Lured In (Dark Paradise, #1) (4 page)

Uncle Ernie was in my right ear again. “Do you know him?”

“He’s an old friend of mine from my short stint at Georgetown, and a damn good business-minded attorney.”

“I gathered that,” he replied, referring to “damn good business-minded attorney.” I turned my attention back to their proposal and noticed that Mr. Sexy had pushed his chair closer to mine when he repositioned himself to give Matt the floor to speak.

Mmm, he smells so darn good. The same cologne he had on yesterday
. I closed my eyes to take in his scent.
Stop it, dammit
. I forced myself back down to earth to focus on the meeting and managed to keep my attention in check by thinking about how disappointed Carmen would be if she knew I was feeling the way I did about a guy who had invited her out. Occasionally during the meeting, Mr. Sexy would turn to me with lustful eyes and ask if I opposed. I shyly voiced my opinions and concerns if I did.

Some four hours later, after presentations and back-and-forth negotiations, both sides agreed on a deal, and Matt began drafting the contracts on his laptop. While Matt worked beside Mr. Sexy, everyone else took the opportunity to shake hands and express their joys of being able to work together and other pleasantries. I stood up to do the same but suddenly felt faintish. Joan, one of the women from Health Choice, asked if I were OK. I shook my head no and whispered that I was about to faint. She quickly grabbed a chair and sat me in it, attracting the attention of several people. Before I knew it, my dad had crouched down beside me and was asking me several questions about my symptoms.

Someone with big, strong hands grabbed my left hand. It was Mr. Sexy, who had crouched down beside me as well. Even in my faint and confused state I couldn’t take my gaze away from him. My dad asked me when the last time I had eaten was.

“I didn’t,” I said. I never took my eyes off Mr. Sexy.

“That’s not smart,” Mr. Sexy said in a controlling, scolding tone. “I’ll have someone get you something to eat. What do you like?”

Before I could answer, Mr. Sexy shoved a cup of water into my hand that Joan had gotten from the cooler.

“Here. Drink up!” he said commandingly.

I took small sips of water, and Mr. Sexy took the cup from my hands to hand it back to Joan.

“What would you like to eat?” he asked again.

“Ruth’s Chris is catering for us this evening, and it should be here any moment now,” I replied. My dad turned quickly to the conference room phone to inquire about the catering.

My dad returned a few minutes later and told us the caterers had just parked and would be up with the food shortly. He continued, “Abi, why didn’t you eat today?”

“I was so busy in the emergency preparation for this merger that I honestly forgot to eat. I didn’t mean to cause all this drama,” I replied shyly to my dad. I looked at my stepdad, who stood behind Mr. Sexy with a puzzled look upon his face. With reassuring eyes, I reiterated, “It really slipped my mind.”

My stepdad had that look of concern because he knew from experience that whenever I didn’t eat, I was going through a really bad depressive phase. He nodded, silently accepting my excuse.

I looked back down at Mr. Sexy, who was still holding my hand and watching me like a hawk.
My God. He is so damn gorgeous. His big, strong hand feels amazing on mine, and those eyes…Mmm. Those eyes of his are so goddamn beautiful—so mesmerizing and filled with wonder. Oh, God, I am getting turned on by this hunkalicious man you placed before me
. I bit down on my lower lip. His lips curled up into a slight smile, and his eyes blazed in response. His strong fingers began discreetly stroking the inside of my wrist and lower arm just as the caterers entered the conference room with the food.

Mr. Sexy stood from his crouched position, still holding my hand, and demanded that one of the caterers give me something to eat right away.

“No, let them set up,” I replied softly.

“Stubborn as always!” Matt came over to see how I was doing and gave me a smile and hug.

“Stubborn as hell!” my dad and stepdad said simultaneously.

“How do you know Abigail?” my stepdad asked Matt.

Mr. Sexy turned his attention back to the conversation, watching with guarded interest.

“I would like to know that as well,” my dad interjected.

“We’ve been good friends since our days at G-town,” Matt said.

