Blown Away (Next Generation 8)

by Cheryl Douglas

  “Oh…” Ava didn’t feel strong enough to fight off Brent’s advances without a buffer, but she couldn’t ask Bryan to stay. “No problem. I can take a taxi home.”

  “Sorry about this, hon,” Bryan said before kissing her cheek. “I’ll make it up to you. Maybe we can catch a movie this weekend?”

  “That sounds like fun. See you later. Stay safe.”

  Bryan flashed the easy grin that routinely made women stop in their tracks. “Always. You know that.”

  “I guess his loss is my gain.” Brent’s hand dipped low enough to give anyone watching a hint they were intimately acquainted.

  “I think your date may have something to say about that,” Ava said, sincerely hoping she could count on Leslie Bancroft to save her. If Brent’s date didn’t act as a barrier between them, Ava feared she may not have the willpower to resist him.

  Ava wasn’t one to indulge in one-night stands. She hadn’t been in college either, yet there she was again, faced with the same man and the same impulse to disregard her principles for one more night of unforgettable passion with the master. No one had made her feel that way since him, and she feared he may be the only one with the knowledge necessary to take her places she desperately wanted to go again.

  But if she agreed to one more night in his bed, would he let her go?

  ***

  “Leslie decided to hook up with her ex-boyfriend when I told her I wasn’t interested in seeing her anymore.”

  “Oh.” Ava’s eyes darted to the head table and found Leslie’s seat was empty.

  “She’s over there,” he said, inclining his head to a rear corner where Leslie was with her ex and obviously trying to make him jealous. He’d seen her use the tired ploy before, to no avail.

  “She doesn’t waste any time, does she?” Ava’s eyes widened when Leslie slipped her hand inside the other man’s shirt while eyeing Brent to gauge his reaction.

  Brent laughed. “No, she doesn’t.” He was already holding the woman he wanted, so he could care less about what Leslie Bancroft did. “So how ‘bout I write a big check and we get the hell out of here? Let’s go back to my place and… talk.” He knew it sounded like a line, but he would gladly stay up all night, just talking with her. He wanted to know where she’d been and what she’d been doing, aside from building a successful business. More importantly, the question his heart was screaming, why had she left him when they were on the verge of starting something that could have changed their lives?

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She looked around. “What would people think if they saw us leave together?”

  “They’d think I’m the luckiest guy in the room.” Ava gave him a small smile that reminded him of why he’d been drawn to her all those years ago. She was unlike any woman he’d known before or since. Fate had brought her back into his life and the only thought on his mind was how to convince her to stay.

  Wooing a woman was foreign territory for him. Women usually approached him. He often went along for the ride, mainly because he enjoyed sex, but Ava was the only woman who’d ever made him feel something. She was the only memory he’d wanted to hold on to and never let go.

  He’d lost count of the number of random women he’d had sex with while imagining Ava’s face or her sweet voice moaning his name in the throes of climax. He wanted to experience that again, and he was sincere in his promise to himself: He would do whatever it took to convince her to stay.

  He was tired of playing the dating game. It was time to find a woman to settle down with and Ava possessed everything he looked for in a partner. She was sweet, beautiful, smart, successful, sexy, funny… The only problem was that she was as independent as he was domineering.

  “I can’t, Brent.”

  “But you want to,” he whispered. He saw the wicked gleam in her eye. His little temptress wanted to take a walk on the wild side with him… again. “Admit it.”

  She tipped her head back and closed her eyes on a groan, exposing the smooth column of her neck. “Don’t do this to me.”

  “You left me before I could do all the things I’d been fantasizing for months about doing to you,” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t you know what you did to me back in college, Ava? The dreams I had about you…” He brushed his cheek against hers, soaking in her delicate perfume. “When you propositioned me at that party, you made all my dreams come true.” He knew it seemed as though he was using their past to lure her back into bed, but he was sincere. His instincts had told him she was special.

  “I imagined what it would be like with you too.” Her voice was almost broken. “You exceeded my expectations.”

  Brent didn’t want to waste another minute in that stuffy ballroom. He wanted to get her alone. He’d already waited ten years; he didn’t want to wait another minute. “Meet me outside. The silver Bentley parked at the curb. Tell my driver I’ll be right out.”

  “I don’t think-”

  He cut her off with a kiss, a powerful kiss intended to silence her fears and give her reason to believe in him. Brent was shocked when she responded with an outburst of passion that told him he wasn’t the only one walking a fine line. “Give me two minutes,” he murmured, resting his forehead against hers.

  She gripped the lapels of his jacket. “Don’t give me time to change my mind.”

  His biggest fear was that the one thing he wanted and couldn’t buy would be snatched away from him yet again. “Believe me, I won’t.”

  Chapter Three

  The short drive back to his palatial penthouse prompted Brent to give thanks for his good fortune. For the first time in years, he indulged in quiet contemplation. Ava was even more charming than he remembered. She possessed the confidence of a woman who’d found her place in the world.

  “Tell me about your business,” he said, kissing her hand.

