His smile broadened, and her eyes lingered on his mouth. It was a distracting mouth, and it looked as though it housed a pocket of talent. She felt hot all of a sudden, and the throb between her thighs intensified.
“Good. I have a proposal for you.”
He held out a large inviting hand, and Lila took it timidly. Electricity surged through her veins when he weaved his long fingers through hers and led her through the door.
Lila had forgotten that when multi-billionaires asked you out to lunch they usually had a limousine on standby, parked and waiting.
Suddenly his phone went off. He frowned as he stared down at it.
“We’ll be dining in my office.”
Her feet came to a sudden halt. Wait, they were going to his office to eat? He paused and stared down at her with the same intensity, only it didn’t make her quiver as her mind was still trying to wrap around the announcement.
“What’s wrong?” he murmured, his breath fanning across her forehead. He was intimately close to her.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Mr. Knight,” she said lamely. “I mean, we barely know each other.”
“Then let’s get to know each other.” His voice dropped low and raspy. Something flickered across his eyes as he said those words.
“All right, then, one bite,” she said quickly.
An orgasm-worthy smile was her reward.
The limo took them downtown to the HQ. As they climbed out of the car, she was so glad that she was dressed appropriately in a fitted crimson dress and heels. India always said these shoes were made to seduce. She glanced down at them and, sure enough, they were built with seduction in mind.
She suppressed a moan as Knight took her hand, intertwining their fingers together, another intimate gesture. How was his touch able to awaken something inside her so quickly? Almost as though he were…him…
No, it’s not possible, Lila.
Idly, she began psychoanalyzing him. She’d already picked up two things so far about him. He was impulsive and controlling. Maybe she could talk him into being her subject.
Lila cringed as she imagined interviewing Killean Knight about how his sexual preferences were linked to his behavioral structure. This man knew no boundaries. They stepped through the revolving doors, and she was aware all eyes were glued to them. He was like a walking magnet, garnering the turn of heads in the short walk to an elevator.
She took in a mouthful of air as his fingers made patterns on the skin of her hands. Maybe he was one of those men who got everything with the snap of his fingers. She could almost imagine what he would look like with such an autocratic air. The thought brought a smile to her lips. She wasn’t aware that Killean was watching her.
“Is the joke on me?” he asked as they stepped into the car.
“Oh, no. You just remind me of someone I met recently.”
Lila was even more aware of him now that they were the lone occupants of the car. She risked a glance at him and she could see the golden flecks twinkling in his forest green eyes. He was still holding her hand, and she was aware of the sudden charge between them. She was attracted to the man; she couldn’t deny it anymore. The air around them was suddenly charged with sexual tension.
“And who might that be?”
“A guy actually.”
“I see.”
She found his response cryptic, but she didn’t say anything more.
Her first meeting with him had turned her little world into sexual chaos. As he held her close, she had that clawing need to break out of her good girl repertoire and break down the thinning barriers between them.
Those twinkles in his eyes turned to burning lust, if she wasn’t mistaken. India had taught her to read men like a book, and this one wasn’t good at hiding his devious plans. Lila momentarily wondered if this was all a ploy by using lunch to get her alone with him. If so, it had worked.
Finally, the car halted and the doors slid open, and they stepped out into another lobby, this one with darker tones than the first. Everything was glass and steel and scary to touch.
His office was among several others that gave an aerial view of the city below. Once inside, he sat her down on the black leather sofa. Lila arched a brow as their food was already there on the coffee table along with a bottle of wine. He shrugged out of his jacket, the action causing the muscles in his biceps to flex. She found the act erotic. Everything about the man was sinfully sexy, addictive, and she hadn’t even gotten a taste yet. She knew what sweet agony felt like now. She wanted to cross her legs, but that felt uncomfortable.
He took a seat next her, the heat from his body wrapping her in a sultry haze. Risking a glance, she caught him watching her intently.
“You seem nervous,” he noted as he lifted the stainless steel covers from their meal. Lila realized it was Italian.
“I didn’t expect us to have lunch here,” she said as if that answered it all.
His smile was secretive. “Like I knew you would. But I wanted the privacy. Have you ever tried the Risotto alla Parmigiana?”
His accented voice was flawless, but then she imagined he wouldn’t be this cocky and not be good at everything he did.
“No.”
His smile was like…sex, literally. Lila was enthralled.
“Would you like wine?”
“A little.” She bit her lip.
“You don’t drink?”
“Un poco,” she explained. “But I prefer red wine.”
He filled the glasses up.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
The sudden diversion from food took Lila by surprise because she thought they were on the same page. Why would she let him hold her hand so intimately or force her to have lunch with him if she were dating anyone? Wasn’t that going against some set rule? She wouldn’t have been more shocked if he had asked her to strip, because the way he was looking at her now, she knew nothing deterred this man from getting what he wanted.
