High Stakes (5 page)

Her desperate plea snapped him out of his lust-induced
state as he pushed back on the seat, putting some distance between them. “I’m
sorry, sweetheart.” He raked his hands through his hair as he called himself
every foul name that came to mind. “I didn’t mean to push. I sure as hell
didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“Don’t apologize. I wanted you, too. But not
here, not like this.”

His mind flashed to the last time he’d been
in the back of a limo with a woman. She insisted on pleasuring him and he never
saw her again. His stomach roiled in protest when he realized he almost let his
libido override his better judgement again.

Alisa was too classy to have sex in the
back of a limo. She deserved six-hundred-thread-count sheets, a bottle of
chilled Dom, and an unforgettable morning after. He may not be able to control
his need for her, but he could at least give her that.

“I want you,” he whispered, palming her
cheek. “So damn much, I can’t stand it. But if you don’t want to take this any
further, I’ll understand.” He couldn’t promise her anything beyond tonight.
They lived in different states, led different lives, but if she would grant him
just one night, he was determined to make it a night she would never forget.

“I do want to.”

Alisa didn’t know what to expect when they
pulled up in front of the hotel. She’d already consented to sex. Would he just
take her up to his room… and… She got chills just thinking about what she’d
agreed to. She always chose her lovers carefully, and there hadn’t been anyone
in the year since she’d ended her engagement. The thought of being intimate
with a sexy stranger nearly twice her age was exhilarating and terrifying. She
knew nothing about this man, aside from his first name, age, and the fact that
he was in the hospitality industry. But perhaps it was better that way. They
could both walk away with a few nice memories of the night they shared and no
expectations.

She hung back as he approached the front
desk. Several upscale clothing boutiques and jewelry stores lined the walls
leading to the elevators and she was so enthralled in window shopping she
didn’t hear him approach until she felt his lips brush her hair.

“See something you like?”

Alisa was admiring a diamond and platinum
ring featured in one of the brightly lit windows. It was a large oval diamond with
smaller diamonds encircling it, and a filigree pattern all the way around the
narrow band. She was struck by how much it resembled the ring her grandfather
gave her grandmother on the day he proposed.

She’d always admired that ring, and her
nana told her she wanted her to have it someday. Alisa and her grandmother were
so close, she didn’t ever want that day to come. She didn’t need a ring to
remind her of the wonderful times they’d shared, not when she thought almost
every day of the life lessons her grandparents had taught her.

“That ring,” she said, pointing to the
sparkling oval diamond. “It reminds me so much of my grandmother’s engagement
ring.” She wrinkled her nose. “I know it may seem kind of old-fashioned by
today’s standards, but I think it’s breathtaking.”

Liam admired the ring before turning to
her. “Is that the kind of ring you would choose, if you were to get engaged?”

“Um, I don’t know.” She allowed him to take
her hand as he led her toward the elevators. Her break-up had been very public,
because of her fiancé’s profile as a country music singer, but she had no
reason to believe Liam heard about it. He certainly hadn’t indicated that she
looked familiar. “I was engaged once before.” She didn’t know why she chose to
confide in him, but the words were out of her mouth before she could censor them.

“Is that so?” He released her hand to punch
the button on the elevator as he still held her small suitcase with the other
hand. “Did you end things recently?”

“No, it’s been a while.” She stepped onto
the elevator ahead of him and watched him press the button for the top floor.

As the doors slid closed, cocooning them in
the dimly lit, private space, he said, “I guess his loss is my gain.”

She’d never had such a strong physical
reaction to a man before, as though some magnetic force drew them together. “It
hurt at the time, but I know it was for the best.”

“Of course it was,” he said, smiling. “If
you hadn’t ended that relationship, we wouldn’t be standing here.” He brushed a
strand of hair off her face, as he got lost in her eyes. “I believe everything
happens for a reason, and maybe you had to go through that experience to end up
here… with me.”

 The intensity she saw in his eyes and
heard in the power of his softly spoken words shook her. Her previous
relationships were light and fun, until they weren’t anymore, but something
about this man told her he was different. He was so confident, so secure, and
the allure of his self-assurance put her at ease, as though she was exactly
where she needed to be.

Before she had a chance to respond, the
elevator delivered them to their floor and he led her into the expansive
hallway.

Everything about the hotel spoke of
understated elegance, from the heavily patterned, coordinated carpets and
drapery to the crystal chandeliers and ornate plaster moldings. “This hotel is
lovely. I can see why people speak so highly of it.”

A ghost of a smile appeared on Liam’s lips
before it was gone again. “I’m glad you approve.” He slid a card into the door
and waited for the green light before turning the pewter handle. “We have
adjoining rooms. You can choose to have your own room…” He set her suitcase
down in the entrance. “Or not. It’s up to you.”

She admired the fact he wasn’t pressuring
her in spite of what happened in the car. Of course, she knew a man like Liam
wouldn’t have to try and coerce a woman into bed. If anything, he was probably
declining invitations from interested females all the time. He was obviously
gorgeous… successful… a target for any woman looking to land a husband, which
begged the question… “Why are you still single?”

He laughed as he walked toward the minibar and
reached for two crystal glasses. “You don’t believe in pulling any punches, do
you?”

She leaned against the wall as she watched
him pour a splash of fifteen-year-old scotch into both glasses. He hadn’t
bothered to ask her if she would prefer something else to drink, which led her
to believe he was used to having people bend to his will. “Actually, I’d prefer
a liqueur, if you have it?”