“Good friends? Like friends with benefits?” my dad asked with raised eyebrows.

Mr. Sexy gripped my hand hard.

“Dad!” I shouted.

“Oh no, Dr. Winterfield, sir. Not like that at all. She’s very much like a sister to me.” Mr. Sexy loosened his grip but not my hand. “She actually introduced me to the mother of my daughter; they’re best friends,” Matt continued.

“Carmen?” my dad asked in slight amazement.

“Yes, Dad, Carmen. You know, my best friend, Carmen!” I was still a bit taken back by his assumption. “And why would you assume I would consent to any such thing?”

“Honey, I am sorry to have assumed such.”

I frowned at my dad in anger, and he kissed my forehead where it wrinkled, silently apologizing for upsetting me.

“You know your dad is crazy at times,” he said in defense.

“Ms. Winterfield, please, can I grab you something to eat now?” Joan asked.

I thanked her. “I can manage my own plate.”

She nodded with a small smile and watched as I stood with Mr. Sexy’s assistance. Before I grabbed a plate, I turned to Matt and apologized to him for my Dad’s insane moment. I noticed my stepdad looking nonplussed by Mr. Sexy, who had taken a controlling interest in my hand for an unusual length of time.

There was a heavenly spread of some of Ruth’s Chris’s most popular dishes. I grabbed a crabtini and jumbo chopped salad and sat down to eat.

“You nearly fainted, and that’s all you’re going to eat?” Mr. Sexy asked in a scolding tone.

“Yes,” I countered. He had a disapproving look.

My stepdad had a look of doubt after hearing Mr. Sexy’s question.

I gave my stepdad a pointed look and said, “I’m going out with Carmen tonight, and we will eat plenty.”

I tried once again to reassure him that I was fine and that I did not skip eating intentionally, but from the look on his face, he wasn’t buying it. He leaned in to my dad and whispered something. My dad turned quickly to look at me, nearly dropping his food on the floor. I watched cautiously as my dad walked casually over; he looked upset and frustrated, and I cursed inwardly. I looked at Mr. Not-So-Sexy-Right-Now from the corner of my eyes. My dad set a plate of food in front of me and told me to eat.

Trying to avoid causing more of a scene than I already had, I softly said, “No. I am going to have a late dinner with Carmen tonight. Feel free to call both her and Mom to confirm.”

At that point I was ready to leave and go home, so I looked over at Uncle Ernie and asked, “Do I need to be here for the signing of the contracts?”

“Not at all, sweetie,” he said, eating a forkful of his medium-well T-bone steak.

“Great. I’m going down to my office to collect my belongings so I can head home now.”

My dad and stepdad looked at me, and my stepdad suggested that I at least eat the crabtini and salad. I grabbed them and left the conference room in relief.

Carmen picked me up a little before 10 p.m., and we headed to Sens. I wore a knee-length cobalt blue ruffled chiffon cocktail dress with open-back beaded detailing and black pumps with a cobalt heel and carried a black clutch. Carmen wore a short black bandage dress with cobalt pumps and clutch to match. We arrived at the exclusive lounge at 10:18 p.m. and headed straight to the back of the line that extended around the corner.

“I’m not standing in this long-ass line,” I said to Carmen, who was more excited than normal.

“Me neither. And I thought this lounge was supposed to be exclusive.”

As we were getting out of the line, the bouncer approached us. He was a tall, sexy cocoa-brown hunk with long dreads.

“Excuse me, Ms. Winterfield and Ms. Owens, would you follow me, please?”

Carmen and I exchanged glances, shrugged our shoulders, and walked behind him.

“I thought this lounge was exclusive?” Carmen asked him.

“It is,” he replied, looking back.

“So what’s with the long line of people?” she asked.

“One of our regulars gave up his arm and leg to host his birthday party here. Most of them are his guests, while the others are waiting to see if they can get in.”

