Irresistible Forces

by Brenda Jackson

  When he’d first met her he’d thought someone at the bank was trying to pull a fast one over on him. There was no way a woman her age could handle the vast extent of his wealth. She had proven him wrong.

  “How was your flight into the city?” she asked, reclaiming his thoughts.

  “As usual Martin was excellent at the controls,” he said of his private pilot. “It was good flying weather and he made the most of it.”

  Taylor nodded, trying not to stare at the way he was sitting in the chair—perfect posture, immaculately groomed and sexy to a fault.

  “What kind of business deal have you put together that was so important you wanted us to meet today, Taylor?”

  His question pulled her back in, made her aware he was staring at her while waiting for her response. She swallowed. She couldn’t get cold feet now. She was a risk-taker and this would definitely be a risk worth taking.

  “This is a business deal but then it’s also sort of personal.”

  She watched the lifting of his dark brow before he asked, “Personal? In what way?”

  She paused for a second before she said, “I want to make you an offer that really won’t cost you anything.” Just your sperm, she decided not to add.

  He tilted his head slightly and gazed at her. “Then what would be the investment on my part?” he asked. “And what will be the return?”

  She was not surprised by his questions since the majority of their meetings always addressed investments and returns. “The return is based on something I heard you say that every man should have a right to do.”

  “Which is?”

  “To father a child.”

  He frowned. “I don’t recall ever saying anything like that to you.”

  She wouldn’t expect him to remember. “It was last year, during the bank’s Christmas party at Rockefeller Center. You made my boss extremely happy by making an appearance. One of the secretaries had dropped by and brought in her newborn baby for everyone to see. I believe you were speaking to yourself out loud more than making conversation with me.”

  His frown deepened as he continued to stare at her. “And just what did I say?”

  “You were staring at the baby and said that every man should have a right to father a child and you regretted not having done so yet.”

  He nodded and she felt a rush of gratitude that he didn’t deny having said such a thing. She shifted in her chair and met his gaze. “Is that true, Dominic? Is that something you regret not doing? Do you want a child?”

  For the first time in their business relationship, she could feel his defense mechanism go up. He had often used it with others but never with her. And a part of her understood his need to use it now. He was a private person and she was asking him some rather personal questions.

  “Why are we discussing this, Taylor?” he asked gruffly, narrowing his gaze at her.

  Her emotions flinched at the look but she knew despite that, she had to go on. She paused a moment and then said, “We are discussing this because I feel the same way. I think every woman who wants a child should have the chance to mother one. And I want one.”

  The glare in his eyes indicated he wasn’t quite following her, was still somewhat confused. “Then why don’t you have one?” he asked flatly.

  “I plan to do so…and that’s why I’ve asked you here. It seems the two of us want the same thing and then again we don’t want the same thing. We both want a child, but I’ve read you quoted many times as saying you will never marry again.” She knew his wife had been killed in a car accident four years ago.

  “Yes, and I was quoted correctly.”

  She nodded. “And getting married is the furthest thing from my mind, as well.”

  He leaned forward in his chair, holding her gaze under the penetrating stare of his green eyes. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we, Taylor. I still don’t follow this business proposition of yours. You’ve established the fact that we both would like a child, but I don’t know where that is leading.”

  She stood and picked up the brochure off her desk. “To this,” she said, handing it to him. “You and I. Together. And a week spent on a procreation island in the Caribbean for the sole purpose of making a baby.”

  He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind as he accepted the brochure. He moved his gaze from her to the pamphlet. It took him a few moments to read it and then he lifted his head to meet her gaze again. “Aphrodisiac-laden drinks? Constant mind-blowing sex? Are you serious?”

  She nodded nervously and grimaced when she heard the incredulity in his voice. Chances were he thought she had really lost it. “Yes,” she replied, knowing she had to somehow convince him that she was still sane. “And I’d like to make you an offer. I want a baby, Dominic. Yours. A baby we will get to share. And to start things off we get to spend a week on that island. Many obstetricians even recommend such trips to couples who might find it difficult to conceive…not that I think we would have any problems. But it would take the tension off some and there is a guarantee of privacy. I’ve considered other options, such as having the procedure done by artificial insemination, however, I chose this route because I want my child conceived the normal way, a way I consider natural, with the two of us making love.”

  She inhaled deeply as he continued to stare at her. “Good heavens! Do you know what you’re asking me?” he queried, his voice low and husky.

  “Yes, trust me I know,” she said, refusing to look away from the intensity of his stare. “But you are a man I have come to respect and admire and when I thought about a potential father for my child, I couldn’t think of anyone else I would rather have. You have all the qualities that I want.”

  Dominic wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, so instead he slowly got to his feet. The nature of this meeting was definitely a surprise to say the least. “There’s no way I can decide on something such as this right this minute. We need to discuss your business proposition further and I suggest we do so tonight over dinner. Let’s say around seven o’clock at the hotel. Is that time okay?”

  She swallowed. At least he hadn’t given her a flat-out no. “Yes, that’s fine.”

