Lana laughed. “When was the last time I wasn’t available?” she joked.
“I could say the same,” he rejoined. “You’re like a drug and I can’t get enough of you.” He sighed and Lana could hear the weariness in his voice. “Okay, since we’re both free and I’m thinking about your luscious, sexy body against mine, pack a bag. Jimmy will drive you to my office and we’ll leave from there. Bring your passport.”
Her hand stilled in mid-air, coffee grounds spilling slightly onto the counter. “Passport?” That was definitely not what she was thinking about. A date, perhaps. The opera or a nice restaurant but packing a bag? And leaving the country? This was a whole new level. “Where are we going?”
“Hmmm….some place where I can have you all to myself for several days without interruptions. I’m planning on having my wicked way with you so be prepared,” he chuckled. “Pack for hot weather.”
She smiled into the phone and sighed happily. “Sounds perfect.” She didn’t care where they were when he talked like that. “I’ll be ready.”
At five o’clock the next day, Lana was packed up, her passport ready and available in her purse. She’d looked at it earlier and, sadly, knew there weren’t any stamps in it. She’d gotten it in anticipation of her honeymoon since Drew had been talking about going to some tropical island and relaxing. He’d definitely surprised her when they ended up going to Scotland for a long weekend. Since she’d only packed bathing suits and shorts with short sleeved shirts, she’d had to quickly buy a pair of jeans and a jacket for the long weekend in the colder climate of northern Great Britain.
Jimmy knocked on her door and she happily followed him. The man was very sweet, not allowing her to carry her own bag even though it wasn’t very heavy. She brought her computer, not sure if Victor would have to work. But she was doing so well on her book she didn’t want to miss an opportunity to work on it.
As soon as she arrived at the airport, she saw Victor. Jimmy didn’t take them Kennedy airport but instead, she noticed they were going to a smaller, private airstrip slightly outside of the city. Jimmy pulled to a stop and Victor started walking towards the car. Lana got out of the back and started walking towards him, trying to appear casual. But by the time she was halfway there, she felt her feet flying underneath her and she ran into his arms. The smile he gave her warmed her heart and Lana had to repeat what she’d been telling herself for the past several days; this was only temporary and don’t get too involved. Unfortunately, Victor’s mouth covered hers in a kissed that matched her passion and obliterated all the warnings her mind was trying to give her.
“You look beautiful,” he said softly, holding her against him as he looked down into her soft, blue eyes. “Did you miss me?”
“Yes!” Lana gasped and then thought better of it. “I mean…of course,” she faltered, knowing she’d probably revealed too much in that one word and tried to back track.
“Nope,” he replied, shaking his head and grabbing her hand to guide her toward the waiting plane. “I’m not letting you take it back. I’ve been thinking of you almost constantly and missing important issues during meetings so it’s only fair that you’ve felt the same way.”
Lana laughed and relaxed, glad that he’d said something along the same lines as she was thinking. “Were your meeting successful?” she asked, not wanting to intrude on an area of his life that he might not want her to know about, but still curious about almost every aspect of this man.
“Very. I just bought out Lovelan Cosmetics.”
Lana stumbled on the bottom step of the stairway. If he hadn’t been right behind her to catch her, she was pretty sure she’d have fallen down. “Excuse me?” she asked, turning to look at him, her heart catching at his triumphant grin that spread across his face.
“I bought Lovelan Cosmetics. You know the products. I’ve seen that you wear some of their makeup.”
Lana blinked, unable to understand what he was really telling her. “You bought the whole company? All the factories and all the little bits and pieces of mascara and such? Or do you mean you bought some stock in the company?”
Victor laughed and pulled her against him. “I mean, I bought the whole company. At least controlling interest. It was a long shot, but they have some great products that are going to shoot the profits through the roof in the next year.”
She continued to stare at him. “Huh,” was all she could get out of her stunned mind.
Lana didn’t see the man in the dark blue suit until he was right next to them. “Excuse me, sir,” he said, one hand extending out an envelope. “I was told to hand this to you by Phil Mitchels,” he said, his voice apologizing for interrupting.
Victor looked down at the envelope and took it, barely glancing at the other man as he handed the envelope over to one of his aides. “Put these numbers into the spreadsheet and send the file to me. I’ll look at the details later.”
Lana vaguely recognized the emblem of the publishing company Nancy worked for. “Don’t tell me you’re buying out Lincoln Publishing as well, are you?” she gasped, looking into his eyes for confirmation.
Victor’s eyes snapped back to hers. “Why would you say that?” he asked, putting a hand to the small of her back and encouraging her to walk up the stairs to the plane.
Lana walked up the stairs, her mind swirling with the details of what he’d told her. Victor had bought out a company? No, surely she had misunderstood. He’d bought only the stock. But controlling interest? She wasn’t financially savvy enough to know what that meant but she suspected, from previous news reports, that different kinds of financial interests had switched hands; stocks, cash, other incentives.
