Читать книгу Possessed By Passion - Brenda Jackson - Страница 11
ОглавлениеHunter studied the older woman sitting across her desk. Pauline Martin had come to her highly recommended by Hunter’s brother, Bernie, who was a good friend of the woman’s son. Ms. Martin’s husband had died last year and she wanted to do something other than stay in the house and stare at the walls. The administrative assistant position seemed perfect for her. From the interview, Hunter had known she was just what McKay Architecture Firm needed. Now if she could only get some clients.
She was scheduled to meet with an advertising firm later that day to discuss ideas on how she could promote her business. There were a number of architectural companies in Phoenix and the key to succeeding was to make sure hers stood out.
Hunter stood. “I’m looking forward to us working together, Pauline, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Hunter.”
An hour or so later Hunter had snapped her briefcase closed to leave for the day. Starting over in a business wasn’t easy but, as her parents had reminded her that morning when she’d stopped by their house for breakfast, she was a fighter. What Carter had done was wrong, but instead of getting bitter, she had to do better. She had to look ahead and not look back. No matter what, she couldn’t let him break her.
And more than anything, she couldn’t believe all men were like Carter Robinson. Had he really expected her to remain his wife while he engaged in all those affairs? And when she had confronted him about it, he’d only laughed and told her to get over it. He’d said she wouldn’t leave him because she had too much to lose, and that no matter what she accused him of, his family would stick by his side.
And they had.
Even his mother, who’d said she sympathized with Hunter over her son’s wretched behavior, had stuck by him in the end. For Hunter, that had hurt more than anything because she’d assumed she and Nadine Robinson had had a good and close relationship. At least they had until the day Hunter had decided to bring her eight-year marriage to Carter to an end. Then Nadine had proven Carter right. Blood had been thicker than water.
Even with Carter’s high-priced divorce lawyer, at least the judge who’d handled the divorce had sided with her and ordered Carter to give her fifty percent equity out of the company. He hadn’t even wanted to do that. And the judge had been more than fair in making sure he did the same with their home, as well as all the other assets Carter had acquired over the years. Some she hadn’t known about until the day the private investigator she’d hired had uncovered them.
So now she was back in Phoenix. In a way she felt like a stranger in her own hometown, since she’d made Boston her home ever since enrolling in MIT for her graduate degree. She’d been working a few years when she’d met Carter at a fund-raiser her architecture firm had given. He was a member of the Boston Robinsons, a family that took pride in their old-money status and the rich history that came with it.
They’d been married three years when she’d first found about Carter’s affairs. He swore they meant nothing and begged her to forgive him, and she had. He became attentive for a year or two, and they’d even tried having a family, but with no success. Hunter wasn’t exactly sure when his affairs had picked back up again, but she’d begun noticing the usual—lipstick on the collar, the scent of another woman’s perfume and suspicious text messages. That’s when she hired a private investigator. The PI’s report had been the last straw. There was no way she could remain married to Carter after that, regardless of what her in-laws thought. In the end, they had sided with Carter in his campaign to destroy her.
She drew in a deep breath, refusing to give in to her sorrows. Somewhere out there were women in far worse situations than she. Her grandmother used to repeat that adage about making lemons into lemonade and Hunter intended to do just that.
At that moment the image of Tyson Steele came into her mind. Not that it had actually ever left since they’d run into each other last night. In fact she had dreamed about him. Of all things, in her dream she had let him do what she had refused to let him do eighteen years ago, and that was to take her in the backseat of a car.
Hunter shook her head. She couldn’t believe how scandalous that dream had been and it was even worse that she had totally and thoroughly enjoyed it. Luckily it had been just a dream and not the real thing. But the dream had been enough. She had awakened panting, with heated lust rushing through every part of her. It had taken a long cold shower to calm down her body.
During the four years of her sexless life, the last thing she had thought about was having an affair. So why now? And why Tyson Steele? He was arrogant, confident and too cocky to suit her. They hadn’t held a conversation for more than a few minutes before he was telling her of his plans to seduce her.
She shook her head as she headed for the door. Some men’s attitudes simply amazed her. But then again, he was a Steele. Hearing three of his brothers had married meant there could be hope for him, but she wouldn’t be crazy enough to put any money on that assumption.
But what really should be hilarious was that Tyson Steele thought he could seduce her. She figured he’d been all talk and that his words had been meant to get her sexually riled up, and they had...to a point. After her shower this morning her common sense was firmly back in place. All it had taken was a look around her apartment to remember all she’d lost because of a man. The last thing she needed was to get involved with another man for any reason.
But what about just for sex?
She almost missed her step when the idea popped in her head. Where had such a thought come from? She was a good girl. The granddaughter of a retired minister. A woman who’d always worked hard, played fair and been a good wife to her husband. And as Nadine had often claimed, the best daughter-in-law anyone could ask for.
