Private Arrangements

by Brenda Jackson

  He knocked on her hotel room door. Hard. Inwardly he told himself to calm down, but he was too angry to do so. If he had known something was going on between her and Mercury he would not have touched her. Dammit. Now he couldn’t help but wonder when had she’d become involved with his brother. Had it been before or after their kiss eighteen months ago?

  The door opened and he saw the surprised look on her face. “Jonas? Is anything wrong?”

  He leaned in the doorway, drew in a deep breath and stared at her without saying anything for a moment. Then he silently asked himself why he was there. He had never run behind a woman, gotten upset when he couldn’t reach one after a night of sex. It’d always been out of sight and out of mind for him. He’d found it so easy to move on to the next woman.

  So why had he gotten so pissed at the thought he hadn’t been able to reach her today? And why was the thought of Mercury having dibs on her eating away at his gut? He shouldn’t even be here without first talking to Mercury to find out what was going on. But he couldn’t wait. He had to see her. He had to know the truth.

  “Jonas?”

  “What?”

  “I asked if anything is wrong.”

  The urge to reach out and pull her into his arms and kiss her was overpowering. He straightened and tightened his hands into fists at his side. He needed to know if she was involved with his brother. “Yes, something is wrong.”

  Instead of asking him what, she took a step back to let him into her hotel room.

  Chapter 10

  Nikki stared across the room at Jonas. He’d said something was wrong, which meant there could be only one logical reason for him to seek her out. Swallowing deeply, she asked, “Did Fulton not like the idea about using the JumboTrons?”

  He stared at her for a second, and then instead of answering he rubbed his hand down his face. He then stared at her again and it appeared his green eyes had darkened in anger. “Well, is that it, Jonas?”

  He shook his head. “Do you think I’m here to talk about JumboTrons, or that I’m here to discuss business period?”

  She really didn’t know how to respond to his question, or what answer he was looking for. So she asked a question of her own. “What other reason would you be here?”

  He stared at her for a moment. “I slept with you last night,” he all but growled.

  She wondered what that had to do with anything. He was a Steele. He slept with women all the time. “And?”

  “And you were gone this morning and I haven’t been able to reach you all day.”

  She lifted a brow. He had tried reaching her? Why? “My phone battery was dead. I had it on the charger all day. So what’s wrong? Why were you trying to reach me?”

  He stared at her for a moment and then shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now. I need to ask you something.”

  “Okay. What?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that something is going on between you and my brother?”

  She stared at him, wondering where he’d gotten an idea so ridiculous. She then recalled she had run into one of his brothers while walking the Strip and he’d offered to help her with the bags she’d collected from shopping. Afterward they’d had lunch together. Had someone seen them together and jumped to the wrong conclusions?

  “Gannon was merely kind enough to help me carry a few packages,” she said. “Then we—”

  “I’m not talking about Gannon,” he said in a low voice that was as hard as nails.

  Now she knew he really had lost it. “Then what brother are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Don’t you know?”

  “If I knew I wouldn’t be asking,” she responded smartly.

  He paused a moment, narrowed his gaze and then said, “Mercury.”

  She expressed disbelief in her features. “Mercury! I barely know him.”

  “Are you saying the two of you are not involved?”

  She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Where did you get such a crazy idea?”

  “He told someone you were off-limits.”

  “Then whoever he told that to must have misunderstood.” She sighed, shaking her head. “You actually thought I’m banging your brother and still slept with you last night?”

  “I honestly didn’t know what to think.”

  Her frown deepened and she lifted her chin. “In that case, it’s nice to know the kind of woman you think I am. Please leave.”

  Jonas stared across the room at Nikki suddenly feeling lower than low. It didn’t take much to see she was pretty damn mad. And he could also tell his accusation had come as a blow. He could see the hurt in her face although she was trying like hell to hide it.

  He drew in a deep breath when he thought of what he’d all but accused her of. He had listened to Gannon, who’d evidently heard Mercury wrong like she’d said. And instead of waiting to talk to Mercury about it first, he had stormed up here to Nikki’s hotel room and confronted her about something that was undoubtedly not true. He couldn’t blame Gannon for relaying false info. He could only blame himself for acting on it the way he had.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, knowing she had no idea the degree of his remorse. He had been quick to think the worst, mainly to disprove this theory that there was something about her that was different from other women he’d messed around with.

  “Is there a reason you’re still standing there?”

  He met her gaze. Held it for a long while before saying, “I’m here because I can’t think of being anywhere else.”

  She stiffened her spine and lifted her chin. “Then think harder while my door hits you in the back.”

  Boy, she was cruel, but no crueler than he’d been to her with his accusations. “You won’t accept my apology?”

  “Right now I don’t want anything from you. Not even an apology.” She paused for a second, drew in what he knew was an angry breath and then asked, “Do you know what your problem is, Jonas?”

  Not waiting for him to answer, she said, “You want to judge every woman on the basis of your own sleazy behavior.”

