by Selena Kitt
Looking away from his devilishly handsome face and outside the window, she ignored the twitching in between her treacherous thighs and muttered, “I really hope Rachel dumps you for real, Nick. Even I wouldn’t marry a beast like you.”
He chuckled humorlessly, obviously unperturbed. “You’d better pray she doesn’t dump me, dear Keyonna. Or you’ll be next in line.”
The soft menace in his words vibrated in the air around them, throwing Keyonna into confusion. She was barely aware that he’d brought the car to a stop right in front of her apartment; her head was in such a whirl. But then when she felt him grip her chin between his thumb and index finger, her eyes flew to his in surprise. He gave her no chance to react as he suddenly swooped his head down and owned her lips.
Yes, owned. Because the moment his mouth touched hers, he gave her no doubt who was in charge this time.
Firm yet sensuous, his lips ground into hers with a fiery passion nothing like his habitual ice-cold demeanor.
Keyonna couldn’t control her breathing; sharp gasps of excitement spilling from her parted lips. She could feel his dominance in every demanding brushstroke of his mouth over hers, which brought the juices fizzing through her panties.
The kiss grew harder, more carnal and Keyonna was tempted to moan with bliss. She hated that she liked the way his lips felt over hers; the way his tongue mimicked the act of wicked, hot sex. Hot damn. Her fingers squeezed tight on her clutch purse as she resisted the strong urge to grab his lapels and pull him hard against her now throbbing breasts. Beneath her bodice, her nipples felt like lead thimbles; thick and heavy. Within her hidden folds, she pulsed and trickled. Deep in her feminine core, she clenched with a need greater than any she’d ever felt before.
But Nick pulled away when she least expected, and Keyonna felt like whining in protest. Her eyes peeled open to find him drawing back, shoving a hand through his wavy dark hair as he looked away for a moment.
“You, Ms. Hayes, are a distraction I don’t want and I certainly don’t need,” he muttered gruffly, as if to himself.
Well, fuck you, thought Keyonna, tumbling back down to earth with a crash. What was that? He blew hot and then cold, the same way he drove her mad with fury and then turned her to molten lava in turns.
“May I remind you that you started all this? You were the one who couldn’t seem to mind your own damned business,” she spat, feeling slapped by his attitude after that pussy-drenching kiss. She’d never met a more infuriating man in her life and she couldn’t believe how much her whole body ached for more of his kisses, his touch. Just imagining being taken by a man like Nick Vitale had her pulse rate speeding alarmingly. She must be crazy.
“All I did was speak my mind, Keyonna. If you felt insulted, I think kissing me was the wrong way to show your displeasure. I didn’t ask you to throw yourself at me.”
“Why you…”
“Save it,” he snapped through her raving words. “It’s obvious we both crossed the line tonight and I’m going to have to figure a way to undo whatever clusterfuck I – and you – have gotten me into.”
His expression was unreadable as he held her fuming stare. “Don’t think this is some game, Keyonna. Because it isn’t. I’m dead serious and the sooner you start believing that, the better for you. We’ll definitely be seeing each other again soon. Now get out.”
Keyonna blinked, surprised at the abrupt command. “What?”
“If you much rather I threw you out…,” Nick muttered, and knowing he could very well do it Keyonna scrambled out while her knees shook with rage.
“I was right, Nick; you are a beast,” Keyonna spat, before slamming the door after her. He made no reply, but sped off leaving behind a cloud of exhaust fumes.
Chapter Four
Nick was tapping his fingers idly on the polished surface of the table next to him, striving hard to control his impatience.
He was seated within Luca Conte’s opulent study, his drink of whiskey untouched by his elbow. His future father-in-law paced the Moroccan rug underfoot, his expression fathomless.
And yet, Nick told himself he knew what was coming. It was two days since the eventful dinner party he’d escorted Rachel to. He’d been expecting this summons from her father, who had also been a close friend and business associate to Nick’s father. Both their families went back before either of the Contes or Vitales had settled in America four generations ago, from their home country Italy.
