Eden's Pleasure (Pulse Book 1) (5 page)

Pressing the speaker on his phone, he suddenly felt nervous, another character trait he wasn’t used to. "Good morning Miss Fox," he said. "How are you today?"

"Good morning to you, Mr. Dean, I'm fine thank you. How can I help you?" She sounded very business-like, cool and dry, but he wasn't fooled for a minute, remembering how her salty skin tasted on his tongue and the way her hips had matched his rhythm as he screwed her senseless.

"I was hoping we could have dinner tomorrow evening…to discuss the concept drawings," he threw in at the last second and waited until her silence finally broke.

"Is there a problem with the drawings Mr. Dean?" she questioned.

He grinned, knowing that they were exceptional. "Please call me Chase, Miss Fox. Mr. Dean is my father." He gave a slight laugh because of her effort to keep things formal and detached.

She smiled to herself. "Ok, Chase, as long as you call me Eden."

He liked the way she said his name. "Ok, Eden, will I pick you up at your house at six? We could have drinks first."

"No, but I can meet you. Where were you thinking of?" she asked, playing it casual. His voice alone made her heart skip a beat; she needed to remind herself that she was working for him, not fucking him.

"I made reservations at
49 Social
downtown for seven. Do you know it? I could send a car," he suggested.

Eden bit her bottom lip to hold back her laugh. "You were very confident that I would say yes, Mr. Dean. I’ll see you there at seven." She hung up before he could say anything more. She didn’t want her excitement to show in her voice.

His brow furrowed, he looked at the phone receiver and the corner of his mouth turned up into a smile.

***

Eden was in deep thought after she hung up the phone. She trailed her index finger lightly back and forth across her lower lip as she thought about meeting Chase for dinner.

Recalling his lips caressing across her cheek left her breathless. Their sexual encounter was a night she’d have to try and forget. Off limits, strictly business now, and even though she wanted to play with him, she could not mix the two and complicate things.

It was going to be extremely difficult to say no to him, he was a true alpha-male. He was certainly strong, commanding. She knew she was going to have a tough time keeping him under her control.

Is this just dinner to discuss design concepts or more?
she asked herself. She couldn't tell from his voice; he had spoken in such a slow, seductive tone from the moment they met.

Her designs were good; she knew they rocked. Every single element was just as instructed, and the fabrics that Chase’s assistant, Abby, had handpicked were spectacular. So what could possibly be wrong with the drawings to make him criticize them?

Eden's defenses came to the surface, but soon dissolved when reality hit her. After all, he had the right to dislike them and his opinion was his own. After all, it was his building, his project, his baby.

A blast of excitement rushed to her stomach. Dinner with Chase Dean. Too bad she was working for this man. He was tall, dark, handsome, built like a God, knew how to dance, and was oh so hot in bed.

***

Rheanna sauntered into the boardroom just as Chase hung up the phone. He looked in her direction, not saying a word.

"Brother, dear, wish to share the reason for that naughty little smile?" she asked inquisitively.

The smile soon left his face, replaced with a look of abhorrence as he stood and proceeded to gather up the drawings. She made her way over to see what he was looking at.

"No," he said dryly.

Reaching over and raising a drawing to eye level, she wrinkled her nose and tossed it onto Chase’s neat pile. "Ah, Miss Fox's concepts...they’re ok, I guess," she spoke with a touch of venom.

"I don't recall asking for your input, sister dear! Why not leave the designing to the design professionals. You just work on the PR for the city hall project, what say you?" he responded in a likewise dry manner. His demeanor was cold and icy.

Placing a small stack of file folders on the table, she scowled at her brother. "Whatever,” she snorted. “These are the media revisions for the city hall. You should look them over so we can have them ready and available when needed. In the next couple of weeks would be good."

Rheanna glared at her brother, trying to get some kind of insight, always so suspicious and nosy. Chase hated the nosiness most about his sister, that among many other things. Their relationship was beyond strained. They were anything but the normal brother/sister. No love lost here.

"Tell me you’re not going to pursue this Fox chick," she blurted out. "She's not your type, you know? She’s all blonde and dripping with sweetness."

