At the Tycoon's Command (8 page)

His breath tickled her ear as he whispered the soft words, “Stay the night with me.”

Myriad thoughts and feelings swept through her mind, not the least of which was her repeated fantasy of making love with Jared Stevens. Did she dare surrender to his invitation? Was there any way she could be anything more to him than just another sexual conquest? Somewhere in the back of her mind she latched on to the conscious realization that her concerns told her how much she had already allowed herself to become emotionally involved with him. She had to put a stop to it before she started falling in love with him…if it wasn't already too late.

“No…I don't think that's a good idea. I should…I need to go home. I'll see you in the morning.” A somewhat shaken Kim Donaldson hurried out the front door.

Jared watched as she drove down the driveway. It was
the second night in a row he had stood at his front door watching her drive away. This time, however, they had parted without anger. Far from it. His breathing might have slowed to normal, but his body still surged with unfulfilled desires.

He closed and locked the front door, then slowly walked down the hall to his bedroom. Confusion ran rampant through his mind. There was no doubt he wanted her more than he had ever wanted another woman, but he was very unsettled about exactly why and for what. Was he looking for a casual liaison? A summer affair? Some sort of arrangement that would be for a longer term? Or was it more…much more? The question frightened him almost as much as the possible answer that he refused to acknowledge.

 

Kim paused at the curb across the street from the entrance gates to Jared's house. She had spent another long and troublesome night with her emotions in turmoil. Dinner with Jared had been enchanting, and once the animosities had been set aside she found there was much more to him than a killer smile, devastatingly good looks and an easy charm. She had been given a peek into the inner workings of this man, a depth of character she had not known was there. He had turned out to be someone she truly wanted to be with, but was wanting anything more than what they had already shared merely asking for trouble? She didn't know what to think. With a sigh, she drove around to the office entrance. The confusion continued to swirl in her head.

As soon as she entered the office Jared pulled a startled Kim into his arms. His voice was soft, warm and inviting.

“Good morning.”

A moment later his mouth found hers. It was a brief kiss,
but hot enough to sizzle her senses and curl her toes. It ignited all the embers of passion that still smoldered from the previous night.

She managed to force out some words. “This isn't getting any work done.”

“But it's much more fun.” He stole one more quick kiss before relinquishing her tempting presence from his arms.

Jared had several things for her to do, most of them keeping her in the office rather than out running simple little errands. Kim was pleased to find that her work assignments included more serious tasks, some of them involving his clients and current business functions. She took it as a gesture of trust that touched her on the deepest levels.

Things between them grew more comfortable with each passing day. Jared surprised her one noon with a picnic lunch in the backyard. As the week went by they settled into getting to know each other as friends rather than adversaries—something beyond the underlying sexual tension that continued to pull at each of them with passion-filled kisses whenever they were together and sensual fantasies when they were apart.

Even though Jared continued to ask her to spend the night and she yearned to have him make love to her, she had steadfastly maintained her need to go home. She knew she was afraid, but wasn't sure exactly why. Was it the thought of all the other women Jared had wooed and bedded? Was it her concern that he would think she considered making love just a game without taking the implications seriously? Was it her fear that he would think of it as nothing more than a game? Or was it that she suspected she was falling in love with him and didn't want to be? It had turned into an ongoing battle between her desires and her fears.

One week turned into two and two became four. By the
end of the month she was so confused in her feelings for Jared she hardly knew which way to turn. Every time he touched her, waves of sensual desire swept through her body. And each night as she went to bed alone at her father's house she wondered how much longer she could hold out against Jared's subtle seduction and her own not-so-subtle desires.

Friday evening finally arrived. Kim finished her work for the week and put her desk in order, preparing to leave for the weekend. Jared had asked her to wait until he returned from a business meeting with his bankers in San Francisco. She glanced at her watch but didn't know what time to expect him. She decided to feed Lurch while she waited. She assumed Jared had asked her to wait so they could do something together that night, maybe dinner out. She had dressed in teal blue silk pants and blouse with her favorite gold necklace anticipating they would go somewhere nice since he had dressed in suit and tie for his meeting.

She returned to the office just as Jared arrived. There was no doubt about how handsome and dynamic he was. Her heart beat a little faster, and her blood coursed hot through her veins. The added dimension of the custom-tailored charcoal gray suit, silk shirt with French cuffs and gold cuff links and the charcoal gray Gucci loafers said the man standing in front of her was powerful, wealthy and a force to be reckoned with.

“Kim…I've been thinking about something and I want to discuss it with you.”

“What is it?”

He knew he hadn't been fair in giving her so many menial little tasks and errands the first few days, even though the month had settled into a smooth running working relationship with her spending most of her time in the office. He needed to do something about the charity fund-raiser
his client wanted him to organize. He had been putting it off, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a perfect project to give to Kim. It would be a great help to him. It would be something they could work on together. It would also keep her at his house for long days, perhaps long hours that would extend late into the night.

“How are you at planning fund-raising events?”

“Fund-raising events?” His question caught her by surprise. “What kind of fund-raising events?”

“You know…food, drinks, dancing and entertainment followed by the solicitation of large checks payable to the charity. Just your typical run-of-the-mill type of fund-raiser attended by the socially prominent and business elite.”

“Which charity are you talking about?”