Nick had received a call from the old man’s secretary requesting his presence at the family house that morning.
Well, here he was.
“I really must say, Nick,” Luca Conte began at long last, stopping his furious pacing to turn to the younger man. His lined yet handsome and heavily bearded face held a frown as Nick looked up at him with expectation, “That when Rachel came to me, sobbing with the news of what you did I was quite shocked. It didn’t sound like you at all.”
I’ll bet, thought Nick wryly, though he asked in a mild tone, “Just what did Rachel tell you, Uncle?” Nick had been calling Luca ‘uncle’ since his schoolboy days and even now that he was almost thirty, still gave the older man his due respect – especially since Luca had been more of a father figure to him than Nick's dad had been.
Luca’s expression looked almost like he was pleading with Nick to deny the allegations as he said, “Rachel told me that she caught you kissing some woman at the party you accompanied her to. She was mistaken, wasn’t she?”
Nick looked the older man dead in the eye. “No, Uncle Luca. She wasn’t mistaken. What Rachel said is true.”
Luca Conte looked dazed for a moment, though more at the blunt way Nick had stated it. But then what had he been expecting, Nick mused, that I would lie?
Luca shook his head at him. “Nick!” he burst out in exclamation. “I can’t imagine what could have come over you…”
Neither can I, Nick thought with a wry twist to his lips – but then the image of a sultry-eyed woman with soft, full lips and a knock-out body came to mind. Oh, he knew exactly what had come over him, he decided as a now familiar ache cut him right where he lived. Just thinking about that temptress Keyonna had his cock stirring at the memory of her taste, scent and the sexy sound of her slightly husky tone of voice.
“You think this is a joke?” Luca rasped and Nick suddenly became aware that he’d been smiling to himself. Quickly, Nick wiped the look from his face and rose from his chair.
“What can I say, Uncle?” sighed Nick. “That I had one drink too many?” He shrugged. “I really wish that was the case. I won’t go into details but I have to confess that the woman who kissed me had every cause to do so.”
Yep, she had. If he hadn’t butted into her affairs – and if he had stopped her from making a fool of him instead of kissing her right back like a starved goon, he wouldn’t be in this colossal mess…
“I see,” Luca said heavily, and then turned away. “I had hoped I could try and win you back into Rachel’s good favor, but now I see I really shouldn’t bother. It’s obvious you don’t love my daughter and never did. It was your father’s and my fault, throwing you two together since you were younger in the hope that you’d have a future with each other. And now, well…” The old man shrugged, a resigned look on his face.
Nick felt a small sigh escape him – could it be relief? To his surprised, he suddenly didn’t consider it such a disaster if Rachel wasn’t going to marry him.
“You do realize what this means?” the other man asked Nick soberly as both men stood face to face. Though Luca was tall he had grown stocky, his hair thinning at the sides yet not detracting from his darkly handsome looks that sat well on the fifty-six year old man.
Nick wasn’t sure how to respond so he waited for Luca to continue as he said, “Rachel told me that she wasn’t going through with the wedding, not after your little aberration. I think she felt more insulted than anything else. Still, she’s upstairs in her bedroom, if you want to talk with her. You’re the only on
e who can salvage this situation, Nick. But remember…”
Nick had already been making to leave the room, and paused in the doorway to turn and regard Luca quizzically. Luca added, “If she doesn’t agree to marry you, you’ll have to find someone who will.”
And you know exactly why, Luca’s eyes seemed to say solemnly, and Nick gave him a terse nod. Oh, I know.
He was going to lose his billion dollar inheritance if he didn’t.
* * * *
Nick spent the next several days working – and planning – hard. Now seated behind the massive oak desk in his well-appointed, expansive office that might soon no longer be his, he went over the bitter argument he’d had with Rachel that last time, up in her bedroom suite.
