Naya spun around, her eyes still focusing on the e-mail open on her computer screen so it was hard to shift gears. “I’m sorry?” she finally asked.
Bonnie laughed and waved the apology aside. “No worries, honey. I know you’ve been going full steam ever since yesterday morning.” She walked deeper into Naya’s small office, leaning down so she could talk in a conspiratorial whisper. “We were just over at that gorgeous hotel Mr. Danilov bought.”
Naya swallowed, still trying to absorb everything Bonnie had just said. “You were at his hotel?” Naya asked, not sure she understood what was going on.
“Yes. And it’s gorgeous! I didn’t know that they made hotel suites that large!” She laughed as her shoulders moved up, indicating more secrets were to be revealed. “When we first heard about the suite, all of us were wondering why one man needed a suite that big, but now that we’ve been there, we get it.”
“You do?” Naya blinked, not sure what Bonnie “got”.
“Sure,” Bonnie replied, picking up one of Naya’s pencils and twirling it around. If he’s going to be having meetings there with so many people, it makes sense to have a large space.” Her head tilted slightly. “I suppose he could have used the meeting spaces here in the building on the first level. I know that there are several ballrooms and I’ve heard that they’ve held some very glamorous events there, but there is something more personable about talking with him in that suite, surrounded by all of that luxury. And the snacks! Boy, that man really knows how to make a team feel good!”
Naya’s fingers unfurled protectively over the storyboards she’d been working on for the past several hours. “The whole marketing team was there?”
Bonnie tossed the pencil back into Naya’s pencil cup. “Well, not everyone. Apparently, he’s rotating smaller groups of employees through, explaining what was going on, what the future holds for the company.” She cringed as she said, “He told us that the layoffs weren’t finished. He’s gotten rid of the obvious dead weight, but everyone else on the staff is still being evaluated.”
“Evaluated?” she repeated, realizing she was sounding like a broken record. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she tried to figure a way out of this next meeting. But the e-mail was quite clear. His assistant, the very scary, very stern Ms. Jeffers that she’d met yesterday at the elevators, stated the time of the appointment and the location along with instructions on security.
Naya felt a bit of hysterical laughter bubble up, thinking about the last time she’d been in that suite. She hadn’t gone through any security on her way in, but those big, scary men with bigger, scarier bulges under their suit jackets, had looked at her as if she were a crazy lunatic as she’d tried to sneak out of the hotel suite two months ago.
Probably not something that happened very often. Most likely, they had to stop women from sneaking into Pierce’s suite. Not out of it.
Bonnie’s cell phone buzzed and she immediately picked it up. “Uh oh,” she gasped as she read the text. “Gotta go! But you’ll see what I mean about the man’s suite when it is your turn to go through the same meeting. I think you guys are scheduled for tomorrow morning, but I could be wrong.” With a wave of her hand, she walked out of Naya’s office, unaware that she’d left a stunned co-worker standing in the office with her mouth open.
“Okay, so everyone is going to his suite,” she thought. She’d thought yesterday that the office he’d been using hadn’t really fit his personality. The furniture in that office had been heavy, wood pieces that would be better suited to a nineteen-fifties office. Pierce made her think of clean, harsh furniture made from steel and glass. She doubted any furniture Pierce chose to surround himself with would be comfortable or cozy. She suspected that he would purposely choose furniture that would be better for torture than resting one’s bones and relaxing.
Immediately, she thought about her own furniture. She didn’t have much of it, not with all of her financial responsibilities, but she had a soft bed with a beautiful comforter on it and about six months ago, she’d bought a brand new sofa with extra pillows. She hadn’t found the perfect coffee table or end tables that would work with her sofa, but then again, she couldn’t afford them yet either. So it was a win win on the furniture end of her life. Sort of.
Looking at the time, she groaned. Now she was stalling. Naya knew that she really needed to hurry or she’d be late. The hotel wasn’t far, but with lunchtime crowds on the sidewalk, not to mention all of the storyboards she needed to bring along, this wasn’t going to be an easy trek over to the hotel.
Fifteen minutes later, she pressed the call button for the elevator, her mind remembering how Pierce had done that the last time, staring into her eyes as if daring her to stop him from taking her from the private dining room to his suite. She’d dared. With a sigh, she ran a hand over her stomach, thinking about how much she’d truly dared that night.
Never again, she vowed as she stepped into the elevator. Ignoring the trembling in her knees and the rapid beat of her heart, she breathed in and out, trying very hard to appear calm. Women met with their ex-lovers all the time. This was no different. It would all be fine. She would be cool and professional. Nothing to it!
She told herself this during the entire short ride up the elevator. Unfortunately, it was all a bunch of baloney! First of all, she wanted nothing more than to spend another night in that man’s arms, to have him hold her close and tell her that their night together meant more than just a one night stand.
It had been more to her. Which was exactly why she’d run, she suddenly realized.
Wow! Naya stood there in the hallway, unaware of the bodyguards standing sentry outside the hotel suite’s doors, watching her.
