by Leanne Banks
“We can just treat this like it’s an extended date.”
“No expectations?” she asked.
“If that’s what you want,” he said, but he knew what would happen.
Relief crossed her features. “Okay.”
He brushed another kiss over her irresistible mouth. “I’ll send one of my drivers to pick you up and take you to the airport. My assistant will call with all the details.”
She looked at him as if her head was spinning. “That, uh, that might not be a good idea. My father—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him,” he said.
She blinked. “Talk to him? What will you say?”
“I’ll tell him the truth—that we’re seeing each other,” he said.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she said. “He may try to push you to—” She broke off and cleared her throat. “He really wants me to get married and he may try to push you to make a—” She cleared her throat and looked away. “Commitment.”
“Mallory,” he said, sliding his index finger under her chin. “Do you really think anyone could succeed in pushing me to make a commitment I don’t want to make?”
She met his gaze for a long moment. “No. I guess not.”
“I can take care of me and anyone else who is important to me. I’ll talk to him.” The poor woman looked dazed. He took pity on her. “Would you like me to drive back to the condo?”
Relief washed over her face. “Yes. Thank you.”
Alex cleared his schedule to meet with Edwin James the following evening. The wily Californian poured Alex and himself a glass of whiskey and stepped away from his desk to a sitting area furnished with burgundy leather chairs and mahogany tables. Edwin’s office oozed old wealth, but Alex knew the old man had started with nearly nothing. He’d started his own business, expanded, turned it into a franchise operation and began investing, first for himself then others who paid him handsomely.
Alex knew that he and Edwin had a lot in common. He allowed the older man to start the discussion.
“You told me you wanted to build a resort in West Virginia and you’d like me to find you some backers. Why West Virginia?”
So began the interview. Alex answered all of Edwin’s questions with a minimum of spin and an abundance of facts and figures.
“Why did Megalos-De Luca turn this down?” Edwin asked.
“Other than the fact that they’re blind as bats, and you can quote both me and Max De Luca on that, they’re focusing on expanding in current proven markets.”
Edwin nodded. “I would think they wouldn’t let you do this on your own. Don’t you have some kind of noncompete agreement?”
“I do,” Alex said. “But I told them I would walk if they didn’t make an exception.”
Edwin lifted his bushy gray eyebrows. “So you can play hardball when you want. I like that.”
“You’re not surprised.”
“No,” Edwin said. “You don’t get as far as I’ve gotten without being able to read people.” He paused for a moment. “I’ve got three or four investors who would be right for this. I’ll get back to you by the end of this week.” He rose from his chair and extended his hand. “I look forward to doing business with you.”
Alex nodded as he shook Edwin’s hand. “Thank you. Same here,” he said. “On another subject, you asked me to recommend some men who might interest your daughter.”
Edwin’s eyes lit up. “You have someone in mind?”
“Yes. Me,” Alex said. “Mallory and I are seeing each other.”
Edwin stared at him for a long moment. “I already knew that,” he said. “I have a couple guys who watch over her. They told me about her driving your car. She lost them on one of the turns.” He shook his head. “You’re a brave man. Just so you know, I would want to show my gratitude in a substantial way to the man who can get my daughter happily down the aisle.”
“That would be down the line,” Alex said. “We’re still just getting to know each other. In fact, I have to go to one of our island resorts this weekend and I’m taking her with me.”
Edwin nodded slowly. “She loves the beach. Just don’t let anything happen to her. She’s my little girl.”
“She always will be even though she’s turned into a smart, adventurous and very capable woman,” Alex said. “I wonder where she got that adventurous streak.”
Edwin cackled and shook his finger at Alex. “You’re a smart one, yourself. Maybe she’s finally met her match.”
Mallory decided not to join Alex for the long weekend. Staring at her unpacked suitcase, she felt like a wuss. A smart wuss, though, she told herself. Even though Alex was unbelievably hot, had allowed her to drive his car and invited her to go on a weekend adventure with him, she knew he was trouble. She knew she would have a hard time hanging on to her sanity.
Rising from her bed, she paced a path from one end of her room to the other and back again. Biting her lip, she glanced at the small stacks of clothes on the bench next to the suitcase. She’d gathered the items necessary for a trip to an island.
Although deep down, she’d ultimately known that she had no business even thinking about going to a fast food joint with Alex, let alone an island resort, she’d been tempted. How could she not be? She loved the beach.
The fact that she would have Alex’s attention away from the glare of Las Vegas shouldn’t make her shiver with anticipation. The prospect of walking along a beach with Alex, her hand laced with his, the ocean breeze rippling against their skin. A taunting visual filled her mind of sharing a kiss with Alex under the moonlight with the waves lapping at her toes.
Mallory sighed, looking at the stacks of clothes again. It would take so little. Just a few swift motions to lift and lower them into the designer suitcase. She would be insane to do it. Completely and totally insane.
