“Good, because we’re here.”
The Lobster, Jeremy’s restaurant of choice, balanced on the cliffs overlooking the Santa Monica Pier. At the edge of the dock, the Ferris Wheel had come on, its tiny bright lights spinning slowly by.
“Good?” Jeremy asked as he and Vanessa took their seats next to the floor-to-ceiling windows. His T-shirt showed off his tanned forearms, and Vanessa couldn’t help ogling them now.
“The best.”
Their waiter arrived, and Jeremy requested a whole spread of vegetarian food, then looked at Vanessa for confirmation that she wanted wine. When she nodded, the waiter headed to the kitchen.
Vanessa swept her eyes over Jeremy, then past him toward the pier. She wanted this. She really, really wanted it. Her, sitting down across from this sexy-as-all-hell man, sharing a meal. But it felt naughty, too, because this was way more like a date than the obligatory business dinner. And she couldn’t imagine a universe where that was ever going to be okay, despite Jeremy’s reassurances.
She tamped down a feeling of guilt and tore her gaze from the window. “So why make an empire?”
Jeremy met her eyes. “You mean X Enterprises?” When she nodded, he asked, “You wouldn’t want to be the best?”
“My best, absolutely.” When she’d danced, she had been competitive with herself, sure. But the desire to dominate hadn’t been part of her. All she’d ever wanted was to do justice to this thing she loved. “But the best?” She shook her head. “No. That sounds exhausting. Consuming.”
Jeremy twisted his mouth. “It can be. I’ve spent most of my life working. But it fuels me.”
“Do you have a life outside of work? That silly little thing called balance?”
He smirked at her. “I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
“Yes. But this is work.”
He shook his head ruefully. “There’s a SEATAC to LAX flight that could have gotten us in by eight a.m. tomorrow.”
If that was true, then it meant… “We didn’t have to fly in today?”
Jeremy held her eyes. “It’ll make things less rushed tomorrow. But no, Heart. I wanted to spend a few extra hours in the city of dreamers with you.” His quiet confession heated the space between them, pulling her heart into her throat. “You make me imagine the possibilities of what my life could be. I wanted to give you the trip you deserved.”
This man. This man. Her heart swelled. She wanted the world, and he was going to try to give it to her.
Jeremy’s phone chimed, and he grimaced. “Excuse me for a second.”
She waved away his apology, and after returning the text message, Jeremy pocketed his phone. “Sorry about that.”
“Gotta keep things running, right?”
An unreadable look crossed his face. “Right. So where were we?”
“I was going to ask why you and your parents aren’t close.”
His face darkened. Was her question too much, too personal? “My mom and I are good,” he said. “My dad, not so much. He wasn’t a big fan when I dropped out of college.”
Was that why Jeremy talked to some people like they had already issued a challenge before they even spoke? It didn’t make his behavior okay, but it made it a little more understandable.
Vanessa knew how vulnerable it made Jeremy to admit that he was less than perfect—that he had struggled. And she appreciated that he was showing her this side of himself. She had a feeling he didn’t allow many people to see past the facade of the controlled CEO and get to know the real him. The authentic Jeremy was human—and seriously attractive for being so.
“You dropped out?” she asked.
Jeremy ducked his head. “Yeah. I’m a college dropout.”
“You wouldn’t know it based on the way you talk about tailgates,” she teased. “Anyway, it’s not a bad thing. All the successful ones are.” Considering she had a mountain of school debt right now, she kind of wished she’d taken that path as well. Although if she had, maybe the U Dub job wouldn’t mean as much to her. “So why’d you bail?”
“A bunch of reasons. Other than meeting Ramon, college was kind of a shit show for me. School couldn’t really teach me what I wanted to learn. And I wanted to leave a legacy.”
She shook her head, and Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “What?”
She shrugged. “It’s just that you and I seem to have different ideas about our legacies.”
“How so?”
“When you talk about your reputation, you’re talking about what you can do in the business world, right?” He nodded. “Well, to me, a legacy is how people remember you. And that’s how you make them feel.”
Jeremy smiled. “So if I wanted to make an impression on you, what would I do?”
A small laugh burst from her lips. “You mean more than you’ve already done?”
His seductive voice wrapped around her like a promise. “More than that.”
She leaned back in her chair and shot him a flirtatious glance. “Well, first, you’d feed me dessert.”
Chapter 28
When he’d agreed to dessert, Jeremy hadn’t exactly meant food, but after the second text message from Amy chimed through, he came to the swift conclusion that the one thing he had to do tonight was keep his focus. If he took Vanessa back to his swank hotel room and fucked her the way he wanted to, his mind would be anything but in the game. Tomorrow was a big day, and he couldn’t mess this up now.
“Ice cream,” he suggested, leading Vanessa out of The Lobster and toward the Third Street Promenade.
“Oh yeah?”
It seemed so innocent until he watched her dip her tongue into her dessert and then lick her lips. Jeremy imagined what that tongue could do to him—bet she tasted like ice cream—and he had to look away or he was going to kiss her again. This was what everything had boiled down to since the moment she walked into his office. He wanted her, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t deny their attraction. His gut said not to fuck things up, but did that mean for the business or for his personal life?
