The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (5 page)

Now why would she think about kissing him when he was simply going to be a client? 

Her eyes accidentally moved to his lips and her breath caught in the back of her throat.  She thought she might have gasped as her eyes took in his firm lips that were smiling slightly.  Her mind immediately jumped to what those lips would feel like…on other places of her body instead of just her mouth. 

What?!  How had she gone from not wanting to work with him, to not wanting to kiss him
and…?  Where in the world had that come from?  She could feel her face flaming and took a deep breath to calm herself down. 

Focus, Sierra!  This man was not interested in a date!  He was a potential client.  She never dated any of her clients!  She barely even went out to lunch with them unless it was the only time she could get answers on questions.  End of project celebrations?  Yes, certainly.  But that included the whole staff who had worked on the project. 

No dating!  No kissing!  And definitely no…other things!

She hated
the way she felt when he looked down at her.  It was almost as if he could read her mind and those firm lips actually broadened into a grin as her mind raced frantically to inappropriate thoughts.  That heart-racing, tummy-tightening, mind numbing feeling made her want to sprint out of the office, to hide somewhere safe.  Some place where his striking eyes couldn’t make her feel as if he were looking at her naked.  And liking what he saw! 

Todd was still talking about her accomplishments and Sierra finally was able to tear her eyes away from the new guy and focus on what her boss was saying.  “Take a look at that file and you’ll get an idea of what she can do.  I think she’s definitely the person you’re looking for that could add a great deal of value to the projects you’re considering.”

Sierra looked at her boss, a man she’d respected intensely for years.  He’d mentored her through some complex work and given her more opportunities than she would have received if she’d gone with any other firm.  But why was he asking her to show this man her work?  Not this man.  Anyone but this particular man.

Memories of him
lying in a hospital bed, his body broken and bruised because of her father’s cruelty, came rushing through her mind.  If Drake Harrison ever found out that she was related to the man who had almost killed him, who had actually left him for dead, he would hate her with an intensity that didn’t bear considering. 

Everything was so confusing!  She didn’t like the many paths her mind kept jumping onto.  She didn’t understand and confusion was difficult to deal with.  Add in her emotional reaction as well as the physical response and she was just all over the place mentally! 

Deciding to ask a few questions that might give her fried brain some much needed answers, she cleared her throat and squeezed her “frustration ball” behind her back.  “I’m sorry,” she interrupted as smoothly as possible under the circumstances.  “But what’s going on?” she asked, glancing nervously between her boss and the man who justifiably should hate her. 

Drake
raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was asking that question.  An e-mail had gone out to all employees informing them of the acquisition this morning.  He and Todd had been wandering the hallways, going from office to office, meeting each person, answering questions and generally just being visible in order to reassure everyone that things wouldn’t change with the new management. 

Todd
chuckled, obviously understanding the situation.  “You have that big presentation this morning, don’t you?”  He’d worked with Sierra for too long not to see the signs.  “Did you even go home last night?” he asked, wondering if she’d spent the night working on the details in order to perfect any issues she’d perceived in her work.  She’d done it before and he’d admonished her for it, but Sierra was one of those employees that took on a challenge and didn’t stop until she’d corrected any issues.  Her dedication was one of the reasons clients asked for her so often. 

Sierra squeezed the ball behind her once again, knowing that with each squeeze, the ball’s “eyes” would bug out, keeping hers from doing the same. 
“Yes,” she replied as if she didn’t understand how the two questions were related. 

Todd smiled patiently. 
“This is Drake Harrison.  He’s took over the firm as of last night at midnight.  You would know that if you’d taken the time to read your e-mail this morning before you dove into your work.”  Todd looked at her over the top of his glasses, his message both amused because he knew that she’d probably put in too many hours of overtime recently, and slightly admonishing because he’d told her several times over the years to check her e-mail every morning before she became too absorbed in her work.  “Everyone was informed about three hours ago.  There’s a big luncheon in the main conference room in two hours to get to know Mr. Harrison better.  Will you be there?”

Sierra was about to decline, not wanting to be around when
the extremely tall, now-healthy and somewhat terrifying Drake Harrison decided to do his meet and greet.  The less time she was around him, the less chance he had of recognizing her and the less time she had to experience this disconcerting reaction her body had to his nearness. 

She looked from
Todd to the stranger who really wasn’t a stranger, wanting desperately to hide somewhere.

“Um…I wasn’t…”

Drake could see where this was going and he wasn’t going to let her off the hook.  She was fascinating, he thought while he watched the expressions change on her lovely features as she tried to get out of the meeting.  “She’ll be there,” he contradicted before she could even decline the invitation. 

She blinked and looked up at the man’s blue eyes.  “I will?” 

She took a deep breath, trying to remember that she should be thrilled that Mr. Harrison was so vital and healthy.  He’d come such a long way and he’d been laid low by some cruel men but had persevered.  In her mind, she knew she should be celebrating his health. 

Unfortunately, confronted by
him now with that arrogance on his handsome features, and with him standing here telling her what she was going to do when he clearly knew that she didn’t want to attend the luncheon, something snapped inside of her. 

She turned to fully face him, her eyebrows going up in inquiry.
“I didn’t know I was going to attend.  What time was I going to attend?”

Todd
started to interject but Drake stepped forward, looking down at her and doing his best to intimidate her.  “You’re going to be there at noon, just like the message stated.”  He waited a long moment, daring her to ignore the summons. 