Yes, she’d hurried out of the hotel that morning, ashamed and horrified by what she’d done, but she hadn’t even tried to contact Pierce the following day because…because she hadn’t wanted her worst nightmare confirmed, that their night had been just a one night stand for him.
No, she didn’t know him personally. She didn’t know much about who he was as a human being except that he was gentle and caring, demanding and passionate. Did those personality traits transfer to the rest of his life? She had no idea! And she’d lost the right to know that by running out on him.
So here she was, about to enter the suite in which her fall had happened, and she had no idea what to say to the man.
The door swung open and Pierce was there, his grey eyes glaring at her as if a thousand knives were slashing towards her. And Naya felt every, single one of them!
No, she thought, those characteristics definitely didn’t transfer to his daily life. This angry, hard, unyielding man was not the man who had taken her to his bed, who had shown her a passion that seemed impossible now. He wasn’t the man who had dared her to new heights, and then gently held her when he realized that he’d hurt her. This wasn’t the tender, caring lover who had gently introduced her to her sexuality and convinced her that it was all okay.
Suddenly, he stepped to the side and a stream of men and women were spilling out of the suite. This must have been one of the other meetings that Bonnie had mentioned earlier. In one way, there was a sense of relief that this wasn’t just another call to be alone with Pierce. He wasn’t...
“Next,” he snapped and Naya ignored the pitying looks of the others as they all hurried out of the hotel suite, obviously relieved that they weren’t the ones going in.
Pierce was already inside and Naya followed. The guard closed the door and she felt like a prison door had just closed on her. And despite the angry tension that seemed to envelope the man standing by the windows of the massive suite, Naya couldn’t believe how completely aware she was of Pierce. Not as an employer, but as a man. His suit jacket had been discarded and the tie might not have ever been knotted around the man’s neck. The tailored shirt and dress slacks somehow made him more potent, more powerful than she remembered.
There was also the fact that he was glaring at her.
“About to run away again? Can’t take the heat?”
Naya’s mouth fell open with that taunt, her hackles rising. She also realized that she was completely alone with Pierce. While all of the other meetings had included a group of TriTek employees, this meeting was just the two of them.
“Where is everyone else?” she asked. Actually, her question came out as more of a whisper. There was no force to her words. Her mind was centered on this man, on his broad shoulders and the strange, melting sensation she was feeling.
She shouldn’t be experiencing this. She should be furious that he was treating her with such contempt. Despite his rude behavior, her reaction to Pierce was intense and instant. From the moment she’d seen him in the bar that night as well as now, stepping into the beautiful suite, she felt that same awareness, the same aching excitement, that throbbing ache between her legs that told her he was the man for her.
“No one else is required for this meeting.” He leaned a shoulder against the column that separated the entryway of the suite to the grander living areas. Watching her.
Naya tried to hide her body’s reaction. Her fingers gripped her tote bag filled with papers closer to her chest, guarding her body from his too-knowing gaze. “We’re here alone,” she replied, her eyes watching him, trying to pull her gaze away from his but she felt captured.
“Yes. We’re alone.” With a flash of something in his eyes, he turned around and walked away from her. “Show me what you’ve got,” he commanded.
Naya was still standing just inside the doorway when she heard his words. They felt like the snap of a whip across her body and she jerked in reaction. And yet, she stood there, wary of moving deeper into the man’s domain. The image of a ferocious wolf popped into her mind, just as it had that first night.
“Naya!” his voice roared and she jerked again, but the sound snapped her out of her fanciful thoughts. Her anger also rose up to almost choke her. So what if she was still attracted to him? He wasn’t the man she’d thought him to be. She would just do her job and get out of this place. It wasn’t like she wanted him to lift her up into his arms and make love to her.
Okay, perhaps her body wanted that. But not her mind. And her mind was completely in control here.
With her chin held high, she walked with dignity into the living room. No longer was she shielding herself from this man. She wasn’t afraid of anyone. And she wasn’t afraid of herself either!
He was waiting by the beautifully polished dining room table. Behind the table, a large buffet was set up with a coffee and tea service, pastries and fruit along with china plates and silver utensils.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
Naya shook her head, even though she was starving. She’d skipped breakfast this morning because of the morning sickness and had indulged in only half a cup of coffee once the headache from caffeine withdrawal hit her. She knew that she shouldn’t be drinking coffee, but the headache had been too intense. So she didn’t currently have a headache, but she was hungry. No way was she admitting that to him though. She wasn’t going to admit any weakness to this man. He was strong and powerful and intimidating. Well, she was going to become all of those things as well.
“I started down one road yesterday, but by the afternoon, I thought up a new idea that I think is better. So these are a bit rougher than I was hoping to show you today, but I think you’ll still be able to get the idea of where I’m going with the campaign.”
Spreading out her drawings, she leaned over the table to set them in the order in which they would eventually go into a storyboard. “I’ve developed three commercials that could run on television, social media and Internet sites,” she explained, pretending that her fingers weren’t shaking and she wasn’t painfully aware of his eyes moving over her body.
