His Reluctant Lover (18 page)

“Bad day?” he asked, thinking back to the information Jeff had conveyed.  Davis had added up the numbers.  Someone had stolen between five and nine million dollars over the past year.  And that someone was going to pay dearly for such abuse. 

Kate sighed.  “It’s over,” she said, leaning her chin on the upright palm of her hand.  “You looked very angry a moment ago, but that’s all gone now.  What just went through your mind?”

Davis was astonished that she’d noticed.  Most people said he was a man without emotions.  He chuckled every time he read such a thing in a news article or magazine.  It wasn’t that he was emotionless.  He just didn’t put his feelings out there for others to see. But this slender beauty caught a flash of something he’d thought was well hidden. 

He pushed that issue aside and focused on getting to know this mysterious woman in the bad suit and grandmother shoes.  “Doesn’t matter.  Tell me about yourself.”

She smiled and Davis felt a punch of something, his eyes sharpening on her delicate structure.  He wasn’t sure what had just happened, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.  He didn’t like surprises, but this woman had delivered one just by smiling? 

Kate sighed and twirled her drink slightly, needing to look at something other than this man’s eyes.  They were distracting and fascinating.  “My day was fine until the last hour.  Then it all came tumbling down.”  She took another long sip of her drink, enjoying the way her shoulders no longer felt like they had a granite weight on them. 

“What happened?” he asked, truly interested.  Another surprise.  She didn’t look like the kind of woman who would allow stress to get to her.  He’d known many flighty women but somehow, she didn’t fit the stereotype.  But he couldn’t place her in a category.  Not yet, anyway. 

Kate turned to stare at her drink.  “I’m an accountant,” she explained, almost embarrassed to admit it.  “But not a very good one, apparently.”  She cringed as she thought back to her closet sized office and her father’s fury at her latest mistake. 

“Why would you say that?”  She dressed like an accountant, he supposed.  Well, at least like the accountants he’d run into.  He supposed that some accountants could be well dressed fashionistas, but in his experience, they tended to lose themselves in the numbers and not worry so much about what they looked like. 

Kate took another sip, needing the alcohol to continue with her admission.  “Because I’m horrible with numbers.  They just aren’t what my brain focuses on,” she said.  Her eyes flashed up to his, then down his magnificent body. 

“What does your brain focus on?” he asked, having caught the flash of her eyes. 

She looked back down at her drink, fiddling with the stem of the glass.  “Oh, I don’t know really,” she lied.  “I guess I’m just not wired correctly for the accounting field.”  She wondered what her father would do if she told him she was quitting and would be painting full time from now on.  She suspected he would be furious, but the idea suddenly had a lot of merit.  Should she find another accounting job or just risk it all on art? 

“Why do you stay in the job then?”

She shrugged.  “It pays the rent.”

“Is that really what you want to do with your life?” he asked softly, his hand taking hers, the strong thumb rubbing against her fingers.  “Do you really want to live a life doing what you hate?”

His hand was sending shivers along her entire body.  She couldn’t believe how much just a simple touch was making her mind spin out of control.  “Not really,” she whispered back up to him. 

“Then why not follow your passions?” he asked.

She smiled nervously.  “Passions don’t pay the rent.” 

“They do if you are good at them.”  He twisted her hand around, his thumb tracing patterns over the palm of her hand, causing her to shiver and some strange sensation pooled in her stomach, moving lower.  It was almost embarrassing, that feeling. 

“I’m good at something,” she replied, thinking of her art work and the check she’d just received. 

Davis smiled slightly. “I bet you are.”  His thumb moved higher, resting on the pulse beating at her wrist.  “Tell me what your passions are.” 

Her breath quickened and she blinked, trying to think of what his question was.  It was hard to focus with his thumb doing that to her palm.  Goodness, what was this man doing to her? 

“Um….I’m very good at…” his thumb reached her pulse and she stopped, staring down at his dark hand holding her pale one.  It was so much larger than hers, so much stronger.  The difference was fascinating.  She was pretty sure that she wanted to paint just this, their two hands gently holding the other, but her mind wasn’t sharp enough at the moment to form that thought completely. 

“Have dinner with me and tell me about the things you’re good at,” he commanded.

Kate looked up at his handsome face and nodded.  She wasn’t even aware of her nod until the flare of victory in his eyes flashed and she smiled up at him.  “I’d like that,” she whispered.

A moment later, he tossed several bills down on the bar and took her hand, leading her out of the bar and into the elevator.  “Where are we going?” she asked, not sure this was a good idea any longer.  Why weren’t they heading to the hotel dining room?  Or one of the restaurants that lined the street? 

They were the only two people in the elevator at the moment and it whisked them up higher.  She was captured by his eyes, her neck craned backwards to see his face.  She loved looking at his eyes, amazed at their color.  “Your eyes are blue,” she said, sounding silly but she’d thought they were a dark brown in the bar. 