He raised an eyebrow and she smiled sweetly
at him. “Of course you would.” He slid the second scotch glass aside and held
up a bottle of Bailey’s. “Will this do? If not, I can call downstairs and—”

“No, that’ll be fine, thanks.”

He poured the thick liquid into a shot
glass and crossed the room to hand it to her. “Here’s to chance encounters.”

She smiled as she touched her glass to his.
“To chance encounters.” She watched him over the rim of her glass as she sipped
the sweet liquid. “Tell me, do you have very many of these chance encounters,
Liam?”

He threw his drink back before smiling at
her. “Are you asking me if I sleep with a lot of women?”

On second thought, she didn’t want to know.
She reached for her suitcase. “I think I’ll slip into my room, so I can shower
before dinner.”

“The answer is no.” He waited for her to
look at him before he said, “I’m very selective about the women I choose as
partners. I can’t afford to be promiscuous.”

“I just assumed a man like you would take a
different woman to bed every night.” There was freedom in knowing she wouldn’t
see him again. She could say whatever she wanted without questioning whether
her directness would be unappealing. They only had one night, so she intended
to be herself in a way she never had with another man. No question of where it
might lead, or whether he might be
the one
, because she knew there was
no chance he could be.

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re attractive, successful, single. Why
wouldn’t you choose to indulge in female companionship at every opportunity?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t say I don’t enjoy
the company of women. I do, very much, in fact, but I can’t afford to fall into
bed with every woman who shows an interest in my ban—” He cleared his throat.
“In me.”

“What were you going to say?”

“Nothing.” He took her suitcase and
unlocked the door to the adjoining suite. After setting her suitcase beside the
king-sized bed, he said, “I’ll call down and make the arrangements for dinner.
Does an hour and a half work for you?”

“Perfect.” She waited, wondering if he
would try to pick up where they left off in the limo, but he turned and walked
to the threshold of the adjoining rooms as she tried to quash her disappointment.

“If you need anything, just let me know,
okay?”

You. I need you.
“I will, thanks.”

Liam sank down to the bed and scraped his
hands over his face. What the hell was happening to him? No woman had ever made
him feel so edgy or uncertain. He always set the course for his relationships,
and his partners happily followed his lead, but he found himself deferring to
Alisa, waiting for her signal before he made his next move.

He wanted her with a ferocity that left him
grasping to make sense of it. He was a middle-aged man with decades of
experience with women, yet he’d never experienced this kind of immediate
connection with a woman, especially not one passing through his life for only
one night.

The thought of saying good-bye to her
tomorrow, knowing he would never see her again, made his gut coil in knots of
tension that stirred his body. He needed more time to get to know her, to try
and decipher this inexplicable hold she seemed to have over him. He’d seen her
admiring that diamond ring in the window, and instead of being disgusted by her
greed, as he would with another date, he wanted her to have it. Just because it
made her smile.

His Blackberry buzzed and the distraction relieved
him. Business, as always, would remind him of what was important. “Bryson.” He
winced when he realized he’d said that loud enough for her to overhear, had she
been listening.

“Hey, bro.”

“I thought you’d be sipping Daiquiris on
the beach with Tracey by now.” His younger brother, Matt, served as Bryson’s
CFO and his right hand. “What’s wrong? You do something to piss her off
already?”

Matt laughed. “First of all, I don’t sip Daiquiris,
and second of all, I know how to keep my woman happy, which is more than I can
say for you.”

Liam knew how to keep a woman happy; he
just chose not to. He smiled when he heard the shower in Alisa’s bathroom. Just
knowing she was only a few feet away gave him a sense of peace he hadn’t felt
in a long, long time. “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to talk to you about that Lawson
deal. Paul told me—”

“Can this wait until we get back to the
office, Matt? I’m kinda busy right now.”

“Since when does anything take precedence
over business? You got another big deal in the works you haven’t told me about?
Hey, were you able to buy that piece of land in Costa Rica you’ve had your eye
on? That one is gonna be—”

“No, this has nothing to do with business.”
He knew he couldn’t get his brother off the phone unless he told him the truth.
“I, uh, met someone on the plane.”

Matt chuckled. “Okay, gimme the deets.”

Liam wasn’t ready to talk about Alisa, not
when he couldn’t even make sense of what was happening himself. “She’s great. I
like her. A lot.”

“What the hell is goin’ on with you?”

“Nothing. What’re you talking about?”

“You’re usually so nonchalant about women.
When was the last time you liked one… a lot? Especially one you just met?”

Liam winced when he heard his sister-in-law’s
voice in the background. Matt and Tracey had been on him for years about
settling down and finding a suitable role model for his thirteen-year-old daughter,
Abby. “Would you guys back off? I’m still getting to know her.”

“But…”

“But nothing, it’s not going anywhere. She
lives in Nashville.”

“Damn it.”

Liam shared the sentiment. It was just his
luck; the most intriguing women he’d met… ever… and she lived thousands of
miles away. “Besides, she’s younger, a lot younger.”

“How young are we talking?”

“Twenty-five.”

Matt laughed. “You had me scared there for
a minute. I thought you were gonna tell me she was barely legal.”

“Shut up.”

“So, tell me about her.”

“God, you sound like such a girl. What are
we, in high school?”

“You can either tell me or I’ll put my wife
on the phone and let her grill you.”

“Don’t even think about.” Liam pinched the
bridge of his nose, knowing he had no choice but to concede. “The truth is, I
don’t know a lot about her yet, aside from her age, the fact that she lives in
Nashville, works in fashion, was engaged, is a daddy’s girl…”