Pointing to the first scene, she explained, “We start out with a woman running down the street in the clothes. There are subliminal messages as she runs, a group of people in the background doing yoga, another person doing pushups, ect. The implication is that the technology of the clothing helps everyone. There are both positive and negative imagery to get that message across. There’s a man in the background not wearing our clothing and,” she pointed to a picture of a man bent over, failing in his workout, “he’s breathing hard, lifts his head to watch the woman race by him, although she doesn’t notice him. She’s actually staring at something, pushing herself harder but whatever it is, it is just outside the camera’s range.”
Pierce had been watching her closely, wondering about what had happened over by the door. There had been a flash of several emotions while she stood there staring in. But with her words, he pulled his gaze away from her figure, which was still covered in a stiff, black suit and conservative silk blouse – how many of those suits did she own?! Looking down at the table, at her pictures, he was captured by her explanation. “What’s in the background?” he demanded, moving the pictures around to get a better look.
Naya put some space between herself and his body, shocked by the heat coming just from his arm after a casual touch. But he reached out and pulled her right back, close enough to smell the male scent of him and the aftershave he preferred, but not close enough to touch him, to feel those strong arms.
She looked at his face, but all of his concentration was directed at her drawings. “What happens next?”
Naya’s mind instantly thought about him turning her around to kiss him, but then his hand moved, catching her attention. Reminding her that he was asking about the commercial. “Um…” she blinked, trying to refocus on the work, on his questions. “Right,” she looked down, then remembered where she’d been in her explanation. “The camera moves forward and the audience sees that she’s running in front of a man – still wearing the clothes. And every time she turns the corner, she looks back, her eyes challenging him to keep up with her.” Naya blushed, remembering that she’d thought up that angle while remembering the way Pierce had looked at her in the bar that night. He’d challenged her. Oh yeah, his eyes had spoken to her, compelled her. Just as she’d tried to convey in the pictures.
Focusing once again, she looked down, refusing to acknowledge her increased heart rate. “In the final scene,” she took a deep breath, “the couple is stripping off their clothes and stepping into the shower. I thought it would be a good way to display both the brand as well as the motto.”
He turned to look at her, their faces painfully close. “We’ll get you there,” she said, referring to the motto she’d come up with for the campaign.
Pierce nodded, his eyes taking in the softness of her lips, the endearing vulnerability in her green eyes and the rapid pulse at the base of her throat. “It sounds good. Go on,” he told her, thinking that she truly was the most lovely woman he’d ever met.
Naya looked down, trying very hard to ignore the sexual tension that seemed to be increasing, making the air almost thick with it. Hard to breathe.
Looking away, she pulled the next set of drawings closer. “In the next commercial, the woman is,” she choked a bit on this explanation, “discovering that she’s pregnant. She’s wearing the product line again as she rushes into the kitchen where the man is cooking dinner. They’re both excited and – once again, clothes fall and the brand as well as the motto are displayed.” She stood up and coughed, trying to rid herself of the clawing ache in her chest.
“And the last commercial?” he asked, pulling the third stack of drawings closer. “Looks like a family.”
“Yes, same couple but with two kids, waking up and pulling on the product line. It is dark outside, but they hike up a trail with flashlights, which will give the camera a chance to focus on specific aspects of each product. At the end of the commercial, the family is sitting on a protruding rock as the sun rises over the horizon. The mother and father are holding their kids as they watch in awe at the sunrise.”
There was a long silence as Pierce looked through all of the drawings one more time. Naya stepped back, wai
ting with nerves that felt like they were about to explode from the tension.
When he finally stood up straight, he was looking down into her eyes as he said, “its brilliant, Naya. Truly brilliant.”
This time, the color in her cheeks wasn’t from the sexual awareness, but simply due to his praise. “Thank you,” she replied.
When she looked up at him, she suspected that her gaze reflected the same need that she saw in his eyes. Heavy and intense, a burning desire to feel his lips on hers almost overwhelmed her. Naya told herself to move back. To put some space between their bodies. Instead, her eyes drifted lower, looking at his lips.
Did she remember the feel of his lips correctly? Naya wasn’t sure. Kissing was dangerous, she told herself, but even as she reminded herself of that, he moved closer. The tension in the room increased. The air was thick with…desire. Need. Closer. Naya wasn’t sure if she moved or if Pierce shifted closer, but their bodies touched. His lips were so close…mere inches from hers.
Just a kiss, she thought. Surely one kiss wouldn’t be bad! She could handle one kiss…just to see if he tasted the way her mind remembered.
So when he lowered his head, she automatically lifted her face to accept his kiss.
When it happened, Naya couldn’t believe the surge of need that hit her. Hard! He must have felt it as well, because he pulled away ever so slightly, his eyes looking into hers. And then there was no space. No pulling back. His mouth covered hers, devouring her as if oxygen was secondary. But it wasn’t enough, she thought. Lifting her arms, her fingers clung to his shoulders, pulling him against her body as the need to feel all of him overwhelmed her.
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