Billionaire Brothers 2 : Love Has A Name (5 page)

A laugh gathered in my throat, but I refused to let it manifest. “No. I like them real. Not artificial.”

He shook his head. “Why are you such a hard-ass? I’ve never met such an intimidating woman in my life. It’s a good thing we’re of the same kind. I find you … intriguing.”

“How long will this intrigue last? A guy like you, I’m pretty sure your attention span is no more than that of a goldfish when it comes on to women.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but I beat him to it. “Lemme guess, it dies after an orgasm?”

Pretty Boy Nelson gave me a dazzling smile, but said nothing, pleading the fifth.

“With me, Pretty Boy, your chances of having an orgasm are nil. So what else will it take for you to leave me alone? My Quicksand class is suddenly packed with so many people I feel claustrophobic. All because of you. I don’t like full classes, but I also don’t want to be rude to my members. So please, I want you to quit. I receive all sorts of proposals on a daily basis and I’m pretty sure once word gets out that you have a membership here, there are going to be twice as many. I don’t like attention.”

“Hmm … seems I’m causing you more irritation than I imagined. This sounds
really
good.” He rounded my desk and sat down in my chair, stretching his legs out on the desk.

Putting as much austerity as I could into the glare of my eyes, I pinned them to his, marched over to him and tossed his feet off the desk so that they landed with a thud onto the ground. With minimal effort, I spun the chair with him to face me, placed my hands on either side of the handles and leaned forward so that my face was mere inches away from his as I glared deep into his slate-grays. Ignoring the sparkle of amusement in his eyes, I demanded, “
What
do you want, plague?”

Lovello’s eyes lowered to my lips as he licked his. And I immediately felt that slight tingle in my stomach again. The same tingle I’d felt the other day when he’d stood over me. Nevertheless, I ignored it. It was impossible for me to be attracted to him. Impossible.

He released a slow, steady breath and whispered, “You. Are. So. Damn. Sexy. Dear Axia, what I want is
you
.” His tongue glided over his sculptured lips again before he breathed, “Can I kiss you?”

Pissed that I couldn’t deter this incorrigible man, I gave the chair a hard and angry push back so that it slammed against the wall with him.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed. “No need to get violent.”

My fingers twitched, itching for the feel of something hard or leathery. “Trust me, Pretty Boy, you have no idea the pain I want to inflict on you right now.”

“Have lunch with me, Axia.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Would you just go?”

He stood up from the chair and came to face me. “Let’s make a deal. If you have lunch with me, I’ll quit your class.”

To check if he was serious, I looked up into his eyes that now showcased the faint streaks of blue in the overpowering gray. He was. But I didn’t give in. “I’m not that easily fooled, Pretty Boy. I’m the fish that stays at the bottom of the sea and watches all the other gullible fishes swim up, bite the bait and get their stupid gills hooked.”

Bringing one hand to my shoulder, he allowed his thumb to caress my skin in lazy circles. “I’m a man of my word.”

The familiar tingle swirled through me again, more intense this time. And I quickly jerked my shoulder, causing his hand to fall away. The realization that he did, indeed, have an effect on me scared me as much as the
Revelations
predictions. Being attracted to someone was not acceptable right now. I wasn’t ready. And if he continued to pursue me and I continued to feel these damned tingles, it wouldn’t be a beautiful ending. Someone would leave hurt. Mentally, emotionally and, most of all, physically. I needed to get rid of him. “You promise you’ll quit my class if I have lunch with you?”

“Scout’s honor.”

“
And
to stop pursuing me?”

“Eh, I can only make one promise at a time.”

The man was so maddening, I felt like screaming. Majority of the time I’m so in control of my emotions and actions that I seldom feel like this. “You can’t just … you make me … whatever, man. Okay, I’ll have lunch with you.”

A complacent smile lit his face. “Good. Be downstairs at twelve sharp.” He jerked his chin towards my office bathroom door. “Can I use your shower?”

“No! There are showers on all three floors. Utilize those and get out. I’m tired of seeing your damned face,” I snapped, my hand pointing to the door.

He grinned. “Hey, I thought you said I was pretty.”

“Yes, so I did. And I also said I didn’t like pretty boys. Now get out!”

III

A
bitter scowl took up residence on my face as I showered and got dressed in a baby-blue T-shirt, white shorts and loafers. Peeved as hell that I’d allowed that dissolute bastard to manipulate me into having lunch with him. Showing such weakness was a rare occurrence for me. There was only one person who knew how to undermine me and that person seldom surfaced.

After pulling my hair back in the usual ponytail, I snatched up my purse and car keys then stomped out of my office and down the stairs, all the while cursing under my breath. Pretty Boy Nelson was already waiting downstairs as he said he would be,twelve sharp, leaning against the wall to the entry door, his back turned to me and his attention rapt on the phone in his hand. Halting at the end of the stairs, I
couldn’t
help admiring the broadness of his shoulders that were covered in a plain white T-shirt, and his amazing backside that was encased in dark jeans. His hair was damp as if he’d just had a shower, too, and was finger-raked backwards, curling at the nape of his neck.

As if he sensed my stare, he abruptly turned and revealed a smile that would make any woman’s heart faint. That only made me angrier. “You checking me out, sweetie?”

I raised my cold, unkind eyes to his warm slate-grays. “One: Don’t you
ever
again call me ‘sweetie’ from those profligate lips. And two: Get over yourself!”

