She rubbed her bare arms and looked idly around the room. It was decorated with cutting-edge furniture all chrome and glass. Sleek leather sofas and plush velvet pillows. An avant-garde painting hung on one wall and a bank of mirrors lined another. Lily thought she looked out of place in the room.
She glanced quickly away. She’d always imagined how the rich and famous lived but this didn’t seem too great to her. The plush carpeting invited her to kick off her shoes and run her toes through the pile, but she knew Preston would never do such a thing.
“Wine?”
She nodded. Preston’s shirt was open at the collar and she glimpsed the hair curling at his neck. She trembled as she reached for the wineglass.
He motioned for her to be seated on one of the leather sofas. Miles Davis’s “Summer Night” played in the background. The warm, smooth trumpet melody highlighted the loneliness of the room and the man who lived there.
Lily perched on the edge of the seat afraid to move, lest she spill her merlot. For the first time since she’d met him she had nothing to say. She acknowledged she was out of her depth with him and realized that put her at a disadvantage.
Though he sat next to her, they were separated like the French and Spanish inhabitants of early New Orleans. A respectable five inches separated them, but the heat of his body reached her in waves. He smelled of expensive cologne and a scent that was uniquely Preston. She leaned closer to him before she realized what she was doing.
Like a debutante in search of the elusive gold bean in a King Cake, she wanted him. The King Cake was baked only during Mardi Gras and whoever got the bean received their wish. For once she wanted to be like the city she’d grown up in: the city had been built of saints and sinners, but she was tired of being the good girl.
The revelation startled her, and Lily deliberately scooted away from Preston. Trying for a hint of normalcy, she said, “Your place is very nice.”
“It mirrors my penthouse in Manhattan. I like to feel at home wherever I go.”
She had a glimpse of the man behind the corporate success and generations of wealth. It revealed to her the craving she doubted he was even aware of—the craving for home. Suddenly she knew she wasn’t going to just have to prove to him love existed, she was going to have to show him that family and friends were the key to nurturing love.
“Why did you ask me here tonight?” she asked before taking a sip of her wine. She knew that he was uncomfortable with her attempts to show him love in the world. But she was determined that Preston would learn to love.
“So that I could seduce you,” he said in a deep voice.
She sputtered, choking on her wine. His words sent tiny contractions throughout her body. Tightening her breasts against the lacy cups of her bra and making her feminine place moist. If only seduction were that simple, she thought, but the consequences would have long-reaching effects.
“Relax, little red, I’m not the big bad wolf ready to pounce.” He took her goblet from her and set it on the beveled-glass coffee table.
“This place makes me uncomfortable,” she said. His gray eyes watched her carefully, and she wondered if he felt that same nervous-tingly-anticipating emotion she did.
He settled his arm against the back of the couch, his hand resting innocently on her shoulder. “Really? I thought I did.”
Lily’s pulse picked up, and she barely understood what Preston was saying. Her breasts felt full as his finger moved idly back and forth on her bare upper arm. Prickles shot from her shoulder throughout her body.
“Angel, do I make you nervous?”
“Yes, but I’m getting used to you in my world. Just seeing you in your own is different.” She had trouble holding on to the thread of the conversation. She wanted to slip closer to him on the sofa and feel his masculine body pressed against her softer one. She wanted to pull him closer for the kiss he hadn’t claimed when she arrived. She wanted something she’d never wanted from a man before and that scared her.
“Don’t start treating me with the respect my position usually commands. I won’t know how to deal with you.”
She smiled wryly. Here was the Preston she’d come to know. She had a feeling he was just coming to know this side of himself, as well. There was a lot of himself that Preston walled off from the world. This Preston made her want to hold him closer and show him the world she’d come to know.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure you can keep up.”
“No doubt.”
He still rubbed at her shoulder and if they didn’t get up soon, she’d be moving closer to him. She scooted a few inches away from his touch.
“What’s the matter, angel?” he asked, his eyes harder than diamonds. She shivered a little as she realized another facet of this amazing man.
Honesty had always been one of her credos even when it left her in an uncomfortable position. “I’m not ready to make love to you tonight, Preston. But I think you could make me believe I am.”
He cursed under his breath and picked up his wineglass, draining it in one swallow. “I know that.”
“Why did you really invite me here?” she asked for the second time.
He looked at her, and Lily thought it was to make sure she could handle the truth of his words. She tried to look brave and gave him a weak smile.
“Because I want you and you want me. It’s time we really learned about each other.”
“Why?” She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why he’d want to know more about her, because the man who lived in this apartment was used to successful seduction.
“Because sooner or later I’m going to have you, and I don’t want you to regret it.”
She thought about that for a minute. “I’d never regret anything I did with you.”
He reached out to touch her cheek gently. “I hope not, angel. I hope not.”