Vanessa stopped short on the sidewalk in front of one of those touristy gift shops. “Come on,” she said, breathless with excitement. She swallowed the last of her ice cream cone and tugged his hand.
Inside the shop, an old-fashioned boom box blasted eighties music. “What are we doing here?” He laughed, glancing around the room. Vanity license plates hung on every surface, and rotating racks by the cash wrap displayed cheesy postcards. You could buy a keychain with anyone’s name on it for five dollars, or buy three for ten. Any glitz you wanted, the store had.
Vanessa smiled at him and ran a finger over a magnet shaped like the Beverly Hills street sign. “What does it look like? I want a souvenir.”
“I’ll give you a souvenir.”
She rolled her eyes. “A hickey is not a souvenir.”
He hadn’t meant that, but now that she said it he wanted nothing more than to mark her, to show the world she was his. “You’ll let me give you a hickey?”
She huffed out a breath of air. “That’s not what I said. This is a business trip.”
“So you keep telling me.”
“Jeremy! You brought me here to see Yessir!”
But now he wished he hadn’t. He wished they didn’t have to wake up and paste on their game faces and be the kind of people who didn’t touch. Because he wanted his hands on her, making her face light up, and in front of Amy and Piers that would never do. But until he could give her the world, he could give her the world tucked into glass.
“Here.” He held out a snow globe of the Hollywood sign set into the hills.
Vanessa looked like a little kid as she shook it, her eyes so damn excited. Glittery silver light danced on her skin. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“The start of your collection.”
Vanessa sucked in a breath at the possibility of it. She’d told him she wanted to travel, and he wanted it for her. He wanted it with her. But not tonight.
“Come on Heart
, let’s head back to the hotel.” He shook his head as her eyes widened. “We’ve got an early day tomorrow, and we could both use some sleep.”
Jeremy shut his hotel room door behind him and leaned back against the wooden surface.
Dammit.
His heart knocked against his ribs, and he was filled with the kind of buzzing energy that he needed to run off or fuck out of his system. Since he’d already been to the gym this morning, the winner was option number two. Except for the simple fact that it was the stupidest thing he could possibly do.
He had no doubt that if Piers caught wind of this relationship, he’d hold it over him—maybe even withhold an offer. Because while it was likely Piers wanted to buy X Enterprises because it was a damned good business strategy, it was equally likely that he was offering to buy Jeremy’s company to make Amy happy, too. Jeremy knew he needed to show Yessir that he could be serious about this sale. Nothing would feel as good as the validation that an offer would bring. Which was why there was no way he could act on his feelings tonight.
He knew the evening felt like a date for Vanessa, and he wanted it to. There was something incredibly satisfying about picking a restaurant that he knew would thrill her, about buying her ice cream and eating it on their walk like they were any other couple. He’d even allowed her to snap a selfie of the two of them on her phone, just because it made her happy. Hell, she made him happy. It wasn’t just that he was attracted to her—it was that she was so damn sweet to be around. She made him feel lighter, like part of her goodness rubbed off on him every time he breathed in the intoxicating scent of her perfume. Too bad she’d looked so darn disappointed as he walked her very politely back to her room and left her there alone.
Jeremy flinched as another text message from Amy pinged through. Ready for our meeting?
He sighed and levered away from the door, kicking off his shoes and padding further into the room. Absolutely, he sent.
Amy replied in an instant. Did you bring your inventory?
Is this what selling the company to her would be like? Being at her beck and call at all hours while she dragged out the decision? Jeremy didn’t like the idea of her always being in his head. Or on his phone.
For now, he decided to play nice. He unzipped his carry-on luggage and snapped a photo of a spread of boxes. I’ll have everything ready for you when I see you. Hard, deep, and everything in between.
While his luggage was open, he pulled out a pair of sweatpants and set them on the edge of the bed.
Sounds profitable.
Fuck, she was persistent. And because he knew her, he could imagine the flirtatious way she would say the words she’d written.
It is. He shut off the phone and headed into the bathroom to change into his sweats.
He knew Amy wanted him to be thinking about her, but he couldn’t help his frustration. Maybe it was part of her takeover plan—throw him back to the man he was a year ago, the one who’d wanted to please her, so he’d hand over his business without complaint. Amy may have been sharp, but she was forgetting the reason he’d left her. As a high-maintenance woman, nothing was ever good enough for her. Jeremy had enough people in his life he was already disappointing. He didn’t need to let down his girlfriend, too.
Instead of making him want Amy, all those messages just drove him away. She wasn’t the one he was thinking about at all. Instead, it was Vanessa on his mind, the intoxicating smell of her, the way she’d looked, asleep on the airplane next to him.
Even Amy had no idea how bad things had been with his dad—the abusive insults, the way he had made Jeremy feel like he was worth less than nothing. Amy had never asked, and Jeremy avoided the subject. Going there with Vanessa, tonight, was something new. But sharing that part of him felt like the right thing to do. Vanessa wasn’t going to judge him, to tell him he should push back or man up or even get over it. She made him believe his feelings were valid, that they weren’t a weakness but a part and parcel of his story.