“Well…” He ran his hand across the back of his neck. “I don't recall the name of the organization, but it has to do with shelters for battered women and abused children. It's the favorite charity of the wife of one of our biggest clients. I'm sort of on the hook to put on a fund-raising event for them and I was considering just hiring a service to handle it, but if that's something you know about, perhaps you could help me with it. If I didn't have to hire a service it would cut down on the expenses of putting on the event and leave more of the money for the charity.” He paused long enough to pull her hair aside and place a tender kiss behind her ear. “We could work on it together.”

A shiver of delight darted across her skin. “I do have a little bit of experience in event planning. I've been in charge of a couple of fund-raisers at the high school where I teach, but that's pretty far removed from the socially prominent and business elite.”

His smile lit up his face, that devilishly sexy smile that never failed to set her heart a-flutter. “That sounds good enough to me. I think we can consider that your primary
assignment for the rest of the summer. I'd like to hold the function in San Francisco in September or early October at one of the major hotel ballrooms.”

She couldn't hide her elation. “You want me to work on this with you? To plan and organize a function of this size and importance?”

“Yes, I have confidence in your ability to handle it.” He held her eye contact for a long moment, his smile fading and a new depth of intensity filling his eyes.

His request was totally unexpected. The change from menial little errands the first few days to helping plan a major charity fund-raising event just a month later was a huge leap in responsibility. His words settled a soft glow of pleasure over her. He had said he had confidence in her and they would be working on the project together.

This was certainly different from the passionate kisses and lingering touches they had shared over the past few weeks. It was much more than his attempts to get her to stay the night at his house. She experienced a shortness of breath caused as much by the excitement of the charity project and his obvious trust and confidence in her abilities as by the sensual warmth spreading through her veins.

She tried to force calm into her voice. “When do you want me to start on the charity project?”

“If you don't mind, maybe we could start work on it in the morning? I know you aren't supposed to work on Saturday, but it will give us an opportunity to work without interruptions. We can at least get a feel for what needs to be done.”

“That's fine. I don't mind working Saturday morning.” Her excitement over the new project continued to tingle through her body.

“I have a few pamphlets about the charity. I think
they're on the coffee table in the living room. Come on, you can look them over before we start work on it.”

Kim followed Jared to the living room. She looked around, her gaze moving from one beautiful object to another. She recalled when she had glimpsed this room from the entryway upon her arrival for her first day of work. A full week had gone by before she could actually take in the magnificent surroundings.

He crossed the room to the coffee table and picked up the brochures. “Here—” he held them out to her “—this should give you information about the background and current organization of the charity.”

She took the material, but before she could say or do anything else he grasped her other hand and brought it to his lips. He captured her gaze and held it as he kissed her palm.

“My offer for you to stay the night is still open.”

She shook her head. She finally forced out a breathless word. “Please…” Her resistance to his charms weakened with each breath she took, aided by her desire. “I really can't. The real estate agent is holding an open house on Sunday. I need to make sure everything is in order. I need to sell my father's house.” Did he have any idea how tempting his offer was? How much she wanted to stay the night with him? And not just because he had dangled a challenging project under her nose, either.

“I think you should stay.” Jared gave her hand a squeeze. It was precisely the intimate gesture of reassurance she needed. A moment later his mouth was on hers, and the last of her resistance evaporated. The desires she had been fighting for the past month, ever since she met him, had finally won. She circled her arms around his neck, allowing the brochures to fall to the floor, and returned his passion with an equal amount of her own. Whatever objec
tion she might have had no longer mattered. Her resolve melted in his arms.

The moment she put her arms around his neck a hard jolt of something unexpected hit Jared like a bolt of lightning. His libido had been in overdrive from their first meeting, but now she touched far more than his sensual desires. She touched a place so deep inside him he wasn't even sure exactly where it was.

And he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

He cupped her face in his hands. His words came out in a husky whisper. “Do you have any idea how beautiful and desirable you are?”

Before she could answer, he brought his mouth down on hers as he wrapped her in his embrace. He pulled her body tightly to him. His lips nibbled at the corners of her mouth, then he twined his tongue with hers. With one hand he ran his fingers through the silky strands of her hair before caressing her shoulders. The other hand slid across her hip and cupped the roundness of her bottom. He snuggled her hips against his.

His fingers made their way to the top button of her blouse. He paused to kiss the bare skin exposed each time a button slipped through a buttonhole until her blouse was completely unfastened. He ran his hands inside her blouse, caressing the smooth skin of her back, then unhooking her bra. He removed both garments, dropping them to the floor.

A little shiver darted across her skin as the cool air hit her body, but it was quickly replaced by the warmth of his arms as he enfolded her in his embrace again. She slipped her feet out of her shoes and kicked them aside. There wasn't any use pretending that nothing was going to happen or trying to convince herself she could put a stop to what was taking place. She wanted Jared to make love to her more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. Even
her fingertips tingled at the thought of running her hands over his bare skin.

She loosened his tie and pulled it from around his neck, then dropped it to the floor. Her fingers worked at the buttons on his shirt until they were unfastened. She slid her hands inside his shirt, reveling in the hard planes of his chest. She felt his breathing, the ragged intake matching her own. His mouth was on hers again—hot, demanding and tantalizingly sensual. But he didn't demand any more than she was willing to give. He interrupted the kiss just long enough to yank his shirt off and toss it on the floor on top of his tie.

He kicked off his shoes and took a couple of steps backward, taking her with him as he fell onto the sofa. He leaned into the corner, holding her body on top of his as he caressed her bare shoulders and back. His tongue meshed with hers, exploring the dark recesses of her mouth. Their legs tangled together. The feel of her bare breasts pressing against his chest sent a heated surge through his body. His hardened arousal strained against the front of his trousers.