Infatuation - A Club Destiny Novel (8 page)

His mind was scanning through the images
he’d conjured up while he’d been sharing his plan with Luke and at
this point, he was damn ready to show McKenna exactly what he had
in store for her.

That’s when he saw
her.

Her back was to him, and
he recognized all of that crimson red silk flowing down her back
even from halfway across the room. He could only see her in
profile, but he could tell she was laughing; her smile practically
lighting up the entire room as she regarded the man sitting beside
her.

A man who might be damn lucky if he was
allowed to walk out of the bar with both legs intact.

Taking a deep breath and a
quick detour by the bar, Tag tried to calm himself. As he waited
for Kane to pour the bourbon, he continued to watch McKenna and the
cowboy sitting across from her. Thankfully, before he went over and
made a complete jackass out of himself, he recognized exactly whom
she was talking to.

Travis Walker.

Tag didn’t even know the
guy was in town. Not that he should have, but he figured Luke or
Logan one, would’ve filled him in. As part of the agreement between
the men, Travis had applied to become a member of the club. Last
Tag had heard, he’d been approved, but hadn’t come back to sign on
the dotted line.

Maybe that’s why he was there tonight.

Tag retrieved his drink
from the bar and headed in McKenna’s direction. She was so
engrossed in her conversation with Travis, she didn’t see him
approach, which was more than fine with him. He came up from
behind, set his glass on the table, and then leaned down until his
lips brushed the soft outer edge of her ear. “Miss me?”

He felt the shiver that
ran through McKenna at his words, but other than that, she did a
good job of hiding her reaction.

“
Travis,” Tag greeted the
man sitting across from McKenna, holding his hand out until Travis
gripped it firmly and returned the handshake. “Good to see you
again.”

“
Murphy,” Travis
acknowledged. “Looks like we both might just want the same thing
from Ms. Thorne.”

Tag clamped his teeth
together, but never changed his expression from one of indifference
as he glanced back and forth between the pair. The jealousy that
coursed through his bloodstream was growing all the more annoying
each time he felt it, but he’d be damned if he knew what he was
supposed to do to stop it.

“
Is that right?” he
questioned.

McKenna finally looked
over at him briefly, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a rosy
tint to her pale cheeks that he hadn’t seen earlier.

“
An exclusive,” she said,
smirking as though she found his reaction humorous.

“
Well, I’m not sure Club
Destiny is necessarily pursuing Ms. Thorne; however, it is a
discussion we’re currently having.”

Had Travis been anyone else, Tag would’ve
been irritated that he seemed to know about the club’s personal
business.

“
I better get going,”
Travis stated as he stood. “I’ve got a meeting with Luke
shortly.”

“
How’s your brother?” Tag
asked as Travis stood from his chair. Tag had been keeping tabs on
Zane ever since the groundbreaking ceremony for Alluring
Indulgence, but he hadn’t heard anything in the last few
days.

“
Better.” Something in
Travis’ eyes told Tag there was more to his simple answer, but true
to form, the man wasn’t going to elaborate.

Hell, Tag was surprised
he’d said as much as he had in the last few minutes. Aside from
business, which this could probably be categorized as, Travis
wasn’t known for his long-windedness.

“
Glad to hear it. And it
was good to see you again.” Tag pulled out the chair on the other
side of McKenna, watching Travis intently. He couldn’t help but
wonder whether Travis Walker had more interest in McKenna than just
a story on his upcoming resort. He also couldn’t help but wonder
why he actually gave a damn. But he did.

“
You too. And as for you,
Ms. Thorne, I look forward to seeing you again soon.”

When the cowboy walked
away, Tag turned his attention to the beautiful woman now staring
intently at him. He knew what she wanted. And as much as he’d like
to think it was him that she was after, he knew better. The sexy
journalist was after the tidbit of information he’d garnered from
Luke McCoy earlier.

As much as he wanted to
tell her the answer right here and end her suspense, he wasn’t
going to. Where was the fun in that? Not to mention, this wasn’t
the place to do it. Figuring that taking her up to his private room
would give away more information than he was willing to at this
point, he decided on a different tack.

“
What time can I meet you
at your office in the morning?” he asked, sipping his
bourbon.

“
Tomorrow?” The single
word dripped with disappointment, but he had to give her credit, he
didn’t detect a hint of it on her stunning features.

A smile threatened as Tag
kept his eyes on her, watching to see the telltale sign of her
anxiety. She wanted this exclusive, he knew she did. But, if he
wasn’t mistaken, McKenna wanted something else, as well.

“
Yes. Tomorrow. Unless you
won’t have time to see me.”

Her lengthy pause, as she regarded him,
intrigued Tag.

“
No. Tomorrow’s fine. I
get to the office around six, and I should be there for most of the
morning.”

“
Six? You’re out a little
late for a woman who gets up so early.”

“
Don’t worry about me, Mr.
Murphy. I’m quite capable of deciding when is too late,” she
retorted before pushing her chair back.

He’d successfully pissed
her off. He hadn’t necessarily been trying to, but the back and
forth between them led him to believe it was what she expected. She
was still wary of his intentions even after dinner and that little
tease of a kiss that still made his dick stir when he thought about
it.

“
I’ll see you in the
morning then,” he told her and then turned away as though brushing
her off.

“
What time?” she asked,
and he heard the exasperation in her voice. McKenna was used to
controlling the situation, making those she interacted with bend to
her will, but she would soon learn, Tag wasn’t the type of man she
normally did business with. Nor was he the man who would bow at her
pretty little feet and give her everything she demanded.