He moved closer to her, saw her mouth fall open slightly and was entranced by that silent invitation.  Normally, he would act on that but he suspected that Kate didn’t realize what she was offering. 

“Yes.  They’re dark blue,” he replied, chuckling at the blush that stole up her cheeks again.  “And yours are a light blue.  A fascinating, light blue that changes to a slightly darker blue when you are thinking about something.”  He reached up and slid his finger down her cheek. “What are you thinking about right now?” he asked.

She inhaled, loving the way he smelled.  “I’m thinking that you smell incredibly nice,” she admitted. 

He smiled again.  “So do you.  Like watermelon,” he told her.

She cringed but there was humor in her eyes.  “It was a silly drink, I know.  But it was perfect.”

The elevator opened up and he stepped through the doors, right into the penthouse suite of the hotel.  “What would you like for dinner?” he asked, lifting the phone to call the kitchen. 

Kate looked around, intimidated by the opulence she was seeing, and the obvious wealth it took to enjoy it. “Um…anything is fine.”

Davis called down an order for something with chicken, telling the chef to surprise them.  He also had the butler service bring up a bottle of wine as well as some appetizers.  He wanted Kate relaxed, but not drunk tonight.

“Why don’t you take off your jacket?” he suggested, doing the same.  He whipped off his tie as well, tossing both onto the soft-looking sofa. 

“What do you do?” she asked, following his lead but holding the jacket over her arms, not sure she wanted that barrier gone. 

“You mean, besides seduce innocent women who show up in bars?” he asked, teasing her.  He moved closer to her, taking her jacket.  “I fully intend to try and make love to you tonight, Kate.  But I didn’t bring you up here to do that.”  His hand cupped her check, then moved to touch the strands of her hair that had come loose from the intricate swirl on the back of her head.  “I can’t eat in the dining room without being disturbed.  I thought this would be a bit more private.”

“Yes but…” she still wasn’t sure, although his explanation did make her feel slightly better.  Was she being naïve by believing him? 

“No buts,” he countered.  “Just relax.  Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen.”

She smiled slightly, still hugging herself.  “I think that’s actually the problem,” she whispered, then looked up at him nervously, to see if he understood what she was saying. 

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The Royal Cordova Trilogy

Escaping a Royal Wedding

The Man’s Outrageous Demands

Mistress to the Prince

The Attracelli Family Series

Never Dare A Tycoon

Falling For The Boss

Risky Negotiations

Proposal To Love

Love's Not Terrifying

Romantic Acquisition

The Billionaire's Terms: Prison Or Passion

The Sheik's Love Child

The Sheik's Unfinished Business

The Greek Tycoon's Lover

The Sheik's Sensuous Trap

The Greek's Baby Bargain

The Italian's Bedroom Deal

The Billionaire's Gamble

The Tycoon's Seduction Plan

The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress

The Sheik's Missing Bride

Blackmailed By The Billionaire

The Billionaire's Runaway Bride

The Billionaire's Elusive Lover

The Intimate, Intricate Rescue

The Sisterhood Trilogy

The Sheik's Virgin Lover

The Billionaire's Impulsive Lover

The Russian's Tender Lover

The Billionaire's Gentle Rescue

The Tycoon's Toddler Surprise

The Tycoon's Tender Triumph

The Sheik's Mysterious Mistress

The Duke's Willful Wife

The Sheik's Secret Twins

The Tycoon's Marriage Exchange

The Russian's Furious Fiancée

The Tycoon's Misunderstood Bride

Love By Accident Series

The Sheik's Pregnant Lover

The Sheik's Furious Bride

The Duke's Runaway Princess

The Russian's Pregnant Mistress

The Lovers Exchange Series

The Earl's Outrageous Lover

The Tycoon's Resistant Lover

The Sheik's Reluctant Lover

The Spanish Tycoon's Temptress

The Berutelli Escape

Resisting The Tycoon's Seduction

The Billionaire’s Secretive Enchantress

The Big Apple Brotherhood

The Billionaire’s Pregnant Lover

The Sheik’s Rediscovered Lover

The Tycoon’s Defiant Southern Belle

The Sheik’s Dangerous Lover (free novella)

The Thorpe Brothers

His Captive Lover

His Unexpected Lover

His Secretive Lover

His Challenging Lover

The Sheik’s Defiant Fiancée (Free Novella)

The Prince’s Resistant Lover (Free Novella)

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The Friendship Series

The Billionaire’s Masquerade

The Russian’s Dangerous Game

The Sheik’s Beautiful Intruder

The Love and Danger Series – Romantic Mysteries

Intimate Desires

Intimate Caresses

Intimate Secrets

Intimate Whispers

The Alfieri Saga

The Italian’s Passionate Return (Novella)

Her Gentle Capture

His Reluctant Lover (Coming October, 2014)

Her Unexpected Admirer (Coming November, 2014)

Her Tender Tyrant (Coming December, 2014)

His Expectant Lover (Coming January, 2015)

The Sheik’s Intimate Proposition