Which was why she knew whatever he was inquiring about, he already had the answers for. She was just playing along with his game.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a waste of my time as I am an impulsive person. I don’t have the capacity to sit through hours of someone fawning over me. I prefer if you just tell me what you want from me then I’ll see if I can comply. ”
She maintained eye contact and saw a spark of excitement lit up his eyes. But it was gone just as fast as it had appeared.
“How about you?” she asked.
“I don’t do romantic gestures, Miss Montgomery.”
His brilliant green orbs were suddenly shrouded with a darkness that should have scared her, but she found herself yearning to know more. She found his reasoning interesting. He didn’t do romance. There was something else amiss, but she doubted she wanted to go that deep with him.
“Why is that?”
“Let’s just say I’ve never had much luck in that department. So I guess we’re on the same page.”
“I highly doubt that.”
He gave her a heart-stopping grin that proved her point.
“You have a degree. Why not use it?”
The sudden change of conversation again. “I will.”
“So why are you delaying?”
Lila thought this man was just too arrogant and demanding, and someone needed to set him straight. You can.
“I wasn’t delaying anything, Mr. Knight. I did some non-profit work during those months. Work is important, but I’m not driven by money or wealth.”
Something sparked in his eyes, and suddenly his mouth became a hard line.
“What drives you then?”
She moistened her lips and looked up at him before taking her gaze to her plate once more. She knew he was trying to get her to maintain eye contact, but how was she supposed to sit here staring down into those eyes, holding her prisoner?
“Knowing I can put a smile on someone’s face. That’s priceless,”
she said honestly. “But I work with the present. I don’t really…plan.”
He seemed deeply interested in what she was saying, his eyes piercing hers.
“What?” she asked.
“I am just trying to figure you out,” he rasped.
“I’m not that hard to read.”
“Quite the contrary.”
“Maybe through your eyes.”
“I have a way of reading people, figuring them out. You hate Italian food.”
“I don’t hate it. I’m from two different backgrounds, and I like to explore things, so this is not so bad. I love Indian food. It’s spicy in a unique way. So are Mexican and Caribbean foods. You should try those.” Lila felt like she was blabbering.
“Maybe I will.”
She fidgeted with the glass of wine and was aware that he was watching her like a hawk. It didn’t frighten her in the way she thought it would. No one had ever held her under such hot scrutiny. It was interesting, and she wanted to know what he was seeing.
He murmured, “I find you very intriguing, beautiful, Lila.”
She arched an eyebrow at the person who had said this. The perfect epitome of male beauty, a man who could buy the world with his great looks.
She shrugged. “Your perception of beauty differs from mine.”
“You are beautiful, Miss Montgomery. But your eyes are the most interesting. They betray you, let me know what you’re thinking.”
She smiled. If only you knew the half of it, Mr. Knight. “If you say so.”
“You aren’t making eye contact with me.”
She met his gaze then, and he smirked. “Does this usually work for you?”
“What?”
“This tactic.”
“I am just being honest. You don’t believe me.”
“You’re kind of hard to read yourself.”
“People usually say that when they don’t know me.”
“What about the ones who know you?”
He glanced away from her, and the corner of his lips curved upward. “They have nothing good to say.”
“I can only imagine. Did you see the dean today? I heard she was out.”
He frowned slightly, and she raised a brow. “I did.”
Lila chewed a tomato.
“Don’t change the subject, Lila. Tell me about your psychology research.”
“Well, there’s not any research yet until I’ve found a participant. I doubt there are persons willing to open up their bedroom doors so I can evaluate how their sexual preferences are linked to their behavior. You know anyone?”
His mouth curved into a secretive smile. “How about me?”
Lila nearly choked, her eyes darting frantically to his. “What?” she croaked.
“You heard me.”
Immediately, she sobered up. “What’s the catch?”
He chuckled. “You catch on fast, Miss Montgomery. Maybe I should make you my PA. If I tell you what I want, the chances are you’ll flee. And I can’t have that.”
“Mr. Knight, whatever your proposition is, I’m an open-minded individual. Nothing you tell me will have me fleeing from here.”
“You’re not ready for what I’m offering, Lila.”
They ate in silence, and then he asked her if she wanted dessert. By then, she had had two glasses of wine. She shoved away the rest. Glancing down at her watch, she saw they had less than half an hour left.
“I hadn’t realized time had run out so fast. I need to get back.”
“Let me take you.”
She declined the offer, but he shook his head.
“I insist,” he said, and she took his hand without much thought.
She stood, and he settled his hand at the small of her back. The feel of his hand right there rattled her nerves, and she missed her step as he led her through the door. He caught her before she could land on her face, his arm moving around her waist so fast, dragging her up against him. Impulsively, Lila’s hand reached for his, gripping his as it rested over her abdomen. Her belly went into tight knots.
“Are you okay?”
Lila nodded. “I’m fine.”
His hand lingered for a bit until he removed it, leaving tingles in its wake. Once they arrived at the curb, he opened the door to the back of the limo, and she managed to slide in gracefully. The drive to the university was quiet, and Lila kept to her side and he stayed to his. Though that did nothing to ease the knots in her belly. From the corner of her eyes, she could see him turning now and again to appraise her. This was more unnerving now that they were no longer inside his oversized office.
