A Rancher's Desire (4 page)

The look on her beautiful face was more than enough to make Julian smile. Then his smile faded as she stepped further into the room and he got a good look at what she was wearing. Aiyanna had poured her body into a black wrap dress that ended a few inches above the knees showcasing her incredible legs. Even being her height, she was still bold enough to wear four inch stilettos that made her just tall enough to not have to tilt her head to look up at him.

Her hair was twisted back in a simple knot at the nape of her neck, diamond studs twinkled in each of her cute little ears. Her make-up was minimal; eyeliner and lip gloss. She didn’t need anything else to enhance what was God-given. What made Julian frown were the dark circles under her wide brown eyes. The fact that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep was clear in the slump of her shoulders and the slow way she moved.

She opened her mouth twice and he waited for her to say something,
anything.
Instead, she simply snapped it shut again, raked her gaze over him, shook her head and then she turned around and walked out.

Julian blew out a breath and followed, determined that she wouldn’t get away from him so easily this time.

“Aiyanna,” he called to her back, watching the dip and roll of her hips.

“Go. Away.” she called back.

Ignoring the stares from around the large office space, he continued to follow her. “
Hermosa—”

She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder and her eyes flashed nothing but pure fire. “And
stop
calling me that.”

Julian held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry. Just do me the favor of talking to me for five minutes? Please?” He’d never had to plead with a woman for her time but then again. Aiyanna King obviously wasn’t just
any
woman. She wasn’t swayed by his smile or his words. Her resolve didn’t falter for a moment in the two times she’d been in his presence. He was determined to make that change.

There was something about her that called to him. Julian could tell that she
wanted
to at least give him a few minutes of her time but she wouldn’t. Why was that? He didn’t know but he intended to find out.

Aiyanna took a breath and blew it out slowly before turning her back to him once again and motioning for him to follow her. He did so eagerly. When they reached a door with her name embossed on the front, he knew it was her office.

She opened it and cocked her head to one of the chairs in front of her desk. Julian shook his head. “No, I’ll talk to you on your terms but what I’ll
not
do is forget that I’m a man.” He grabbed the doorknob and pried her small fingers from around it motioning for her to walk inside and take a seat before he did.

Julian could tell she wanted to say something but at his raised brow, she kept whatever comment she had to herself. It was a wise idea on her part. Spanking her during their second encounter in her office while her employees milled about wasn’t in his plans today.

She took the seat behind her desk and rubbed her temples as her eyes shut tightly. “What’re you doing here? And how did you even find me?”

Julian took one of the chairs in front of her and reached into his pocket to pull out the card he’d found by the grace of God on Friday night. He sat it on her desk and pushed it forward.

“Jesus...” Aiyanna muttered picking it up. Her eyes met his. “You went through all of this for what? Because I turned you down?”

Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned back in the chair. “It wasn’t my ego that lead me here.”

“Than it must’ve been your dic—”

Julian leaned up and lowly stated, “If you complete that sentence you run the risk of seeing a lot more of me than you’re prepared to see today,
Hermosa.”

Her mouth closed and he smirked then tapped the desk with one finger. “Despite your beliefs, I’m not just here because I’m interested in you. My house needs an overhaul.”  

Her look darkened. “And as my partner informed me,
I
just so happen to be the
only
person in my firm that you wanna work with.”

Julian waved a hand towards the wall behind her that was filled with framed, professionally taken photos of the many homes she’d designed over the years. “Do you really need to question why?”

Aiyanna sighed and leaned back in her chair, her short nails tapping the arm. “Why are you doing this? You could’ve found any other contractor
anywhere else.”

Julian read between the lines. She meant he could’ve found any other
woman anywhere else.
He made sure to stare her directly in the eyes when he retorted, “I don’t want
any other contractor,
I want
you.”

For the briefest second her face softened and he smiled. Just like that, her gaze shuttered again. She closed her eyes for the second time. He hated when she did that. It meant she was shutting him out, denying him access to read what she was feeling. Aiyanna shook her head. “I can’t do this with you,” she whispered.

“Why not?” he asked just as softly.

Her smile was sad but she still wouldn’t look at him. “Because tomorrow I’ll hate myself.”

“Aiyanna,” she looked up at him then. “I don’t know what you’re so afraid of but if you give me the chance—”

She held up a hand to cut him off. “No, I’ve heard that one before and I’ll be damned if I go for it again.” Suddenly standing, she walked to her office door and opened it. “This was fun Mr. Almanza, but I think it’s time for you to go.”

Julian’s mind scrambled. “If you do my house I’ll pay you double your usual fee.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “You want to fuck me that bad?”

A mix of anger and frustration boiled over inside him spilling out in rapidly fired Spanish. Yes, he wanted to fuck her, make love to her, but this was so much more than that. If that was all he wanted he could’ve had her bent over her desk by now. “
Deje de relegar su apelación a sólo sexo!”

Both brows rose. “English please.”

“Stop relegating your appeal to just sex!” Julian repeated. Something told him that was the wrong thing to say when her jaw clenched and she slammed the door shut again.

