Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties)

  Nia couldn’t help feel disappointed. And stupid.

  One thing was for sure—she wouldn’t sit by the phone wondering when or if he’d call again. She was going to pack a bag and head to Candy. She’d completed the living and dining rooms, but needed to get started stripping the flowered wallpaper from the walls of her grandmother’s old knitting room.

  “Earth to Nia.” Janice snapped her fingers in front of her face.

  Nia blinked, surprised. She hadn’t seen or heard her friend come through the door.

  Janice cast a glance at her boss’s unoccupied office. “Think you’ll be able to get out of here before he comes back to dump more work on you?”

  Nia checked the clock. “Unless he comes back in the next ten minutes, I’m home free.” She kept her voice low, although there was probably no need. Gerald Randall’s nieces were already shutting down their computers and pulling out compacts to reapply their makeup.

  “Great, then you can join us for happy hour,” Janice said.

  Nia opened her mouth to reply, but Janice cut her off.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” she said. “I have reinforcements coming, and we’re not taking no for an answer this time.”

  As if on cue, Veronica, who worked down the hall in the suburb’s parks and recreation office, and Deborah, from information technology, barged into the office.

  “Did she say no, again?” Veronica asked.

  Deborah stood in front of Nia’s desk, her hands fisted on her hips. “Put on some lipstick and let’s go.”

  “Lipstick?” A voice from the other side of the room butted into the conversation and added a snort. “Nia doesn’t care about going out or trying to look pretty.”

  Janice, and crew, spun around and glared at Gerald Randall’s niece.

  “Work is her man,” the other niece chimed in. “So y’all are just wasting your time.”

  “What did you...” Janice began.

  Nia leaned over her desk and laid a restraining hand on her friend’s arm.

  “Don’t,” she said, despite the fact, she’d been itching to take a bite out of her boss’s nieces. Nia had been frustrated with them before her leave of absence. Now she was downright fed up.

  Still, with her promotion on the line, she didn’t want to rock the boat.

  Exhaling, Janice turned to Nia. “Okay, but I’m only keeping quiet for your sake,” she said.

  “You’ve got to come out with us now,” Veronica said.

  “I appreciate the invite, but I already have plans.”

  Janice frowned. “Going to Ohio to house paint isn’t a plan.”

  “Exactly,” Deborah said. “And tall, dark and handsome isn’t coming to you.”

  Nia glanced at the clock. In five minutes, she was Ohio-bound.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  The exclamation came from one of her boss’s nieces.

  Nia, along with everyone else in the room, followed the woman’s opened-mouth gaze to the door as six foot four inches of suit-clad, masculine deliciousness strode through it looking as if he’d just stepped out of a Hugo Boss ad.

  Kyle.

  Her mouth went dry and her panties dampened simultaneously. She’d bet money she wasn’t the only woman in the room with the same reaction.

  “Ladies.” Kyle acknowledged the other women in the room, but his brown eyes remained intensely focused on her.

  Nia took in the perfectly-tailored dark suit. He’d eschewed a tie, and the snowy white shirt was open at the collar revealing a tiny expanse of his sculpted chest.

  Kyle cut a path through the women surrounding her desk. Planting both palms on the desktop, he leaned in until his face nearly touched hers. The woodsy scent of his cologne tickled her nose and aroused her senses.

  “I believe you promised me a date.”

  “You want to go out tonight?” Nia stammered, still stunned he was in her office.

  Kyle rounded her desk and held out his hand to her.

  “I want to go right now,” he said. “I’m not taking a chance on you changing your mind.”

  Nia retrieved her purse with one hand and placed the other in his larger one. She smiled up at him.

  “Then let’s go,” she said.

  Nia couldn’t help relish the moment as she and Kyle walked past the wide eyes and gaping mouths hand in hand.

  “Enjoy your weekend, ladies,” she said.

  “I know you will,” Janice chortled.

  They walked out of the city hall building, and Nia stopped midstep. A black limo was parked at the curb, a uniformed driver manning the door.

  Kyle gently tugged her hand.

  “I enjoyed your hospitality during the blizzard,” he said. “Now let me show you mine.”

  “Hospitality?” Nia snorted and resumed walking toward the car. “I fed you peanut butter and had you shovel my snow.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t have peanut butter or Lucky Charms, so we’ll just have to make do.”

  “Ms. King.” The driver opened the door.

  After they were seated in the car, Kyle inclined his head toward the window. “Looks like you have an audience.”

  “Audience?”

  Nia glanced out the window. Sure enough Janice, Veronica, Deborah, her boss’s nieces and a few additions were standing on the landing of the city hall building watching their departure. She had a feeling she’d be the top subject of the office gossip mill next week.

  “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me where we’re going.”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  The driver merged onto the highway in the direction of Chicago. The options of places to go there were limitless, and she decided not to wrack her brain trying to figure out their destination.

  “So you were already here when you made the call asking me out?”

  Kyle nodded. “I called from the car as soon as we got to town.”

  “You must have been pretty confident I’d say yes.”

