by Kay Maree
They wouldn’t come in. That he knew, but his time in the room was up.
Tempest walked over to Zane, looking flushed and refreshed. “Time flies when you’re having fun.” She smiled and leaned in for what he thought was a quick kiss, but she moved close, put her hands on each side of his face, and sexily pulled his bottom lip into her mouth. The kiss moved on from there, feeling like a mix between thank you and something more with each touch.
Moving her hands down his chest until her hand found his hard cock in his pants. She wrapped her hands around his length and squeezed. “I’d say we should continue this tryst somewhere more private, but I have a busy day tomorrow, and this feels like something that shouldn’t be rushed.”
“Raincheck?”
She gave him another quick kiss and a smile before she walked out.
If that was her idea of revenge, he’d take it, but there was no way they were done. If he were one to keep score, it would be Tempest 1 and Zane with one hard cock and a big fat zero. Game on.
CHAPTER THREE
TEMPEST
“Look, nothing really happened.” Tempest strolled to her Friday morning appointment. It was really important, but, as usual, she had told no one about it. She didn’t want to go into The Campbell Center talking on the phone, so she stopped outside the entrance.
“So, you aren’t going to give Zane a dose of his own medicine?” Ava whined into the phone.
Taking a deep breath in Tempest tried to figure out what to say to her friend. She wasn’t about to tell her he sent her to another world and she’d had no effect on him at all. Well, he had a hard cock when she’d left, but she was in no shape to put out her best effort. The man had rattled her.
Rattled.
Her.
She felt out of her element, which was crazy because sex in almost all forms was so her element. “I will not bother that man any more than I have to. I must have had too much to drink to even consider something like that.”
Ava blew out a breath. “You’re probably right.”
“Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Tempest heard Ava’s sad goodbye before she disconnected the call.
Taking a deep breath in and blowing it out, she got into work mode. She was here to win the honor of decorating for the Annual All In Give Out Charity Ball. It was the first time it would be held locally, and Tempest applied as soon as she found out it would be here in town. She knew she’d made it down to the final two, but she wondered what they had planned to narrow it down to the winner. It was always something off the wall.
She loved dressing up almost as much as she loved lounging around the house. Today she was dressed to impress. She’d submitted her favorite pieces from her portfolio, and she was ready to take her interior decorating to the next level.
“Hello, Tempest.” Lyric Anderson was on the committee that chose the finalist. Her smile was wide when she handed her the packet and directed her to her table. It wasn’t hard to figure out since she had blown all of her photographs up to practically life-size, and they hung around the table that had her name in large letters above it. Lyric was one of her biggest fans, but she hoped she hadn’t pulled any strings for her. She wanted to make it to the top of her own accord.
“Thank you, Lyric.” Tempest took a few minutes thinking about if she should ask the woman if everything had been above board, but she didn’t want to ruin the mood of the day.
Walking over to the table, she sat down and began to go through the packet of information. At the end, there was a spot for an additional name to be added to her team.
“Team? I don’t want to work with a fucking team.” Tempest mumbled to no one because she was sitting all alone with her pictures.
“Excuse me, everyone.” A petite blond spoke into a microphone. “Thank you all for being here with us. We hope you are as excited as we are to be here.”
Tempest thought she could feel someone watching her. It wasn’t a creepy feeling. It was more like a sense of warmth that moved over her body. Turning her gaze to the other people in the room, she found Zane staring at her from across the room. Although it was difficult to fight back the smile that wanted to bloom on her face, she’d done it. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d been waiting for this day since she got the word that they invited her to participate in this. Now she couldn’t focus on what the woman was saying because she was in an eye fuck competition with Zane.
“Your partners will introduce themselves, and then we will have the interior decorators in the Rosy Room and the architects in the Stone Room.” The hostess had a huge smile on her face, finishing her talk with a little clap of her hands and moving away from the microphone.
Tempest could smell Zane move closer to her. Damn, his aroma was seductive, but she would hear him out and then put him out of her mind. She loved a good orgasm. She knew the two of them would be combustible in the sack, but after what he’d done with just his mouth, she wasn’t sure if she could put herself out there for that much awesomeness.
Zane cleared his throat, and she looked his way.
“What brings you here, Mr. Calder?” Tempest knew the man was known internationally for his creations and wouldn’t possibly throw his hat in the ring for this.
“Maybe I heard you were in the running and wanted to look at what you’d come up with.” Zane could look nonchalant and amused at the same time.
She shook her head a little at that one. “Are you looking for revenge?” Tempest said halfway, trying to throw him off his game, but there was a part of her that wanted to know.
His left eyebrow quirked up, and the amused expression never wavered. “For what? Requiring me to take an abnormal number of cold showers since I saw you last?”
Tempest shrugged as she kept her focus on the man in front of her. “There are lots of men who wouldn’t be happy about that, although I’m sure you could have easily found a replacement. From what we both know, there is plenty of fish in the sea.”
