Kyle turned into an underground garage entrance, the sign above it bearing his last name. He punched a series of numbers into the keypad stationed near the driver’s side of the car, and the gate lifted.
After parking in a spot reserved for him, he came around and opened her door.
“Come with me.” He extended his hand. “Please.”
Nia took it thinking he was merely being gentlemanly and helping her out of the car. She glanced at his face to gauge his mood. It remained impassive, and Nia didn’t have a clue. However, Kyle kept her hand in his as he led her to a bank of elevators.
“If you haven’t already guessed, this is the Ellison Building,” he said when they exited the elevator car into the massive lobby. “It’s where I work. It’s also where I was raised.”
Nia followed his gaze around the granite walls and marble floors, as they walked to the center of the two-story lobby. The end of business hours had left it practically abandoned, except for a security guard manning a kiosk, and a janitor on the other side of the grand room mopping the floor. She looked down to see they were standing on a replica of the same Ellison Industries logo that was on the side of the plane.
Kyle inclined his head toward the janitor at the other end of the lobby. “That’s Bruce. Among other things, he’s responsible for mopping the twenty-three floors of this building,” he said. “He does it with a crew of ten people.”
He moved his thumb along the back of her hand, which he still held, as he spoke.
“When I was in sixth grade, I brought home a failing grade in science. My father brought me here the same night. He took the mop from the hand of the janitor at the time and put it in mine. He said it was the kind of work kids that flunk classes get when they grow up, so I’d better start getting used to it.”
“So you mopped the lobby that night?” Nia asked, taken aback.
Kyle shook his head. “No, I mopped the lobby and hallways of the first ten floors of this building every night, until the next session’s grades came out,” he said. “I got an A in science the following session, and I never received less than an A in any class again.”
Kyle squeezed her hand. “I didn’t bring you here to exchange tough-luck stories from childhood or to portray myself as some poor, little rich kid. I brought you here to tell you I’m no stranger to hard work,” he said. “Like I said back at the farmhouse, my father wasn’t an easy man, and he believed all of life’s lessons had to be learned the hard way.”
As he revealed slices of his background, Nia felt small for making assumptions based on Kyle’s wealth. At the same time, her respect and admiration for the man standing next to her swelled. There was a lot more to Kyle than looks and money. It was that intangible part of him she found irresistible.
“I also put myself through college with a partial basketball scholarship and working here. I started in the mailroom in high school and worked my way up continuing to work here part-time during college and grad school,” he said. “Another lesson courtesy of David Ellison ‘there are no free rides.’”
Nia thought about her sanctimonious rant at him earlier and felt ashamed.
“It’s true I have money and the material things that come with it. I work hard and I play hard,” he said. “But I won’t apologize for it, because I’ve earned every damn thing I have.”
“I didn’t realize,” Nia said.
“Most people don’t.” Kyle released her hand and drew her into his arms. “I wanted...no, I needed you to know. I also need you to know it wasn’t easy for me to shut down Peppermint Lane knowing I was putting two thousand people out of work, but I still believe it was the right decision.”
He glanced up at the Ellison Industries sign, this one above the building’s main entrance. “There are a hundred thousand other Ellison Industries employees in various companies across the region who depend on me to make the right decisions, and keep Ellison Industries profitable.”
Nia nodded. It still hurt to see her hometown friends and neighbors out of work, and she still didn’t like Kyle’s decision. At least now, she understood it.
“So I wasn’t being cavalier when I suggested you have a showdown with your boss. It’s just that I heard your presentation, and I think you deserve better. I wanted to give you the benefit of the most important lesson my father taught me.” His eyes blazed down into hers. “Know your worth.”
Nia stood in his embrace thinking about the time they’d spent together, from the side of the snowy road until this very moment. She stared up at him, and then reached beneath his jacket and rested her palm against his chest. She could feel his heart beating beneath his crisp white shirt.
“I see you, Kyle Ellison.” Her voice trembled with the realization. “The real you, and I like what I see.”
Nia watched his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallowed. He opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, then decided against it.
Instead, he leaned in and captured her mouth in a kiss. Nia wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, infusing the kiss with the passion of the words she couldn’t say. I love you.
Chapter 18
By the time they’d arrived at the country club’s grand ballroom, dinner service had been cleared and a live band played to a packed dance floor of the country club’s elite.
Kyle felt a twinge of disappointment at having missed the red carpet entrance with Nia on his arm and sitting down to dinner with his family, but there would be other formal functions and more opportunities to show her off.
A lifetime of them, he hoped.
He’d picked Nia up this afternoon to take her on their first date, and earlier tonight at the Ellison Building he’d nearly told her he loved her.
Instead, he’d swallowed the words as he tried to come to grips with the foreign emotion. He’d been fond of and desired his share of women, but Nia King was Kyle’s first love.