Five
Preston knew he’d almost lost Lily earlier in the living room, but here on the balcony, with the remains of a five-star dinner on the table between them, things were different. Maybe it was because the city she loved was spread beneath them. A thriving sea of humanity with all its glories and faults.
They’d talked about books they liked, and he wasn’t surprised to learn Lily preferred fiction that had a happy ending. She was well versed in ancient mythology and had regaled him with love stories from classic Greece. He didn’t believe that learning about the toils some lovers went through to stay together was going to change his mind about modern love, but he appreciated the time she was putting into the project.
“Do you really think love is worth all that?” he asked after she told the tale of Odysseus, which he’d heard before.
“You’re missing the point, deliberately I think. Love is the reward you get after overcoming the tough times in life.”
“Interesting. Have you been rewarded?” Preston knew he’d never been rewarded. He’d often taken pleasure in people and in possessions but he’d never known anything lasting from them. Even the car he drove would be replaced, probably next year.
“I wouldn’t be here with you if I had. I do have the love of my brothers and grandmother, though.”
“What of your parents?” he asked.
“You know that story. But they loved me when they were alive. Didn’t yours?”
“No.”
He knew she wanted to know more, but he wasn’t going to bare all for her. He didn’t talk about his family with anyone. Not even his closest acquaintances knew his true feelings about them. And he would never reveal them. He had been raised to be polite, to buy what he wanted and take what he could. Never look back, he remembered his father saying as they watched his mother leave them for what would be the final time to go to one of her many younger lovers.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, her small hand resting lightly on his own.
He shook his head. “Not tonight.”
“We’re never going to get to know each other if we don’t talk about what’s made u
s who we are, Preston.”
“Hard work and ambition have shaped me,” he said, bluntly. He wanted her but didn’t want her prying. He wanted to probe her depths, to find the secrets of her soul but at the same time he wanted to stay safe within his own world.
“Me, too,” she said with a small smile.
“Tell me what it’s like to own your small business.”
“It’s hard work. Grandmother wanted my parents to take over, but they were archeologists and traveled all over the world on digs. They always left us behind, and Grandmother said she wasn’t losing another generation to the world, so she raised me to love the past and her shop.”
“Do you like what you do?”
“I wouldn’t do anything else.”
He realized she meant that and longed to feel the same about something in his life. His job didn’t give him the sense of satisfaction that was radiating from Lily.
“What about you?” she asked. “What’s shaped you?”
“My dad had a sudden heart attack when I was in my last year of college. He died instantly.”
Her fingers tightened on his and he was tempted to squeeze back but didn’t. He wanted to find the safe neutral ground with her. Sex and the present but not the past, he warned himself.
“Anyway, Dexter Resorts was in some trouble. The board of directors wanted to sell off the different properties. I convinced them to give me a year to turn things around.”
“And you did it,” she said.
“Damn straight.”
“Because you didn’t want to lose what your father had worked so hard for?”
His father had been a bit of a playboy, spending more money than the resort chain could ever have made. So following in his dad’s footsteps had never been a goal. In fact, he’d never analyzed too closely just why he’d had to save Dexter Resorts.
“What do you do for fun?” she asked, leaning across the table. He wondered if the wine had made her a little tipsy.
“Work. You?” he asked, finishing off his own glass of merlot.
She batted her eyelashes at him and smiled like the temptress she was when she relaxed and dropped her guard. Heat shot straight to his groin, and he had a hard time concentrating on her words. “I play a mean game of basketball.”
He eyed her frame. Soft and sexy, Lily was everything that was feminine and ladylike. Also she barely topped five-three in heels. “Sure you do, angel.”
The temptress disappeared, and the hoyden who’d challenged him to believe in love reappeared. “I could beat you anyday.”
This was the lady he knew would go up in flames in his arms. The adventuresome woman who Lily tried to keep under wraps. “Prove it.”
“Okay, let’s go. We can play at my shop. I have a hoop in the alley.” She stood up, hands on her hips. Challenging and ready for a fight.
Preston grabbed her hand and tugged her closer to his chair. Her sundress was made of some sort of flimsy material and the light from inside his apartment illuminated her body. She was so tempting. One tug and she’d be in his lap. “Not tonight. Tomorrow afternoon.”
“Great. I look forward to it. I’ve always wanted to see a man eat crow.” Her eyes sparkled, and suddenly resisting her wasn’t something he could do.
“Really?” he asked, pulling her closer to him. She leaned down so that they were face-to-face. Her breath brushed over his mouth, and he closed his eyes so that he wouldn’t be able to see the sweet innocence in hers.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her nipples were beaded against the flimsy bodice of her dress. His hands shook with the need to touch her more intimately.
“Want to make it a little more interesting?” he asked, hanging on by a thread.
“With a wager?” she whispered. Her gaze on his mouth. He brushed his mouth gently over hers. Back and forth, teasing them with barely a glimpse of each other.
“Oh, yeah,” he said.