  She shifted in her seat to face him. “I think it’s the best job in the world. I get to bring people together, help them find their soul mate. What could be better?”

  Looking into her breathtaking blue eyes, he couldn’t think of a single thing. He’d never indulged in fantasies about life partners, but if one person out there was made for him, he suspected it could be Ava. He’d enjoyed the company of beautiful women on every continent for more than half his life, and he had yet to meet someone else who stirred that kind of emotion in him.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, lowering her eyes.

  “I’m just thinking about what you do to me… the way you make me feel.” He let his index finger drift down the bridge of her nose and over her cheekbone. He would never tire of memorizing her beautiful face.

  “You were always so intense. You seem even more so now. That’s kind of intimidating.”

  Brent wouldn’t know how to rein that in even if he tried. It was a part of his DNA. He attacked everything with the same commitment and attention. In the past, business had been his sole focus. He’d develop a methodical plan and execute it flawlessly. But Ava wasn’t a business he wanted to acquire. She was a woman who’d already rejected him once. He’d be damned if he let her do it again.

  “I don’t want to scare you.” He shifted closer, hoping to make her understand he was as vulnerable as she was. He hated that. He was used to being in control, and that’s the way he liked it, but if he made demands, he would lose her. Just like last time. “I just want you to trust me.”

  “Brent,” she said, skimming his cheek with her palm. “I can’t deny our physical chemistry is off the charts, but you’re just about the last man in the world I’d consider having a relationship with.”

  She couldn’t have hurt him more if she’d stabbed him. Multi-million dollar business mergers required him to perfect a poker face and it served him well. “You mind telling me why?”

  “You don’t want someone like me,” she said, setting her hand on his thigh. “You want the pretty little socialite content to let you call all the shots…” She flicked a glance to the limo driver
. “In and out of the bedroom.”

  “Is that what this is about?” He frowned. “Did I scare you the last time we were together?” That night flashed through his mind: his possessive demands, the bindings… He cringed. “Look, I may have come on a bit too strong...”

  “I loved it,” she whispered. “I loved the way you made me feel.”

  His body reacted as his mind remembered. “You mean you want that again?”

  “I want you to be who you are with me, Brent. I’m not trying to change you. I just want you to understand you can’t change me either. We can have a great time in the bedroom together, but I don’t see it extending beyond that. I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t know how to react. He couldn’t bully her into wanting a relationship, but he couldn’t back off either. This was too important to him. She was too important to him. “If you want to set some ground rules, I can live with that.”

  She smiled. “No, you can’t.”

  “Try me.”

  “I don’t want to be mutually exclusive. I’m free to have sex with other people, and so are you.”

  He clenched his jaw, trying to gauge whether she was baiting him. “Try again.”

  She laughed. “See, I told you it would never work. Maybe you should just have your driver take me home.”

  “No.”

  “It’s not going to work,” she said gently. She pressed the intercom button to reach the driver.

  Brent listened to her give the driver her address. He couldn’t do anything to change her mind. He had to come up with a game plan though, because letting her go wasn’t an option.

  ***

  “Aren’t you going to invite me up for a nightcap?” Brent asked when they reached her condo building.

  She gestured to the limo mini-bar. “You have more right here than I could ever offer you.”

  “How about a coffee? I don’t have that, and I could really use one. I have a ton of work to do when I get home.”

  Inviting him up would be a mistake, she knew that, but Ava rarely let her head guide her in matters of the heart. “Fine, one coffee.”

  When the driver opened the car door, Brent told him he would be back within the hour. “Take your time, sir,” he said, tipping his hat and smiling at Ava.

  Brent guided her to the front doors and waited while she passed her access card through the slot. “Nice building,” he said quietly.

  His deep voice skittered over her skin, making her feel as though he’d complimented her instead of the bricks and mortar around them. “I like it.”

  He pinned her with his gaze as soon as they stepped into the elevator, and she knew coffee was the last thing on his mind. Ava had to admit he was an expert at getting what he wanted. The short ride to her eighth-floor apartment only served to heighten the sexual tension. His eyes roamed her body as though he was trying to sear through her evening gown with his X-ray vision.

  She gripped the brass bar behind her. “You like what you see?” She knew the action made her breasts jut out, and she couldn’t suppress her smile when he took the bait. Watching a powerful man like Brent lose control was fun, and she knew from experience that only happened in one place: bed, the second before his body demanded he let go.

  “I love what I see,” he snarled. “But then you already know that, don’t you?” He moved closer and threaded his hands through her hair.

  She watched his eyes travel over her face. Air was trapped in her lungs as she tried to anticipate his next move. He was unpredictable, and that unnerved her. He could press her into the wall and take what they both wanted, or he could bid her goodnight and find it somewhere else just to prove a point.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he whispered.

  His quiet command surprised her. She’d expected him to take action, not speak. “I was… uh… just wondering what you’re going to do.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  That was the million-dollar question. Did she want him to stay and make love to her or leave her to try to forget him all over again? “I don’t know.” Admitting her confusion was akin to admitting weakness, but she wasn’t sharp enough to play games when her body battled her brain for dominance.