  “Good. I’ll send my driver for you around six-thirty. My secretary will contact you later today for an address.”

  “All right.”

  He walked toward the door and before reaching it, he turned back around and said, “I’ll see you tonight, Taylor.”

  He stared at her for a moment longer and then she watched as he turned and walked out of her office. It was only after he left she realized he had taken the brochure with him.

  The driver opened the door and Dominic slid onto the plush leather seats of the limo. “Where to, Nick?”

  “Back to the hotel, Ryder.”

  When the car began moving Dominic glanced down at the brochure he still held in his hand as his mind recalled everything Taylor had said. The brochure was proof he hadn’t imagined it. She wanted a baby. His baby. And she wanted them to spend a week on some island in the Caribbean to make it happen. To say he was stunned would be an understatement, but he had heard the sincerity in Taylor’s voice. She was dead serious.

  He began reading the piece of literature. If the words didn’t hit him below the gut, the pictures most definitely did. Procreation vacations. Just when he thought he’d heard it all. Evidently not. According to the brochure, it was a growing trend for couples that wanted to conceive. And Taylor Steele wanted to conceive.

  If he were totally honest with himself, he would admit that so did he. The thought had crossed his mind several times in the past year, ever since his father’s bout with prostate cancer last year. Thanks to early detection, surgery hadn’t been needed and there were only short-term side effects.

  His father’s condition had made Dominic realize two things. His parents weren’t the invincible couple he’d always assumed them to be. And although they both appeared to be in great physical shape, nonetheless, they were aging with each passing day.

/>   Another thing he had come to realize, although they’d never mentioned it, was that his parents longed for a grandchild. He saw it in their eyes each and every time any of their friends talked about their grandchildren. There was no doubt in his mind if Camry had lived they would have had a child or two by now. But she hadn’t lived and for the past four years he had somehow managed to go on, with the beautiful memories they’d shared to sustain him.

  His parents had understood that after Camry’s death the thought of ever marrying again was as foreign to him as life on another planet. Without realizing she had done so, Taylor may have provided him with the very solution to a problem that had been bothering him for some time.

  He resumed reading the brochure. The success rate of the woman returning from one of these trips pregnant was very high but what intrigued him the most was the mere thought of checking into a resort with Taylor with the sole intent of having a full week of constant sex. He was getting aroused just thinking about it, about the possibility of making all those fantasies he’d tried pushing to the back of his mind about Taylor a reality.

  But still, all things considered, he and Taylor would need to discuss the issue more in detail. There were a number of questions he needed answered, such as what joint custody of a child they shared would entail, and why did she think him making her pregnant would not cost him anything? Did she expect him to walk away from any financial obligations he had toward the child?

  He settled back in the cushions of the seat thinking he was very much looking forward to his dinner date with Taylor later tonight.

  “Your parents are waiting for you in your suite, Mr. Saxon.”

  Thanks, Harold,” Dominic said to the hotel manager moments before crossing the huge lobby to the bank of elevators that would carry him up to the penthouse. The Saxon Grand was a beautiful hotel and had been the first Saxon Hotel. It was built twenty-five years ago and Dominic was almost certain Harold was hired in some position at that time, which would make him one of Saxon Hotel’s oldest employees. And Harold was good at what he did, based on the customer satisfaction surveys that were periodically done. Customers visiting the area kept coming back knowing they would receive first-class service.

  Moments later Dominic walked into his suite unannounced to find his parents in a loving embrace. He was not surprised nor the least embarrassed to see them standing in the middle of the floor sharing a passionate kiss. Despite having been married for thirty-six years, Marcello and Megan were still deeply in love. That was obvious to anyone around them for any length of time. As long as he could remember, his parents were openly affectionate. He’d always known how much they loved each other as well as how much they had unselfishly loved him.

  He cleared his throat to let them know of his presence. “Mom and Dad, it’s good seeing you,” he said, and knew he didn’t have to add that it was also good seeing they were still very much in love.

  His parents had met when Marcello Saxon had arrived in the United States from France to attend Yale. In his senior year he met the beautiful and vivacious Megan Spectrum and they fell in love immediately. It hadn’t mattered that he was French and she African-American. What had mattered was the love they had for each other. They had gone so far as to defy Marcello’s father, who’d threatened to disown his son—the heir to the Saxon wealth—if a marriage took place. Choosing love over wealth, Marcello had married Megan a year later and good to his word, Franco Saxon had practically disowned his son, had barely spoken to him since and only recently had acknowledged the marriage.

  Dominic saw the worried look in his father’s gaze. “What’s wrong, Dad?” His father had recently had his annual checkup and Dominic inwardly prayed there wasn’t bad news in that regard.

  Marcello read the concern in his son’s gaze and said, “No, I’m fine. The doctors gave me another clean bill of health after my last checkup. But we did get some news last night that your grandfather has taken ill.”

  Dominic stared first at his father and then at his mother. Finally he shrugged nonchalantly as he crossed the room to give his father a bear hug. “Have you forgotten, Father, that I don’t have a grandfather?”

  “Nick,” his father said in a frustrating tone, “how can you be so unforgiving?”

