Lalita put up her hand in surrender.
“All right. Sit down and I’ll try my best to recall the conversation.”
He moved toward the chair but he didn’t sit.
“After I discovered that the woman wearing nothing but your shirt was actually your sister, Susan, and not your lover as she would have me believe … ” Lalita began.
Jeremy swore under his breath.
“The discussion then turned to the financial viability of my family. She said I must be rich, as all your girlfriends are rich.”
“All? I have no girlfriends. I haven’t introduced a woman to my family in five years. Any relationships I’ve had have been transitory, momentary. Nothing has lasted beyond three dates. No woman could compare once I’d kissed you.”
“How could Susan know I was your … girlfriend, then? And that my family is rich?”
“You came to my house with a suitcase. I think it would have been fairly obvious to anyone that you intended to spend the weekend. As you’ve seen, my house is tiny. I’m told the bed in the spare room is uncomfortable. If you weren’t my woman, there would be a million better places to spend the night. Did you tell her your last name?”
“I might have,” Lalita conceded.
“Susan was at Robert and Jane’s wedding. She has met your family.”
Lalita seemed to digest that information. Jeremy took a step closer.
“What did you mean when you told your mother that you would get a nice bonus out of your Asia trip?”
“Your father promised me a year-end bonus equal to a percentage in profit increase for the region. As you said, Asia is the most profitable region for the company. Even a one percent increase would be substantial. Plus, earning a bonus in Europe was easy. You run Asia so well that any increase in profits would be hard-earned. I like a challenge, to test my skills. It makes me a better professional.”
“You don’t consider me to be the bonus from your Asia trip, then?”
Jeremy rounded the desk. He put both hands on the arms of her chair and stared into her eyes.
“A bonus is something additional to what is expected. You, Lalita, are not an addition and never expected. You are the foundation, the basis for my being. Over the past six weeks, I’ve come to appreciate that without you in it, my life is empty and meaningless … a series of mindless challenges that mean nothing.”
Lalita closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them Jeremy pulled her up, into his arms.
“She also made up the part about you blackmailing the Johnson family for a scholarship, I assume.”
He was going to kill Susan when he next saw her. Jeremy gazed deeply into Lalita’s eyes, and almost forgot what they were discussing. He wanted to see her eyes dark with passion, not clouded with grief.
“Lalita, you know Robert. Would he have asked me to be the best man at his wedding if I was a deviant blackmailer? Don’t you think he would also have had a quiet word in your father’s ear when John hired me again?”
Jeremy’s lips were inches from Lalita’s. He sure hoped she had finished talking.
“I’ve been such a fool. Kiss me, Jeremy.”
She didn’t need to ask twice.
Six weeks of pent up frustration and anguish made it difficult for Jeremy to keep the kiss gentle. When Lalita moaned in his arms and pulled him closer, he gave in to his desires and kissed her until they were both breathing heavily. He pulled back. Lalita tucked her head under his chin, not releasing the death grip she had on him. She didn’t need to worry that he’d leave. As far as he was concerned, Jeremy would never let her go again.
“We need to get out of here. Are you still in the apartment upstairs?”
“No, Corey’s there.” Lalita’s voice was heavy as if she was trying to hold some inner turmoil inside.
Jeremy leaned back and lifted her chin. Her eyes were still clouded, anxious.
“I can’t do this again, Jeremy.”
This time his heart completely stopped. Blood began to pool in his feet.
“Can’t do what?”
“I can’t break up with you again. It nearly destroyed me.”
His heart restarted, thumping so loud he wondered that Grace didn’t barge in wondering what was going on.
“I am never going to let you go again, Lalita. You have to promise me that in future you will talk to me about whatever doubts or worries you have. I almost went mad wondering what had happened.”
“I will,” she whispered against his lips before kissing him.
“Your taxi is waiting downstairs, Lalita.” Grace opened the door but didn’t come in.
Jeremy lifted his head.
“You have a meeting to go to?”
“No, I think she booked that for us. Grace is an amazingly intuitive woman.”
“Not as amazing as you. Let’s get out of here.”
• • •
“Who was that man in your office?”
Lalita raised her head from where it rested on Jeremy’s chest. The last two hours he had shown her again and again how much he had missed her.
“There was a man in my office?” Lalita smiled at Jeremy. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so … delicious. Releasing five years of pent-up frustration had been wonderful. Easing six weeks of heartbreak was even better. She trailed a hand from his chest down to his hip.
“Corey something?” Jeremy’s own hand went on an exploration.
“Oh, Corey. He’s my replacement.”
Jeremy’s hand halted.
“Your replacement?”
“Yes, you are currently feeling up the new Director, Central and South American Operations. I am due to relocate to Santiago, Chile on January fifth.”
“What?” Jeremy stopped his investigations and sat up.
“Hold on.”
