Her Enemy, Her Lover (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 1)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  But there was no way she’d lay down in that enormous bed and take a nap. Not that she could actually sleep! Her thoughts refused to slow down enough to let her sleep.

  She knew that Christoph was downstairs talking with someone about a business issue. Apparently, those documents she’d signed after the wedding gave him control of her father’s businesses. Not ownership, he’d explained almost immediately after his personal jet had taken off. Thankfully, the documents had only given Christoph control with the first right of refusal to buy. When she’d thought about that, Lana felt a warmth that he’d been so considerate and fair. He could have had her sign away everything to him. She’d expected him to do that. So, why had he just taken over? Why had he simply taken control of her father’s assets?

  She wasn’t overly concerned about the profits from the business. Her main concern had been for the thousands of people who needed a paycheck every month. She had her own income and hadn’t ever intended to rely upon her father’s successes. So, whatever he might do with the companies was his business.

  A mystery for another day, she thought and turned away from the view of the bed.

  “You’re worrying about nothing,” Christoph explained.

  Lana jumped and looked around. Sure enough, Christoph was leaning a shoulder against the wall, watching her carefully.

  “How long have you been standing there?” she asked, furious that her voice sounded so nervous. She hadn’t been doing anything wrong. So why did she feel so guilty?

  “Long enough to know that you’re terrified of that bed.” He pushed away from the wall. “Before the wedding, I promised you that we’d talk and go slowly until you are comfortable, Lana. Stop worrying that I’m going to demand my husbandly rights and force you to have sex. There’s no such thing as husbandly rights,” he tucked a curl that was tickling the side of her face behind her ear. “We’re not going to do anything until you feel comfortable. You set the time and the pace.”

  “That’s very generous of you, Christoph. But why did you agree to this?”

  He sighed and took her hand, leading her out of the bedroom. “The women I’ve had…relationships with in the past were more experienced, Lana. They knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to ask for it.”

  “The implication is that I’m afraid,” she replied, disgusted with herself because it was true.

  “You don’t have the experience to know what you like or dislike. Which is why we’re going to work through that. You’re nervous around me because you were raised to want to know the man you married and have sex with. At this point in time, you don’t know me well enough to trust me. That’s what this week is all about. We’ll get to know each other and figure out what we like and dislike.”

  His words were shockingly considerate. She felt herself relax just a little. “Okay. So how is this going to work?”

  He laughed softly and tucked her hand onto his arm. “How about if we start with a swim in the ocean?” He kissed her hand. “Do you like swimming?”

  She looked out through the windows at the shimmering ocean, suddenly craving the release of relaxing in the warm, soothing water. “I love swimming,” she answered. “I love the ocean. Anything having to do with water, I love it.”

  “Good. Then let’s go swim and relax. My housekeeper is an excellent cook and she’ll have dinner ready for us in a few hours. Why don’t you change into a bathing suit and grab something to read? We’ll swim for a while and then relax on the beach, maybe talk to each other so that we can start the process of getting to know one another. Does that sound easy enough?”

  The tension in her shoulders dissipated further and she smiled up at him. “That sounds too easy. What’s the catch?”

  He returned the smile and leaned down. “The catch is that I get to kiss you,” he whispered, his voice low and rough. And he pressed a kiss to her lips before pulling away.

  A moment later, he was gone.

  Lana stood there in the middle of the gorgeous room done in blue and white with yellow accents and wondered why he was being so nice to her. Did he have a game? A strategy that would trap her in some nefarious trick? As soon as she thought that, she shook her head in disgust. “This is silly,” she muttered and turned to the closet. “There’s no way to find out about any tricks or honesty unless I talk to him. Time to get to know my husband,” she announced to the empty room.

  Five minutes later, she’d pulled on her bathing suit, a green one piece. Thankfully, it wasn’t very sexy. It was about as demure as bathing suits came now. The straps went up and over her shoulders, crossing in the back. She grabbed a breezy, black cover up and slipped her feet into sandals, then headed out of the room.

  When she looked through the windows of the amazing house perched right on the beach, she noticed that Christoph was already in the water, his strong arms slicing through the ocean as he swam just past the cresting waves. He was a strong swimmer and looked like he belonged in the water. A modern-day Poseidon.

  Shaking her head at the images that thought conjured, Lana stepped through the doors onto the stone patio. Stone steps led from the wide patio down to the sand and she flipped her shoes off. There were already towels draped over the wooden beach chairs and a frosty pitcher filled with something that looked fruity and delicious set out on a table under the shade of a wide, blue umbrella. She ignored the pull of the juice as she slipped her beach cover-up off, tossed it over the back of the chair, and headed into the water. The cool ocean water surrounded her, soothing her overheated skin. It was heavenly, she thought, swimming out beyond the rough waves.

  Suddenly, she felt something along her legs and shrieked, trying to get away. Before she could, strong arms circled her waist, lifting her up and holding her against Christoph’s chest. Laughing softly, he pulled her against him more completely, the water pressing their bodies close together.

