Essence of Desire (29 page)

“Yes. I’m thinking about a cruise to Canada.”

“Cruises are nice. Nice cabins. All the food you can eat. Lots of entertainment. A staff that caters to your needs twenty-four hours a day. Port excursions. Man, that’s the life.”

Royce nodded. Jordan and Dominique had cruised to Mexico for their honeymoon and had come back ranting and raving so much about it, he had taken the same cruise a year later. Although he had gone by himself, he had met a number of women who’d also decided to cruise solo, for the purpose of meeting single men. He had hooked up with a few of them and compared to what he’d shared with Michelle, had found them lacking. In fact, every woman since Michelle had somewhat disappointed him.

“So did you ask Michelle to go with you?”

He sat back down and nodded his head. “I asked, but she turned me down.”

Jordan lifted a brow. “And?”

Royce couldn’t help but laugh. Jordan knew him so well. “And I plan on working on her.”

Jordan shook his head. “Good luck. In dealing with Michelle, you’re definitely going to need it.”

***

Michelle had learned a long time ago that her sister Dominique was a smart and intelligent woman. That insight had nothing to do with the fact that Dominique had graduated from high school at sixteen and gone on to college and law school to graduate at the top of her class. Nor did it have anything to do with Dominique, at the age of twenty-eight, being appointed by the governor a few years ago to fill a spot on the bench left vacant by a retiring judge.

Michelle couldn’t help but smile when she further thought it had nothing to do with all the times her sister had covered for her when she’d sneaked out of their bedroom window to meet up with friends while their parents slept soundly in the bedroom next door.

But it had everything to do with the fact that she considered her sister as her best friend, a person who had always been there for her. Where Michelle had always been unresisting and unmanageable, Dominique was the most manageable person she knew. A person who not only respected authority, but had taken an oath to enforce it.

Dominique was her she-ro, but Michelle would never, ever tell her that. It was always easy to stay true to form and be the ultimate pain in Dominique’s side, like she was doing now. For some reason she enjoyed getting a rise out of her sister every now and then.

As usual on Mondays and Wednesdays they had lunch together. They used to just meet on Wednesdays but now since Dominique was married, they didn’t get to spend their weekends together like they used to so they had decided to meet every Monday as well. Michelle was happy for her sister and thought married life certainly agreed with her.

“I can’t believe you’re thinking about going to a nudist camp, Michelle. Mom and Dad will flip if they got wind of it,” Dominique said, before digging back into her salad.

Michelle smiled. “I didn’t exactly say I was going to go. All I said was that since I added that nudist camp as a vacation spot offered by the travel agency, you would be surprised at how many bookings I get every week. It’s enough to make me want to go there and check things out for myself. Since I’m sending so much business their way, the owners have invited me out to the ranch several times and so far I’ve turned them down. Umm, maybe I should reconsider. Whenever I talk to them on the phone they sound like real nice folks. ”

Dominique rolled her eyes. “Yes, nice folks who bare all. You should get your head examined for thinking about going to a place like that.”

Michelle took a sip of her coffee and smile. “And maybe you should stop being a prude.”

“I am not a prude.”

“Yes, you are,” Michelle insisted. “I bet Jordan has never tied you to a bed or put handcuffs on you while having sex.”

At the blush that suddenly appeared on Dominique’s face Michelle’s eyes grew wide, and she couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “I don’t believe it,” she leaned closer to her sister to whisper. “You’re trying some kinky stuff? I think that’s wonderful.”

“I don’t want to talk about it so let’s change the subject,” Dominique said, as she tried to keep a straight face while she continued eating her salad.

“Fine with me,” Michelle said grinning. “Did I tell you that I got a call from Marcus this weekend?”

Dominique raised a brow. “Marcus? What on earth did he want?”

“To complain about his mother. He hates that he ever let her talk him into moving to Texas. He claims he’s miserable and misses me.”

“It took him three years to call and tell you that?” Dominique asked.

“I suppose. He wants to fly me to Dallas to spend some time with him.”

Dominique placed her fork down and gave her sister her full attention. “And?”

Michelle smiled. “And I told him to go to hell in four different languages. I would tell you what I told him in plain English but the words might be too harsh for your delicate ears, your Honor.”

“I appreciate that,” Dominique said, picking her fork back up. “And before I forget, Ruth told me to ask you what happened with you and Royce outside on the patio Saturday night.”

Now it was Michelle’s turn to roll her eyes. Ruth Fowler was Dominique’s seventy-something-year-old secretary who had befriended their grandmother Constance, who was about the same age. Now it seems with Dominique married off, both Ruth and Constance were making it their business to keep up with her love life or lack thereof.

“Tell Ruth that Royce and I talked, nothing more. In fact he wants to book a cruise with my agency.”

Dominique lifted a brow. “Really? To where?”

“Canada. He even asked me to go with him.”

“Are you going to go?”

“Of course not!” She then smiled. “He doesn’t have to get me out on the high seas to make a booty call.”

Dominique’s features creased in concern. “Do you and Royce have that kind of relationship?”

Michelle leaned back in her chair and met her sister’s gaze. “Explain what you mean by that kind.”

Dominique inhaled a deep breath. “The kind that you prefer to have with men. Very casual. Where you like to play the role of a sophisticated hooch. ”

Michelle couldn’t help but grin. “A sophisticated hooch? Umm, I like that description.” She took a sip of her coffee and then said. “But seriously, Dom. Royce and I don’t have a relationship. In fact we haven’t slept together since the night you got married.”

