had trouble doing was getting her mouth to work.

“See you later.”

“OK.” Her hand flew back to his arm. “I’m…I’m…” She started coughing.

“You have to be kidding me.”

“Oh God, I need some water.” She clutched her throat as if it needed massaging to get the words out of it.

“You need to stop wasting my time.” Irritation had finally crept into his voice. “I’m not going to stand for you talking and treating me like I’m something stuck on the bottom of your shoe. Whether you want to recognize it or not I’m a man that has worked and earned a certain level of respect. If you can’t deal with that then I suggest you march your butt out there on the runway and hitch out your thumb and see if you can catch a ride that way.”

She blinked and then finally whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Ram cupped a hand around his ear. “Come again?”

Sofia sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes and spoke louder. “I said I’m sorry.” After a long pause of silence, she peeled open her eyes. Ram looked as if he was still weighing whether to accept her apology or tell her just where she could stick her apology.

“I mean it. I’m sorry,” she added.

Ram nodded. “Fine. I’ll give you a lift on one condition.”

She should have known. “What is it?”

“That you keep your mouth shut. I don’t want you to so much as utter a sound,” he said with a narrowed gaze that made it clear that he was being serious. “Think that you can handle that?”

“Ye—”

“Ah. Ah. Ah.” He waved a finger in front of her face. “When it comes to you, as far as I’m concerned, silence is golden.”

Sofia clamped her mouth shut and then angrily nodded her head.

“Good. Then you got yourself a deal.”

Chapter Five

Forty minutes. Sofia just needed to keep her mouth shut for forty minutes. How hard could that be? Turns out, it was pretty hard. Given the fact that she had lost her parents in a plane crash, flying was never her favorite thing. But for the most part, she could deal with it because of all the travel that was needed for her job. But climbing into this plane, much smaller than anything she’d ever flown in, was another thing all together.

“How long did you say that you’ve been flying?” she asked, clutching her seatbelt.

Ram cut her a look.

“I mean…” She glanced around as they neared the runway. “You’re sure of what you’re doing, right?”

“It’s not too late for you to get out,” he said.

Sofia opened her mouth but Ram signaled for her to zip it. Now look who is being rude. She sulked down in her chair. But when the plane raced down the runway, she slammed her eyes closed and prayed. Five minutes later, she finally felt safe enough to pry her eyes open. By then they were coasting smoothly through the clouds. “Well…okay. This isn’t so bad.” She exhaled and tried to relax. “I can do this.”

Ram just sighed.

“What? Are you going to threaten to kick me out now?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Sofia pulled in a long breath while she stared at his strong profile. She tried to hold on to the years of anger that she’d felt for the Jordans. In her head, she could still hear her father yelling and accusing Emmett Jordan of being a backstabber. From that day on, she grouped father and son together. But was that really fair?

She jerked at the rogue question and then squirmed in her seat because she didn’t really want her subconscious to answer it.

Ram snuck another glance to his right and noticed how stiff Sofia looked in her seat. “Unbelievable,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he lied with a shrug.

“That was not nothing,” Sofia challenged. “What is it? Spit it out.”

After a couple of more shrugs, he decided to come clean. “I was just noting how…uptight you are.” He looked over at her again and shook his head. “You’ve changed so much.”

She raised her chin indignantly. “I have not.”

“Puh-lease. I’m willing to bet that this is the longest you’ve gone without talking on the phone.”

“No it’s not.”

“I’m not counting when you’re asleep, though I’m willing to bet that you don’t do that for very long, either.”

“That’s not true.” Even as she challenged his assessment, Sofia reached for her cell phone to check her Caller ID.

Ram laughed. “Look at you.”

“What?”

“If you don’t know then I’m not going to tell you.”

Suddenly self aware, Sofia shoved her phone back into her purse. “Whatever.”

“All I know is that the Sofia that I grew up with knew how to have fun,” he said with a note of sadness. “She used to let her hair down. Run. Laugh. Play in a field of wild daisies…and even sneak kisses beneath the big oak tree in her backyard.”

Sofia’s heart skipped a beat. The picture of that long lost girl sprung vividly into her mind and there was a twinge of longing that came swiftly and overwhelmed her. She pulled her face away and stared out at what seemed like an endless sky of white clouds.

“It’s like we’re floating in a dream,” she whispered.

Ram smiled. “That’s why I like flying. When you’re up here, the world and all its problems just fade away.”

Sofia sucked in a deep breath and listened to just the steady hum of the plane’s engine and single propeller. It did sort of have a calming effect and there was no denying the beauty surrounding her. “I see what you mean.”

He chanced another look at her and was pleased to see the tension in her face had disappeared and her posture had relaxed. Sofia turned her head, met Ram’s gaze and fluttered a smile before she remembered that she was supposed to be keeping her distance. Jerking her head away, she then looked at the time.

Twenty minutes.

“I should have known that that wasn’t going to last long,” Ram commented.

“What?”

“You keeping your guard down.” He let a wave of silence drift over them. “Do you really hate me that much?”

Sofia’s mouth sprang open, but then her words got caught up in her throat.

“I see.” Ram trained his eyes back onto the sky in front of him and pretended that he didn’t feel the slight pinch in his throat.

“I don’t hate you,” Sofia whispered and cleared her throat. “It’s just…” She struggled for the right words and then just ended with, “I don’t hate you.”

“That’s good to hear.” He shrugged his big shoulders. “Even though I don’t quite believe it.”

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