“Thank you for lunch, Mr. Knight,” she said as his driver opened the car door. She only had one foot out when his palm circled her arm. Lila looked over her shoulder at him. He had a dark expression she couldn’t decipher.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I hope you’re still considering my offer, Miss Montgomery,” he said in a low voice.
He was talking about the job. “I am okay for now.”
“I don’t take no for an answer. I see potential in you, and I could use that to my advantage. Don’t look so scared. I meant it in a business perspective.”
Lila realized that this wasn’t a man easily deterred by a few simple nos. “I’ll take this into consideration, sir.”
His grip on her arm tightened for a moment until it fell away and she stepped out, releasing the breath she had no idea she was holding.
The day ran out in a blur with images of Killean flashing through her mind. She pulled up a tab, consulting her good friend Google. Lila typed in Killean Knight in the search engine and clicked on images when the page was fully loaded.
A kaleidoscope of images spread across the page with rapid succession, her eyes scanning one after the other. She strolled down and found one with him and a woman, a tall brunette that looked utterly familiar. There were lots of pictures of him with women, but he seemed particularly intimate with the brunette in almost all the photos. Their body language was self-explanatory, his arm around her waist, pulling her into his body, her palm on his chest, staring at each other, Killean with that I want you look in his eyes.
She couldn’t really take her eyes off one particular image where he had his thumb under his distracting mouth and his eyes narrowed seductively. She found another in which he graced the cover of a business magazine. He was even among Time’s list of most influential people and one of the youngest CEOs with a Fortune 500 company.
There were others of him with different women as well as of him with other top businessmen. She clicked on a photo of him and a brunette that landed her on another page from a trashy celebrity magazine. Those pictures did him no justice.
The caption read:
BILLIONAIRE PLAYBOY AT IT AGAIN.
The title played on in her head. Perhaps he was one of those men who thought that money made them ruler of the universe and discarded women like last week’s trash.
But there was another part of him that was addictive, the part that made you want to dive right in like a moth to a flame. Lila bit her lips as she wondered what his proposition could have been. She knew from the sound of it, it must have been offensive. Offensive or not, she wanted to know more.
Lila’s mom, Salome, was in town and came to take her daughters to dinner at a recently opened high-priced restaurant in downtown Manhattan.
“Mom, we would have been fine with some kung pao chicken or Lila’s home-cooked meal,” India whined.
“I was passing through, darling, and I wanted to spoil you girls with a cozy dinner we weren’t cooking ourselves.”
They both were the mirror image of their parents. Her side of the family originally came from Mexico, and her dad was from the Caribbean. They met at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and according to Salome, with a knowing smirk, they had a very intense evening. The girls had read between the lines.
“Honey, you look great. You too, India, if being a size six is sexy,” Salome said dramatically.
&
nbsp; India laughed. “Mom, you were a model once. Have you gone delusional?”
“Perhaps I have. Eat your food.”
“Have you heard from Jerome?” India asked.
“He’s coming to New York soon. He said he has a surprise for us. I hope it’s good.”
Knowing their big brother, he would have them sitting on the edge of their seats until he actually flew in from Massachusetts, where he was a final year law student at Harvard.
Lila was just getting comfortable when the door of the restaurant opened and in walked Mr. Dark and Dangerously Handsome, every woman’s sexual fantasy. How did one person deserve to be so ethereal? He had someone on his arm, a female, the one she couldn’t place earlier from the internet. Now as Lila stared at her, she knew where she had seen her. In some of the hottest movies rated PG-18 and R-rated. Her last two films were Oscar winners, but the ones before that were an international franchise of sex, drugs, and all things taboo. They shot her to fame since their release. It was Katherine Hunt. Did Killean enjoy erotic cinema? Of course she and Killean would be friends.
Katherine wore a red skin-tight sheath dress and the highest heels Lila had ever seen. And there was a pair of shades in her hair. Who needed shades at night?
His dark laugh quickened her pulse rate and made her body shiver with pleasure. Lila couldn’t help but stare at him. He was just so savagely handsome, and she admired the way his dark hair skimmed the collar of his white shirt, wild and untamed. Lila imagined it would be a big turn on to just run her fingers through that hair and tug. Her abdomen tightened instantly as a vivid image of them in a heated, frenzied kiss invaded her mind.
“Isn’t that Katherine Hunt?” India whispered dramatically at her ear.
“Yes, it’s her.”
“Who is that?” India asked, her heated gaze on Killean. “He’s gorgeous! Is he her man? I hear she has an appetite for billionaires.”
India usually met a lot of powerful men in her line of work, but obviously this one made an impression as her eyes followed him to their table.
Lila was so grateful that her mother’s tall frame was blocking his view of her as their table was a few feet from theirs. At least she had a reason not to look over her head. Now and again she heard Katherine’s infectious laughter and Killean’s low, seductive voice.
Wicked Dirty Games (Dirty Billionaire Series Book 1) Page 4