Naya spun around, her eyes still on the e-mail open on her computer screen, so it was difficult 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.” 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 what Bonnie had just said. “You were at his hotel?” Naya repeated, not sure she understood.
“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 glamorous events there, but there is something more personable about talking with him in that suite, surrounded by all of that luxury. And the food! Good grief, that man 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, our new and improved, and let me add, ‘gorgeous!’ new leader, is rotating smaller groups of employees through, explaining what was going on with the management transition, what the future holds for the company.” She cringed as she said, “He mentioned this morning 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 wondered if she could get out of this next meeting. But the e-mail was quite clear. His assistant, the stern and intimidating Ms. Jeffers that she’d met yesterday, stated the time of the appointment and the location along with instructions on getting through security in the hotel lobby.
Naya felt hysterical laughter bubble up, thinking about the last time she’d been in that suite. She hadn’t gone through 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 lunatic as she’d snuck 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 checked the caller ID. “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’s your turn to go to the meeting. I think you guys are scheduled for tomorrow morning, but I could be wrong.” With a wave, 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,” Naya whispered. When Naya had been in Pierce’s office yesterday, it had occurred to her that the furniture and décor hadn’t really meshed with Pierce’s 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 considered 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 to go with her sofa, but then again, she couldn’t afford them yet either.
Looking at the time, she sighed. Now, she was stalling. Naya knew that she really needed to hurry or she’d be late for her scheduled meeting and, since she now knew that others would be in this meeting as well, Naya really didn’t want to be the last one to enter the penthouse. Naya didn’t want to do anything that might draw attention to herself.
Thankfully, the hotel wasn’t far, but with lunchtime crowds rushing along the sidewalk, not to mention all of the storyboards she needed to bring along, this wasn’t going to be an easy trek.
Fifteen minutes later, she pressed the call button for the elevator, remembering how Pierce had done so 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 took a deep breath, trying to appear calm. Was she becoming unnecessarily anxious? 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 repeated that mantra during the short ride up the elevator. Unfortunately, those words were a complete bunch of baloney! First of all, she wanted nothing more than to spend another night in his arms, to have him hold her close and tell her that their night together had 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. A meaningless fling with a faceless woman he’d picked up in a bar.
No, she didn’t know him personally. She didn’t know much about who he was as a human being except that he’d been gentle and caring during their dinner conversation, then demanding and passionate in bed. 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 very suite in which her fall from grace had happened, and she had no idea what to say to the man.
The door swung open and Pierce was there, glaring at her.
No, she decided, 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 held her afterwards as they both came back down to earth. This wasn’t the caring lover who had tenderly introduced her to her sexuality.
Suddenly, he stepped to the side and a stream of people spilled out of the suite. This must have been one of the other meetings that Bonnie had mentioned. In one way, there was a sense of relief that she wasn’t being singled out by Pierce. He wasn’t...
“Next,” he snapped and Naya ignored the pitying looks of the others as they hurried out, obviously relieved that they weren’t the ones going in.
Pierce walked away from the open doorway and Naya followed warily. The guard closed the door and she felt like a prison door had just slammed closed on her. Despite the angry tension that seemed to envelope the man standing by the window, 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 th
e tie loosened. The tailored shirt and dress slacks somehow made him more potent, more powerful than she remembered.
There was also the fact that he was still glaring at her.
“About to run away again? Can’t take the heat?”
Naya’s mouth fell open, her hackles rising. She also realized that she was completely alone with Pierce. While 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 focus was centered on this man, on his broad shoulders and the strange, melting sensation in her gut.
She shouldn’t be experiencing that kind of profound awareness! She should be furious that he was treating her with such open contempt. Despite his rudeness, her reaction to Pierce was intense and immediate. 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 against the column that separated the entryway of the suite to the grander living areas. Watching her. Daring her!
Naya tried to hide her body’s reaction. She gripped her storyboards tightly, guarding her body from his too-knowing gaze.
With a flash of something in his eyes, he turned and walked away from her. “Show me what you’ve got,” he commanded.
Naya was still standing just inside the doorway. His words felt like the snap of a whip across her body and she jerked in reaction. And yet, she continued to stand in the foyer, 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!” he roared and she jerked again, but the sound snapped her out of her fanciful thoughts. Her anger also rose up to choke her. So what if she was still attracted to him? He wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. She would just do her job and get out of here. It wasn’t like she wanted him to pull her 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 this time.