  “What did you think was attacking you?” he asked, chuckling as he looked down at her.

  She self-consciously rested her hands on his shoulders, shaking her head. “I had no idea. I just…reacted.”

  “Yeah, you did,” he replied, towing her further out into the water. In this position, she literally laid against him, their bodies touching from head to toe. “I thought you loved the water?”

  Lana shifted slightly, trying to adjust her body in order to diminish the intimacy of his hold. But he only shifted again, increasing their contact and she blushed. “I do, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy something large and scary that I can’t see grabbing my legs.”

  He swam out deeper in the water, the current lifting them up and down repeatedly as they floated together on the waves.

  “Where have you vacationed?” he asked. And they conversed about the different countries they’d visited, their preferences, and what they liked about the various countries.

  She tried to concentrate. But the way he was touching her and her memories of that day in the gym distracted her. She couldn’t see his body this time, but she could feel him. A lot of him! That feeling meant that thinking wasn’t happening. The possibility of any rational thought occurring vanished the moment he touched her.

  “Umm…”

  “Hard question?” he teased.

  And that word, hard, brought to mind the fact that he was. Everywhere! In places that were both fascinating and terrifying. No, not terrifying. She’d been nervous around him before, but now, feeling him like this, she wasn’t scared. Not at all. No, the feeling was closer to…anticipation. Yes, anticipation was more accurate.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, moving his hands along her waist, then sliding them around to her back. Up and down, his hands slowly moved against her body while the waves pushed her against his, then pulled her away. The friction was delicious.

  “I thought we were going to wait,” she whispered, closing her eyes in an attempt to stop thinking about what his touch felt like against her skin. But closing her eyes seemed to magnify the delicious sensations! Without the s
unshine and sparkling water, her mind conjured up other images. Images of him naked and her fingers exploring those muscles and ridges she’d seen in at his penthouse.

  Not good, she thought.

  Then it occurred to her, this was her husband. She was married to Christoph.

  “You’re my husband,” she whispered, shocked all over again by the thought.

  He chuckled softly and twirled her slightly to avoid being splashed by a wave. “You’re just now registering that?” he asked.

  Her smile this time was a bit self-deprecating. “Well, yes. I mean, I know that we had the wedding this morning, but I haven’t been able to process anything yet. This whole situation has been a bit overwhelming.” She almost commented about how she usually spent her days in her loft painting, not worrying about business and marketing, contracts and vendors. Her life was all about symbols and ideas, putting emotions and sensations into her art.

  But Christoph didn’t know about her art. That was her secret, her retreat when things became too much. She might be married to the man, and he might have taken over just about every aspect of her life, but her art was one thing that she refused to give him. That was her place to go when things fell apart, she thought. And yes, inevitably, this relationship would fall apart. How could it not?

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked softly, reaching up to tuck a wet curl behind her ear. “Your eyes went from amazed to confused to…something else.”

  Trying to hide her secret from him was going to be more of a challenge than she’d realized. “Let’s just stick with the amazed and confused part, okay?”

  He didn’t answer for a long moment, just held her lightly in the water. The sun was starting to set, lighting the ripples of the ocean on fire. But he didn’t move. His hands stayed in place as he contemplated what she’d said.

  “You’re holding something back,” he commented.

  She was shocked by his perceptiveness, but perhaps she shouldn’t be. The man was brilliant and made millions…billions…by reading people. She’d have to be better at guarding her reactions, Lana thought. “Yes. I have to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because everything with you happens at light speed.”

  “Not so. I gave you plenty of time to think about my proposal. And besides, it wasn’t me who wrote the terms of your father’s will. He’s the sexist guy who decided to force his daughter to find a husband instead of just selling off the assets.”

  She sighed. “You’re right. My father was horribly sexist. But I think the main reason he wanted a husband to take over the company was to keep it all together. He didn’t want me to sell off parts of it to the highest bidder. He had a strategy for each piece of his empire and how all of those pieces worked together.”

  “I can see how he thought they should work together,” he agreed softly. “But my business model is different. Are you going to be upset when I sell off pieces that I don’t need or that won’t work with my business?”

  She noticed he used the term “when” and not “if”. The word was just another piece of evidence that told her Christoph was a very decisive man.

  “No, I won’t be upset when you do whatever it is that you plan on doing. I respect your business experience. I couldn’t save the company, so no matter what you do, you’ll do it better than I could have. Better than I did,” she said with a sigh of resignation.

  “I refunded the money to your accounts that you spent covering the payroll,” he announced.

  She gasped but she wasn’t sure if she was more surprised by his announcement or because his hands were drifting lower, nearly cupping her bottom.

  His hands, she decided. Definitely his hands.

  She tried to reply, but his hands slid higher on her back and she had an urge to arch into his hands, to press her body against him and feel her breasts against his chest. Wrong, she thought firmly.

  “What’s next?” she asked.

  He shrugged, and scooped her into his arms, carrying her out of the surf. She gasped, and threw her arms around his neck, hanging on for dear life. “Christoph! Put me down! I’m too heavy!”

