From Boardroom to Wedding Bed?

by Jules Bennett

  “I don’t want you to be alone when you’re hurting.”

  She turned to face him, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Seeing you, touching you, that’s making the hurt worse. This is too familiar, Cole and I just can’t get involved with you on a personal level again.”

  “Too late.”

  “Cole, please. Don’t.”

  Despite her plea, Cole reached for her, taking her by her shoulders. “This attraction won’t go away, Tam, no matter how hard you push me away. Our past had nothing to do with that kiss.”

  She grasped his forearms, her fingers biting into his cotton shirt. “Do you enjoy pressuring me? You say you don’t like to see me hurting, yet you’re still here, still bullying your way into my life when I’ve tried to keep you out. If you’re regretting the decision you made all those years ago, that’s something you’re going to have to deal with. But leave me alone.”

  Shoving him aside, Tamera walked back to her window seat and curled up with her throw pillow. Her rigid back, her gaze out onto the starry night, was all he needed.

  She’d begged, she’d nearly cried, but her silence and stiffness told him he’d reached her breaking point. Tamera had her pride, something he could appreciate. He wouldn’t make her break even more tonight. He’d pushed, she’d given what she could, which was more than he’d expected. But he would get nothing else from her right now. Soon, he vowed.

  With a heavy heart for Tamera’s hurt, and the knowledge of her father’s terminal illness, Cole let her be, retreating to plan his next course of attack on both business and personal levels.

  Seven

  “Yes, Mr. Lawson, Cole and I are moving quicker than we’d anticipated with the designs.”

  Tamera leaned back in her leather office chair and rolled her eyes. No need to add that Cole was moving faster than she’d expected with the personal side of things as well. Her lips still tingled, her heart still ached.

  “I’m glad to hear it, Tamera,” Victor said. “And please, call me Victor. I’d like to set up something with the three of us later in the week so I can see where we stand. I prefer to be very hands-on when it comes to my properties.”

  Already? God, now she would have to put in extra hours with Cole to get this design more definite. Wonderful. Just what they needed. Working together after hours with no one else around but the two of them. Perfect.

  “I’ll have my assistant set up the appointment,” Tamera offered. “I will let Cole know. We are very eager to show you what we’ve come up with.”

  Yeah, so far they’d managed to have a meeting aboard Cole’s yacht where they shared some ideas and a very rough design, a botched dinner where she'd barely managed to get her laptop out of the case and an impromptu meeting at her house which only led to a course of events she didn’t want to think about.

  “Thanks, Tamera. I’m anxious to see the initial design.”

  “See you next week.”

  Tamera hung up her phone and laid her head on her desk. Her plans were nearly completed, so perhaps she could just e-mail them to Cole. They’d pretty much collaborated together that first day at his yacht and decided on the main architectural design for the exterior. The interior was still questionable, but perhaps with a couple meetings this week they could decipher the exact layout.

  But first a phone call needed to be made. Tamera picked up her phone and dialed.

  “The Marcum Agency,” Cole’s cheery assistant answered.

  “This is Tamera Stevens for Cole Marcum, please.”

  “Hold one moment, Ms. Stevens.”

  Not five seconds passed before Cole’s low, rich tone came over the phone. “Tamera, what can I do for you?”

  She shoved aside the bubble of arousal at his voice and gripped the receiver. “We need to have a business meeting tonight after work. We can meet here in my office. I will have my caterer bring in some food.”

  “I had plans tonight,” Cole countered.

  Tamera leaned back into her buttery leather chair and gritted her teeth. “Call her and cancel. We have work to do.”

  “Jealous, darling?” Mocking laughter reverberated back through the receiver. “I’m flattered.”

  The urge to throw the phone against the wall was strong, but she refrained from acting like a child. “I didn’t call to stroke your ego, Cole. I’m sure your entourage of women do that for you. I called on a professional matter, not a personal one. So, call your…date and tell her you have other plans.”

  “Will you make it worth my while?” he laughed. “Just kidding, don’t get all worked up again. I’ll be at your office at six.”

  Without another word Cole hung up and Tamera cursed herself for sounding like a jealous teenager…and cursed him for mocking her. Why was it her business if he was spending the evening with someone else merely because he’d heated her up in her home last night? Hadn’t she come to her senses and kicked him out?

  There was no time for anything but work, not only on this project, but in her life. She just couldn’t let her mind wander to Cole and what he did in his free time. She already had enough to keep her mind and heart occupied every waking minute.

  Heart?

  Great, now she was delusional enough to think her heart was getting tangled around this project just because she was working with Cole. Just what she needed.

  Tamera asked her assistant to hold all her calls and show Cole in when he arrived. She also had her call the caterer they always used and order enough food that the two of them wouldn’t need to leave the confines of her office for a very long time.

  Closing all the documents on her laptop, Tamera then pulled up her design on the screen. She twisted her hair up into a clip and slid her reading glasses from her desk and plopped them on the end of her nose. Not the sexiest look—she was only thirty-three and needed cheaters—but work came before beauty.