She wasn’t swayed by his wealth or even his charm. Nia saw the man he was deep down inside, and she liked him. Now he intended to romance her until she loved him, as much as he loved her.
“You’re awfully quiet for man about to walk into a party,” Nia said.
Kyle looked down at her upturned face, which shimmered beneath the ornate, crystal chandeliers. Then she flashed him that special smile, and he felt like the luckiest man in the world to be with her tonight.
“I brought you all the way here, now all I can think of is whisking you off somewhere we can be alone,” he said, his palm resting on the small of her back.
“I’d like that.” Her teeth sank into her full bottom lip, and he willed the beginnings of a hard-on to retreat.
“First, I want to introduce you to my family,” Kyle said. “Then one dance, and we’re out of here.”
“Deal,” Nia said.
Kyle leaned in and kissed her smooth cheek before weaving them through tables topped with floating candles and scattered silk rose petals in search of the one reserved for his family.
Fortunately, it didn’t take him long to spot his brother, sister-in-law and uncle at a table near the front of the room.
Adam stood as they approached. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.” He looked past him at Nia and smiled.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Nia King.” Kyle slid his arm around her waist. “Nia, this is my brother, Adam, his wife, Brandi, and my uncle, Jonathan.”
“So you’re the young lady who rescued my nephew during that freak spring blizzard,” Jonathan Ellison said.
“Rescue is a strong word,” Nia said, as she sat in the chair Kyle held out for her. “I just happened to be on the road at the right time.”
Kyle felt Adam nudge him as he seated himself. “I see you took my advice. I knew this was Nia before you even introduced her.”
“You didn’t,”
Kyle said.
“I did. I could see the grin on your face from across the room.”
Kyle glanced at Nia, who was already having a conversation with Brandi and his uncle, and then returned his attention to his brother. “I can’t explain it. We’ve only known each other a short time, but I know she’s the one.”
Adam chuckled. “What was that crack you made when I told you I’d planned to make Brandi my wife?” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, yeah, now I remember—another dead soldier.”
A short while later, Kyle led Nia to the dance floor. He planned to make it a short one, because the next place he wanted to take her was home to the Ellison Estate and his bed.
The band slowed the tempo, and Kyle pulled her into his arms.
“I’m not much of a dancer,” she said. “I never got asked out to the school dances growing up.”
“Then your school must have been filled with the dumbest boys on the planet.” He held her tighter. “You don’t have to do a thing, just let me hold you.”
Kyle felt her relax in his embrace. Everyone on the crowded dance floor faded away as they swayed to the beat of the music.
“Enjoying our date so far?” he asked.
Nia lifted her head and pinned him with those big brown eyes.
“Let’s see, I rode in a flying coach, had a makeover Cinderella would envy and now I’m dancing with my handsome prince,” she said. “This is the best date of my life.”
Mine, too, Kyle thought.
* * *
Nia was ready for the dance to end—but not the night.
She’d liked Kyle’s idea of leaving and spending some much-anticipated time alone. She was speculating how much longer it would be before she could free him of his clothes, when his uncle approached.
He clamped a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “Cutting in,” he said.
She felt Kyle stiffen, before he slowly relaxed his embrace. “You mind?” he asked her.
Then he turned to his uncle. “Just one dance.”
Kyle’s uncle took over the dance. After months of hoping to get an audience with Jonathan Ellison, it seemed surreal to finally have one, Nia thought. Only now there was no case to plead.
“About the business with the peppermint bark factory,” Jonathan Ellison said, as if he’d read her mind. “It was just that, business.”
“So I’ve been told,” Nia said.
“My nephew appears to be quite taken with you. He even tried to intervene with me on your behalf.”
“He did?” Nia asked, surprised. Kyle had never mentioned going to bat for her.
Jonathan Ellison nodded as they continued to dance. “He also disregarded my edict and doubled the Peppermint Lane employees’ severance packages.”
Kyle had done those things and never said a word. Even after she’d accused him of not caring about the people he was putting out of work.
Nia swallowed the swell of emotion rising to her throat. The more she learned about the man she’d picked up from the side of the road, the more she found to love about him.
“I didn’t know.” She finally spoke. “I appreciate your telling me.”
The couples on the dance floor thinned out as the band segued into another slow tune, but she and Kyle’s uncle continued to dance. Nia looked around as new couples took the floor and spotted a woman in a gold dress, with a stunning mane of long, dark hair, staring at her from the edge of the dance floor.
Actually, the woman’s fists were planted on her nonexistent hips and she was glaring. You’re just being paranoid, Nia thought, turning her attention back to her dance partner.
“If the smile you’ve seemed to put on Kyle’s face is any indication, I think we’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” he said. “I’d hate to think there would be any lingering resentment.”
Nia smiled at him. “Not on my part, Mr. Ellison.”
The factory’s closing had been a blow, and she was still concerned about the fate of her hometown. However, there was no maliciousness behind the Ellison’s decision to close it. They were doing what they thought was best for their business, and she couldn’t hold it against them.