  He couldn’t say anything to that because maybe he probably did. And he wasn’t even offended that she thought his behavior was sleazy. It had been described as worse on more than one occasion. Knowing there was nothing he could say or do to redeem himself at the moment, he crossed the room, and before reaching the door, he turned and looked back at her. The intensity of her glare had burned a hole in his back, he could feel it. But he would make it up to her.

  Without saying anything else, he opened the door and walked out of it.

  Jonas had made it to his room when his cell phone went off and he saw it was Mercury. He answered it in a frustrating voice. “Mercury.”

  “Hey, Jonas, Nancy said you called. Don’t you have enough to do in Vegas without trying to keep up with me? I hear Gannon visited the Doll House yesterday and that you missed all the fun.”

  Jonas frowned, not wanting to talk about anything with his brother but Nikki. “Look, Mercury, I want to know about Nikki.”

  “Nikki?”

  “Yes, Nikki Cartwright. Did you or did you not warn Gannon she’s off-limits?”

  There was a brief pause, and then Mercury said, “Yes, I warned him off.”

  Jonas’s stomach twisted, and it was like the breath had been sucked from his lungs. According to Nikki she and Mercury weren’t involved. So did that mean Mercury was interested in her but she just didn’t know it? “So you’re interested in her?”

  Mercury chuckled. “No.”

  “Then why in the hell would you tell Gannon she is off-limits?”

  “Because she is. But I’m not the one who wants her.”

  Jonas’s jaw ha
rdened. “Then who the hell wants her?”

  “You do.”

  “What?”

  He could hear Mercury laughing. “Oh yeah, you do. I noticed it first at Galen and Brittany’s wedding. You couldn’t keep your eyes off her when you thought no one else was looking. And then at Eli’s wedding when she was taking all those pictures, you were taking her in, angle by angle, every time that cute little body of hers moved around the room. You were all but salivating.”

  Jonas frowned. “I hate to burst that overimaginative mind of yours, but you’re wrong.”

  “Umm, I don’t think so, and now after this phone conversation, I know so. So the way I see it, telling Gannon and Tyson that Nikki was off-limits was actually doing you a favor. You can thank me for it later.”

  He heard the click as Mercury ended the call.

  Nikki stood at the window looking out at the Strip, drawing in deep breaths and then expelling them slowly, tasting the anger still lodged deep in her throat. A part of her still couldn’t believe it. The man who had passionate sex with her last night had stood in the middle of her hotel room less than ten minutes ago, all but accusing her of sleeping with one of his brothers? Just because he’d heard Mercury had said she was off-limits? Of all the nerve. If her career wasn’t on the line she would pack up and return to Phoenix in a heartbeat.

  But then again, when it came to Jonas, she never thought with her heart. She couldn’t. She always thought with her head and that’s where the trouble lay. Her head was trying to tell her he’d been more jealous than pissed, but with Jonas that didn’t make any sense. He could have any woman he wanted. He’d certainly gotten her last night and big-time. And why had he seemed upset when he hadn’t been able to reach her today? What was that all about?

  She shook her head. Jonas, jealous over her? She chuckled, knowing nothing could be further from the truth. So they had shared lusty, heated, make-you-holler sex last night, through most of the night. For her it might have been a night to remember, but she figured for him it was business as usual.

  When she recalled how he had stared her down, accusing her of being involved with his brother, she couldn’t help but feel a resurgence of anger. But she needed this job, so the best thing for her was to do what she was being paid to do and leave everything else alone. Jonas fell in the category of everything else.

  Okay, she would be a notch on his bedpost, but then he would be a notch on hers as well. Her notches may not get carved as often as his, but she could deal with that. What she couldn’t deal with was an involvement with Jonas, so the best thing to do would be to keep her distance.

  And that’s what she intended to do.

  Chapter 11

  Jonas’s gaze sought out Nikki the moment he walked into the launch party. She had her camera in hand, as she moved around the room and worked it like the professional photographer that she was. Even though she was only wearing a pair of silky-looking slacks and a matching blouse he thought she stood out over all of the women dressed in expensive designer gowns.

  Although this was a working event for her, she looked just as elegant and refined as anyone else. And those slacks she was wearing showed what a curvy little backside she had, just as much as her jeans always did. Which was probably why several men were ogling her as she moved around the room, shifting, twisting and bending that cute rounded bottom all around, snapping one picture after another.

  One man in particular was Curtis Rhinestone, a reporter for CNN. Jonas and he had attended college together in Michigan and had been frat brothers. He could recall that back in the day while at the university, more than once he and Curtis had competed for the same girl. And now he didn’t like the way Curtis all but licked his lips while staring at Nikki. It wouldn’t take much for Jonas to cross the room and bust those same lips with his fist.