And what kind of interest did he have in the publishing company?
She didn’t have time to ponder that question since she was asked to fasten her seatbelt for takeoff. Things were a little crazy for the next fifteen minutes until they became airborne. As soon as the pilot switched off the fasten seatbelt light, Victor stood up and walked to her seat, pulled her out of it, then sat back down, pulling her onto his lap. He immediately took her earlobe between his teeth and that was the last thought Lana had about any corporate takeovers.
They touched down in Athens, Greece and immediately boarded a helicopter that took them to the coast. Lana’s mind was still reeling when they walked onto an extremely fast motor boat that zipped them along the water, skimming the aqua blue sea into an unknown world. She still didn’t know where they were going and since Victor had his own plane, actually a fleet of planes he used for business she found out later, so she wasn’t able to look up their destination on the tally board when they entered any of the buildings as they moved from one conveyance to another.
When they finally stepped onto a dock several hours after the plane originally took off, it was dark. There were small lights that lit up a pathway but the dock was at the bottom of a hill and Victor swept her up into his arms, carrying her into a building but not allowing her to stop and gawk at any of the extraordinary rooms they passed by. He carried her right into a bedroom where the sheets were already turned down, the lights were low and as soon as Lana’s back touched the soft sheets, Victor’s mouth covered hers. She didn’t want to know anything anymore except where Victor would touch her next and what she could do to elicit his groans of pleasure.
The next three days were glorious. Victor was a little misleading when he said he had a house. He actually owned an island off the coast of Greece which was taken care of by a couple most of the year. The wife cooked delicious meals and cleaned the house while the husband maintained the grounds. They slept, ate, swam in the ocean and the pool. Victor taught her how to wind surf and she found that she genuinely enjoyed the sport although she was only able to maintain the sail upright for a few moments at a time. When she wasn’t working on her wind surfing, she lazed away on the beach watching Victor as he kite surfed; a relatively new sport where the person’s feet remained on a surf board and was carried along the surface of the w
ater by a parachute type of kite. Lana sipped ice cold refreshments and tried to hide her fear for his safety as he whizzed through the waves, skimming across the surface far out to see and then back again.
The rest of the time, they talked and joked, argued good naturedly about politics or any other topic that came up. Lana couldn’t remember laughing so hard or eating so much food during a three day period.
And of course, Victor challenged her in all ways. When they were just lying about on the beach together, Victor wouldn’t let her wear a bathing suit. She was horrified at the idea at first, especially since she only had a one piece. Victor solved that problem by having several bikini bathing suits brought out the next day, which he refused to allow her to wear the tops to. By Sunday morning, she didn’t even hesitate. Wearing her bathing suit down to the beach in the morning, she simply shrugged off the top that afternoon. Of course, she blushed profusely as he watched her, chuckling as she pretended to not care.
They delayed their return until the last possible minute, not arriving back in New York until midnight.
Walking with her down the long hallway, Lana knew she was almost asleep on her feet but she didn’t want to let him go. He had an arm around her shoulder while he walked her to the door of her apartment. “Thank you for a wonderful weekend,” she said sleepily as he kissed her goodbye at her doorway.
“You’re welcome. And I still think you should sleep at my place instead of here,” he replied, pulling her into his arms but he didn’t press her, knowing she was too tired.
“I wouldn’t get any sleep,” she laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder as he unlocked her door and led her inside. He always turned on several lights, making sure she was safe before he left. Lana thought it was a very sweet, considerate gesture and it made her feel safe.
“You’re right,” he replied, not even arguing the point. “But would you care?”
She sighed and slipped off her shoes. “Not tonight. But I have to work on my book. I have a deadline coming up and my editor is getting impatient for the final chapters.”
He saw how hard she was working to just keep her eyes open and relented. “We’ll talk about it over dinner tomorrow night. Are you up for it?” he asked, kissing her on the forehead.
“Absolutely,” she sighed, happy to have any time with him.
“Good. I’ll pick you up at six o’clock.”
The rest of the week was just as nice. By Friday, she was finished with her book and wanted to celebrate. She wasn’t sure how to do that but she was determined to show Victor some way to thank him for what he’d done.
She printed out her manuscript and took it along with a red pen to a coffee shop. She didn’t go back to the one where she’d run into Drew, not wanting to risk it once again. The last time hadn’t been awkward but if she knew him, she suspected that, since he didn’t get a reaction from her the last time, he would try harder to make a pointed dig the next time. She didn’t want to bother so the best course of action was to simply avoid the annoying man as if he were a pointless mosquito.
She found a cozy coffee shop a couple of blocks in the other direction. This one had a gas fireplace and overstuffed chairs off to one side and she was lucky enough to find an empty one right by the fire. Pulling out her manuscript and pen, she laid it on her lap but couldn’t seem to focus on it. Her mind was working a mile a minute, but not on the plot. She was trying to come up with different ways to surprise Victor and thank him for all he’d done for her over the past several weeks. He’d been so instrumental to everything she’d accomplished in the last month and she wanted to show him her appreciation.
