The Seduction Plan (15 page)

“He’s my ex-husband. He had a key.”

 

He pulled back slightly. “You didn’t have the locks changed when he left?”

Lana looked straight ahead which meant she was staring at his tie, ashamed that she hadn’t had the forethought to do something like that. “No. At the time, I couldn’t imagine any reason why he would bother. I changed the lease so it was only in my name. But at the time, I couldn’t spare the money to change the locks. And then, when I did have some extra cash, I just didn’t think about it.”

Victor sighed, not passing judgment since he hadn’t been in her shoes. “You can’t stay here,” he said, hearing the dissipating sounds of Jimmy dragging a resisting man down the hallway. He felt her stiffen in his arms and tightened his hold. “You’ll have to stay at my place until we figure out what to do next.” He released her and looked down into her soft, blue eyes. “Go pack your bags. You’re not coming back here, Lana,” he said firmly. He’d been trying to figure out how to get her to move in with him for several days so this was serendipitous, even though he wished she hadn’t had to go through the terror of being mauled by the inebriated jerk to get to this point.

Lana stared up at him, her eyes huge and shocked. “You want me to move in with you?”

He smiled at her timid expression, trying to reassure her but still hide his satisfaction at how this whole thing had come about. He didn’t think she would appreciate his sense of satisfaction, at least not yet. “Yes. For as long as you’d like. I’ll help you find a new place to live, but you’re not staying here another day.”

Lana didn’t want to argue with him. She smiled up into his face, her body moving closer to touch his jaw gently with her fingers. “You’d do that for me?”

“In a heartbeat,” he said. He didn’t tell her that he’d been considering this for the past several days and just hadn’t figured out how to introduce the subject. He knew she was just out of a bad relationship and didn’t want to push her too quickly, but nor was he going to let her get away from him. He just needed time to convince her that they could make a go of it.

If he had to take it in stages, then so be it. Moving into his place was the next step. After that, he’d figure out how to stop her from moving out. A marriage proposal might be too soon at this stage, especially since he’d just physically thrown out her previous husband, but he’d work around her aversion to marriage eventually.

Victor put a hand to the small of her back. “Go pack all your clothes,” he told her, taking out his cell phone and calling his secretary. “I’ll get movers in here to pack up your furniture and move it into a storage facility until you find a place you want to live.” He didn’t mention he wanted that place to be right with him. Patience, he reminded himself.

Lana happily walked into her bedroom and quickly packed up all the clothes she could fit into her one suitcase. She didn’t have more than one because Drew didn’t like to travel so there hadn’t been a need to have multiple suitcases. She was so excited about Victor’s offer she didn’t care about the rest of her clothes. She wanted him so badly, on so many levels that it scared her at times. But, she reasoned as she closed her case and zipped it up, she would take whatever he could offer her and work out the details later. Just one day at a time, she told herself, taking a deep breath.

The living arrangement wouldn’t last. She didn’t even try to convince herself of anything different. Victor was a bachelor and this was only a temporary arrangement. She’d have to be careful and quickly find a new apartment so she wouldn’t get in his way too much. The worst way to end a relationship, so she’d read, was to invade a person’s space. Moving in with Victor definitely qualified as a personal invasion.

One week, she told herself. She’d spend most of her time this week finding a new place and she’d impose on his time as little as possible.

Pulling her suitcase out of the bedroom, she found Victor pacing through the small confines of her apartment. “Do you need your computer?” he asked, quickly walking over to take her suitcase from her fingers. He lifted it as if it didn’t weigh over forty pounds and Lana was again amazed at his incredible strength. A man who worked in an office shouldn’t be so buff, she thought to herself smiling.

“Ummm…” she stopped fantasizing about his muscles when he raised his eyebrows in question. “Yes. I’ll need my computer,” she answered finally and rushed over to shut it down and pack it in the case with the plug and mouse. She stacked the papers on the floor, resolving to sort them out later. She wanted to hurry and get out of here, not wanting to be in this place anymore. It was tainted with Drew now and she didn’t like it.