A knock sounded at her bedroom door, startling her. Her heart jumped into her throat. “Hilda?” she said, knowing it was the housekeeper announcing the arrival of Alex’s driver. She went to her door, trying to drum up some mental fortitude. She wouldn’t make Hilda do the dirty work. Mallory would calmly tell Alex that she had changed her mind.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
To Alex.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
His eyes met hers and his magnetism hit her like a tidal wave. Her throat closed up and she tried to squeak out the word no.
He glanced around the room and his gaze landed on the stacks of clothes and the open suitcase. “Sweetheart, you’re running behind,” he said, lifting the stacks of clothes in his hands and setting them in the suitcase.
Swallowing over the lump in her throat, she found some semblance of her voice. “I was thinking it would be best if I didn’t go.”
He searched her face. “You were going to chicken out.”
“I was not going to chicken out,” she said, automatically lifting her chin. “I was just going to make a wise decision.”
He walked toward her and her stomach danced with butterflies of expectation.
“This is your chance to let down your hair. Even your dad has given his okay.”
She still considered that miraculous. “Yes, but my mother has freaked out. She said she’s too upset to get out of bed.”
“It’s not as if I’m taking you to some war-torn country.”
“Alex,” she chided him, but couldn’t put a lot of oomph into the emotion because she secretly agreed with him.
“You want me to talk to her?” he offered.
Mallory shook her head vehemently. “No, no, no. You don’t have a calming effect on women.”
He rested his hands on his hips. “I’m not going to try to push you to do something you don’t want to do,” he said. “I’ll walk down to my car and give you five minutes to join me. But don’t blame this one on your parents. Make your own decision,” he said and left the room.
Mallory stared after him, her heart hammering against her rib cage. She’
d spent most of her life forced to be sensible and ultracareful out of consideration for the most important people in her life.
Alex was right. This was her opportunity to taste a little of the freedom she’d been craving, so why was she stalling? Was it because she was afraid of what he brought out in her? Was it because she was afraid of breaking her hard and fast rule to not fall for him?
Taking a deep breath and telling herself to stop overthinking, she put another stack of clothes in her suitcase. She went to the bathroom and grabbed her travel bag of toiletry items and tossed them into the suitcase. She opened the lowest drawer in her dresser and paused, her hand hovering over the bits of silk and lace that she had never found the nerve to wear in front of another human being.
Her door burst open again, startling her. Alex and a big beefy man wearing a chauffeur’s uniform stepped inside. “I decided you might need some help,” he said and glanced down at her suitcase. “Is it ready?”
“Yes, but—”
“Okay, Todd, you mind closing it up and carrying it downstairs?”
“No, sir,” the man said and followed Alex’s orders.
Alex met her gaze. “And now for you,” he said, moving toward her.
Mallory felt her stomach dance with nerves.
“Where’s your passport?” he asked.
“The top left-hand drawer in my bureau, but I can get it,” she said.
He opened the drawer, pulled out her passport and flipped through the empty pages. Mallory felt a twist of embarrassment at the lack of places she’d been.
“I don’t see a lot of stamps,” he said.
“No.”
“You don’t like to travel?” he asked, turning back toward her.
“I love to travel. I just haven’t—” She broke off and squealed as he hauled her over his shoulder and walked out of her bedroom. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you to my car.”
Embarrassed, but oddly thrilled, Mallory bounced against his shoulder as he carried her down the staircase. Hilda stood by the front door wearing an expression of shock and confusion.
“Miss James?” she said, clearly unsure what she should do.
“I’m okay,” she said to Hilda. “Just don’t tell Mom about this. Alex, I thought you said you weren’t going to push me.”
“Mallory,” he said in a sexy, chiding voice. “This isn’t pushing. It’s carrying.”
When he stopped outside a Bentley and allowed her to slide down the front of him, so that she was acutely aware of his hard, muscular body, Mallory looked into his green gaze and relearned what she’d already known. Alex was trouble.
Five
Mallory flipped through a magazine during the flight to Cabo San Lucas on Alex’s private jet. She stole a glance at Alex and tried to push aside her edginess. Alex appeared to be working on a redesign of an existing resort, complete with construction plans and artist’s renderings.
“Looks nice,” she said.
He glanced up and nodded. “These are for a redevelopment for a resort off the coast of South Carolina. I just bought out a competitor last week. It was a steal.
“And you already have plans?” she asked, surprised because she’d heard so many stories about the drag time associated with construction.
He smiled and at that moment, he reminded her of a shark. “The people I work with know not to drag their feet. Otherwise, they won’t be working for me.”
She nodded. “I wish I’d brought my laptop. That way I could have done some classwork.”
He shook his head and leaned back in his seat. “I want this to be a weekend of total relaxation and irresponsibility for you.”
She couldn’t swallow her humor. “That’s not exactly equitable. You’re working now and you’ll be working at the resort.”
“Briefly at the resort,” he corrected her. “I’m delivering a keynote because Max De Luca didn’t want to go without his lovely wife, Lilli. She wouldn’t go because the baby got a cold earlier this week.”
Mallory frowned. “I hadn’t heard. Poor thing. I know Lilli refuses to leave David when he’s sick. She’s very protective.”
“As is Max,” Alex added and glanced down at the drawings again.
“I like that about him,” she said thoughtfully.