  He laughed. “You’re not too heavy,” he argued and walked up the beach to the covered cabana where she’d dropped her towel before coming into the water. “I’m pretty sure that my housekeeper will have dinner ready soon. I suspect that you’re hungry, as well.”

  She was, but not necessarily for food.

  Woah! Now where had that thought come from? Shaking her head, she stepped away from him as soon as he set her down on the stone patio, and snatched up one of the thick, fluffy towels to drape around herself. She needed something, anything, to hide her body’s reaction to what they’d been doing in the water. Inside, she felt all quivery and excited, but she didn’t want him to know that. And she could guess that her body was showing her desire in a very…pointed way.

  “You’re right,” she replied, grasping onto the dinner option. “I’m starving. I couldn’t really eat much earlier. Lunch was nice but I couldn’t manage breakfast, so I didn’t eat this morning. So yes…”

  She stopped, only because he laid a hand to her arm. “Lana, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she blurted, her eyes wide with horror that he might realize what was wrong. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re babbling. That’s not like you. Why are you so nervous? You remember our deal. We won’t do anything until you’re comfortable. And we’ll experiment.”

  Clutching the towel in front of her, she took a deep breath. “I know that’s what you said, but maybe we should just…eliminate the experimenting and just…go for it. Get it over with.”

  He chuckled softly and tossed down his towel. “No. We’re going to slow down.” He pulled her into his arms, his hands heavy upon her hips and Lana couldn’t help thinking that she liked that weight, liked feeling him touch her like this. “We’re not going to just get it over with. I know that you want to think of yourself as more modern than you are. But I can feel the hesitation in your body when I touch you.” He pulled back, but kept her within the circle of his arms. “Admit it, you want the romance and seduction.”

  She stared up at him, wishing she could deny it. “Yes. I want that. But…we’re married. And this…experimentation…”

  “Will be fun,” he promised with a grin, then pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s go shower and change for dinner. We’ll eat out on the patio and watch the sun set, talk and then, after dinner, we’ll see where things go.”

  She suddenly realized that he had his mind made up and nothing she could say would change that. And with that, Lana felt better. More in control, somehow. “Fine. Shower. Dinner. Make-out session while watching a movie. Just like in high school.” Except, Lana hadn’t done that in high school. She hadn’t had a place where that could happen, being at boarding school. So even making out with a boy, or rather, a man, would be a new experience.

  “Exactly,” he laughed, taking her hand as they walked up the stone steps to the house.

  And at the door to the master bedroom, he leaned down and briefly kissed her lips. Brief, even though she lifted her face for a deeper kiss.

  “It will be better than your high school experiences, Lana,” he promised.

  Then he was gone, disappearing into another room.

  She stared at that closed door for a long moment, wondering what it would be like to make out with Christoph. Or what it would be like to make love with him! That thought sent a shiver down her spine and she smiled as she stepped into the room.

  Chapter 11

  A half hour later, Lana stepped onto the patio, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the view. The sun was just over the horizon, dipping into the ocean and lighting up the water. On the patio, and much more astonishing, was the small table set with beautiful white roses, shimmering candlelight that danced in the slight breeze, champagne icing in a bucket, and delicate champagne flutes ready to be filled.

  “This looks so rom
antic,” she commented. He turned to smile at her and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his broad shoulders covered in loose, white linen. The shirt fluttered about his arms and stomach with the light breeze, revealing peeks of his lean waist and hard muscles. The loose slacks only added to the romance. He looked like a movie hero, she thought, or maybe the cover of a romance novel.

  She’d pulled on a loose sundress, not realizing that this would be a special event. She hadn’t even spent much time on makeup, thinking lipstick might inhibit him from kissing her. So she wore only a light dusting of powder and a touch of gloss. Her hair danced in the breeze and she wondered if she should grab a band to hold it back.

  Christoph stepped forward to take her hand, pulling her closer.

  “You look fresh and lovely,” he murmured in a deep, sexy voice. And then he kissed her. It wasn’t like that brief kiss before she’d showered. This was slow and sexy, deepening as she inched closer. And closer! The kiss seemed to go on and on, the desire tugging at her, her body tightening with anticipation.

  No longer willing to be shy, she laid her hand on his chest, her fingers exploring the muscles, sliding higher onto his shoulders and then down his arms. There they stayed, her fingers tightening on his biceps and she decided that this was her favorite place in the world.

  And still, he pulled back!

  “Dinner is going to get cold,” he said, but his fingers lingered on her waist.

  “Dinner?” She turned and looked at the pretty table. “Oh! Right, dinner!”

  She laughed nervously and stepped out of his arms. Walking over to the table, she pulled out her chair only to have him take it for her. She sat down, smiling over her shoulder at the gentlemanly gesture. “Thank you,” she whispered and watched as he walked around to the other side of the table.

  Sitting down only highlighted his broad shoulders which, in the candlelight, looked even more impressive.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, popping the cork on the champagne.