Lalita threw back the covers and padded out of bed. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught Jeremy’s eye and bit her lip provocatively. She picked up his shirt that had only made it as far as the living room and put it on. Extracting her mobile phone from her handbag, she returned to the bed.
“What are you doing?” Jeremy raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. The sheet sat low on his hips. Lalita swallowed.
“I’m emailing my father and asking him to hold off on announcing my new position.”
Lalita tossed the phone on the bedside table and straddled Jeremy’s thighs. She had managed to do up three of the buttons on the shirt on her return to the bedroom. Jeremy was busy undoing them.
“I think it’s time we talked,” Lalita managed to get out as Jeremy began to caress her breasts. His head stopped mid-descent.
“Talk?” he asked as if it was a foreign concept to him.
“We seem to get distracted.”
“Are you complaining?” Jeremy’s lips replaced his hand on her breast.
Lalita arched her back. Talking could wait.
An hour later, Lalita opened her eyes to find Jeremy watching her. His brows were furrowed.
“Santiago?”
“So now you want to talk?” Lalita teased.
“If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past two months is that I do not work well when you are on a different continent to me. I suppose I could try to get a job there, too.”
“You’d move to South America for me? What about your family?”
“I love my family, except at the moment my sister Susan. But I love you more.”
“You love me?”
“I love you, Lalita Evans. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
Lalita’s heart tripped merrily along. She put a finger to Jeremy’s lips.
“I love you, too, Jeremy Lakewood. I think more than even I realized until the past few weeks when
I believed we were over.”
Jeremy leaned down and kissed her. Not a kiss of passion, but one of shared pain.
“So, Chile?”
“That was when I needed to get as far away from you as possible. And every time I thought of the offices here in Asia, I would remember some place we went, or something we did. South America seemed a perfect place without memories to haunt me.”
Lalita reached up a hand and caressed Jeremy’s face. She wouldn’t get tired of waking up next to him every day of her life.
“What are we going to do?”
“For once in my life, I am going to trade on the fact that I am the CEO’s daughter and request a posting in London. John’s been trying to get me to move back to the UK for years and has offered me some interesting positions. I’ve never been tempted before now.” She ran a hand down his back.
“What about us both working out of the same office? It won’t go down well if the company tries to enforce a no-internal-relationship policy if two of its directors are breaking it.”
“That policy is mostly to prevent what happened in Manila — with one person not doing their job while the other hides the incompetence due to the personal affair. We’ll have to disclose our relationship to the Board, see what they say. Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. I don’t think, given the way we respond to each other, we’d be any good at hiding our affair.”
“Whatever do you mean, Ms. Evans?”
Jeremy kissed her until she forgot what they were discussing. He seemed to be having far too much fun though having the upper hand. She flipped him on his back and straddled his waist.
“I mean that whenever we are in the same room together we just about set the furniture on fire.”
“Then I guess you are going to have to learn to be professional and resist my obvious charms.” A smug smile accompanied Jeremy’s words.
“Professional? I wasn’t the one that ordered the next DAO to leave the room so he could kiss the current one.”
“That wasn’t unprofessional, that was authoritative. You like that about me.”
Yes, she did. She would soon grow bored of a man that didn’t take the lead, or at least try. But Jeremy didn’t need to know that, not yet anyway.
“What I like about you is the way you kiss. You are amazing. If you ever give up the marketing gig, you can always start a kissing school. There are a lot of men that could use your knowledge.”
Jeremy pulled Lalita’s head down until their lips were a mere millimeter apart. “Have you been kissed by lots of men, then?”
“Enough to know when I’m in the hands of a professional.” Lalita sighed. She closed the gap between their lips. For once Jeremy didn’t kiss her.
“Rich men?” Jeremy’s lips moved against hers as he spoke. He still didn’t kiss her.
Lalita sat up so she could see his eyes. He did want to talk.
“Rich men, poor men, I don’t discriminate.”
“You may not discriminate. However, your money does come between us. It is the real reason you ran out of my house. If you didn’t secretly think I was after your money, you would have laughed in Susan’s face and thrown her out.”
Lalita climbed off Jeremy and pulled on his shirt which had ended up on the floor beside the bed. “I can’t have this conversation with you while we’re both naked.” She stalled for time.
Jeremy grabbed her hand as she moved away from the bed.
“Discussions about money require clothes?”
“Yes, it’s an unwritten rule.” Lalita tried for levity. Facing her fear, that she was wanted only for her money, was still a tough prospect for her.
She pulled her hand out of Jeremy’s and headed out of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him throw back the sheet that had been covering his lower half and stride after her. Lalita whirled around as he reached for her hand again.
“You’re still naked,” she reminded him.
“You have my shirt.” He released her and hunted around for his underpants, finally finding them behind the sofa, and put them on. “My suitcase and the bag you left at my place in London are still at the airport. I was worried the customs officer was going to open your bag and ask why I had a suitcase of women’s clothes — especially that lacy black number that I spent endless nights imagining you in.”
Lalita smiled at that. “We can go get them later.”