  He slipped the pearl-encrusted strap over her shoulder. “I know what I want. I want to kiss you…” He pressed his lips to her collarbone. “I want to lick you…” His tongue glided over her shoulder. “I want to hear you whisper my name the way you did all those years ago. You were caught up in the wonder of what your body was capable of when you finally let go and gave yourself to me.”

  She shivered. His words floated through the air, hovering with unspoken promise. A stranger’s gorgeous face and hard body wouldn’t have tempted her. The memory of the way he’d made her feel was wearing her down. That one perfect night floated through her mind as ecstasy wrapped in a protective bubble. He was offering it to her once more, and she knew she wasn’t strong enough to resist.

  Taking his hand, she guided him off the elevator to her suite at the end of the hall. Seconds ticked by and she knew she had time to change her mind, but she didn’t want to. She wanted him. Again. “I meant what I said earlier,” she said quietly as she fit her key into the lock.

  “So did I,” he murmured as his lips grazed her neck.

  He wasn’t backing down, but neither was she. She wanted freedom. He wanted possession. He wanted dominance. She wanted equality. The only question remaining was which one of them would be on top when the lights came on.

  ***

  Brent’s heart hammered when Ava led him to her master suite. They didn’t waste time with small talk; they didn’t have to. He would have time later to learn her favorite food and color. That night was all about re-acquainting himself with her body and figuring out how to convince her he deserved to have it every night for the next forty or fifty years.

  He closed the door and watched her slide the zipper down her back, step out of her expensive evening gown, and lay it over a carved wood armchair. She stood wearing black stilettos and black, lacy undergarments that made his fingers twitch with the urge to touch her.

  “We’re going to play a little game,” she said, pointing to a bench under the window. “I want you to sit down and watch me undress. You can look, but you can’t touch until I tell you to.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m very serious. Last time, I trusted you. This time, I’m asking you to let go.”

  “I can’t.” Just the thought of surrendering control made him break out in a sweat.

  “Yes, you can.” Her hand glided down her silk-clad leg. “For me.”

  Brent understood she was giving him an ultimatum. He either did what she was asking or he risked losing what may be his only opportunity to right his only regret: giving up when he should have fought for her. He clenched his teeth. “Fine.”

  When he started to sit down, she said, “Not so fast.” She closed the distance between them, her eyes trapping him. She pushed his jacket over his shoulders.

  If Ava thought he would stand there idly while she undressed him, she was deluding herself. He would have her naked and on her back before she could chastise him for breaking her rules.

  “You’re even sexier now than you were then,” she whispered. “How is that even possible?”

  Brent understood that feeling of disbelief. He was experiencing it too. How badly he’d wanted her ten years ago was nothing compared to how much he wanted her now. “Why the hell did you leave?” He hadn’t intended to ask since that question could halt their plans, but he had to know.

  “I had to.” Her eyes were wide and innocent. “I knew what you wanted and I knew I couldn’t give it to you.”

  “Why?” He gripped her shoulders.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  “What?” Icy fear trickled through his veins. No way could she take him so far only to send him back.

  “Not until I tell you to.”

  He’d never been a fan of delayed gratific
ation, but he would concede, just once, to make her happy. Letting his hands fall to his sides, he said, “At least answer my question. Why couldn’t you give me what I wanted? You must have sensed our connection was different… special.” Indescribable was the word that always came to mind when he thought about his experience with Ava.

  “I was young,” she said, sliding off his shirt. “But I wasn’t so naïve I didn’t understand what you were asking of me. Besides, I’d heard rumors about your boundaries.”

  He had been clear with all of his girlfriends about what he would and wouldn’t tolerate. Excessive drinking, flirting with other guys, cheating, calling him out in public… were all deal breakers.

  “I didn’t want that kind of relationship. I wasn’t ready for anything serious.”

  He wouldn’t have accepted anything less than all of her. “Ten years is a long time. You’re telling me you’re still not ready for a serious relationship?” When she reached for his belt buckle, he knew he should just shut up, but he couldn’t. He’d never been the kind of man to settle for less than everything, especially when it was finally within his grasp.

  “Not the kind you’re talking about.”

  His heart clenched. He’d spent the past ten years building an empire men envied. There was little his money couldn’t buy, yet he still couldn’t have the one thing he wanted: Ava. “Then what kind of relationship are you offering?” He hated even considering accepting her terms. He was an all-or-nothing guy, but the thought of nothing of her was too terrifying to contemplate.

  “I told you in the car.” She inched his pants and boxer briefs down before pushing him onto the bench to remove his shoes and socks.

  He watched Ava on her knees and a fierce wave of possessiveness overcame him. “You’re not having sex with anyone else, Ava. Put that thought out your head. Now.”

  She looked up at him, her expression as determined as his. “Let’s get one thing straight, Armstrong. I’m not one of your companies or your employees. You don’t own me and you can’t dictate to me.” She stood and put her hands on her hips. “Either you agree to my terms or you can get the hell out before this goes any further.”