Come Away With Me (The Andrades) (10 page)

“Knock
, knock,” a jovial male voice said from the doorway. “Well, will wonders never cease? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

Raising his head reluctantly from Julia’s neck, Gio turned, shielding her from his brother
Luke’s view. “What are you doing here?”

Smiling unabashedly,
Luke leaned against the doorjamb. “Rena called me and said you were having a rough day, and I was ending a shift at the hospital anyway. She thought you might want to talk. It appears she was wrong.”

“Get
the hell out of here.”

Still smiling, Luke
wiggled his eyebrows and asked, “You’re not going to introduce me?” Normally Luke was the most reasonable of his brothers, but presently his curiosity was outweighing his survival instincts.

“No,” Gio said with finality.

“I heard you’re coming to the wedding and bringing someone with you. Is this her?” His smile widened and his eyes twinkled with humor.

Gio
aggressively rose to his full height. “You won’t live to find out if you don’t leave now,” he said. Luke put up both hands in playful resignation and left, still smiling as he turned away.

Releasing a calming breath, Gio turned around and instantly felt like an ass. Julia was clutching
her now buttonless top closed and sliding off his desk. The mood was broken. “Sorry about that,” he said gruffly.

Her
half smile set his heart thudding in his chest again. “It’s okay.”

“I should have locked the door. I don’t normally
. . .”

With an adorable blush, Julia said, “I don’t
do this either.” She picked up her purse and started edging away from him. “I’m going home now.”

“No,” he said
much more forcibly than he meant to.

She tucked her shirt into her pants, overlapping the front in a way that covered her. “Yes.” She waved a shaking hand in the direction of his desk. “I’m not this person. I
don’t know what to do with how you make me feel. But I do know that I need time to think about this.”

He reached for her, but she made it to the door
before he could grab her.

When she opened her mouth to say somethin
g, he picked up his cell phone and said, “Todd, have a car brought around.”

“I don’t—” she started to say, but he cut her off.

“I’m taking you home.”

As they walked down the hallway together, she sighed and said, “
I’m not judging, but your whole family is a little pushy. You might want to try asking instead of issuing orders.”

Her comment brought
a smile back to his face. He placed his hand on her lower back and felt her tense when he replied, “Why ask when the outcome isn’t in question?”

“Are you always
this much of an arrogant ass?” she asked crossly.

With an ironic smile, he said,
“No, normally, I’m much, much worse.”

Julia
didn’t know if he was joking or not, but she chuckled. “Don’t make me laugh. It makes it harder to say no.” She looked up at him and frowned. “And it is no. Just to be clear.”

They rode down in the elevator and walked out of the building together in silence. The chauffer opened the door to
a Bentley town car and she and Gio slid in. She told the driver her address and he pulled into traffic.

She snuck a pee
k at Gio. When he thought she wasn’t looking there was an expression in his eyes that seemed almost sad. Was that the pain Maddy had mentioned? What had this man been through that kept him away from family who obviously loved him? She shouldn’t ask. Shouldn’t get involved. It would be easier to walk away if she didn’t know.

And walk away is what she intended to do.

He wasn’t looking for love; he was looking for a way into her pants. The problem was, every time she was near him she forgot why that was a bad idea. It didn’t matter that they were both fully dressed and separated by a few inches. Her body tightened and warmed for his touch. If he took her into his arms right then, she doubted anything would stop them from finishing what they had started earlier. Not the fact that they were in public or that the driver would see them.

Why does this feel different than anything I’ve ever done?

I’ve dated a couple of men.

Men who made
me laugh.

And sex with them was nice. It was a sweet expression of our feelings for each other.

But nothing like this. This is dangerous. I could lose myself if I’m not careful.
She peered at him out of the corner of one eye and studied his strong profile.
But what a way to go.

“I didn’t realize you
knew my cousin,” he said, still looking straight ahead.

“I didn’t, but she
thinks I’m the reason you said yes to the wedding.”

“You are,” he said simply
, and she swung around to search his face.

Julia swallowed hard. “I haven’t changed my mind about not going.”

He didn’t answer. As they pulled up to her apartment building, he demanded, “You live here?”

Offended, Julia sat straight up.
“It’s clean. Relatively safe. And only one block from the subway.”

He nodded toward what looked like a drug deal going down on the corner of the street.

She shrugged. “They’re just kids. They’ve never bothered me.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You can’t stay here.”

She put her hands on her hips and turned in her seat. “Where I live is none of your business. This is what I can afford, and I don’t appreciate you trying to make me feel badly about it.”

“
You’re not staying here.”

“
Yes, I am.”

He glared at her.

She glared back.

With a shake of his head, he said, “Gather your stuff.
I’m checking you into a hotel.”

The words sent unwanted shivers of pleasure down her back.
No. No. No.
Down, libido.
She put her hand on the door handle. “Thank you for the ride home.” She quickly opened the door and stepped out before he could stop her.

H
e was beside her in a heartbeat, blocking her escape. “Get back in the car.”

“No.”