She started raining abuses at him the moment he entered her sitting room area – right before she flung his ring at him. Okay, so he’d always known she was the violent type but she’d really taken it too far this time, thought Nick. The enormous diamond stud had barely missed his right eye, and the duck he’d made couldn’t have come a second sooner. And yet her next words made his lips twitch wryly even as she stomped into the adjoining bedroom while Nicholas followed. He saw the open bags and luggage and his eyebrows shot up.
“Don’t even bother trying to explain,” Rachel snapped, her blonde ponytail swaying as she began to throw clothes into the open case on her bed. “I’m leaving tomorrow for a much-needed vacation – which obviously means I’m not going to marry you. The wedding's off. I knew you never had any true feelings for me, but this is the last straw. In a day or two the whole world is going to hear about how I jilted you. You hear me?” she added on a scream.
Rachel’s creamy, tanned complexion had gone red with her fury as Nick stared at her expressionlessly.
“It was you who cheated on me, and it was I who called off the wedding,” she said with deep satisfaction as she shoved a finger in his suited chest. She swung away and went on with her packing while seething. “That means no wife for you, Nick – and possibly no inheritance.”
Nick's lips twisted at her malicious, mocking words. “That really would please you, wouldn’t it?” he murmured calmly. “You surprise me. I’d have thought that the opportunity of marrying an heir to over a billion dollars would be very tempting.”
“Well you can go to hell with your billions, Nick,” she snapped, turning on him again as her teeth bared in a snarl, her blue eyes flashing. “And you can go back to your sexy slut.”
At that Nick felt his anger snap out of its leash as he grabbed her shoulders in a hard grip. “You just watch your mouth, young lady,” he gritted, stressing the last word ironically. “If you must know, I find her more of a woman than you ever could be.”
And with a jolt, Nick realized that was true. He’d known Rachel since she was barely seventeen and he twenty-three. As they’d grown older and their parents began to push them together, he’d tried to look at her beyond her silly, over-pampered heiress façade. But he’d come to discover there wasn’t much there. Rachel was beautiful, entitled, a snob, and far from matured enough to handle his masculine needs. Now that she was almost twenty-four, he’d managed to convince himself that she’d improve with time and molding once she became his wife.
Nick had put up with her tantrums, diva antics and bratty ways for too long and now he figured she just might never grow up. Not enough to suit him anyway. She was as different from Keyonna Hayes as night was from day. Keyonna might be an infuriating tease that got under his skin far too easily, but she was all woman in ways that fired his blood.
He could no longer deny it.
He’d probably wanted her from the first time he’d seen her several months ago. It had startled him how much he’d reacted to her physically and even now he couldn’t really understand it.
It had taken all he could to conceal his true response to the tall, curvy and intelligent woman. That kiss on the balcony had brought to life a raging fire within his loins in ways that had never even glimmered in all the time he’d been engaged to Rachel. Yes, Rachel was undoubtedly beautiful and many men would consider the slim blonde sexy but Nick felt himself drawn to Keyonna in ways that perturbed him. Keyonna was definitely more of a woman and minute after minute, he began to discover that he liked the thought of her being his woman too much.
“Well, she’s more than welcome to you,” he heard Rachel say with chilly composure. He let her go with disgust even as she added with a sneer, “I’m sure that once she knows how much you’re worth, she’ll be all yours. No doubt she’d love to take my vacant spot as the future Mrs. Vitale.”
Now it was two days after and Nick chuckled out loud to himself as he looked down at pages and photos in the file his investigators had compiled on Keyonna Hayes. He picked up a particularly eye-catching shot of her, taken by the beach where she’d gone sunbathing with a few of her friends just days ago. She was clad in some kind of ruffled black bikini that played off her curvy figure to perfection.
The camera had caught her just off the side and her curves were well exhibited, reminding Nick how it had felt having her luscious body pressed up hard against him. From memory, he knew she hid a caseload of molten heat beneath an exterior he’d once thought of as calculating and detached.
She’d been assigned to major design contracts involving a few of his estate development structures in both the housing and corporate sectors in the past. He’d been impressed and startled how a young woman such as herself had been able to get involved in such high-level projects – but then he’d believed that with her looks, she probably used her many feminine talents to make her way.