Zane walked over to her pictures and looked at them. Tempest hadn’t showed her work to him, and she’d wanted to come to him with this win in her pocket. Zane’s reputation for being picky about the people who work for him and the quality of his work was almost as notorious as his dick game.
She followed him as he looked at the designs.
The man turned to face her. “There is plenty of fish, but sometimes you get a hankering for the fish you caught. The one you weren’t finished with yet.”
Tempest took a quick scan around the room to see if other people were trying to get her attention. Most of the people there were just enjoying the continental breakfast and chatting amongst each other. She’d returned her attention to Zane and found he was still standing close to her. “Well, I’m glad you’re not upset.”
“Upset with you?” he questioned as he scanned her from head to toe and then returned his gaze to her face. “Nah. You intrigue me.”
“Intrigue?”
“Absolutely. I wasn’t allowed to test your ‘fall in love’ theory.” Zane’s devilish smile made her want to giggle.
Giggle? What. The. Fuck.
“That was just me being silly.” Tempest stepped away from him. She’d think about the way his proximity made her thing and do things that were a bit off.
“All those extra dirty martinis can bring on a bit of smack talk, but I liked it.”
What was this man about? It was probably about wanting what he thought he would get last night, but it couldn’t have been that important to him to show up here.
“Oh, there you are.” The woman from microphone approached them, and Tempest took a step toward her, but she practically sidestepped her to get to Zane.
“Were you looking for me?”
“I’m always looking for you, Mr. Calder.” The woman had sounded cheery and motivational on the mic but had definitely tried to sexy it up for Zane. She understood completely. He had something that drew women to him. Big Dick En
ergy is how she would describe it. Not necessarily about the size, but he just knew how to command a room.
“How can I help you, Marcy?” He stood by Tempest’s side and placed a hand on her back.
Tempest was all about reading body language and facial expression. She knew Zane was showing their alliance and by the look on Marcy’s face she picked it up.
The woman put on a smile that was as fake as it was bright. “I was just making sure you got over here to your partner, but I can see that you’ve met.”
Tempest watched the woman give an awkward wave before she walked away. It was taking her a minute to get this whole thing together in her mind. Zane stood beside her silently until she turned to look at him.
“You’re my partner in this?”
“Surprise.” His voice was low and sexy, but that couldn’t distract her.
“Did you set this up?” She backed away from him to get her package from the table. “I will not accept this assignment if this is something you came up with. I will make my career on my accomplishments alone. Not because you want a better chance of getting your cock wet.”
If she weren’t standing at the pinnacle of pissed off, she’d probably crack a smile at his expression. Shock, wonder, and admiration blended into an expression she didn’t recognize. Then his face became a mask free of everything but maybe boredom.
“I was given a group of portfolios to look through, and we were told to choose who we wanted to work with. I chose yours.” He appeared to be waiting for something.
“I’m not a big believer in fate or coincidence, so I won’t apologize for my outburst.” She picked up her packet and was on her way to the room they told the decorators to be.
She arrived in the room and sat at the round table as she waited for the others to join them. She took the first deep breath she afforded herself since learning she would have to work with Zane on the project she’d been so excited about. She rarely made mistakes like this, but she’d not seen this coming at all. Had she overreacted? Yes, and damn did that make her angrier. Grrrr. She had a fiery personality, but most people didn’t know that. They got to see her cool, like the other side of the pillow, that she presented to the world.
She could turn this around, and she would. Tempest had always wanted to work with Zane, and although it hadn’t happened the way she’d wanted, she’d make the best of it.
“Are we ready to get started?” Marcy clapped a few times to get the few people sitting at the tables to look her way.
Tempest looked around the room and was shocked at how many people were in the room. She had zoned out, but it was time to bring her “A” game. This was something she would win, and these other designers would have to try again next year. She just wished she was as certain about the man they had partnered her with.
CHAPTER FOUR
ZANE
He’d told himself that he would not say anything to Tempest at the club the night before, but he’d just walked past. Then he heard her ask for an extra dirty drink. The teenaged boy that lived inside him just couldn’t keep walking. The woman had intrigued him for a good while and knowing he would be working with her the next day wasn’t enough to keep his trap shut.
Zane was friends with the family that put on this charity every year. He’d never taken them up on their offer to be involved before he’d found out it was something Tempest was interested in participating in. The woman was beauty and ice, but she’d given him a bit of fire, and, oh fuck, was that a turn on.
They’d been talking about the mission and the goal, but he couldn’t think of anything besides the woman who told him off before he could come up with anything she sashayed her hot ass away from him.
Benjamin Campbell walked toward him as the three architects left the workroom.
“I can’t believe you finally took me up on my offer to take part in the charity challenge.” Ben led with his hand for a shake and put the other hand on his shoulder.
“I’m surprised you’re involved in this at all this year. Aren’t you getting married soon?” Zane hadn’t ever met the man’s intended bride, but he’d heard she was a doozy. They invited him to their destination wedding, but he was still unsure if he would go.
“That’s a long story, but the short answer is no. I’m not.” Ben appeared heartsick just saying that, so Zane didn’t want to make the man go through it.