“Good,” he said. “And call me Jon.”
The woman in the gold dress caught Nia’s eye again. This time she was dancing with an elderly man, however she was still giving Nia a side-eye that was downright venomous. What could she have done to make this supermodel look-alike so angry, Nia wondered.
Then the light bulb went off. The woman had started throwing the stink eye her way after she’d started dancing with Kyle’s uncle. Nia was obviously encroaching on her territory.
The woman was at least half Kyle’s uncle’s age, but young, gorgeous women with wealthy men old enough to be their father or even grandfather was nothing new.
Nia was relieved when the band announced they were taking a ten-minute break, and she and Kyle’s uncle headed back to their table. She met the woman’s gaze and gave her a look she hoped conveyed her thoughts. Don’t worry, honey. Sugar Daddy is all yours.
When they returned to their table Kyle and his brother were having an animated conversation with two other men about basketball.
He’d started to extricate himself from it, when his sister-in-law, Brandi, rose from the table and touched Nia’s elbow. “I was just about to get a drink, you want anything?”
“I’d love one,” Nia said, waving Kyle off to finish his conversation.
The two moved through the crowd, sidestepping small gatherings of people talking and laughing over drinks.
“So how was your spa experience?” Brandi asked as they stood in the short line at the bar. “Kyle asked me for recommendations, and the crew at that salon is top-notch.”
“It was heavenly.” Nia sighed, remembering the hour of pampering aboard the plane. “Work has been so hectic lately. I’ve barely had time to look in the mirror, let alone get my nails done.”
“I know the feeling,” Brandi said. “The high school I teach at is having an art fair next week, and I’ve been staying after school helping my students put the finishing touches on their projects.”
“You work?” Nia couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.
“I teach art, but this is my last semester,” Brandi said. “I have a side-business designing handbags, and I’m opening my own shop soon.”
When they got to the front of the line, Brandi ordered a cola and Nia opted for white wine.
“Wow, you are busy,” Nia said, taking a sip from her glass. “No offense, but I thought you were an heiress or did charity work.”
Brandi raised a brow. “Because I’m an Ellison?” She laughed as she glanced around the ballroom. “No. I wasn’t born to all this. I’m from a working-class family. In fact, I didn’t realize Adam was one of those Ellisons until the day before we flew to Hawaii to get married.”
Something caught Brandi’s eye and she looked past Nia. “Looks like I’m being summoned to the dance floor,” she said.
Nia turned to see Adam approaching, with eyes only for his wife.
“You go on to your husband,” Nia said. “I’m going to stop by the ladies’ room and touch up my lip gloss.”
Because tonight she had her own man to get to, Nia thought, heading to the bathroom located just outside the ballroom.
Nia stood at the vanity rifling through the silver clutch purse for the blot papers and lipgloss the aesthetician had given her. Excited about what the rest of the evening held in store, she’d only intended to do a quick touch-up. Then she caught her reflection in the gilt-edged mirror.
She looked like herself, yet different. Same large eyes and full lips, with only the subtlest touches of makeup. The woman looking back at her in the mirror was radiant. It was what happy looked like, Nia thought.
Nia touched up her f
ace and was returning the cosmetics to her bag when the ladies’ room door swung open and the dark-haired woman she had noticed glaring at her earlier walked in.
The gorgeous face instantly turned hostile. “Looks like you’re having a real good time tonight,” she said.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” Nia replied.
“Enjoy it while you can, because he’s only interested in a bit of fun and games.” She placed her evening bag on the counter next to Nia’s and pulled out a hairbrush and lipstick. “He’ll get bored soon and dump you.”
Nia rolled her eyes skyward. This was ridiculous, and it was time for her to put an end to it. “You can retract the cat claws. All we did was dance.”
The woman turned away from the mirror. She stared down at Nia and folded her arms over her chest. “It looked like a lot more than a dance to me,” she said. “He looked like he was seconds from tossing you over his shoulder and taking you to bed.”
“I don’t have time for this.” Nia blew out a breath and clicked her clutch closed. “Don’t worry, Jonathan Ellison is all yours.”
She watched the dark-haired glamazon’s jaw drop. “Jonathan Ellison?” She scowled. “I’m talking about Kyle Ellison, and knowing him like I do, whatever you think you have with him won’t last more than a few weeks.”
“My relationship with Kyle is none of your business.” Nia shook her head and walked toward the door.
This woman had an agenda, and Nia didn’t want any part of it. Up until now the evening had been magical, and she wasn’t about to let a stranger spoil it.
“Oooh, your relationship,” she mimicked. “Is that what you think you have? I’ll bet you think you’re special, and y’all are in love, too.” She snorted. “Honey, you might be, but I can guarantee you he is not.”
Nia moved to walk past her, but she blocked her path.
“Move,” Nia said. “I have a date waiting.”
Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties) Page 15