As she closed the door, taking one last look at the small but comfortable apartment, she wondered why the space was now contaminated with Drew’s presence in her mind. She’d lived here with him. There were many bad memories of arguments, painful sexual encounters and Drew’s almost constant criticisms. But none of it had mattered until he’d done his worst today. Maybe it was because it was a violation of her feelings for Victor, or maybe she’d just recovered enough from his taunts that she was able to see them for what they were. Either way, she was glad to be moving on to the next part of her life. And no regrets.

The next fourteen days were a crazy blur. She spent the mornings editing and polishing her manuscript, then the afternoons roaming through the available apartments for rent within the city, seeking to find something within her price range that looked decent with enough space. She found three that would work well and called Victor, excited about the possibilities. As soon as she told him about the apartments, he demanded to look at them before she considered signing a lease.

As soon as he walked into the first one, he found several reasons to eliminate it from her list. When he toured the actual apartment, he stood in the middle and shook his head. “No way, Lana. This definitely won’t work.”

The same thing happened at the other two and Lana had to concede that his points about the apartments were valid. So she continued searching. Unfortunately, the same thing happened with all the apartments she showed him.

She was becoming frustrated with her progress at house hunting but, since Victor didn’t seem to mind her staying, she accepted the current arrangement. But she still searched diligently for something that would work and would also get her out of Victor’s space.

The progress on her book was much better. With the quiet of his penthouse, as well as all the wonderful amenities, she was working through the details quickly, loving the way the plot was unfolding. Victor even told her to use his office during the day. She refused, telling him that she was already imposing on him too much as it is. His only response was raised eyebrows and a mysterious grin.

She was stunned when Edna answered the door one afternoon and a team of delivery people paraded through the rooms. Within an hour, her own office was set up in the room right next to his office complete with a beautiful delicate desk, lovely, colorful carpets, even a set of overstuffed chairs and ottoman so she could snuggle down in their softness while editing. She couldn’t believe Victor’s thoughtfulness. When he came home that night, she’d made a delicious, but simple dinner for him, complete with his second favorite dessert of tiramisu.

“Thank you for the office,” she said as soon as he walked into the penthouse. She was holding a dry martini for him and a lemon drop martini for herself, a concoction he’d introduced her to and she’d loved immediately. Reaching up, she pressed a soft kiss on his jaw. But he pulled her closer, accepting the martini with one hand and wrapping the other around her waist.

“Do you like the furniture?” he asked, deepening the kiss before pulling away to look at her eyes so he could see if she was just being nice.

She looked into his dark eyes and smiled, her heart overflowing with love for this man who was generous in so many ways. “I love it. I’ve never worked at anything so beautiful.”

“Is it romantic enough for you?” he smiled, his eyes looking at her soft lips and soulful blue eyes that were so expressive.

 

“Very. I cooked dinner for you,” she said. She loved the surprise in his eyes. “Yes, I cook. Nothing like Norma can do but I hope you like it.”

Victor was touched. No woman had ever cooked for him before, most of them needling him to take them out for dinner to the latest must-be-seen-in restaurant. But Lana wasn’t like them, he knew. She didn’t look for ways to get his money. She seemed to just like being with him.

He followed her, enjoying both the smell of whatever was cooking as well as the view from behind as she walked through the living room. “I’m sure it will be delicious.”

Lana smiled and led him through the massive rooms to the dining room. There were chairs for twenty people at the table but she’d covered only one end with a white linen cloth and set out place settings for them together. “Have a seat and I’ll get dinner ready. I’ll be back in a moment.”

She walked into the kitchen and wasn’t surprised to see him follow her. He talked while she finished the meal, tossing the salad and fixing the steaks in the broiler. The evening was a wonderful success. They talked, laughed, discussed the latest politics and relaxed while sipping wine. And when Victor pulled her into his lap, she happily complied, eager for his touch and his kisses.
Chapter 13

Lana closed her computer and sighed happily. Looking at the finished manuscript, she ran a hand lovingly over the papers. This was truly one of her best efforts. The book was perfect, the characters more intense and the plot much better than she ever could have come up with before meeting Victor. And there was sex. Great sex.