  She tweaked the exterior just a tad to showcase the expansive, arched entryways. Six ran along the front of the resort, separated only by wide marble columns. Yes, marble. Why hadn’t she thought of that before for the entryway? A Mediterranean flare with Old World elegance…it would be breathtaking and well-received.

  Because her mind had been on other things, that’s why she hadn’t thought of the obvious.

  There needed to be large, trickling fountains both inside and out as well. The soothing effect would only add to the fantasy getaway.

  Tamera slipped off her Gucci shoes and left them beneath her desk. Padding over to her easel, she pulled out the rough sketches she’d made before she’d received the contracts and was just wishing she’d get the bid.

  The lighting wasn’t quite right in her initial draft on her computer, but what she’d originally drawn seemed like a better fit. The tall tapered lights weren’t too overbearing to take away from the scrolling wrought-iron stair railings and the carved marble trim above the columns, surrounding the sculptured ceiling.

  Encased lights needed to be set above each arch to shine down on every opening as well. This resort needed to appear to be glowing from the water’s edge, rising from the ocean like a dream come to life.

  She hovered over her board, looking at all the other initial ideas she’d taken to paper. Sometimes your first instinct was the best decision.

  “I left early.”

  Tamera spun to her doorway to see Cole striding across her office.

  Okay, there was that exception to the rule about your first instincts. Sometimes they were way off base, especially where this man was concerned.

  “What time is it?” she asked, straightening from her tilted board.

  “Four, but I didn’t have any meetings left today.”

  Tamera rubbed the soreness in her back and twisted from side to side.

  “Kayla wanted me to tell you ‘hi’ and she hopes to see you soon.”

  Smiling at the image of Cole’s younger, quiet sister, Tamera said, “Tell her to call or stop by. I’d love to see her.”

  Cole closed the space between t
hem, spun her around, making her face away from him. Next thing she knew, his fist was rubbing at just the right spot in her back where the cramp was.

  “I was having dinner with her tonight.” His touch continued to scorch her through her thin, silk blouse. “That’s who I had plans with.”

  “Oh.”

  Nothing else came to mind to say, not with his warm breath on her neck, his magic hand doing wonders for her achy back and certainly not with the memory so fresh of their kiss.

  “Do you know what a picture image you made when I came in?” he whispered next to her ear. “Bare feet, all that golden hair piled on top your head, those sexy glasses perched on the end of your nose?”

  Sexy glasses? The ones she continually referred to as her “cheaters”?

  “You’re lucky it was me and no one else.” Cole turned her back around. “I’ve never seen a sexier sight.”

  His mouth came down so fast, so hard on hers, she didn’t have time to think or to react in any other way than to wrap her arms around him and let him in.

  God help her. She didn’t think she could’ve stopped him if she’d even wanted to. And that really, really should be a red flag. Their level of intimacy was growing with each and every encounter.

  Cole’s hands covered her back as he wrapped her in his embrace and arched her body. The heat from his chest did amazing things to her sensitive breasts through her thin top.

  He lifted his head, still keeping her dipped beneath him. “Don’t ever tell me again that there’s no attraction between us.”

  Abruptly Cole released her, causing her to nearly stumble back before she regained her footing.

  Damn that man for heating her up twice in one day and making her forget her priorities. And what the hell was that little stunt? Was he mocking her? Making her doubly aware that, yes, she was turned on by him and, yes, he could probably still have her in his bed?

  Tamera straightened her blouse back into place, smoothed a hand across her forehead to remove stray hairs and crossed to her desk.

  From here on out, this meeting was going to be hands-off. The desk or a blueprint would remain between them at all times.

  Or God help her, she’d probably give in to her desires and say to hell with it and let Cole have what they both wanted.

  Eight

  If she wanted an apology for his actions, she would be waiting a very long time. He hadn’t had a choice in the matter. Not when he’d stepped into her office and seen her barefoot with bare legs stretching up beneath a slim skirt as she bent over her easel.

  And, if that hadn’t been enough to get his testosterone pumping, she’d spun around with those sexy gold-rimmed glasses and her hair pulled into some strange, yet ultra sexy mess atop her head.

  Technically, she should be apologizing to him. Since the start, she’d tortured him with her sultry style, her innocent looks and her demanding persona.

  In a fruitless attempt to let them both regain their bearings after that scorching kiss, Cole stepped over to her sketches she’d been studying.

  “Looks good,” he said as his trained eye ran over nearly the exact same design he’d constructed in his mind.

  “I didn’t ask for your approval,” she snapped.

  Her clipped tone had him glancing over his shoulder, but he wasn’t foolish enough to grin. He’d gotten under her skin. Good, because she sure as hell had been under his since the second they’d been in the boardroom two weeks ago with Victor.

  “I wasn’t giving it. I don’t know why, but I’m surprised at how much your drawing resembles my own.”

  She glanced around. “And where, precisely, is your design? You came here for a business meeting, not to paw me again.”

  This time, foolish or not, he did smirk as he turned to give this vivacious woman his full attention. “Paw you? Honey, I haven’t even begun to paw. Just say when.”

  The growl that came from her throat as she spun toward her desk only made him laugh. “That wasn’t very ladylike.”