  “I was the opposite of confident. After all, you’d already turned me down twice,” he reminded her.

  “What if I had said no this time?” she asked.

  Kyle, who still hadn’t let go of her hand since they’d left her office, traced a pattern on it with his thumb. “I would have returned home a very sad man.”

  “I’m glad you called,” Nia admitted.

  She looked down at their entwined fingers. The elemental contact reminding her of the more intimate skin-on-skin connection they’d shared during their night together, and her toes curled inside her sensible work pumps.

  He squeezed her hand. “So am I.”

  Moments later, she noticed the driver taking the wrong exit to Chicago and traveling down a less populated road.

  “I think your driver got turned around,” Nia said. “Chicago is in the other direction.”

  “We’re not going to Chicago,” Kyle said.

  Before she could protest the limo approached a private landing strip Nia hadn’t even known existed. It came to a stop ten feet in front of a jet with the gold Ellison Industries logo emblazoned on the side.

  “Now you have to tell me where we’re going,” Nia said. “I have to be at work on Monday. I don’t have anything packed.”

  Kyle leaned over and brushed his lips against hers, in a kiss so sweet it silenced any protest.

  “I’ve taken care of everything, and I’ll have you back in plenty of time for work,” he said. “Trust me.”

  Nia nodded.

  The security guard standing near the plane opened the car door. “Good afternoon, Mr. Ellison, Ms. King.”

  Nia felt like the first lady as they climbed the flight of stairs to board. She couldn’t contain the audible gasp when she en
tered the cabin. It didn’t look like any airplane she’d ever seen.

  Awestruck, she ran her fingertips across the rich, lacquered cherrywood paneling lining the walls as she took in the creamy leather first-class chairs, each accompanied by its own small television.

  “I could fit my entire apartment in here,” she said.

  “Make yourself at home,” Kyle said. “In addition to the galley, there’s also an office, bedroom and bathroom.”

  Nia looked down at the skirt and blouse she’d worn for work. “If I had known I’d be traveling in the lap of luxury, I’d have worn a nicer outfit.”

  “Speaking of outfits, I have some people I’d like you to meet.”

  As if on cue, three women Nia assumed were a part of the jet’s crew walked across the lush patterned carpeting to the front of the plane.

  “I’d like you all to meet Nia King, the woman I told you about,” he said, and then turned his attention to her. “Nia, these ladies are going to help you get ready for our date tonight.”

  He went on to introduce her to a manicurist, aesthetician and a personal stylist. Then escorted her to a room that looked like a private spa.

  Overwhelmed, Nia could only stare.

  “Our flight time is a little over an hour, so they can only provide a mini version of their usual services,” he said.

  “Kyle, this is too much,” she said, when she finally recovered.

  He lifted her chin with the curve of his knuckle until their eyes met, the heat of his gaze igniting memories of their night together.

  “It’s not nearly enough,” he said.

  “B-but I can’t let you do all of this for me,” her protest sounded weak even to her own ears.

  “Please.” His deep voice lowered to a husky whisper that transported her back to him lowering her onto the middle of her bed. “Let me.”

  Nia slowly nodded, knowing in that very moment she would have let him do anything, anywhere, anyhow he wanted. And it both excited and scared the hell out of her.

  * * *

  Kyle put the figures he’d been reviewing on his laptop away and donned his tuxedo moments before the pilot announced the plane was about to begin its descent into Nashville.

  He’d planned to work during the short flight. However, focusing on the profit-and-loss statement of one of Ellison’s detergent companies had been nearly impossible. His gaze and attention kept drifting to the closed door where he hoped Nia was enjoying her condensed spa day.

  Kyle returned to the leather chair near the front of the plane. Part of him wished he’d opted to whisk Nia away to the private beach of an island paradise, where they could be alone. But the truth was, he’d taken women on impromptu vacations for a bit of fun in the sun.

  This was the first one he wanted to take home to meet the people closest to him.

  Kyle forced himself to stop staring at the closed door and turned to look out the window. He knew he was getting ahead of himself. She’d only agreed to one date. However, he hoped at the end of the evening she’d agree to much more.

  Nia entered the first-class section of the cabin, and any doubts he had about sacrificing the hour without her vanished.

  A single word echoed through Kyle’s mind as he took in the woman walking toward him in the sultry, red, shoulder-baring gown.

  Breathtaking.

  The slinky fabric slid over her curves like his hands yearned to do, and when her movements revealed the dress’s side split, he had to fist the same hands at his side to keep from touching the expanse of thigh.

  Their gazes connected, and for a second time, Kyle wondered how he could have ever thought this woman was not his type.

  “You look magnificent,” Kyle said, standing.

  “I feel like Cinderella.” Nia rested her palms against his chest and rose up on tiptoe. He met her halfway planting a kiss on her lightly glossed lips.

  God, he’d missed the honey-sweet taste of her. Kyle kept his hands at his sides, afraid to let them operate on their own accord. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop them from gliding down the sumptuous fabric of her dress and cupping her lush bottom. He wanted to pull her flush against him so she could feel how much he missed her, not stopping until the gown was on the floor and her legs were wrapped around his waist.