The bouncer removed the red velvet rope to allow us entrance into the lounge. He told us to enjoy ourselves and pointed out the waitress, who would usher us to a more private section of the lounge. The waitress was short and skinny and had blonde hair and green eyes. She looked at Carmen and smiled pleasantly but gave me a once-over, narrowed her eyebrows, and gave me a phony smile. We followed her to the designated area.

“What the hell was that all about?” I asked Carmen.

“I don’t know. But she better watch her fucking attitude before I give her ass something legitimate to frown at.”

“This area is reserved for you,” the waitress said, gesturing in a this-is-all-yours motion.

We sat down and the bitch—I mean, the waitress—handed us a menu and asked if she could start us off with something to drink.

“I’ll take a Sexual Healing,” I said.

Carmen giggled and said, “That is truly a fact.”

“Shut up!” I said, pouting.

“I’ll have an apple martini,
dirtay
,” Carmen said with a cheerful smile. “Bring her one too; she’s going to need it.”

“Mmm, dirtay, huh?” Matt said, coming from out of nowhere and surprising the hell out of us, causing Carmen to blush more than usual. Beside Matt stood Mr. Sexy with a big, sexy smile.

Mmm…how about throwing him in a glass so that I can drink him up? Shit! Stop it, Abigail.

He still had on his steel-gray custom-tailored Armani Collezioni suit with a crisp solid blue collar and a lovely lined tie with mixtures of blues. Matt had on his same suit with a gray Italian-collar shirt and silver and blue tie. Both men were dressed to the nines.

I looked at Mr. Sexy and then over at Carmen. She was already fixated on Matt, who had casually taken a seat beside her.

“The usual?” the waitress asked, blushing and smiling at Mr. Sexy as he sat down beside me.

Fuck! He smells sooo good.

“Yes, Lindsay,” he said, looking intensely at me.

Mmm…he’s roping me in with his amazing eyes.

“And you, Mr. Harrison, sir?” she asked Matt.

“The same thing she’s having, but in a brandy glass,” Matt responded, referring to Carmen’s drink.

The waitress turned quickly with the drink orders and headed to place the orders with the bartender.

“Matt, what are you doing here?” Carmen asked while I was mesmerized in Mr. Sexy’s eyes.

“I found out about an hour ago that you would be here and thought you might need some company.”

Company? Why would Carmen need company if this guy invited her out? What the—

“Carmen, come with me to the ladies’ room, please,” I said.

I was going to tell her all that happened earlier between Mr. Sexy and me and apologize to her for having such feelings for someone who had taken interest in her, even though her interest was very much with Matt.

“Excuse us,” I said to Matt and Mr. Sexy when Carmen and I got up.

In the ladies’ room, I looked around to make sure no one else was there.

“What’s up, Abi?” Carmen had a look of confusion.

“I did something today that wasn’t very unfriend-like of me, and I am so sorry for it,” I began.

“Abi, what did you do?”

“Mr. Sexy flirted with me earlier today in the conference room at my office.”

“Who the hell is Mr. Sexy?” She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

“The guy who’s sitting out there and apparently friends with Matt. The same guy who invited you out tonight.”

“Why was he at your office today anyway?”

“We had an out-of-the-blue merger meeting that my dad and Richard dealt on a whim. He was one of the attendees, as was Matt.”

“Matt was there? So this explains why he had to interrupt our evening yesterday for an emergency meeting. OK, so finish telling me about the flirting.”

“Mr. Sexy was flirting with me from the moment I sat beside him. He got me really turned on—hot and wet—and had my body doing things that it had never done before. Shit. I’m still trying to figure out why my body was so responsive to him. The weird part about all of this is I didn’t even stop him. I felt rather comfortable. Now that scares me.” I looked at her to try to read her expression and got nothing. I continued, “I apologize for allowing myself to experience those feelings with someone who took an interest in you.”

“Oh my, sweetie,” Carmen said, pulling me in close to her for a hug before she let out a huge wave of laughter.

I pushed back from her. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“Abi, it was always you,” she said, still laughing.