“I turn you down for what most definitely would’ve been a night full of jackhammering on whatever bed that you had specially made just to hold you. Then you show up in my place of business
demanding
that
I
be the only one to work with you yet you know not a damn thing about me! What the fuck am I supposed to think?! That it was love at first sight?”

He didn’t answer fast enough.

She sucked in a deep breath. “Exactly. Let’s be honest Julian. The only reason you’re here is because your cock wouldn’t let you walk away from a willing prospect, especially not one who looks like she’s in need of some male attention.”

Something she said made him freeze as a slow smile spread across his face. “
Hermosa,
you said ‘willing.’”

Her eyes widened and she took a step back as he took one forward. He kept walking until he had her pinned to the wall, each of his hands on either side of her head. “You also seem pretty sure that you would’ve ended up in my bed that night. If you are so certain of this, why do you fight what is so natural? Stave off the inevitable, hmm?”

“Because this is
not
natural.” She motioned between the two of them.

“Who says?” Julian questioned as he leaned down, putting them nose to nose. “Since when is it not natural for two consenting adults to desire one another?”

Aiyanna bit her lip. “Since this is the second time you’ve stood in front of me and I feel like...”

He brought his eyes up from her mouth. “What? You feel like what?”

“I feel like if I let you walk out of that door I’ll regret it, but I know that if I give in to what my body wants, I’ll regret that too.” That vulnerability was back and it twisted his gut.

“I would never hurt you,
Hermosa.”
She needed to know that. As insane as it was, Julian needed her to understand that this went beyond his need to lay claim to her body. In just these brief and seemingly minuscule encounters, she’d touched a part of him that had never been reached before.

“I don’t know that.” Her gaze focused over his shoulder.

Cocking his head, he made her lock eyes with him again. “Then let me prove it. What do you have to lose?”

Her heart. Aiyanna could lose her heart. She’d never had this acute of a reaction to
any
man and that scared her shitless. Julian Almanza was a danger to her mind, body and spirit and if she went any further down this rabbit hole, she would fall faster than Alice did but it might not have a happy ending.

Insanity, it was pure insanity and yet the side of her that could never wait to try something new was
begging
her to do it. It was begging her to give this man a chance.

“Let me prove that getting you into my bed isn’t all I want,” Julian whispered. “I want to know what makes you laugh, what pisses you off
besides me.
I want to know what foods you hate and the ones you love. I want to understand what makes you think so hard about the simplest of things. You are right
Hermosa.
I don’t know you but if you give me the chance, I would sooner walk away than cause you any more pain than you’ve already experienced.”

Jesus...the sincerity in those stormy, blue gray eyes took her breath away. Just standing there, having him look down at her was more than enough to make Aiyanna want to do whatever he asked. Yes, Julian Almanza was a very dangerous man but she wanted a little taste of that danger—even if it meant risking her heart in the process.

She told him her fee and he didn’t blink but he did smile again. “Done,” he replied enthusiastically.

“Double it, but take half and give it as a scholarship fund for UVA,” Aiyanna added.

Julian nodded his dark head. “Whatever you want.”

Taking a deep breath, she said, “Set an appointment with my assistant for Wednesday. I’ll come check out the house and we’ll go from there.”

If anything, his smile widened. “You won’t regret this,
Hermosa.”
Taking her by surprise, he leaned down and pressed the sweetest of kisses to her cheek.

Then, he stepped back and waited until she moved aside so he could open the door and stroll out. Aiyanna touched her cheek. “I hope I don’t.”

Chapter Three

“Mama, I don’t need to be set up,” Aiyanna sighed trying desperately not to go out back and find her Daddy’s shovel so she could dig a hole and push the woman who gave birth to her in it.

Her twin brother Elan snorted in the seat beside her and she kicked him under the table. Giant bastard didn’t even flinch, just grunted. Aiyanna wasn’t surprised being that he was double her size and almost a foot taller but she would’ve appreciated it more had he been in pain.

Evelyn King waved a hand, “Yes
you
do.”

“Evie...” Aiyanna’s daddy started.

“She does Hassun and you know it. At the rate she’s moving I won’t have any grandchildren until I’m in diapers my damn self.”

“I was hoping you’d be at the pearly gates
way
before then,” Aiyanna murmured but Elan still heard it and choked on a laugh.

She narrowed her eyes on him and he swallowed down a smile.

Her daddy shot her a sympathetic look, his black irises holding more warmth and acceptance than she’d
ever
seen in her mother’s gaze. It was sad, but Aiyanna had always wondered exactly what he saw in her mother. Evelyn was beautiful, yes, but her insides were twisted; her logic superficial.

Hassun, on the other hand, had the gentlest heart Aiyanna had ever known—even with him being as wide as a door. Evelyn had a fun time blaming Aiyanna’s height and weight on his side of the family being that in the forty or so years that they’d been married, her size four status hadn’t shifted in the least.

Evelyn thought Aiyanna needed a good diet plan. Meanwhile, Aiyanna thought her mother needed a good therapist and to stop sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.

“If she’d just take the card for that personal trainer I have—”