  Kyle kept the kiss chaste. It was too soon for more.

  Despite their mutual elation at seeing each other again, they still had some issues to clear the air on.

  The pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker asking them to take their seats for landing, and Kyle took Nia’s hand and escorted her to the leather chair next to his.

  “So are you finally going to tell me where you’re taking me?” she asked, looking past him out the window.

  “The Coach Ball is tonight. It’s a black-tie gala held by my country club and a big social event in town,” he said. “I needed a date.”

  “You went through all this trouble for a date?” Nia smiled, and Kyle noticed it was the one that made her eyes sparkle. “I’m sure you could have had a date with a snap of your fingers.”

  Kyle lifted her hand from the armrest and brought her freshly manicured fingertips to his lips, inhaling the subtle scent of her perfume as he kissed them.

  “I wanted you,” he said.

  Their gazes connected, and Kyle’s chest filled with an emotion he couldn’t identify. All he knew was he liked having her at his side.

  “Kyle,” Nia began, and then hesitated. “I really am happy to see you again, and I did miss you but...”

  “We need to talk,” he finished.

  She nodded.

  “I don’t like the way we left things between us back in Candy, either,” he said. “But I was thinking we could put off talking about it.”

  “For how long?”

  “Not long,” Kyle said. “It’s just we’ve already had our first kiss, made love for the first time and even had our first fight. Tonight, I want to focus on enjoying our first date.”

  Chapter 17

  Nia sank into the sumptuous passenger seat of Kyle’s Mercedes sedan as he navigated the early evening interstate traffic.

  “My grandmother’s pickup must have thrown you into a state of culture shock,” she said, taking in the elegant interior filled with padded surfaces and high-tech controls.

  Kyle chuckled. “On that particular night, I would have gladly traded my Ferrari for your truck.”

  “Speaking of which, whatever happened to it? I was kind of hoping for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride in one.”

  “It’s still at a repair shop in Atlanta. Actually, the trip to Candy was the first opportunity I’d had to drive it,” he said.

  Kyle adjusted the controls until the melodious sounds of classical piano filled the car’s interior. “Is this okay? Or do you prefer to listen to something else?”

  “I like it.” Nia also liked the way he looked in formal wear. Then again, an ensemble of old farmhand clothes hadn’t diminished his appeal. “Do you usually listen to classical?”

  Kyle nodded. “Either this, or sports. Both help me relax, which I need when dealing with Nashville’s traffic.”

  He slowed the car as the ones in front of them turned into a sea of brake lights.

  “I usually take the train into Chicago,” Nia said. “I drove into the city once, and that was enough.”

  “How’s it been since you’ve been back?”

  Nia shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

  It was true. The life she’d been so eager to get back to was proving to be not much of a life at all. All she did was go to work, eat dinner at the microwave and collapse into bed. It was as if she’d jumped on a hamster wheel, constantly running and not going anywhere.

  “Did you get the promotion you were expecting?”


  “Not yet.”

  Kyle inched the car forward. “So what’s the holdup?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Sounds simple to me,” he said. “You mentioned having recently earned your degree, and you’ve worked in that office awhile. Either the promotion is yours or it isn’t. If it’s not, move on.”

  Nia shifted in her seat, refusing to let a prickle of annoyance spoil their date.

  Kyle hopped into another lane that didn’t appear to be moving any faster than the one he’d left.

  “What?” he asked, apparently noticing her attitude shift.

  “I can’t just march into my boss’s office, demand he promote me or I’ll walk.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  Nia had tried to hold back, but Kyle had no idea how the world worked for everyday folks. How else could he have shut down the factory and put all those people out of work? As much as she’d missed him and as happy as she was to be sitting next to him, she hadn’t forgotten.

  “What would you know about it?” She blurted out. “You’ve always had everything you wanted at your fingertips. You’re an Ellison. It doesn’t matter if you work or not. You’re set for life.”

  The dashboard controls cast enough light for her to see Kyle’s grip on the steering wheel tighten along with his jaw. Still, she continued.

  “You want to know why it took me so long to get my degree?” She proceeded to answer her own question. “Because I paid for it myself, taking a class whenever I could save enough for tuition. No student loans. And not a dime from my grandmother who spent twenty years paying off the private loan she took out to send my mother to an Ivy League university only for her to drop out the last semester of her senior year to marry my father.”

  Nia glanced out the passenger-side window, before turning back to him. “It’s called hard work and sacrifice, and that’s why I can’t up and quit my job on a whim.”

  The traffic bottleneck eased, and Kyle accelerated. “I have a stop to make before we go to the ball.” Despite his clenched jaw, his voice was as calm as the smooth notes of classical coming through the car’s speaker. “I need to show you something.”

  Nia watched the southern city’s skyline come into view, the lights twinkling against the night. However, a strained silence stretched between them as he exited the highway and drove down narrow streets flanked by tall office buildings.