  Dominic arched a brow. “And how can you be so forgiving? That man refused to accept my mother as your wife, publicly denounced your marriage and you, didn’t speak to you for years, never acknowledged my birth and then out of the clear blue sky last year when he’d heard you had taken ill, he showed up and expected everyone to kiss and make up. Well, I wasn’t in the kissing mood then and I’m not in it now,” he said in an angry tone.

  He switched his gaze from his father to smile down at his mother. “Except for this beautiful woman here,” he said, before hugging her close and placing a soft kiss across her cheek. “How are you, Mama?”

  Megan Saxon returned her son’s smile before giving him a scolding look. “I’m fine, Nick, and your father is right, you know. You can’t distance your grandfather forever.”

  “Would you care to bet on that?”

  She frowned. “You’re just like your father. Stubborn.”

  A smile touched Dominic’s lips. “Yet you love us anyway.”

  Dominic then glanced at the man who’d sired him. The man he loved, admired and respected above all else. The man who had not let his father’s rejection of the woman he loved destroy his determination to make her his wife and to make something out of his life—even without the Saxon wealth behind him. After college Marcello had started from the bottom and with keen intelligence, his father built his own Saxon empire, which consisted of hotels, cruise liners, restaurants, publishing companies and various auto dealerships across the country.

  His mother hadn’t done badly, either, he thought with a proud smile. Megan Saxon’s name was known throughout the world and graced the garments of several international celebrities. She had a remarkable reputation for outstanding design and had established her own empire in the world of fashion.

  The one thing his parents had taught him, Dominic concluded, was to increase his own wealth and not depend on what he might or might not inherit. And so he had. With their blessings he had carved out his personal legacy and thanks to a sharp wealth asset manager like Taylor, he was doing quite well for himself.

  Taylor.

  He glanced at his watch. They would be sharing dinner in less than four hours.

  “Regardless of what you say or how you feel, Nick, he is still your grandfather.”

  Dominic decided not to justify his father’s statement with a response.

  “Will you at least think about going to see him, sweetheart?”

  That question came from his mother. He glanced down at her. She was five feet, eight inches tall and in a room with her son and husband she looked small and delicate. But he knew the latter was far from the truth. She had to be one of the most headstrong women that he knew, definitely no pushover.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to say there was nothing to think about and that under no circumstances did he intend to go see the man, but the last thing he wanted was to upset his mother any further. It bothered her that he disliked his grandfather so much because of the old man’s treatment of her.

  “I’ll think about it,” he said, although he knew deep down that he wouldn’t.

  “And that’s all we ask you to do, Nick,” his mother said softly. “We’re staying in the suite across the hall tonight and flying to France in the morning.”

  He nodded. If they expected him to drop everything and fly to France with them because the old man had taken ill then they were wrong. He leaned over and swept another kiss across his mother’s cheek. “And I hope the two of you have a safe flight.”

  He saw the flash of disappointment in her eyes and chose to ignore it. “Now if the two of you will excuse me I have a few things I need to take care of before my date tonight here in my suite.”

  His mother’s brow lifted in su
rprise. “You have a date?”

  He smiled. His mother was well aware that he rarely entertained anyone in a place he considered his private domain. “Yes. But don’t waste the excitement. I’m merely meeting with my financial advisor.”

  “Oh.”

  He chuckled. “The two of you can join us if you like,” he invited, knowing they wouldn’t.

  “Your mother and I have other plans,” his father said, smiling and gently pulling Megan out of Dominic’s arms into his and kissing her lips. “We’re having dinner with friends.”

  “Okay then. Enjoy yourselves.” And then Dominic’s thoughts immediately went back to Taylor and her outlandish proposition. He glanced at his watch again. He couldn’t wait to see her later.

  Chapter 2

  “Do you really think he’s going to go along with it, Taylor?”

  Taylor heard the uncertainty in her sister’s voice through the phone. Vanessa was the one with doubts; however, Cheyenne was the sister who was convinced Dominic would accept her offer. And it wasn’t that Vanessa was a naysayer. She was just being realistic that most people thought logically. And what Taylor was posing to Dominic was highly illogical.

  The three of them, she, Vanessa and Cheyenne, always had a close relationship growing up and over the years that hadn’t changed. Vanessa, the oldest at twenty-seven, was the one who, after getting a grad degree at Tennessee State, had returned to Charlotte to work at the family’s manufacturing business, The Steele Corporation, along with their four older male cousins—Chance, Sebastian, Morgan and Donovan. After college, Taylor and Cheyenne had chosen to seek opportunities far away from North Carolina. Cheyenne, who was twenty-three, was a professional model and that meant a lot of traveling as well as living in some of the most exotic places in the world.

  Vanessa was in the midst of planning a June wedding to a very handsome man by the name of Cameron Cody. Taylor couldn’t help but smile when she thought about how Cameron had pursued her sister with a vengeance, and finally succeeded in capturing Vanessa’s heart. Taylor was happy for Vanessa and looked forward to returning home for a brief stay this weekend to be fitted for her bridesmaid dress.