“
What time, what?” he
asked, pretending not to know what she was talking
about.

“
What time will you be at
my office?”

“
I’m not sure. I guess it
depends on what I do tonight. Don’t worry, I’ll be
there.”

McKenna glared at him and then stormed off.
Tag enjoyed watching her walk away, but he’d have much preferred to
see her on her knees before him.

If he had anything to say
about it, she’d be doing more of the latter real soon.

*** ~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***

McKenna was in her office
promptly at six o’clock the next morning, armed with a large coffee
and an even larger dose of frustration. She was still pissed at Tag
for leading her on the night before, insinuating she would get the
answer she wanted before the night was out. He hadn’t actually
committed to giving her an answer, but yes, she had assumed. Shame
on her.

Now, she was expecting him
to show up, at his own leisure, to give her an answer.

Well, she’d be ready for him.

That morning, when she
crawled out of bed and into the shower, she’d decided it was time
to don the power outfit. The one that made her feel as though she
could conquer the world. Every woman had one and hers just happened
to be a tight black mini skirt, a sheer black shirt and the black
camisole beneath it. To top off the ensemble, she had on her
favorite platform heel, thigh high boots because she was a woman on
a mission.

She’d pulled her hair up
on top of her head, clipped it in stylish disarray, and that was
that. As always, she didn’t use a lot of make-up, but this time,
she’d accentuated her eyes, knowing that men seemed to salivate
when they got a good look at her eyes. Exotic, people called
them.

Pulling her chair up to
her desk, she opened her laptop and began prepping today’s article.
She finally received the edits, and she just needed to make a
couple of tweaks to get it prepared for publishing. McKenna was
going to be prepared for Tag, no matter what time he decided to
show up.

“
Depends
on what I do tonight
,” McKenna mocked him
out loud, her fingers digging into the keyboard.

The audacity of that man.

With her fingers flying across the keyboard,
McKenna managed to immerse herself in the juicy details that she
would be posting later that day. Obviously so engrossed in what she
was doing she hadn’t realized what time it was until there was a
knock on her office door.

Glancing at the clock on the computer, she
saw that it was after nine, which meant Whisper was somewhere in
the office.

“
Come in,” she called out,
but didn’t get up from her chair, nor did she look up from what she
was doing. McKenna knew who it was because if it was her assistant,
she wouldn’t have knocked. She’d be damned if she was going to
appear eager for this conversation.

Truth be told, it was killing her.

“
Morning,” Tag said in
that overly charming twang of his, which she had to admit caught
her attention, and she slowly allowed her gaze to slide from the
computer screen to the man standing just inside the door of her
office.

Oh, Lord! Have
mercy
.

Tag Murphy was a powerful, confident man
when he was sporting one of those fancy, expensive suits, but what
she saw before her nearly had her eyes bugging out of her head.

Gone was the buttoned up
attorney, and in his place was the intimidating, mouthwatering man
wearing a pair of faded, well-worn jeans and a long sleeve, black
button down shirt. She wasn’t surprised to see he was wearing long
sleeves because now that she thought about it, she’d never seen Tag
wear anything else.

“
Morning,” she whispered,
still staring at him with renewed interest. Gone was all of the
animosity she’d built up overnight and in its place was scorching
hot lust.

When Tag closed the door behind him, then
engaged the lock, McKenna bit her bottom lip.

“
Did you come with an
answer for me?” she asked, not feeling nearly as poised as she had
hoped to be when he arrived.

“
I might have,” he drawled
out slowly. “But first, we need to get a few things cleared
up.”

She couldn’t agree more.

Standing from her seat,
McKenna forced the starch back into her legs as she moved around to
the front of her desk and leaned against the edge. She could exude
the powerful executive every bit as much as he could; only she
could do it in four inch heels. She crossed her arms over her
chest, her legs at her ankles and waited for him to
proceed.

The way his gaze lingered on her legs for
longer than was appropriate in a business setting made her
smile.

“
That outfit normally work
on men?” Tag asked, sounding just as cocky as he had the night
before.

“
I don’t see you
complaining,” she retorted, straightening her back just
slightly.

“
Oh, honey, I’m not
complaining, but I can tell you what you’d be wearing if it were up
to me.”

McKenna didn’t even want to go there. She
had a good idea.

“
Cut to it, Tag. Are Luke
and Logan interested in my offer or not?”

She watched him, feeling
the intensity in those forest green eyes. He might’ve shed the
power suit, but he hadn’t shed the dominant, alpha male that was
obviously a part of his chemical makeup.

“
There are some rules to
this little endeavor, so before you get excited, you might want to
read the fine print.”

The fine print?

Had he seriously drawn up
a contract?
Oh, fuck
. No sooner had she thought it when Tag pulled a folded piece
of paper out of his back pocket.

“
Want me to read it to
you? Or do you prefer to do that yourself?” Tag asked as he moved
closer. His gaze was predatory in nature, and she felt like a
gazelle that had just been cornered by a hungry lion.

“
I can read it, thank
you.” That should’ve come out a little bit more firmly, but McKenna
was suddenly having a hard time focusing on anything except the
warm, hard male body standing mere centimeters away. The rich,
musky scent of his cologne tickled her senses, and it was like a
starburst of lust had been set off in her bloodstream. It was a
heady thing, his smell.

He was holding the paper,
and she had to unfold her arms from her chest in order to take it.
The downside was the move also allowed Tag to see how her nipples
had puckered – her body’s apparent approval.

She knew she should move, should return to
her chair and read the contract word by word, but she couldn’t seem
to get her legs to cooperate.