He grabbed her arm. One of the youths across the street called out, “Hey, is he bothering you?”

She called back
. “No, he’s going.” She met Gio’s eyes angrily and said, “You are—going. Just because I work for you doesn’t mean you have any right to tell me what I can do or where I can live. Let go of my arm.”

Gio dropped her arm. “I don’t understand you.”

I don’t understand me either, so we’re even.
“Goodnight, Mr. Andrade.”

Julia turned and walked away, leaving him on the street watching her.
Once she got inside, she didn’t go to the window of her apartment. She didn’t want to know if he was still there.

She wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from running back down and throwing herself in his arms.

This is for the best.

Whatever
animal attraction we have for each other is the kind of chemistry that always leads to trouble.

Remember why you came to New York.

Stay focused.

She changed into her nightgown and made herself a microwave dinner.

Who wanted a date with a hot billionaire anyway?

Rena knocked on Gio’s door, then walked into his office without waiting for his answer. “Do you have a minute?”

In the middle of a phone call, Gio
raised one hand, told the governor courting him to invest in his state to send him some stats, and hung up the phone. He stood and stretched. Unable to sleep the night before, he’d come back to his office and worked through the night—something he was able to do since so many of his contacts were international. Although he was tired, it was a good tired. Work had always done that for him. When nothing else made sense, business did. He looked down at his watch. “Eight o’clock already? Get Atwater on the phone. I read over his proposal. It’s promising, but some of his assumptions about our role in developing the area are way off. I’ll give him access to our lobbyists, but I don’t want our name linked publicly with his project. It’s not going to be a popular one.”

Rena closed the door behind her. “
Before I do that . . . I want to apologize for last night. Luke called me after seeing you. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“
Forget it,” he said gruffly.

Rena walked f
arther into his office. “We’ve known each other a long time, Gio. I feel like I grew up with you as a second brother. I know you hate when I get personal at work, but I’m worried about you. Did you actually reallocate one of your security team to watch Julia’s apartment building?” She laid a hand flat on his desk, real concern evident in her expression. “What are you doing, Gio? This isn’t like you.”

Turning away from the concern in her eyes,
Gio walked to look out the expansive office window. “I had to do something. The neighborhood she lives in isn’t safe.”

“Did she ask you for
help?”

“Hell, no
,” Gio said, running his hand through his hair. “She told me the area was fine. I offered her an out, but she wanted to stay there. I don’t understand her.”

“That’s because she’s not like the women you
usually date.”

He rubbed his forehead in frustration. “
Tell me about it.”

“Did you really ask her to go to the island wedding with you?” Rena said with a smile in her voice.

“How do you—” He shook his head in resignation. “Don’t tell me. I’d rather not know how you heard that. It doesn’t matter. She said no.”

“Which is fortunate for you
, because you don’t believe in workplace relationships.”

“Exactly.”

“Want my opinion?”

He groaned.
“Not really, but I’ve never successfully convinced you to keep it to yourself.”

“
Go slow with this one. Take a walk with her. Share a coffee. Get to know her.”

“What happened to
, ‘Stay the hell away from her? You’re not ready for a nice woman’?”

“According to Luke, that horse has left the gate.
Just be careful with her, Gio. You could really hurt her.”

Looking out over the skyline, Gio
listened to Rena’s footsteps retreating across the office, then the door opening.

“And take a shower. You look like hell.”

Gio closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head.

A walk?

It wasn’t what he was craving to do with Julia, but nothing else had worked with her thus far. He was willing to try anything. The small taste he’d had of her had only heightened his desire for her. He couldn’t look at his desk without imagining her there, half-dressed and ready for him. He could almost smell her soft perfume, hear the moan she made. He wanted to hear his name on her lips while she came for him.

He loosened his tie and threw it over the back of one of the chairs
, then headed for the side door to his office. He did need a shower. A cold one.

Julia had spent the day debating if she should return to Cogent Solutions or not. After walking out on a night she was scheduled, there was a good chance she was no longer employed.
She finally decided that no matter how awkward it was, she would keep going until someone told her not to.
Landlords don’t care that you almost slept with your boss the night before. They want their rent.

And I’m not ready to go home yet.

She walked up to where Paul and Tom were sitting and asked, “Do you guys know if I’m scheduled for tonight?”

“As far as I know,”
Tom said as he pulled out a schedule sheet. “Yep. You’re on the list. What happened last night? Mr. Andrade came down here asking for you. He didn’t look happy.”

Memo
ries flooded back. Julia shook her head wordlessly at Tom. She didn’t like to lie, but there was no part of yesterday that she was willing to repeat.
Thank God I didn’t actually sleep with him. I’m already a mess.

She turned to walk away and gasped when she saw Gio standing beside her.

“Let’s take a walk,” he said curtly.

Is this where he tells me that he can’t believe I didn’t realize I don’t work here anymore?
Let him say it. I’ve done nothing wrong. Okay, I’ve done a few things wrong, but all of that was just as much his fault as it was mine. It takes two.
“I don’t mind if they hear.”