The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (10 page)

Sierra glanced over her shoulder, not sure why he was telling her she could just barge into her boss’s office.  “Won’t he…?”

“No.”  In fact, he opened the door for her, pushing the wooden door back so she could enter. 

Sierra looked inside but the office was empty.  Even most of the furniture was gone. 
“What’s going on?” she asked cautiously, standing just inside the doorway.

She felt
Drake right behind her, his chest against her shoulders as his hands settled on her hips.  He looked into the office over her head as if he were seeing the space for the first time as well.  “The movers did a good job,” he said and gently pushed her inside, then closed the door behind the two of them.  “Have a seat.”  He walked around her to one of the two chairs left in the room. 

“What’s happening
?” she demanded, not taking the other chair.  “Where’s Todd and where is all of his furniture?”  She’d always loved Todd’s office.  It was warm and grandfatherly.  Not the style that would be conducive to her work, but it had felt warm and inviting. 

Drake put his arm around her waist and brought her deeper into the room, closing the door behind the two of them. 
“Todd is already gone.  He wanted to move on with his retirement as soon as possible.  His wife was anxious that he might change his mind if given the chance to think about it and worry too much.”

Sierra looked around, feeling sad, as if her boss moving on with his life was the end of an era.  It was, in a way.  Although she didn’t want it to be the end of an era in her world.  She liked her life.  She wanted it to stay exactly the same.  And that meant that this man was not in it!

Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face him, holding her notebook in front of her as if it could protect her.  “I thought I was supposed to meet with Todd at nine o’clock.”

His grin was her first indication that she’d been tricked. 
“No, you were only told to be in Todd’s office at nine o’clock.  There was no mention of who you would be meeting with.”

Her eyes narrowed at his statement. 
“That was on purpose wasn’t it?”

He
chuckled softly.  “Of course.  I didn’t want you running from the building in terror.”

She straightened her sho
ulders, feeling uncomfortable with his description of her possible reaction.  “I wouldn’t do that.”

He paused before he said, “Wouldn’t you?”

She huffed and took the other seat but continued to hold her notebook in front of her like a shield.  “Of course not.  I’m a professional.  So,” she started off, “despite my already heavy workload, you said you had a special project for me.  What is it?”

He looked at her long legs encased in the sleek, black slacks and her pretty, floral shoes with the killer heels.  There was no way around it, this woman was beautiful, both inside and out. 
“I’ll bet you wouldn’t believe that I lured you in here to talk to me because I enjoy your company?” he teased. 

She immediately snorted, her cynicism coming out strong and hard.  “I look in the mirror.  I’m not the raving beauties you
normally date.”  She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.  “I accept that you’re out of my league.  And I’m very thankful for that fact.”

Drake
studied her lovely features for a long moment, amazed that such a beautiful woman could be so unaware of her own appeal.  “I’ll just have to show you as we get to know each other then.”

She crossed and uncrossed her legs, disagreeing with his confident statement. 
“Since we’re not going to get to know each other, that’s going to be rather difficult.”

He grinned slowly.  “There you go, throwing those challenges out to me.  It must be that you don’t understand my personality very well, which I’m more than willing to rectify.”

“I don’t want to get to know you.”

“That’s just your fear of what we feel for each other coming out.  But I’m sure I can make you feel more comfortable about this attraction we have for each other.  Given time, we’ll both be comfortable.”

Before she had a chance to contradict him, he launched into a discussion about a large project in a small area outside of Denver.  It wasn’t exactly a new city but it would be by the time he was finished with it.  Over the past two years, he’d slowly purchased all of the buildings in a four street section in one of the run down areas of Denver.  It was right on the outskirts of the up and coming section of the city, but still not a good place to be at night. 

His plan was to renovate all the buildings, put in apartments, retail space, commercial offices as well as playgrounds, medical buildings and a community center. 

As Sierra listened to Drake explaining it, even showing her the initial drafts of the layout, she was in awe of his vision.  The man was literally taking apart a ghetto type area and replacing it with just about everything anyone could need.  He even had agreements with the city to build a fire station and new police station next to the area, both of which would enormously increase the property values of the area. 

“How did you get all of this land?” she asked.

He shrugged, looking down at the designs and Sierra could see the eagerness, the excitement in his eyes and even feel it in his body.  “Most of the buildings were already for sale and at dirt cheap rates.  It just took getting the other owners to sell as well, most of whom were more than eager to sell their burned out buildings to anyone who they considered stupid enough to buy them.  Now, it’s just a matter of getting things rolling.  I’m guessing it will take approximately five years to finish all of the remodeling and rebuilding.  Most of the buildings are structurally unsound.  What I want you to do is figure out which ones are salvageable and determine how to make them safe and which ones need to be just torn down and built over.”

Sierra had never had such an opportunity and she was thrilled with the possibilities.  Drake watched her lick her full, lower lip in anticipation as she slowly bent lower over the designs. 

He almost groaned at the sight of her.  He’d thought she was fascinating just when she was fighting this attraction between the two of them.  Seeing her now though, bent over the designs, her eyes alight with all the ideas that were obviously pinging around in her head, he could barely contain his body’s reactions. 

They immediately started discussing the options, both of them tossing out ideas and they spent the res
t of the day talking about possibilities, bringing other people into the conversation either in person because they were here in the office or calling them on the phone.  Drake’s assistant ordered lunch for them and Sierra didn’t even mind sitting across from him while they devoured the meal because she was so interested, and hungry, and didn’t want to leave the brainstorming session.  At times, there were up to ten people in the office tossing around ideas and at other times, it was just the two of them bent over the plans, both of them with a pencil in their hand as they sketched out the various possibilities. 