  Tamera dropped into her seat. Back ramrod straight, she glared out of the corner of her eyes. “I’m not feeling ladylike where you’re concerned.”

  Taking his time, he crossed the spacious office and leaned a hip on her desk. “Your drawings by hand are way better than anything I have on my computer. You always were the really artistic one.”

  She wiggled her mouse and clicked on her computer. “I have a more updated version on here. I actually find the drawing and plotting on paper relaxing and lately, I need that.”

  He understood all too well, though he wouldn’t admit that to anybody but himself. And certainly not to Tamera.

  Cole moved to look over her shoulder at the exterior she’d pulled up on her screen. “Perfect. That’s exactly what we’d discussed. You’ve certainly captured Victor’s visions.”

  She smiled, glancing up at him. “Thank you.”

  Cole swallowed a bitter lump as Tamera looked back at her screen, pulling up yet another new design. She’d genuinely smiled at him and all he did was compliment her work.

  Obviously they were more alike than he’d wanted to admit. When a client or fellow associate complimented his work, nothing pleased him more. The bond with their work was something he hadn’t considered.

  Perhaps he’d been taking his approach with Tamera in the wrong direction. He needed to get to her through her business. Talking about designs could be sexy…couldn’t it?

  They were in Miami, for pity’s sake. Miami was the sexiest city, as far as he was concerned. Wealthy, powerful people simply added to the allure. Besides, hadn’t Victor himself required a sexy theme for his hotel? The client’s needs always came first.

  “The entryway?” he asked over her shoulder, getting back to the task.

  Cole also had a feeling that staying focused would not only throw her off and make her want more, but she’d also find him more attractive. Now if he could just keep his hands to himself.

  The things he did for the goals he wanted to achieve.

  “Yes.” She pointed to the blueprint on the screen. “High intricate ceilings with large chandeliers. I’m thinking three, but we’ll leave that final call up to Kayla.”

  “Good idea,” he laughed. “She hates when I try to move in on her territory.”

  Tamera clicked her mouse again and pulled up the first floor layout. “Here’s where the offices, meeting rooms, sauna, gym and maintenance rooms will be.”

  “What about the ballrooms?” Cole asked, studying the draft.

  She clicked again. “I’ve put them on the top floor to have access to the rooftop where I’m hoping Kayla will put a botanical garden of sorts. She does all the interior, but she’s so great with gardening, I’d like her to take this on as well. I also added the courtyard, but, yet again, will leave those main details to Kayla and Victor. I’m sure she’d love to handle this aspect of the project as well.”

  Cole was amazed at all the detailed work Tamera had already done since they’d first met aboard his yacht…especially in light of her father’s condition. Though he knew Walter’s condition was precisely the reason she’d worked herself to death.

  “I’ll run that by her,” Cole said. “Though I’m sure she’s already thought about every single aspect of this project. She’s just as eager as the rest of us to please Victor, though she’s a little intimidated.”

  “There’s no need for that. She’s amazing.” Tamera pulled up another screen. “Here is the first floor. I’m keeping this layout simple seeing as how Victor wants each room to feel more like a loft than a hotel suite. I’ve factored in twelve guest rooms on the first six floors and the eight middle floors will have larger suites with full kitchens. I’ve also placed the honeymoon suites on the top, three floors to give couples privacy and a wonderful view from higher up.”

  Cole eased back and stood straight up. “I’m impressed, Tam.”

  Swiveling around in her seat, Tamera smiled that bright smile that had never failed to clutch his heart years
ago. He’d better keep a tight hold this time. No way did he want anything that resembled a relationship or commitment.

  But, seriously, how had someone not captured Tamera’s heart in eleven years? Was she that caught up in the firm? That he could understand, but he still couldn’t believe some man didn’t make her take the time to enjoy life.

  “Thanks. I was hoping you’d like what I did. I tried to follow Victor’s instructions and add a few of my own ideas as well.”

  Cole nodded. “Now we just need to do some more detailed planning as far as structure setup.”

  A knock on Tamera’s office door pulled him from his thoughts. Tam came to her feet, still bare, and crossed over the plush, white carpeting.

  As she swung the door open, her assistant came in, wheeling a cart. Silver-domed plates on a three-tiered cart came to rest in front of Tam’s desk.

  “Thanks, Mariah,” Tamera said. “You can go now. Mr. Marcum and I will be working late tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Mariah smiled and nodded to Tamera and Cole. “Good night.”

  Once the assistant closed the door behind her, Cole’s gut tightened. They would be alone for the rest of the night and he was supposed to concentrate on designs?

  “This smells so good,” Tamera commented, lifting off the lids. “I’m starving.”

  Cole nearly laughed. Starving, yeah, so was he.

  He wished Tamera would just give in to the sexual pull she was fighting so he could focus on the biggest business deal The Marcum Agency had ever dealt with. He’d hate to screw this project up for his brother and sister all because he couldn’t control his adolescent hormones.

  Tamera picked up a piece of fresh pineapple and sank her teeth in, groaning. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Groaning was certainly not going to help him concentrate or keep his lust levels under control.

  God, had she just groaned? That was so not meant to slip out.