Sierra kept her mouth shut. 
Her initial reaction was to tell him to go to hell.  But Todd had just explained that this was her new boss.  Telling off one’s boss in the first two minutes after meeting him would be a pretty bad career move.  But she couldn’t simply accept his summons meekly.  That simply wasn’t in her coding. 

She actually squirmed slightly under his steady, challenging gaze.  Was he daring her for some reason? 
She tried to look meek and mild but it irked her too deeply that he was doing this to her. 

If only she hadn’t felt the heat in his hand when he’d touched her a moment ago.  If only he hadn’t felt that shiver go through her whole body as he’d looked down at her. 

“I really need to get these plans finalized for a meeting in thirty minutes,” she replied, not committing to being at the lunch but not blatantly ignoring the summons either.  At least not in his presence.

Drake watched the younger woman’s features and knew that she was going to skip the lunch.  He wanted to laugh at her bravery but he was having too hard of a time controlling his body’s urges to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she obeyed the summons. 
Or maybe simply because she was going to defy him. 

He enjoyed her blush though.  And the way she gripped the table behind her.  All little signs that she was completely aware of him, just as he was
very aware of her as well. 

So be it, he thought silently.  The gauntlet had been tossed and he had never been one to ignore a challenge. 

“I’ll see you later then,” he replied.

Sierra nodded her head, but she was so tense, it probably came out as simply a snobbish tilt instead.  When he finally turned around and walked to the next office, she let out the breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding.  With great, heaving breaths, she took in air and tried to cool herself down. 

What had just happened?  She turned back to her drafting board, wanting to put him out of her mind and just dive back into the safe and benign world of lines and calculations.  She understood angles and math.  She understood the solid materials that would support a building in different ways and for various reasons. 

She
didn’t understand Drake Harrison.

As she stared down at her work, she re
alized that she’d only created her fantasy man in her head.  The man who had been laying in the hospital bed, fighting for his life, hadn’t been able to speak so she’d made up a personality for him.  She’d been safe from the real man.  Safe from who he might actually be. 

But now that she’d met him, she didn’t understand why he affected her like this. 
Men had never impacted her in such a way that she couldn’t think or act appropriately and professionally.  She’d never thought about any of her dates in such a sexual way.  And except for her first crush in high school, she couldn’t remember ever blushing when in the presence of another man. 

She shook her head, remembering that she had a meeting in
just a few minutes.  She didn’t have time to contemplate the inner workings of the real life man or her reaction to him.  It wasn’t that he hadn’t lived up to her fantasies.  It was more that she didn’t like what happened to her when he came close.  She hadn’t expected that reaction.  And she definitely didn’t like it.  She’d felt vulnerable.  Exposed. 

She’d endured that
feeing with her father for years although she knew she couldn’t honestly compare what she’d felt while living in her father’s house to what she felt when Drake Harrison stepped close to her.  There was vulnerability yes, but the feelings were completely different.  With her father, there had always been the threat of violence and anger.  With Drake, there was…something else.  Like he knew all of her secret desires.  Things even she didn’t want to acknowledge about herself. 

Unfortunately, her eyes didn’t see the lines and the details
of this man like she understood a building’s layout.  All she saw was his face, his amused eyes as if he were fully aware that she was lying about attending the lunch with all of the other staff members. 

She wanted to growl at her confused emotions.  What she was feeling was completely out of character.  She was a good employee and she tried very hard to be a compassionate person.  But that man banished all of her efforts in both of those areas and, it see
med, eliminated her common sense. 

This man terrified her on several levels.  She didn’t see recognition in his eyes, not that he would have any reason to recognize her.  He’d been unconscious almost the entire time she’d stayed with him.  When he’d finally regained consciousness in the hospital after over a week in the intensive care unit, she’d made sure that his foreman or someone else was there to be with him.  She’d kept tabs on him, but also kept her distance, not wanting him to realize who she was or why she was there. 

She’d paid all of his medical bills anonymously, even selling her jewelry when her father cut off her credit card after he’d realized what she’d done.  She hadn’t cared at all about the jewelry.  He’d bought it for her to show her off.  In his mind, his children wearing expensive jewelry was a status symbol so selling it made a statement in her own mind.  It was a rejection of his life, sold to rectify the wrongs he’d committed, at least in Drake Harrison’s case. 

Adding to her defiance
, she’d moved out of her father’s house that week, not even telling him.  He’d said some horrible things about her sister Marissa, things Sierra had been unable to ignore.  So she’d just left. 

When her father had gone to prison the following year, she hadn’t even attended the trial
, relieved that someone had finally found enough evidence to convict him and several of his underlings.  She’d gone with the assumption that her father was guilty of everything he was accused of and more.  So much more!  In fact, if she’d been able to find evidence of his crimes, she would have turned it over to the police herself.  She’d even looked, but couldn’t find anything.  Her father had hidden his crimes well over the years.  But not well enough since he had been given a life sentence. 

He’d died in prison that first year.  She’d heard about his death but, after talking with her sister, they hadn’t attended his funeral.  The two of them had visited their
mother’s grave that same day, holding hands and letting the tears flow, but neither had understood those tears. 

Shaking her mind out of the past, s
he walked over to her desk and typed in Drake’s name.  She’d followed his career over the past six years, but there were always new articles to read.  Obviously, she wasn’t the only one that was fascinated by the man!  The press loved him, followed him around and reported on not only his business successes but also his personal life, whenever they caught even the smallest rumor.