“Maybe we can catch up for drinks later.” Zane saw Tempest walk out of the room and looked to Ben to see if he’d answer him.
“Sounds good.” Ben walked toward Tempest as he answered, leaving Zane to trail after him. His friend was quick, but there was no way Zane would run to get to Tempest before Ben.
“I’m delighted you honored us with your submission. I can’t wait to see what you come up with for the theme.” Ben had his hand on Tempest’s lower back and damned if that didn’t make a very odd sensation in the pit of his stomach appear. Ben seemed to realize that Zane was behind them and turned to include him in the conversation. “Do you know Zane Calder?”
Tempest looked between both of the men with interest, but he didn’t know what she was picking up that made a slightly amused smile appear on her lips.
“We’ve met briefly, but I think we will be getting to know each other a little better.” Tempest directed that comment at Ben. “We will be working together for the campaign.”
“Is that right?” Ben’s eyes widened, and he stepped back from Tempest.
Why that released the ball of whatever the fuck from his stomach he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t like it.
“I’ll call you about that drink later,” Ben said with a wave to Zane then to Tempest. “I’ll see you soon.”
Tempest watched the man walk away from both of them before she turned her gaze back to Zane. “Why do I feel like a bone being pulled between two big dogs?”
It wasn’t hard to act like he didn’t know what she was talking about because it was new to him as well. He didn’t do competitions or pissing contests regularly. A quick shrug was all he could give her.
Tempest took a deep breath and let it out. “Look, I rarely work as a group, but after listening to the magical results they are looking for, I’m hoping you have some thoughts of how we will work this.”
“I think when we put our heads together, we will blow everyone away.” Zane wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass. He meant that. He’d seen her work and was amazed at the way this woman could transform spaces. Zane looked at what she’d put together last night, and as grand as it was, it didn’t top some of her more creative ventures. The smile he received from her let him know she wasn’t one to refuse praise, and he was glad about that because he knew she would get a lot from him. “I have to do a few things at the office, but how about a quick working lunch to brainstorm a few ideas?”
Tempest seemed to think it through and didn’t answer for a few seconds. Then she nodded her head.
“Great.” Zane pulled out a business card and wrote an address on the back. “Meet me here in an hour.”
It didn’t take much to see she thought this was some kind of setup, and it was, but he bet she wouldn’t guess what kind. He wanted to keep this woman on her toes… in more ways than one.
CHAPTER FIVE
TEMPEST
It wasn’t hard trying to find something to keep her occupied for an hour, but her mind was racing. This whole morning hadn’t been what she’d been expecting. A partner when she thought she’d be working alone. Said partner acting like a possessive lover and then a working lunch at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city.
She was thankful that she dressed up for the morning because going to eat at Mangiare was practically an opportunity to bust out the little black dress. To her knowledge, the place wasn’t open for lunch, but this was the address written on the back of Zane’s business card.
“Welcome to Mangiare. Let me escort you to your table.” The hostess met her with a smile and didn’t need Zane
’s name. The place was empty as they walked by the maze made of tables until they got to an elevator. When the doors opened, the hostess held the door as she walked in and then pushed the letter P so it lit up. “When the door opens, someone will direct you to where you are supposed to go. Enjoy your lunch.”
The doors closed, and the elevator began its climb. It didn’t take long for her to reach her destination, but even as jaded as she was with men and their plays at being dashing and romantic, Zane seemed to know what he was doing.
When the doors opened, there was an older gentleman who stood there waiting for her.
“This way, ma’am.”
She’d been to an event here but never in the rooms upstairs. The hallway was a testimony to clean lines and bold artistry. The short walk from the elevator to the executive suite door had intrigued the designer in her.
“Mr. Calder. Your guest has arrived.”
Tempest walked into the room, and it attacked her senses in the best of ways. The aroma of deliciousness and the growling of her stomach stopped the interest she had in the room. They caused her to focus on the table and its different covered bowls. She tried to concentrate on that instead of the delectable looking man who stood when she’d walked into the room.
Her escort had left as soon as Zane reached her side.
“You seem to have a love for private rooms,” Tempest said as she faced him.
“I don’t enjoy crowds.”
“There isn’t anyone here in the restaurant that I could see.”
Zane cocked his head to the side. “This place isn’t one for crowds at lunch, but I feel more comfortable in smaller places. It’s not as loud and I enjoy the décor of the private rooms.”
She knew this man was intelligent and the fact he had an attractive exterior, but she hadn’t really thought too much about him. Was she excited she would get to work with him? Yes, but there was something about him that rattled her typical nerves of steel.
“Is there a place for me to freshen up?” Tempest allowed him to steer her to the bathroom, and she closed the door behind her. You’ve got to pull yourself together. Taking a few deep breaths, she went to the sink to wash her hands and take a few moments to gather herself and her thoughts. She looked into her purse and tried to find the distance and reserve she had with most men who accompanied her. Where the fuck was it? Shaking her head, she hoped some sense came back to her before she took one more deep breath and exited the bathroom.