“What?” he asked.
“I like that Max is protective of David even though David isn’t his biological son.”
Alex nodded. “Max is tough. Lilli’s made him human.”
“You like her?” Mallory asked, feeling a twinge of envy.
“She’s a lovely woman on the outside and the inside. She brought cupcakes to the office for Alex’s birthday. I thought he was going to fall over, but he loved it. And the cupcakes were damn good. I tried to talk her into making some for my birthday, but Alex told me to call a bakery. SOB.”
Mallory laughed. “Are cupcakes your favorite?”
“Anything baked homemade is my favorite,” he said. “I like cookies, cupcakes. My favorite is apple pie with ice cream.”
She laughed again. “You just don’t seem like the all-American apple pie kind of guy.”
“Why not?”
“You’re too—” She broke off, feeling heat rush to her cheeks.
“Blushing again?”
“I don’t blush,” she said.
“No?” he said, leaning toward her and lifting his fingers to her cheeks. “Then what is this pretty pink color I see—”
“A gentleman wouldn’t make a big deal out of it,” she said.
“You’ve said I’m not a gentleman. And you like that about me,” he said, rubbing his index finger over her lips, sliding it inside against her teeth.
Mallory instinctively opened her mouth and he slid his finger onto her tongue. It was an incredibly erotic moment that came out of nowhere. Her gaze held by his, she curled her tongue around his finger and gently suckled.
Alex’s eyes blazed with desire and he pushed aside his papers and pulled her onto his lap. “You like to tempt me, don’t you?” he asked her. “I think you want to see how far you can push me.”
“You started it,” she said, her hands resting on his strong chest and loving the sensation of his muscles. He slid his fingers beneath the bottom edge of her blouse and stroked her bare skin.
“Does that mean you want me to stop?” he asked.
Her heart hammering in her chest, she slipped her hands up to his shoulders. “I didn’t say that.”
“I can’t help wondering what you’re like when you really cut loose,” he said, lowering his mouth to her jaw and kissing.
Craving more, she lifted her head to give him access to her throat. He immediately read her invitation and responded. She sighed at the delicious sensation of his mouth on her bare skin.
“You will be in my bed,” he told her. “It’s inevitable.”
She felt herself sinking under his spell. She wanted him, but she would be a fool to give him her heart.
Five hours later, Alex had delivered one speech and he would give another one during dinner. After that he could attend to his female guest who had followed his advice to make use of all the resort facilities.
As he changed his shirt and tie for dinner, he returned a call to Todd, his chauffeur/bodyguard. “What’s up?” Alex asked, glancing out the window to the wide beach and blue ocean.
“So far, she went snorkeling, spent a little time in a kayak, drove a Jet Ski. Now she wants to go Para-Sailing.”
“What the—” Alex stared out the window this time, looking for Mallory and Todd. “You told her she couldn’t do it, right?”
“I did. She wasn’t very happy about it. Said you and I were as bad as her father,” he said.
“Where the hell are you?”
“At the Rigger Resort,” Todd said. “It’s about four hotels west of the Megalos complex. I bought her a drink in the Tiki bar to distract her, but I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a few mi
nutes,” Alex said.
“But I’m your driver,” he said.
“I’ll be there in five,” Alex insisted as he left the suite.
Alex easily commandeered a hotel shuttle and walked into the Tiki bar. He spotted Mallory immediately. Dressed in a scant black bikini that emphasized her curves she wore a joyous smile on her face and her long, dark hair was slick against her back. She was riveting. Blinking, he noticed other men were equally riveted. The land sharks were moving in while Todd tried to push them back.
Alex parted the crowd and stood in front of Mallory. As soon as she recognized him, she jumped from her stool and stopped just sort of throwing her arms around him. “Oops. I don’t want to get you wet.”
“Hey, baby, you can get me wet anytime,” a male voice called from a few feet away.
Alex shot the man a quelling glance that sent a hush over the crowd. Then he turned back to Mallory. “You’ve been busy.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I’ve had so much fun. Loved the Jet Ski. I definitely want to do that again. And snorkel. And snuba. You said you would take me to snuba. I’m almost ready for deep-sea diving.” Her brow furrowed and she leaned closer to him. “The only thing is that Todd here is being a spoilsport. I was all set to Para-Sail, but he nixed it. Now it’s too late.”
He pulled her to the side. “You don’t need to do everything in one day,” he pointed out. “We can snuba and Para-Sail tomorrow, together.”
She searched his face. “I didn’t know if you would be busy tomorrow, too.”
He shook his head. “Not a chance. And I want to make sure we get the best Para-Sail group. I won’t have you risking your gorgeous body with some flyby-night company.”
Her lips curved in a slow smile. “So you were the one who nixed the Para-Sail excursion.”
“Damn right,” he said offering no excuses. “You can wait one more day and do it tandem with me. That way, you’ll always associate the experience with me.”
“That sounds a little possessive,” she said.
“Does that upset you?” he asked.
A moment of silence passed between them where he felt a fist of longing build in his gut, surprising him with its force. He saw the same dark longing reflected in her eyes.