It was after ten o’clock that night when she finally stood up and realized what time it was.  “Goodness,” she gasped as she glanced at her watch.  “I didn’t realize that it was so late.  I’d better head home,” she said, obviously reluctant to leave.  She quickly started picking up the Chinese food containers from their dinner, tossing them into the trash cans. 

“Sorry for keeping you so late.  Did you have plans for the evening?”

Sierra laughed and shook her head, tossing the broccoli and chicken away.  “Definitely not.”

“Why don’t you have some eager guy waiting for you to get home in the evenings?  Not that I mind, you understand.  I definitely don’t want any competition.”

She shrugged, not exactly sure how to answer him.  Honestly, she supposed.  “I guess I get home from work too late
most nights.  I don’t meet many men that are willing to put up with my schedule.”

He looked at her closely.  “There’s more to it, isn’t there?”  He moved closer, drawn to her and he was glad when she didn’t move away from him this time. 

“I’m pretty private.”

“I know that.  Why is that?” he asked, moving even closer.  There was that perfume again.  It was so alluring, so soft and feminine.  He knew he’d smelled it before, just couldn’t place it.  “You’re young enough that you should be beating the men away.  And you’re amazingly beautiful.”

Sierra took in a deep, shaky breath.  “I don’t…”

She didn’t have a chance to reply.  Drake didn’t want to hear her excuses or denials of her beauty.  And he was suddenly aware that her heart was racing and her breathing was erratic, sure signs that she was thinking along the exact same lines as he was.

When Drake’s lips finally touched hers, Sierra was shocked at the intensity.  Her knees wanted to give out on her, but the rest of her muscles decided that this was exactly what they wanted.  And she found herself plastered against him, not because his hands were pulling her closer but because she wanted, needed, to get as close to him as possible.  His mouth was demanding and she opened to him, eager for his kiss, his taste and his touch.  She wanted him so badly and she was shaking with the intensity of her need. 

When he pulled back slightly, looking down at her with a startled expression, she almost pulled back.  “I don’t…” she started to say, but she couldn’
t finish the sentence.  Her hand reached up and pulled his head back down to hers, her mind going off in directions that wouldn’t allow retreat.  

She felt his hands on her waist, sliding up and caressing her softly, but not gently. 
His hands moved higher, slipping under her pink sweater and skimming along her skin, making her back arch so she was pressing herself more firmly against his touch. 

When she felt his hands on her breasts, she couldn’t stop the whimper of need that coursed through her.  But she could beg him silently to do it again and when his thumb flicked against her nipple, she cried out, pulling away from him and looking up into his heated eyes with surprise. 

“I can’t do this,” she whispered.

“You can,” he contradicted and proved it by kissing her again, moving his hand against her breast and showing her how good it could feel.  “Touch me, Sierra,” he groaned as his fingers found the clasp of her bra and released it. 

Sierra was frantically trying to unbutton the top buttons of his dress shirt, pushing his tie out of the way in her desperate need to touch his skin.  She’d just gotten the first one undone when she heard a sound to her right. 

“Oh!” a strange voice gasped.

Sierra looked over to her right, her eyes wide with both the need to touch him as well as the fear of someone in the firm discovering what they’d just been doing.  And what they might be about to do.

She pulled her hands back, hearing his groan of frustration.  Sierra knew exactly how he felt, but her need was dissipating quickly, replaced by the ever-present fear of this man.  Both of what she wanted him to do to her as well as what he could do to her if he ever found out who she was. 

Moments ago, she wouldn’t have cared about her past or his.  She would have reveled in the glorious feel of his hands touching her skin and begged for more of the same. 

But with the interruption, reality returned.  And that reality was painful and depressing. 

“I have to go,” she said abruptly, pulling her hands away from him and moving away, carefully stepping out of his arms and adjusting her clothing.  Now that he wasn’t touching her any longer, she could hear the steady hum of the vacuum cleaner as the janitorial staff worked their way through the offices.  This was the second time that they’d saved her, sort of. 

As she hurried down the hallway to grab her purse, she wondered how grateful she really was of their interruption.  She might have wanted them to wait just a little longer. 

“What’s wrong?” Drake’s voice asked from behind her and she spun around, her mouth open in surprise.  She hadn’t heard him follow her, but she should have anticipated that.  He might be a great kisser and the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on, but he was also a gentleman.  With resignation, she knew that he wouldn’t allow her to walk out of the building alone. 

“Nothing,” she finally replied.

“Why is your face all flushed?” he asked softly, those incredibly intelligent eyes not missing anything.

“I need to hurry home,” she said, not answering his question since it would give him so much more information than she wanted him to know about her and her current mental and physical state.  Her control over her need was barely
there and anything, even a gentle touch from him, might break that tenuous control. 

He sighed and ran a hand over his face.  “I know.  I’ll walk you out.”

Sierra walked silently by his side, her whole body thrumming with the need for him to just take her into his arms, praying he might ignore her resistance and kiss her again.  One simple kiss would bring them right back to where they’d been only ten minutes ago.  One kiss would push all her fears out of her mind and she could….yes, she admitted that she wanted to make love with this man. 

Impossible, she reprimanded herself.  She couldn’t do that to either of them. 

At her car, she quickly pressed the lock release and slid into the driver’s side.  Before she could say anything else, she glanced up at him and forced herself to smile.  “I’ll see you at work next week,” she stated clearly, telling him firmly that she wouldn’t see him over the weekend.  No, she’d maintain the mentally safe distance of the entire city of Denver in order to avoid him, get her mind back in control and her libido in check.