“Name your price,” she said, licking her lips.
You in my bed, he thought. But that was the surest way to drive her out of his apartment and his life. “An evening together, winner’s choice.”
Her free hand came up to cup his face, and for a moment he forgot about seduction. Forgot about spending the evening in that big king-size bed just a few feet away. Forgot that she wanted from him the one thing he’d always feared.
“I’ll make you see that love does exist,” she promised.
“I’ll make love to you until you forget about girlish notions of love,” he returned, turning his face in her palm and biting the flesh.
“Should we shake on it?”
“Hell, no,” he said, pulling her down on his lap and taking the kiss he’d been dying to claim all evening.
Lily knew that she could beat Preston in a game of one-on-one. She’d been playing basketball everyday of her life. Her father had gone to school on a basketball scholarship, and whenever he’d come home he’d always taken her to the courts to play.
Dash had been All-State in high school, and Beau had played in college, and she could beat both of them when she concentrated on her game. But then, she didn’t think of them as men. She’d never noticed anyone on the court apart from her game strategy, but she noticed Preston.
Actually it went beyond noticing. She told herself that it was due to the fact that she’d never seen him in anything other than business clothing, but she didn’t know if that was true. His athletic shorts and tank top were new, but fit him like a second skin. He moved across the court with grace and ease, and she knew she’d have to concentrate to beat him.
But she couldn’t help notice the rippling of muscles as he made a free throw or the power in his legs as he dribbled down the court. He leaped in the air and made a throw that would have done a pro proud.
The now-familiar excitement started pumping through her veins. Dammit. This was the one time she really wanted to win, and he was distracting her with his body. She glared at him, wanting to believe he knew what he was doing to her but feared he didn’t. He hadn’t even kissed her when he’d arrived. A first since he’d told her he wanted her in his bed.
She had to get her mind on the game. There was more at stake here than she wanted to admit, but she knew she had to win. He passed the ball to her, and she practiced dribbling down the court and took her shot. It hit the backboard and bounced out of bounds.
“Nice try, angel,” Preston said with a wink.
“Never let the competition see your strengths,” she said. Damn, she never missed from the free-throw line. Breathe, she reminded herself, and don’t think about his body.
“What are you showing me?”
“Nothing. I’m letting you build false confidence.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, wishing it was true.
“Ready to start?” he asked.
“Whenever you are, pretty boy.”
“Was that an insult?”
“Did you take it as one?”
He eyed her carefully and tossed her the basketball.
“Ladies first.”
They played fast and furious, as if the outcome were more important than they’d both been telling each other it was. Lily had never met a man who’d treated her as an equal on the court the way Preston did. She had to admit he was a better player than she’d given him credit for being, but he wasn’t better than her.
Also, he wasn’t above using any means at his disposal to win. When he blocked her as she went to score the winning point, his hand brushed her breast. The ball bounced out off the rim and Lily stood trembling, afraid to move.
“You missed,” he said, his voice husky with exertion and sexual tension.
“That’s cheating,” she said, trying to ignore the ache in her nipples. At least she was wearing a sports bra. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.
“Purely accidental,” he said, but his gaze lingered on her chest. She had the impulse to cross her arms over her bre
asts but didn’t give in to it. Instead she thrust her shoulders back, watching as he swallowed visibly and looked away.
Did she affect him as deeply as he did her? Lily decided to try a little experiment. She blocked him as he tried to take a shot and this time used all the tools in her feminine arsenal. This was man against woman, she realized.
Turning, she used the back of her body to block him and then as he coiled to jump she thrust her hips back toward him, brushing against his groin. She took a step forward; planning to excuse herself for the below-the-belt touch, but Preston was quicker than she’d expected.
Letting the ball roll off the court and grabbing her waist, he pulled her closer to him. His ragged breath brushed against her neck, making gooseflesh spread throughout her body.
“Is this how you want to play?” he asked, dropping small biting kisses along her neck.
Lily couldn’t even think. It seemed she did have some effect on him and his control. She knew he wanted to keep her in the role of a woman he was seducing, but she wasn’t going to let him. Because last night at his place she’d realized that Preston needed everything she had to give him. He needed more than her body and her company. He needed someone to show him how to love with his soul.
She wanted him but feared the wild impulses racing through her body. He made her react and damn the consequences. But she knew that the sinner always had to repent. Her instincts screamed for her to take what he was offering, to know what it was like to really be a woman. But her heart warned she’d get hurt. And she wasn’t ready to risk her heart.
She was already energized from going toe-to-toe with him on the court. She wanted to win the game there, but she’d rather win on the personal level. She’d rather have him at her mercy here, man to woman than player to player.
She shifted back against him, enjoying the feel of his hard body behind her softer one. Enjoying the pressure of his body against her. Enjoying the fact that he could make her feel as if each of her senses was on overload.
The Tycoon's Temptation (HQR Silhouette Desire) Page 5