  He drew in a deep breath wondering why it bothered the hell out of him to think of Curtis—or any other man for that matter—checking out Nikki. Why even now the temperature in the room seemed to have risen a few degrees since he’d seen her, and why while looking at her fully clothed he vividly recalled her naked. Beneath him…on top of him…

  He took another sip of his drink. Why was he so fixated on her? Hell, she was just a woman. And he’d slept with more than he could ever count. But he’d always had the ability to move on without any problems. Why was moving away from Nikki causing him so much grief? Why couldn’t he get a friggin’ handle on those emotions she could so effortlessly stir within him?

  “Well, if it isn’t Jonas Steele.”

  Jonas looked up into the face of a woman by the name of Chastity Jenkins. He had met the PR firm owner while on a business trip to L.A. three years ago. He’d found her first name amusing since there was no part of her that came with a lock of any sort. It had been a one-night stand and that was all it was ever meant to be. He had made that clear in the beginning and at the end. So he had been surprised at the call he’d gotten a few months later saying she would be visiting Phoenix and preferred crashing at his place instead of a hotel. As nice as he could, he’d told her he really didn’t give a damn what she preferred, but staying at his place, even for a few days, wasn’t going to happen. She hadn’t liked his response and after expressing that dislike in a few choice words, she hadn’t contacted him since.

  “Chastity,” he said dryly. “It’s been a while.”

  She smiled up at him. “It wasn’t my choice, Jonas.”

  No, it hadn’t been her choice. Her comment let him know she still hadn’t gotten over things. At least someone hadn’t. He glanced over at Nikki. She hadn’t looked his way since he’d arrived, which meant evidently she had. The realization annoyed the hell out of him.

  Chastity began talking, namely about her favorite subject. Herself. He really wasn’t listening, only pretending he was since for the moment, he didn’t have anything else to do.

  Click.

  Click.

  Nikki moved around the room, taking pictures of one celebrity after another. This was her first assignment where so many famous people in the same place. And when it came to smiling for the camera they weren’t shy.

  She fought to ignore the kicking of her heart, which signaled Jonas was somewhere in the room. They had avoided each other for the past two days and that had been fine with her. They’d had their one-night stand—as brief and meaningless as it could get—and had moved on. The decision had evidently been a mutual one. But they did have to work together, so they couldn’t avoid each other forever.

  She twisted and bent her body, snapping one picture after another and as if her camera was responding to the call of the wild…and the reckless: it unerringly zeroed on him. She sucked in a deep breath when he was captured within the scope of her camera’s lens. Oh, God, he looked good in his dark suit with his hair flowing around his shoulders.

  Her camera continued to snap away, as it moved all over him, from his expensive leather shoes to those fine-as-a-dime muscled thighs beneath his slacks. And it didn’t take much for her to recall how those same thighs had held her within their tight grasp while riding her.

  Her camera continued snapping, moving upward to Jonas’s broad chest and the designer jacket he was wearing, to the handsome features that still haunted her dreams. They were dreams she couldn’t restrict from her mind. She knew she was taking more pictures of him than any other person there tonight. It was as if she couldn’t help it. And then as if he suspected he was the object of someone’s attention, he shifted his gaze from the woman he was talking to and looked straight into the lens of her camera.

  She swallowed deeply and her mind suddenly scrambled when she felt the full-fledged intensity of his stare directly on her. She forced herself to stay unruffled because she had no reason to lose her composure. She was merely doing her job. Besides, instead of looking at her, he should be concentrating
on the woman he was talking to—the one with the heavily made-up face, over-the-top weave job, way-too-long French-tipped nails and blood red lips. She was talking a mile a minute, and all but demanding his attention. Would she be the one to share his bed tonight? The one who would be scratching his back this time? Getting the ride of her life? And should Nikki even care? Her heart began pounding viciously and she knew she cared although she shouldn’t.

  “Hey, you’ve been at it long enough. Shouldn’t you be ready to take a break about now?”

  She turned toward the deep, masculine voice and couldn’t help but force a smile. It was the same guy who’d tried hitting on her earlier. He’d introduced himself as Curtis Rhinestone and said he worked for CNN. It was as if he’d singled her out since she had felt the heat of his gaze on her most of the night. He wasn’t bad-looking. In fact most women would probably consider him downright gorgeous. She would too, if he could in some way hold a candle to Jonas. Unfortunately, he couldn’t.

  She lowered her camera, thinking she’d focused on Jonas too much already. She checked her watch. “You’re in luck. Starting now I’m free for the rest of the night.”

  He smiled. “Good. I think it’s time we got to know each other.”

  Out of the corner of his eye Jonas watched Nikki move around the room with Curtis and felt his anger rising. How dare Rhinestone try to take something that was his?

  He drew in a sharp breath. When had he ever thought of any woman as his? No matter how many women he bedded, he’d never claimed one. What made Nikki different? What had there been about having sex with her that still had him breathless? He took a sip of his drink, his last for the night, as he continued to track Nikki and Curtis while trying not to be too damn obvious.