She bit her lower lip, not liking the fact that several of the love scenes were written about the scenes she and Victor had actually done together. She hated the idea that others would see into her personal life. Did she want others to read all the things she’d done with Victor? Oh, the scenes were different and there were slight variations but overall, the sex was theirs.

She hesitated once again. She should rewrite the scenes, make them a little less personal.

Her cell phone rang and she grimaced when she saw who the caller was. “Hi, Nancy,” she sighed as she answered the call. “Yes, the book is ready.” She listened for a long moment. “I know. The deadline is this afternoon. I’m on my way to deliver it now.”

She spoke the words that would seal the deal, shivering slightly as she remembered some of the scenes. She closed her phone and picked up both the hard copy as well as the electronic version on CD. She’d have to hurry or she’d withdraw the book from publication. And she couldn’t hesitate any longer. She needed the money and she couldn’t live off of Victor’s generosity forever. She had to make it on her own, knowing that they would break up sooner or later. She’d been with him for longer than she’d ever thought possible and she needed to start bracing herself for the inevitable breakup.

It was starting to snow when she stepped out of the building and Jimmy was waiting for her with the car. “To Century Publishing, if you don’t mind,” she asked, smiling to Jimmy before ducking into the back of the car.

“You got it, ma’am,” he said and closed the door behind her before moving around to the driver’s side.

He drove with calm efficiency and had her at the publisher’s building with time to spare. Lana would have liked more time to figure out her thoughts, but now it was too late.

Once inside Nancy’s office, she waited while Nancy was in a staff meeting.

“Goodness,” Nancy said, breezing into the small office and sitting down at her overly crowded desk. “I can’t believe all the changes that are happening around here. The only saving grace is that our new owner is one of the hottest men I’ve ever met in my life.” She sat down at her desk and smiled at Lana. “In fact, he looks like the guy in your latest novel, I’d say but I know that’s impossible.” Nancy laughed at her outrageous comment. “So you’ve got it for me?”

That comment startled her and she wanted to think about it. There was something she was missing but she just couldn’t put her finger on it. She thought about the man in her book, how strong and dynamic he was and an image of her main character floated through her mind. There weren’t just similarities in Lana’s character to Victor. They were almost identical. She’d taken a bit of creative liberties, but Victor was too wonderful, handsome and overwhelming not to have ended up as her leading character. Lana bit her lower lip, hesitating once again. “I have it,” she confirmed but didn’t hand over either the hard copy or the electronic version.

Nancy glanced down at Lana’s lap, not understanding her friend’s hesitation. Authors were notoriously happy to have anyone read their work, after all, most had put their souls into the effort. “Okay…can I have it?” she said with a teasing tone of voice when Lana maintained her white knuckled grip on the manuscript.

Lana desperately wanted to hold back, knowing this would be published, that everyone would read it and see into her personal love life. And there was no way she could get around the fact that it really was her love life. She was madly in love with Victor.

But she was a romance writer, she told herself. She’d always used her experiences for her novels. This was no different than all her other stories, she tried to convince herself. The intimate details of her love life were just as relevant for her stories as buying a cup of coffee at a coffee shop, as long as everything pushed the plot along.

“Yes,” Lana said decisively and handed over both versions to her editor quickly before she changed her mind and ran out of the office.

Nancy brightened, taking the manuscripts with relief. “Good! I thought something was holding you back. I can’t wait to get this set up. And read the last few chapters which you’ve selfishly been holding out on, haven’t you?” she said with a teasing voice.

Lana looked away, outside Nancy’s office, clasping her hands in her lap to keep them from reaching for the pages back. It was then that she felt the electricity swoop through her body. The feeling was exactly the way she felt each time Victor entered a room and she looked around, confused.