He knew for a fact she was linked to many top shots and he’d seen her on the arm of a few moneybags he knew both socially and in business. He’d gotten the impression she was very ambitious and determined to climb to the top of her game. And there was nothing wrong with that so why had he held that so much against her from the beginning?
The few times they’d come in contact before that fateful dinner party, something must have told him she was a woman who could pierce his defenses quite easily. And her fiery kiss had proven that.
There was no way he’d soon forget how that first unexpected touch of her juicy, generous lips had felt – and what it had done to his ramping hormones.
But was that enough to take Rachel’s catty suggestion seriously? Nick told himself it was certainly something to consider in closer scrutiny than ever before…
Chapter Five
“Tell me it isn’t true!” Natasha Price, Keyonna’s close friend and confidant, cried on the other end of the phone line. Natasha also happened to be the editor of a popular society magazine which was nothing more than a glorified gossip sheet on the rich and mighty. She was around the same age as Keyonna, and both girls had looked out for each other over the years, while trying to inch their way up their respective career ladders.
Keyonna sighed dejectedly. “I wish I could.” She slumped back into her seat as she pushed a catalogue of designs to the far edge of her desk. “But I can’t. I really did jump Nick Vitale with a kiss at the tribute dinner of my military ex-boyfriend. I’m almost afraid to ask how you heard about it.”
“Phew. I was almost certain it was all just a hoax,” Natasha breathed with expressive relief that Keyonna found not in the least reassuring. Natasha was the kind of girl who had ears and eyes everywhere. She knew anyone who was anyone and rubbed shoulders with people from all walks of life thanks to her confident and winning personality.
Keyonna’s eyes rolled heavenwards. “Always the incurable gossip, aren’t you?”
“It’s all part of my job description, honey,” her friend cooed. “And yet when that nasty female showed up at my office with the scoop you could have knocked me over with a feather. To think that her fiancé of over a year, the dangerously hunky Nick Vitale, has been given the boot. Well. I couldn’t believe any woman would be demented enough to let him go – even if he was caught necking with another woman. And when I found out t
hat woman was you…damn girl I almost died. I thought it was either the bitch was lying or it wasn’t the same Keyonna Hayes I knew.”
“Well, now you’ve confirmed it,” Keyonna said ruefully. “I didn’t even know that Conte girl recognized me.”
“You’re not as unknown as you think, my dear. Besides, she could easily have found out about you. Anyway you’ll be in the spotlight soon enough because the story’s coming out in the latest edition. Sorry, babe,” she went on when Keyonna groaned, “But I had to do it. It’s just too juicy to drop. Better look out for the headlines: “Rachel Conte Breaks Dream Match with Nick Vitale.” Here, why don’t I read out the first paragraph: “Things are not looking up for the rakish Vitale heir as his fiancée, young and beautiful Rachel Conte, breaks off the year-long engagement after catching him smooching at a party with Keyonna Hayes, well-known interior decorator.”
“Oh God, stop!” Keyonna groaned, a palm against her temple as her vision seemed to swim for a moment in embarrassment.
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t exactly handle the story,” Natasha explained in a gentler tone. “My editor-in-chief snatched it off me and refused to keep your name out. Something about not letting personal interest get in the way of my job of giving readers the truth – the whole truth and so on.”
“It’s okay, Natasha; it’s not your fault. Obviously, Rachel what’s-her-name was set on disgracing Nick for what he did and that’s why she sold your paper the story. No; I have only myself to blame for being so stupid as to go kissing a near stranger – handsome and irresistible though he is. It was just one of those crazy impulses, you know? The ones that blink on and off in your head and before you know it, you've made the dumbest mistake of your life.”
Natasha chuckled. “Now now, don’t go feeling sorry for yourself. Feel sorry for poor Nick Vitale. Now that his bride-to-be has dumped him, he might lose everything he’s ever owned.”