Chase narrowed his eyes in his sister’s direction with disbelief. "It's Miss Fox, and you’re seriously out of line, don’t suggest who I see and don't see." He shook his head. "This is not kindergarten and none of your business!"

With her hands on her hips, in a bitch with claws stance, she said, "Face it Chase, you are thinking with your dick." She sat down, casually crossing her long, thin legs and adjusting her far too short skirt as she settled in.

"Don't be so fucking crude, Rheanna!" he warned, gathering up the drawings and files, ready to make his way back to his office, to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.

Taking absolutely no notice of her brother’s forewarning she continued on, as always, blind to the fact that she was interfering where she needn’t be. She was treading on mighty thin ice. "Don't get involved Chase, don't fuck this up by getting all caught up in her. This company doesn’t need any more bullshit from your sluts. I can smell trouble!" she stated bluntly while she glared.

Chase twisted his head around with an angry stare. "Then keep your fucking nose out!" He tore off out the door, slamming it behind him.

***

Eden was familiar with
49 Social
. This was not a restaurant she had frequented, but she knew it was fun and casual. She would wear something dressy, but keep it tamed down.

She was on the tense side as she looked through her closet trying to decide what to wear that wouldn't be too sexy, but still make her look hot just the same.

The perfect choice for this evening was a red wrap around dress that dipped nicely into her cleavage and made her waist look slight, with red stilettos to match. Sexy, but not overly so, just enough to keep his interest, but not exactly tease. She chose a pair of her favorite tear drop diamond earrings as her only jewelry, less being more.

Deciding to wear her hair up, she wound it loosely at the back of her head, tucking in the ends, then clipping it with a small faux diamond clip. She wore only mascara and a touch of soft pink lip gloss.

"Ready!" she said out loud, trying to calm the butterflies thundering in the pit of her stomach. She had to get rid of this anxious feeling; she was making herself sick.

"You’re in control, you
are
in control!" She took in a deep breath and made her way out the door to the cab that was waiting for her.

***

Eden looked around the restaurant. It was dimly lit and fairly busy. A hum of countless voices, all in mingled conversations, china and cutlery clattering and tantalizing aromas wafting in the air. Laughter and lively music were mixed.
Maroon 5,
one of her favorite bands, played through the speaker system, not too loud but still recognizable just the same.

She tried to see past the people in front of her. There was a break in the crowd, and she saw Chase seated at the bar to the right side of the room. He turned and their eyes met. He got up from his stool, and the crowd parted like the Red Sea, which made her laugh at the thought. He walked over to where she stood waiting.

Chase was dressed casually in dark denim jeans, a tan shirt and weathered brown leather jacket. His curly raven hair danced unruly and sexy above his eyes with each step he took. She could not take her eyes off of him; he definitely had charisma. He took her breath away. She knew that she was blushing, her skin prickling with goose bumps.

Leaning in to speak, she took in his scent. So wild, so masculine. "Hello Eden. It's good to see you again. Our table is ready, come."

He took her by the hand. She found that she liked his familiar touch as he skillfully wove through the crowd to a single set of stairs at the far end of the room.

He released her hand and gestured for her to go up. "Ladies first...by the way you look fantastic. Red’s my favorite color."

She was sure her face was the same shade as her dress as she made her way up, all the while thoughts of him watching her ass ringing impishly in her head.

A waiter stood at the top of the stairs to welcome them. He showed them to a table overlooking the restaurant below. It was quite intimate, but not at all private. She was comforted in the fact that they were in public view.

"Good evening, Mr. Dean. Would you like something from the bar to start?" the waiter asked, looking at Eden while placing a bar menu on the table.

"Red wine for me, house will be fine, thank you." She looked around the room, she had the confidence of a field mouse around this man, however she'd have to get over that, and fast. They would be working closely together for a long time.

Chase had an amused look on his oh-so-handsome face. "We’ll share my usual bottle of Masi Campofiorin 2009 please," he said, slipping off his jacket and placing it over the chair beside him.