Maybe flowers? No, he sent her flowers on several occasions. She wanted to do something different, something unexpected. Maybe she could cook him a meal? She was a pretty good cook but she couldn’t compare to his housekeeper who served him five course, gourmet meals regularly.
She could show up at his office with cookies. She knew he loved chocolate chip cookies. She watched as several people walked by, wishing she could come up with something more interesting than simply bringing him cookies. That seemed like such a minor offering for what he’d given to her.
Someone walked by the window with a trench coat and a gust of wind swept through. The flap of the coat flipped back and Lana saw the woman’s skirt underneath. It wasn’t the skirt that caught her eye so much. But the fact that the trench coat flipped back.
Her mind considered an idea that was so outrageous, she instantly rejected it. Tossing it out of her mind, she forced herself to concentrate on the manuscript. But her mind kept coming back to the idea. It was daring and perhaps a little too risqué. What if she irritated him by coming to his office? What if he was with someone else?
The risks were too much and she forced it again from her mind. She read through the same paragraph two more times, missing important punctuation errors and even a misspelled word before she gave up and put the pen down.
Continuing to watch the people outside, she debated the pros and cons of her idea. After only a few minutes, she realized that the cons side of her argument was made up mostly of her fears of his reaction. But what if his reaction was positive? What if he really liked it? If he was irritated, she could just hand him the cookies and back out of the office. If he were with others, or in a meeting, she could leave the cookies with his secretary and walk out, waiting until later when they met for dinner or whatever they had planned.
Deciding that she had to at least try out her idea or stop thinking about it, she pushed her manuscript back into her bag and tossed the whole thing over her shoulder. She wasn’t exactly sure where to go for what she was looking for, but she started at the major department stores. After several tries, she eventually found it and made her purchase with nervous excitement.
Glancing at the clock, she realized she only had two hours to make up her mind. Telling herself it was now or never, she phoned Jimmy and arranged for him to pick her up a half hour earlier than Victor had previously arranged.
The grocery store was her last stop and she hurried through the store to get all the ingredients. Back in her apartment, she mixed up a batch of the chocolate chip cookies and put them in the oven. While they were cooking, she curled her hair then pulled it all on top of her head. When her hair was finished she applied her makeup subtly so he wouldn’t know what was going on. The last part was the hardest. Pulling on the bra and garter belt was exciting, the silk stocking were erotic and she couldn’t believe how much the idea of wearing this underwear turned her on. The buzzer dinged just as she strapped the second lace stocking on.
The cookies smelled delicious but she didn’t try one. Her stomach was filled with butterflies at what she was about to do. What if they were caught? Would Victor get into trouble with his company? Then she considered reality. Who would catch them, her mind countered? She still wasn’t sure what Victor did for a living, but he was obviously the owner of whatever he did since he owned a fleet of planes. He referred to his vice presidents on occasion so she knew that he was higher than they were.
Whatever his position, she was going to follow through with her plan.
She placed plastic wrap over the plate of cookies just as the doorbell rang indicating Jimmy was here to pick her up. Right on time, she thought with a smile.
Lana pulled on her trench coat and belted it tightly. She considered adding a wool scarf but then tossed it out. She’d look and feel silly since she was going from her building, to the back of Victor’s limousine and straight into Victor’s office building. A scarf would only be overkill and one more thing to carry once she was inside the warm building.
Picking up the plate of cookies, she answered her door, smiling at Jimmy who was waiting patiently on the other side. “Hi, Jimmy. I’m all ready. Is Victor still at his office?” she asked, following him out to the car.
“I just phoned Edith and she said he’s finishing up for the night. He should be done just about the time we arrive.”
Lana
looked at him nervously. “He doesn’t know I’m surprising him, does he?”
“I don’t believe Edith mentioned it,” he said with a wink as he held the door open for her.
Lana was relieved. “Thanks, Jimmy. You’re wonderful,” she said and reached up on her toes to give him a peck on his weathered cheek.
“Not a problem, Miss Lana,” he replied with a huge grin and closed the door behind her.
She sat in the back of the car and tapped her high heeled pump nervously. The shoes matched her lacy bra and panty perfectly. The plate of cookies on her lap should have been a distraction, but because Jimmy was such a smooth driver, she didn’t need to balance it much.
They arrived at Victor’s office much too quickly and Lana had second, third and fourth thoughts about what she was about to do.
Courage, she told herself as she slipped carefully out of the back of the limousine. Walking up to the security desk, Jimmy was right behind her and introduced her, telling them to issue her a visitor’s badge. That was something she hadn’t prepared for. Where in the world was she supposed to put a security badge she thought frantically. Thankfully, the badge had a cord that she could hang around her neck so that was one problem solved.
The Tycoon's Seduction Plan Page 9