A knock sounded on his door, and Jeremy glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Didn’t the staff know what time it was? He swept open the door, his brow furrowed. “I didn’t order room keep—” The words died on his lips.
Vanessa froze in the hallway like she hadn’t expected him to actually answer the door. Her whisper was a fragile thing. “Hi.”
“Hey.” He shifted, leaning against the doorframe to take her in. A pair of sleep shorts exposed Vanessa’s toned, curvy legs, and he recognized her top as the race shirt from the GROW event. All the outfit did was remind him of how good she was. The woman couldn’t even wear something for herself that didn’t have to do with helping someone else.
He suppressed a laugh. GROW. He’d grow all right. Already his cock hardened at the thought of her. For all his resolve, it was one thing to stay away from Vanessa, but when the woman he craved showed up at his door in the middle of the night wearing pajamas? It was another thing entirely.
He settled on the safest choice of words. “Everything okay?”
Vanessa bit her lip before shaking her head. “What happened?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why did you choose now to start playing nice?” She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes flashing.
“What do you mean?” Jeremy shot her a dangerous look and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’m not nice.”
She snorted. “Exactly.” He stepped back into the room, and she followed him, stopping just past the threshold. “You’re not nice. Everything you’ve done since the day I met you has been to push my buttons, and now—after last night—you’re just fine to leave me alone? In a hotel in a strange city, no less?”
What was he going to do with her? It wasn’t that he was so used to people agreeing with him that he couldn’t hear anyone push back. After all, he asked his employees for their honest opinions. He didn’t have to like them, but he could appreciate the merit of an opposing point of view. But damn, everything about Vanessa could be oppositional sometimes.
“I didn’t say I was fine, Heart. But I’m trying to do things right by you.”
Vanessa held his eyes, her gaze dark with frustration. “Oh, please. You keep telling me to do things for myself, asking me what I want.” She lifted her shoulders and laughed. “Well, it’s this.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “It’s you.”
He sucked in a deep breath as Vanessa stepped further into the room. “If there is any part of you that thinks this is a bad idea, you need to go back to your room right now.” His hands trembled at his sides. He was a second away from touching her, and once he started, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“That’s not fair, Jeremy.”
His voice sounded thick in his own ears. “I’m no good for you, Heart.” Because he wasn’t—he was no good for anyone. And if she could ruin him, he’d sure as hell ruin her, too.
“Obviously.” Vanessa turned around, and for a heart-stopping second, he swore she was going to leave him after all. But all she did was reach for the door and close it tight behind them. “Tonight I want to be bad.”
Chapter 29
The door closed at Vanessa’s back with a small snick, and Jeremy stalked toward her with a look so primal her mouth went dry.
“You sure, Heart?”
Her knees weakened, and she leaned against the door for support, the wood panel cool against her heated skin. Jeremy kept up the advance, reaching a large hand to cup her jaw. She leaned her face into his palm and breathed him in, all soap and spice and pine. She nodded under his touch.
This—this was what she’d come for, wasn’t it? She couldn’t believe after everything tonight he’d just walked her back to her room and said goodnight. She’d debated coming to his room at all, texted Bea for support.
Heads I stay. Tails I go.
Tails, Bea had written. Or whatever answer gets you there.
Vanessa would have come no matter what the coin showed, no matter what Bea said. At this point, it was barely a choice. She needed to know
last night’s kiss wasn’t a fluke. Jeremy was everything she wanted and nothing she needed, but wasn’t that the point he’d been trying to make—that it was okay to want something selfishly, just because? Once she’d decided, she’d walked across the hotel carpet in her pajamas before she could lose her nerve.
Jeremy’s eyes bored into hers now, a look so hungry she could imagine herself, finally, as dessert. “Is this what you want?”
It wasn’t just that she wanted it. She needed it, a desire so ingrained in her that it pulsed in her blood. What she needed was someone who would look at her for the rest of her life the way Jeremy stared at her now. Like she was beautiful and precious and rare. Like he was captivated.
“Kiss me,” she whispered. He wasn’t the only one who could be bossy, and Jeremy’s eyebrows rose at her command.
There was freedom in being as sensual as she wanted, in giving in to her most base desires. There was strength in it, too. Vanessa could see it in Jeremy’s eyes as he watched her now—respect, admiration, awe.
Jeremy took another step closer, his heat radiating in the space between them. “Is that an invitation or a challenge?”
“It’s both.”
Before she could draw another breath, he crushed his lips against hers, consuming her, fanning the flames of the fire that burned in her core. Jeremy held her chin steady as he explored her, first with his lips, then with his tongue. He tasted like strawberries and wine, his tongue starting out cold and sweet before filling her mouth with heat.
She closed her eyes and sighed, the noise of her moan trembling between her thighs. She sounded wild, like some other creature. Jeremy’s touch unlocked her shadow side—the part of her that was more free and passionate than her everyday self. She’d always ignored this part of herself, and now, with her arms gripping the back of this strong sex god, it wouldn’t be denied.
Vanessa let herself be lifted in his arms, carried to the bed. She laughed softly as he set her on the edge of the sheets. “What did you do to your bed?”
His Distraction Page 15