Dominique dropped her fork again. This time it hit the floor loudly. She ignored it. Her shocked features were gazing at her sister. “You and Royce slept together on my wedding night?”

Michelle smiled sweetly. “Did you think you and Jordan had a monopoly on that night? Sorry to disappoint you but I figured you shouldn’t be the only one who got to bump the headboard against the walls.”

Dominique rubbed her forehead, feeling a gigantic headache coming on. “And that was the only time?”

“The one and only. But I’ve been thinking.”

Dominique held up her hand. “No, please don’t think. For you it’s too dangerous.”

Michelle waved such nonsense away. “No, really. I think I might go with him on that cruise but only if he travels some place with me that I want to go.”

Dominique was almost too afraid to ask but decided to do so anyway. “And where do you want to go?”

Michelle smiled over at her sister and said. “To that nudist camp. Where else?”

***

Later that night Michelle crawled beneath the covers after placing the mystery novel she’d been reading aside. Her thoughts drifted from the characters in the book to the conversation she’d had with Dominique at lunch. She hadn’t been teasing Dominique about her curiosity in visiting a nudist camp. However, as far as asking Royce to go to one with her, now that was really the joke. She could imagine the look on his face if she were to suggest such a thing. But then it probably would be no different than the look that had been on hers when he’d asked her to go with him on that cruise. He had to have been teasing since there was no way he could have assumed she would even consider the idea.

But why not?

Five nights to indulge in hot, wild and unbridled sex out on the open seas. She knew first hand what kind of lover Royce was. He had several interesting notions when it came to sex and had convinced her of the value of each and every one of them that night. Even to this day she was still trying to figure out how one man could be so doggone sensuous and so spellbindingly erotic.

She couldn’t help but smile at how shocked Dominique had gotten upon finding out that she and Royce had slept together. Dominique was a die-hard romantic and with Jordan she was living the dream and wanted everyone to live the dream right along with her.

Michelle had told her sister countless times that true love didn’t exist for her and she didn’t intend to give her heart to any man. Giving up your heart meant giving up your control. She liked not having to answer to anyone.

But more importantly, she also liked living on the edge, indulging on the wild side when it suited her fancy. Steady boyfriends tended to get boring after a while. She liked having honest to goodness fun with a guy she could enjoy being with.

So why wasn’t she considering Royce’s offer? What was keeping her from going on that cruise with him?

She wanted to believe that only opposites attracted and since she and Royce were both strong-willed individuals, there was no way they could be physically attracted to each other; and that one night was a fluke. But the more she’d been around him, the more she’d tried to avoid him; and the more she endured memories of that night, she knew that theory was not true.

That conclusion made her believe that if given the chance Royce would be the one man who could interfere with her independent thinking. The one man who could make her think that being strong and assertive weren’t a good thing. The one man who wasn’t compliant and predictable.

He would be the one man who could make her confront her issues.

And God knows she had a lot of them. Not as many as she use to have since she and Marcus had split. In the inner depths of her being, she knew that although she came across as being this strong, over-confident person, she had discovered after sleeping with Royce that like most women she had liked feeling secured, protected and cherished. That night he had done something no other man had done.

He had been strong enough to handle her.

And that had shaken her to the core because before Royce she thought such a man did not exist. She had been swamped with numerous emotions that night and instead of confronting those emotions she had begun avoiding them, inwardly harboring the belief that if she let Royce get close again that she could lose herself in his arms once more. She could be reduced to no more than a weak-minded female who could lose control of her life.

But then her reaction to Royce today made her realize that two years was long enough to run, hide and retreat from any man, and she knew one way to overcome your fear of anything was to confront it head on. Maybe that’s what she had to do with Royce.

She stared up at the ceiling wondering why she hadn’t thought of this before. Why had she taken the coward’s way out instead of taking a stand as a woman who could handle whatever came her way?

A woman who could handle Royce Parker.

“Mr. Parker, there is someone here to see you.”

Royce looked up from the huge law book he’d been reading and pressed the intercom button to respond to his secretary. “Who is it, Marla?”

“Ms. Michelle Kincaid.”

He arched an eyebrow. Why would Michelle be paying him a visit? He had seen her the earlier part of the week, and although he hadn’t decided as to whether or not he would be taking that cruise to Canada, he wouldn’t think that would warrant her coming to his office. There was only one way to find out why she was there. “Please send her in, Marla.”

He shoved the law book aside as he stood up, and barely had time to roll down his shirt sleeves when she opened the door and walked in. The moment their eyes connected he knew he was in trouble. Or was he?

She was nervously chewing on her lower lip and he couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. A nervous Michelle? Heck, this ought to be interesting.

Inhaling deeply, he stepped around his desk. “Michelle, this is a surprise.”

She flashed him a grin that he wasn’t certain was all that sincere. In fact it looked a little cunning to him. “I dropped in on Jordan and before leaving I thought I’d stop by and say hello,” she said brightly, as if she was in a rather good mood.

He nodded. She had dropped by to see Jordan several times over the past two years and hadn’t felt inclined to pop her head inside his door. He knew something was up with her and figured he would soon find out what.

“That was nice of you,” he said, trying to ignore the desire that was stirring in his stomach as his eyes raked over her up and down. She liked wearing skirts, the short kind. And he liked seeing her in them. She had a gorgeous pair of legs.

“I’m a nice person,” she said, reclaiming his attention.

Although he wouldn’t go so far as to say so, he felt what she’d just said was questionable. “Would you like to sit a while?”