She wandered into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Even though she was in her own home, she still opened three cupboards before she found the cups. “Tea?”
Jeremy nodded. “Money. Let’s finish this discussion. I don’t want this to come between us again.”
Lalita leaned against the counter top, gripping it with both hands. Jeremy pulled her against him. His eyes searched hers.
“Look me in the eye, Lalita.” His voice was stern. “I don’t want your money, I want you. I’ll sign any piece of paper put before me renouncing any claim on your fortune. I can’t keep you in the style and manner to which you are accustomed … yet. But we won’t have to eat beans on toast unless we want to. Let’s take this one step at a time; if you ever feel uncomfortable you talk to me. Promise?”
Lalita examined his face. She could find no hint of duplicity, no indication that he might be lying. “I promise,” she said at last.
Jeremy kissed her then. The tea was forgotten.
Chapter 13
“I spoke to my father while you were in the shower.” Lalita watched Jeremy over the rim of her coffee cup. He sat at her breakfast bar, eating the eggs and ham she’d cooked for him. The scene of domestic tranquility was soon to be marred, however, by the fact that Jeremy had to leave in an hour to catch his return flight to the UK. The next three weeks apart stretched before them like an eternity.
“I wondered why you didn’t join me.” The pure male satisfaction on his face caused her heart to flip-flop. A quick trip to the airport to pick up the suitcases and a stop at the grocery store were the only forays out of the house they’d made over the weekend.
“He’s not amused,” she warned him.
“At our getting back together or that now you don’t want to go to Chile?” Jeremy put down his fork.
“Both. He doesn’t think you’re good enough for me. And having convinced him, and the Board, of the merits of opening an office in Santiago, he’s upset that I have let the company down. All to be with a man he doesn’t like.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“I’ve made enough personal sacrifices for the company. It’s time I worked for my own happiness. I’m not the only one eligible to go to Chile. In fact, Carlos in Spain would be even more appropriate; he speaks the language better than I do. He’s chafing in the number two position in Madrid. If he doesn’t get a promotion soon, we risk losing him to the competition.”
“What did your father say to that suggestion?”
“He just grumbled. Anyway, I am to report to his office in three weeks rather than four.”
“I can’t complain about that.” Jeremy finished his breakfast, lingering over the coffee.
“You’re not eating?”
She was too upset to eat. Her father’s approval still meant a lot to her. For once, though, she trusted her own instincts over those of her father. She wasn’t going to give up Jeremy without a fight. “I’ll eat later. I’ve got three weeks.”
“I’m not one of those men that like stick creatures for women. I love your curves, Lalita. Don’t lose any weight for me.”
Forcing her father’s disapproval to the back of her mind, she pasted on a smile. Jeremy had to leave in an hour and she wasn’t going to ruin the last moments with him by moping over her father’s words.
“I am going to jump in the shower while you try to find your clothes. I think one of your socks is on the
mantle.”
She walked out of the kitchen. Jeremy grabbed her as she passed and pulled her into an embrace. “Yeah? Well one of your bras is dangling from the chandelier in the dining room,” he teased. He kissed her until her knees buckled.
“Good weekend?” Jeremy asked as he buried his face in her hair. He teased her earlobe with his lips.
“The best.” She let her head fall back. He trailed kisses down her neck to the collar of his shirt that she wore.
“You can keep that shirt. Now go get in the shower before we end up in bed and I miss my flight.” Jeremy patted her bare bottom as she walked away.
“Would that be such a bad thing?” she tossed over her shoulder. Jeremy brought out the sex kitten in her she hadn’t known existed.
“Your father already hates me. I don’t think he’d be too impressed if I didn’t show up in the office tomorrow because I was still in your bed.”
“Probably not. But one day I’ll be CEO. Then I’ll have sexual fulfillment written into your contract.” She went into the shower, wishing the warm water coursing over her naked skin was Jeremy’s hands. Three weeks couldn’t come soon enough.
• • •
Jeremy picked up the clothes he could find and shoved them into his bag. If he left some behind, it would only serve to remind Lalita of their weekend of passion. Living mostly out of suitcases, he was usually a meticulous packer, he hated his clothes all scrunched up. Today, however, he couldn’t be bothered.
He hadn’t stopped to consider the ramification of Lalita becoming CEO of Evans International. It was inevitable, he could see it now. However, there is no way he could work for her. He’d always wonder if her decisions were swayed by their relationship. While they were both directors, it wouldn’t matter; she had no influence on his department and vice versa. Jeremy pulled a pair of trousers out of the sofa cushions and tossed them on his bag.
Lalita as his CEO — they’d cross that employment dilemma when they came to it. It wasn’t as if he’d work for Evans forever. He had plans to open his own marketing company within the next five years. For now, however, he had to think of a way to make John Evans come around in his opinion of him as the man for Lalita. She might claim indifference but Jeremy knew her father’s opinion carried a lot of weight with her.
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