Yet, regardless of all those things, she’d gotten royally screwed. And because of all those things Carter had figured she would never leave him. That she would stay married to him regardless. What he’d failed to take into consideration was that everyone had a breaking point. When she had taken as much as she could, she had walked away without looking back. She only wished she’d been strong enough to do it sooner.
As she locked up her office she figured she might as well dream about Tyson Steele again tonight. Dreams were safe. Besides, she had no reason to think their paths would cross again. For one, she didn’t intend to return to that nightclub where he apparently hung out.
His parents attended the same church as hers, the one where her grandfather had been pastor before he’d passed away years ago. During breakfast this morning she’d deliberately asked her mother to bring her up-to-date on church members, former and present. It seemed the Steeles were still members of their church, and her mother said that although she would see Eden and Drew Steele on most Sundays, she rarely saw their sons and couldn’t recall the last time one of them attended church.
Deciding she didn’t want to think about Tyson Steele, she stepped inside the elevator to leave the office.
* * *
Tyson had stepped out of the shower and was toweling off when his cell phone rang. He recognized the ring tone. It was Eli. With three surgeries today back to back, he hadn’t time to think about much of anything but his patients. The surgeries had gone well and he’d delivered good news to the families. Before leaving the hospital, he had made his rounds, completed his reports and given final instructions to the nurses caring for his patients. Now he was at home, on full alert and eager for any information his brother had for him.
He grabbed the phone off the vanity. “Eli, did you find out anything?”
“This is going to cost you.”
Tyson rolled his eyes. “Who do you think I am? Galen?”
It was a running joke in the family that Galen worked the least but made the most. While attending college Galen and his two roommates had decided to do something to make money and since all three were computer-savvy, they created video games. After their games became a hit on campus, they formed a business and by the time they graduated from college they were millionaires. The three were still partners today and usually released one game a year around the holiday season. Galen enjoyed flaunting the fact that he was able to work less than twenty hours a week and still make millions.
Eli chuckled. “With twins Galen won’t have as much free time on his hands.”
Tyson smiled at the thought. “You think?”
“We can hope.”
Tyson tossed the towel aside to slide into a pair of briefs. “So what did you find out about Hunter McKay? Did she establish a company here?”
“Yes. She opened an architect office in the Double-Row building a week ago.” Eli paused a minute and then said, “And you were right. Her divorce from her husband was pretty nasty.”
“How do you know?”
“The one good thing about being president of the business council of a major city is getting to meet other such individuals. The one from Boston, John Wrigley, and I have become pretty good friends. I gave John a call today. According to him, Hunter divorced her husband on grounds of adultery and had the goods from a PI to prove it. Her ex hired this high-priced attorney to fight to keep Hunter from getting a fifty-fifty split of the architectural firm they owned together, but the judge sided with Hunter. In the end Hunter’s ex retaliated by making sure she didn’t get any of their clients.”
The man was a bastard just like Hunter McKay said, Tyson thought, easing a T-shirt over his head. “I think I’ll pay her a visit tomorrow.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“As a client,” Tyson added.
“A client? That does surprise me. I didn’t know you were interested in getting a house designed.”
Tyson smiled. “I wasn’t before now.”
“Hell, Tyson, you don’t even own any land.”
Tyson’s smile widened. “Shouldn’t be that hard to buy some.” Even through the phone line Tyson could imagine Eli rolling his eyes.
“And you would go to all that trouble just for a woman?”
Tyson thought about his brother’s question. “But she’s not just any woman. She’s the one who got away. And now she’s back.”
* * *
The next morning Hunter walked into her office and stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes did a double take. Was Tyson Steele actually sitting in her reception area, chatting so amiably with Pauline that neither noticed her entry?
“Good morning,” she said, breaking into their conversation.
Pauline and Tyson both glanced up, and Pauline smiled brightly. Tyson stood as he gave her a slow perusal, his gaze moving over her from head to toe. His eyes returned to meet hers and she tried ignoring the acceleration of her heart, a result of the intensity of his stare.
What were the odds that the same man she had been dreaming about for the past two nights would be in her office this morning? And they were the kind of dreams that heated her just by remembering them.
An excited Pauline interrupted her thoughts. “Good morning, Hunter. I think we might have our first client.”
“Do we?” Hunter asked, her gaze switching from Tyson to Pauline.
“Yes. Dr. Tyson Steele is here to see you about designing his home.”
Hunter found that hard to believe, especially after what he’d told her two nights ago. He was more interested in seducing her than anything else. “Is he?”
“Yes, I am,” Tyson said.