With her chin held high, she walked into the living room with dignity.
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 became too intense. So, she didn’t currently have a headache, but she was hungry. No way would she admit that to him though. She wasn’t going to admit any weakness to this man. He was strong and powerful and intimidating. That meant that Naya was going to become all of those things as well. Even if she had to fake it!
Lifting her chin, she moved forward, placing the storyboards on the table and dumping her tote back beside her. “I started down one road yesterday, but by the afternoon, I thought up a new idea that I think is better,” Naya explained, ignoring his intense gaze and focusing on placing her story-boards in the right order on the table. “So these are a bit rougher than I was hoping to show you, but I think you’ll still be able to get the idea of where I’m going with this campaign.”
Nervously, she centered each board so that it was perfectly aligned with the next one. “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 on her.
Pointing to the first scene, she explained, “We start with a woman running down the street wearing the clothes for the fall line. There are subliminal messages as she runs, a group of people in the background doing yoga, another person doing pushups, etc. The implication is that the technology of the clothing helps everyone. There are both positive and negative images 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 staring straight forward with a determined expression, pushing herself.”
Pierce had been watching her closely, wondering what had gone through her mind while she stood cautiously by the door. There had been a flash of several emotions while she stood there staring at the vast expanse of the penthouse. Unfortunately, Pierce couldn’t tell what she’d been thinking.
Then her explanation hit him and he pulled his gaze away from her figure, which was covered in a stiff, black suit and conservative silk blouse – how many of those unflattering suits did she own?! Looking down at the table, at her pictures, he was captured by her explanation, startled by her idea, and more than slightly intrigued. “What’s in the background?” he demanded, moving the pictures around to get a better look.
She tried to put some space between them and Pierce reached out and pulled her back, close enough to smell the soft, feminine scent of her and that alluring, sweet shampoo she preferred, but not close enough to touch him. He understood that she was keeping several inches between them and he wanted to…laugh? Roar with frustration?
He felt her gaze on his face, but his concentration was directed by her drawings. “What happens next?”
He’d thought she’d come back with a few half-baked ideas, although he hadn’t expected anything extraordinary. Pierce had only given her twenty-four hours. But this…he stared at the storyboards. She’d warned him that they were rough sketches, but he still was able to grasp her concept. Surprisingly, he liked the idea. A lot!
Naya tried to focus on her explanation, but her focus kept slipping. She wondered what it would be like if he turned and just…kissed her! 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, and 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. And every time she turns a 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. It was the same concept she’d tried to convey in the storyboards.
She took a deep breath and refused to acknowledge her increased heart rate. “In the final scene,” she continued, “the couple strips off their clothes and step 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 gaze dropping to her lips. Naya felt her body soften and prayed that he didn’t notice the rapid pulse at the base of her throat.
“It sounds good. Go on.” Naya felt her trembling increase. Approval! Approval from a man like Pierce was…intoxicating!
Naya looked down, trying to ignore the sexual tension that filled the room like steam, the air was thick with it. Hard to breathe.
Looking away, she pulled the next set of drawings closer. “In the next commercial, the woman,” she stumbled a bit on this explanation, “discovers 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 cleared her throat, trying to rid herself of the clawing ache in her chest.
“And the last commercial?” he asked, pulling the third stack of dr
awings closer. “This one looks like a family.”
“Yes, same couple but now 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 sits on a protruding rock as the sun rises over the horizon. The parents hold their kids as they watch the sunrise in awe.”
There was a long silence as Pierce looked through the drawings again. Naya stepped back, waiting with nerves that felt like they were about to explode from the tension.
When he finally straightened, he looked pleased as he said, “It’s brilliant, Naya. Truly brilliant.” His voice was low and deep, husky with an edge of admiration.
This time, the color in her cheeks wasn’t from the sexual tension, but his praise. “Thank you,” she replied.
When she looked up at him, she suspected that her gaze reflected the 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 them. 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 reminded herself, but even as she did so, 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 did, but their bodies touched. His lips were so close….
Pregnant with the Tycoon's Heir (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 5) Page 8