“You don’t need to impress me with expensive wine,” Eden advised him.

He smiled at her assumption. So wrong; she didn’t know him at all. “Not expensive, it’s just my favorite red. Do you like cherries?” he asked.

He was letting her off the hook, and she was grateful. Already dealing with a ball of anxiety rolling around in her gut, she didn’t need to be ribbed for her stupidity too. “Yes. Why?”

“Masi Campofiorin has a wonderful cherry aftertaste you should enjoy. It goes very well with Italian food,” he assured her.

After a long silence, Eden looked over to find him watching her, elbows on the table with his hands clasped together under his chin. He never flinched.

"You come here often?" she asked. They both burst into laughter at the platitude.

Leaning back in his chair, he replied, "I’ve been here a few times. The food’s great, nice ambiance,” he answered, all the while never taking his eyes off of her. “I take it you haven’t been here before."

Eden shook her head and smiled. “No.”

The waiter arrived with the wine and poured out two glasses placing them on beverage napkins in front of them. "Your dinner will be served soon, Mr. Dean," he said and walked away.

"I hope you don't mind. I took the liberty of ordering a tasting menu, the chef’s a friend,” he said. “I could have the waiter come back if you like."

"No, that sounds fine," she said, impressed somewhat, all the while acting like it was no big deal. She carried on like this was an everyday occurrence for her, when in fact she rarely stepped out unless it was for business, or to help Mikala at the club.

She took a sip of her wine then returned the glass to the napkin while searching the table with her eyes. She noted that there wasn’t anything on the table but the normal accoutrements for dinner.
No paperwork, no business
, she concluded.

“How’s the wine?” he asked, noting her roving eyes, knowing what she was looking for, feeling only the slightest bit of guilt for deceiving her. A tiny white lie wasn’t going to get him into too much trouble, at least he hoped.

Her eyes met his. “It’s very nice. Very cherry, I like it.” She glanced over the table and then met his eyes again in question. “So?”

“So what?” he asked, playing with her and she knew it, but he was enjoying himself. She would be fun to play with, in more ways than one.

"So, what was it that you wished to discuss regarding the concept drawings...and where are they if we’re going to discuss them?" She looked at him with raised brows.

"I don't need the drawings in front of me, there is nothing to change." He shifted forward in his chair. "What can I say? I think your concepts are dead on, like you were drawing them through my eyes. There may be a few things to add later as we get closer to the actual occupancy. I really like your work."

"I don't understand Mr. Dean…Chase, what are we doing here?" A sense of confusion turned to annoyed curiosity. "Are you screwing with me? You got me here under false pretenses?"

"I wouldn’t put it
exactly
like that. We did just discuss the drawings, right?" he asked with a sinful twinkle in his eye, but she didn’t look impressed at all. He watched as she reached for her purse and started to push back her chair.

He reached over and quickly took hold of her wrist. "Ok, I wanted to see you again." He caressed her knuckles softly with his thumb and quickly confessed, "I needed to see you again."

She felt herself warm to his words until annoyance at his arrogance took center stage. “You could have just asked me to dinner, without the trickery.”

“I didn’t think you would have accepted my invitation.” He watched to see her reaction, knowing full well that she would have given him the brush off, made an excuse. “In fact, I was positive.”

“You’re probably right,” she acquiesced. “But still, you never considered that I may have accepted, you just assumed, therefore you’ll never really know, will you?”

“Touché,” he quoted with a grin.

The smile that spread across his face and the acknowledging nod of his head was priceless and told her that she was the winner in that round.
Well done,
she thought to herself with a smug smile.

The waiter cleared his throat, breaking the banter. She jerked her hand free from his grasp, and the waiter placed the food and plates on the table, nodding in the direction of Chase as he left.

During their meal, they shared two more bottles of wine and light conversation. They discussed designs for the new office spaces. Eden rambled on about sleek lines, stainless steel, and the use of glass sculptures. Chase talked about his love of wood and classic design. She was in her element, feeling relaxed and more comfortable. As they talked and laughed, she was truly enjoying being in his company.