She tried ignoring the slow, languorous heat that flowed through her body at the sound of Tyson’s deep, husky voice. She looked back over at him and wished she hadn’t. She’d thought he was sinfully handsome when she’d seen him at the nightclub, but as he stood in the sunlight streaming through her office window he looked triply so. The man was totally gorgeous, one hundred percent male perfection. He looked like scrumptious eye candy in his jeans and dark gray hooded sweatshirt. For her, there was just something about a nice male body in a pair of jeans and it was almost too much for her this early in the morning.
“In that case, Dr. Steele, you and I definitely need to talk,” she said, moving toward her office.
She heard Tyson close her office door behind him the moment she set her briefcase on her desk. She turned around and fought back the urge to moan. The way he was leaning back against the closed door, he was sexiness personified. And his razor-sharp green eyes were on her. Why, today of all days, had she worn a dress, one shorter than she would normally wear? Shorter but still appropriate for conducting business. Yet from the way Tyson was staring at her, one would think otherwise. In fact, one would think she didn’t have on any clothes at all. Sexual vibes were pouring off him in droves and she could feel desire flowing through her veins.
Clearing her throat as she tried getting control of the situation, she said, “Please have a seat, Tyson, and tell me just what it is that you want.”
Realizing that wasn’t a good question to ask him, she rephrased it. “Tell me what design of home you’re interested in.”
* * *
Tyson thought she had asked the right question the first time. He certainly had no problem telling her exactly what he wanted. But first he had to get his libido back in check. It had begun smoldering big-time when he’d glanced up from his conversation with her administrative assistant to see her standing there. She was what sexual fantasies were made of, and when it came to her he had plenty.
She was a constant visitor to his nightly dreams. If that wasn’t bad enough she’d also crept into his daytime thoughts. All this from a woman he hadn’t seen in years. Usually he didn’t waste time fantasizing about any one woman before moving quickly to another. But it seemed he was focused on Hunter McKay and no one else, and he couldn’t figure out why.
Eli thought he was obsessed with her and Tyson was beginning to wonder if that was true. He had never been obsessed with a woman before and was convinced he only wanted her in his bed, nothing more. Every time he thought about them having sex his pulse went crazy. He couldn’t help wondering if there was more to his desire for Hunter than her being the one who got away. Why was he turned on by almost everything about her? Like her dress, for instance.
He knew it was just a dress, but on her it looked simply fantastic. He especially liked the way it complemented her legs. The other night she’d been wearing slacks so today was the first time he’d seen them. Now it came back to him that in high school, she had been a majorette, and the one thing he had liked was that she had a gorgeous pair of legs. She still did. And in that dress and a pair of three-inch pumps, she was definitely presenting challenges to his peace of mind. She looked neat, professional and way too appealing.
“Tyson?”
Hunter’s voice brought his focus back to their conversation. He stepped away from the door and slid into a chair across from her desk. Doing so put him in close proximity to her and he enjoyed inhaling her scent. She was wearing the same perfume she had the other night and he thought the fragrance was definitely her signature. He met her eyes and said, “I have no problem telling you what I want.” He let that statement hang in the air between them for a moment before adding, “As far as a design for a house, of course.”
“Of course,” Hunter said, moving around her desk to sit down behind it. “Before I can help you there are a few things I would need to know,” she said, picking up a notepad and pen.
“Like what?”
“Like the location of the property the house will be built on. I need to verify there aren’t any restrictions in the area that might prevent you from building the type of home you want. And I need to make sure your lot is large enough to fit whatever design you have in mind.”
He nodded. “I find your inquiries interesting. Why don’t we have dinner tonight and talk about them?”
She leaned back in her chair and stared at him. “We need to discuss it now, Tyson, because I have no intentions of having dinner with you.”
“Why?”
“Because after work is my time. A business dinner means extending my work time into my pleasure time.”
“We can make it both.”
Her mouth flattened into a hard line. “No, we can’t, and I don’t have time to play games. If the only reason for your visit is to—”
“Try my hand at seducing you?”
She held his stare. “You warned me the other night that would be your main objective.”
A soft chuckle escaped his lips. “It still is. Trust me. I haven’t changed my mind about it. But I do want to talk about a house design, as well.”
Tyson was serious about that. Although he would admit he’d initially had an ulterior motive for seeking her out today, all it had taken was for him to wake up to the noise outside his window to know he had put off moving long enough. Currently, he leased a condo in a very prestigious area of Phoenix not far from the hospital. It was large and spacious and had a great view of the mountains. But unfortunately it came with some drawbacks. Like the close proximity of his neighbors. Over the years he had gotten used to car doors slamming, horns honking and the early morning ruckus of parents hustling their kids off to school. Maybe it was time to pursue his dream of living in the countryside.
She was still staring at him, as if she was trying to figure out if he really was serious about getting a house designed. He decided to put her mind at ease. “What you might see as a problem is the fact that I haven’t purchased the property yet. It doesn’t matter, Hunter. You design my house and when I get ready to build it I’ll buy enough land for it to sit on.”