That only served to make his smile change to a grin and then a chuckle as he strode to the door, pushed it open and stood aside for me to go through. Rejecting his gallantry, I stood where I was and kept my eyes on his, wishing that my irises had the power to fire bullets.

But he merely stared back, amused.

Knowing that this day would never end if I didn’t give him at least a teeny bit of satisfaction, I faked a no-teeth smile and went through the door.

Unaware of the other’s intentions, in the parking lot we each pressed the unlock buttons on our car keys, and when both vehicles made discordant sounds, our eyes instantly flew to each other’s in question. Lovello raised a brow at me then jerked his head towards his car.

“Oh hell, no,” I said, heading in the direction of my jeep. “We’re taking my jeep and
I’m
driving.”

“Nuh uh,” he replied, shaking his head to emphasize. “
I
asked you to lunch. Therefore,
I’m
driving in
my
car.”

Obstinacy in full effect, I folded my arms. “I don’t like to be driven.”

“Neither do I,” he said, mimicking me by folding his brawny arms across his chest. “So, I guess we need to compromise. And by compromise, Axia, I mean:
you
are gonna close that jeep door, walk your cute little butt over here and get in the passenger side of
my
vehicle.”

The dick seemed naturally impervious to my bullying tactics, because he didn’t even blink when I took solid steps up to him and said, “Just who the hell do you think you are?”

He gave a lopsided smile. “Only a plague that you want
desperately
to get rid of. Just remember, God never ceased plaguing Pharaoh until he did as he was told.”

Nostrils flaring, I whirled around and went back to my jeep, slammed the door and started out of the parking lot. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You manipulative asshole!”

“Fine,” he called after me. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning in class. I’m yet to burn off all those calories I ate at my birthday feast yesterday.”

“Gilipollas!”

He chuckled. “Is that Spanish for ‘I love you’?”

God, I hated him. If he only knew the somatic injuries I wanted to cause him. Just a few days of his presence and already he was driving me berserk. I’d never before been this out of control nor have I ever been this reactive. Yet he knew precisely how to become an itch under my skin. The more I fought, the more I realized that the reason I was reactive to all he said and did was because I was begrudgingly attracted to him. And I didn’t relish that thought, not one bit. If I wanted to get rid of him, my best choice would be to let him have his way today. Should I continue to fight, I’d have to deal with him tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. And I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to hold control of my inexplicable attraction to him.

On a sigh, I stopped at the exit of the parking lot to turn around, but at that very second Lovello pulled up his car next to me and wordlessly leaned over from the driver’s seat and pushed open the passenger door.
The cocky bastard knew I would’ve stopped eventually, didn’t he?

Bearing a complacent smile, sprinkled with a dash of arrogance, he slipped on his aviators when I got in and floored the gas so hard that my body was forced back into the chocolate-brown leather seat of his
Bugatti Veyron.

Once we were in traffic, Lovello’s attempts to strike up a conversation were futile, as I remained completely unresponsive.

“The more you sulk, the longer this day will be, you know,” he said, his eyes on the road as he sexily maneuvered the vehicle. “You’ve got work to do and I, well, I can do whatever I want.”

“I can do whatever the hell I want, too,” I retorted. “It’s my gym.”

“Ah, but you see, you have classes to instruct. So you can’t really dally around on time now, can you?”

He was saved by the ring of his cellphone from the venom words that I was about to spit at him.

“Nelson,” he answered. “No, I’m busy. Cancel it … No … Do I need to explain myself to anyone, Carla? … Good.” He dropped the phone in his lap and looked over at me. His aviators hid his eyes but his cockiness was still there in the car. “See?”

I opened my mouth and a scoff flew out. “And you think I can’t cancel a class, too?”

“Let me see you try.”

“Of course I ca — oh, wait a minute! This is just another one of your tricks and I’m not falling for it. I’m not canceling my class so you can purposely prolong this lunch. Save those brain games for your clueless bimbos, Pretty Boy.”

Lovello chuckled, the sound of his masculine voice filling the car and resonating deep inside me. “Seems I’m gonna have to step my game up with you, Axia. You’re a lot smarter than I thought.”

Before I could make a quip, his phone went off again. “Sup, baby girl?” he crooned down the line. “Heading out to lunch with a friend … Oh shit, I know, I forgot again … Okay, okay, would you stop cussing me out, please? You know I can’t sleep when you’re mad at me … Uh, actually I’m about a minute away from your building. I’ll just pass by now.”

After he ended the call, he said nothing more to me, so I made a show of wiping the back of my hand across my forehead and saying, “Phew! Does this mean I’m finally set free from this lunch date?”

Lovello glanced at me and his eyebrow raised over the rim of his shades. “No.”

“Lookie here, Pretty Boy, you’re not gonna stop at your girl’s house and leave me to wait for you in your car while you run inside for a little slap and tickle. I’m a woman, not a girl. You manipulated me into this lunch, so take me to
lunch.
Or I swear to God that while you’re in your girl’s warmth releasing sperm, your expensive tires will be releasing warm air.”

Lovello erupted into such an infectious laughter that I struggled to keep a serious expression. He pulled over to the curb of a building with the marquee,
France’s Fashion House HQ
, and sat back in his seat still chuckling. His skin tone was a glowing warm-gold against the chocolate-brown of his car seat. And his hair, now dry, had restored its natural unkempt look.