She was still staring and he had no problem with her doing so because he knew she was also thinking about him. Sizing him up. Trying to figure him out. He wished he could tell her not to bother because he was too complex for her to try.
“I need to ask you something, Tyson,” she finally said after a few moments had passed.
“Yes?”
“When did you decide you wanted a house designed, and why did you come to me?”
He could tell her about his conversation with Eli yesterday, but decided to omit that part. “To be honest with you, I hadn’t given much thought of designing a house. I live in a condo and that suited me just fine. However, I knew you were an architect and I knew my plans for you, so I decided I wanted to see your work.”
“Let me get this straight,” she said, sitting up in her chair. “You planned to seduce me so you came up with the idea to have me design a home for you. A home you never thought about owning until after you saw me the other night. You would go to all that trouble to get a woman in your bed?”
He couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips. “No. I wouldn’t go to all that trouble to get a woman in my bed, Hunter. But I would go to all that trouble to get you there.”
She frowned. “Don’t waste your time.”
“It won’t be. I know women, Hunter. I can read them as well as any book that’s ever been published. You gave me the same looks I was giving you at Notorious. The ‘I want to sleep with you’ looks.”
“I was not!”
“Yes, you were. Maybe you didn’t realize you were doing so, but you were. The sexual chemistry between us was strong that night. I felt it and I saw no need to play games. That’s why I told you my intentions up front. Did you honestly expect me not to explore all those heated vibes you and I were giving off that night?”
“But to invent this—”
“I didn’t invent anything. What I’ve done is take another look at my living situation. Of my brothers I’m the only one who doesn’t own a home. Never gave much thought to doing so. My condo is not far from the hospital and pretty convenient to everything I want. But this morning I noticed things I had chosen to ignore. Like the closeness of my neighbors. The noise and such. And the more I thought about it, the more that house in the country, the one I had thought about building years ago when I first got out of med school, suddenly appealed to me again. So I thought—”
“That since I was an architect and you had plans to seduce me anyway, that you would kill two birds with one stone?”
“I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
* * *
Hunter shook her head. After a minute she said, “That night after I left the club I thought about you a lot.”
“You did?”
She heard the delight in his voice. “Yes, I did. I tried convincing myself that I imagined it. There was no way that at after eighteen years you were as arrogant and conceited as you were back in high school. But, Tyson, I was wrong. You are. You assume all you have to do is say what you want and you’ll get it. You love women, although you’ll never fall in love with one. You enjoy sharing your bed with them but that’s about all you’ll ever share. You—”
“Don’t blame me,” he interrupted. “Blame my father.”
She lifted a brow. “Your father? What does your father have to do with it?”
Tyson smiled. “I’m Drew Steele’s son. My brothers and I inherited his genes. We got some from Mom, of course, but the womanizing ones came from my dad. He used to be a player of the worst kind in his day, and even got run out of Charlotte because of his scandalous ways.”
“And you’re actually using your father’s past behavior as an excuse for yours?”
“Like I said, it’s in the genes. But since my father is happily married to my mother and has been for over thirty years, I figure there’s hope for me and my brothers. At least my mother is convinced there is and she might be right. Three have gotten married within a three-year period. Not that I have any interest in getting married, now or ever.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said, not able to stop herself. “I tried it once and once was enough.” He would never know just how much she meant those words.
“Are you going through the ‘I hate all men’ stage?”
She tried not to notice the breadth of his shoulders when he leaned back in his chair. Or the way his jeans stretched tight over his muscular thighs. “I have no reason to hate all men, Tyson. In truth, I don’t hate my ex. I pity him.”
He held her gaze. “So the reason you won’t share my bed has nothing to do with him.”
“No. It’s mainly because of your attitude.”
“My attitude?”
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong with my attitude?”
“You act entitled.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. I guess it’s from women always letting you have your way. Giving you whatever you want. They make it too easy for you.”
“And you intend to make things difficult, Hunter?”
A smile touched her lips. “I intend to make things impossible, Tyson.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
He stood and she couldn’t help but admire how sexily his body eased out of the chair. “And since you won’t have dinner with me, how about lunch tomorrow?”
“Give me one good reason why I should.”
“Because I’m a potential client who merely wants to discuss ideas about the kind of country home I want you to design for me.”
Hunter stared at him. Was he really serious about wanting her to design his home? There was only one way to find out. “Lunch tomorrow will be fine. Make an appointment with Pauline on your way out.”
“No, I’m making one with you now. Put me on your calendar for tomorrow. Noon. At Gabriel’s. I’ll meet you there.”
He headed for the door. When he reached it, he turned around and smiled. “And you look good today, by the way. Good enough to eat.”
And then he opened the door and left.
