Sinfully Sexy (22 page)

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Authors: Linda Francis Lee

Tags: #Romance, #Sex in the workplace, #Fiction

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*  *  *
The Prescotts watched her go. As soon as the back door banged shut,
Serena Prescott had to tip her
head to look at her elder grandson. But tip she did and cast him a
glaring eye. "I hear you've been
calling yourself 'Trey,' " she said with an imperious tone.
This strong, forbidding man who intimidated most everyone he came in
contact with grimaced.
"I can explain."
"I suspect you will. But first I need to freshen up. Ben tried to put
me in a hotel, but I insisted that I see you first. If you're staying
here in this house, I see no reason why I can't stay with you. That is,
unless you are making a habit of early morning tete-a-tetes with the
woman who just dashed out the door."
"Grandmere," he stated firmly, "what I do with Chloe is none of your
concern. I must respectfully ask you to stay out of it."
"Hmmm, talking back to me. She must mean more to you than I guessed."
She started walking down the hall as if she owned the place, stopping
in front of Chloe's bedroom. She shuddered. "Good Lord, what happened
to the bed?"
Not waiting for an answer, she disappeared into the bathroom off the
hall. Ben didn't waste any time.
"What was I supposed to do?" he demanded in quiet tones. "You know how
Grandmere is."
"I know. I know. I'm just thankful that Diana didn't decide to show up
as well."
"Give her time."
"Great."
"Listen," Ben said, "I found out why Chloe lived with her grandmother."
Sterling focused intently.
"The mother, Nell Sinclair, was riding on the back of a Harley driven
by some biker guy after Chloe's father moved out. Nell was twenty-six,
wasn't wearing a helmet. Neither was he. They were traveling
at a high rate of speed down Paisano, lost control, hit a tree, and
were pronounced dead at the scene."
Sterling didn't let any of the surprise he felt show on his face.
Instead his brain assimilated the information. He blocked from his mind
how he felt about the idea of Chloe dealing with the sudden, unexpected
loss of a parent. That he'd save for later, when he was alone, when he
could take out and examine the pieces of emotion that only Chloe
Sinclair had the ability to make him feel.
When Sterling didn't comment, Ben continued, running through the
details from the Hughes Security
file. About the mother and father, about Child Services placing the
child with the grandmother.
Sterling's brows furrowed deeply. "So you're telling me Chloe's mother
was an unwed parent."
"Yes," Ben said shortly.
Emotion tried to fight its way through his taut control. Sterling hated
what he heard. He hated the knowledge that Chloe's parents had never
married, hated what, even in this day and age, that made her.
Was that why she was so reluctant to talk about her family? Why she
kept personal information to herself?
But Sterling felt something else as well, yet another of the foreign
emotions that he'd had since meeting Chloe. He felt a driving need to
give her the family she had never had. He wanted to give her children;
he wanted to give her himself—if she'd have him—offering her the one
thing he had never been able to give anyone before.
It hit him so hard, his eyes narrowed against the tightening in his
chest.
"Anything else?" he asked his brother, needing to be alone with his
thoughts.
"There was a note in the file. When the responding officers got there,
the mother was still alive. Apparently she said something like 'I
didn't mean to leave.' Strange."
Sterling wondered if it wasn't strange at all, but rather the key to
the woman who filled him as no other.
He started to turn away.
"Sterling," Ben said, stopping him.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Chloe might not be from our kind of family, but she is a wonderful
woman regardless."
The words took him aback, and Sterling stared at his younger brother.
After a long second he said,
"If there's one thing in this world that I'm absolutely sure about,
it's how truly wonderful she really is."
*  *  *
Chloe returned to Julia's house, hurrying along the walkway, half
mortified, half amazed by how far
she had gone with Sterling. As to being caught coming out of the
bedroom by his grandmother, that deserved full-fledged embarrassment.
Even worse, Chloe hated to think about the introduction. The older
woman had taken care not to use
her grandson's name. Was the whole family in on it?
She slipped by Mindy's room, careful not to wake her. She wanted to
talk to Julia, but when she went into the bedroom to find her friend,
she wasn't there.
"Julia," she called, walking through the large expanse to the smaller
connecting room. "Are you here?"
No one was there, and Chloe turned to leave. And as she did, she
noticed the station's ledgers sitting
on the desk.
Chloe couldn't believe it when she actually walked over and sat down.
She told herself not to look. If
she had questions, she just had to ask. But Julia had been acting too
strange— one minute her old self, the next massively stressed—for
everything to be on the verge of working out.
Telling herself that as the station manager she was doing nothing
wrong, she opened the accounting ledger.
She went through the book once, then again. By the time she closed the
black-bound tome, she could only stare blankly. The debt was far
greater than Chloe had ever imagined.
Her mind was numb while she changed her clothes, pulling on faded jeans
and a bulky sweatshirt, then went straight to her garage. It was the
first time she had been alone in days, just her and this house that she
loved, in the neighborhood that had been her refuge. But suddenly it
wasn't any longer.
Yet again she wished she had the comfort of knowing her father was
there. She loved Julia and Kate,
but having family was different. Her father would listen to her, make
her feel better.
Or was that just a dream, too?
She pressed her forehead against the garage door, relishing the metal
warmed by the October West
Texas sun. Breathing deep, she thought she could stay that way for a
lifetime. Forget everything that
was going on. Because the truth was, she was afraid she couldn't save
the station after all.
Sure, ratings were good. Advertising dollars were pouring in. But what
would they do next? How would they sustain this level of income after
The Catch
was over?
After going through the books, she felt very much like they were only
putting a Band-Aid on the problem.
And then there were these feelings she had for Sterling. They left her
aching and confused and scared
that she was letting her guard down. The truth was, she still didn't
know why he continued to pretend
to be someone else.
That was when the real fear hit her, and she realized what had been
lurking at the back of her mind
since she had found the accounting ledgers.
Had Julia wanted to sell KTEX all along? Is that why she had gone to
Prescott Media in the first place? But she didn't want anyone to know?
"Hello! Is that you, Chloe?"
Chloe jerked away from the garage door and saw Sterling's grandmother.
"Ah, hello," Chloe said.
"What a beautiful day it is. In St. Louis our weather is nice, but it
can't compare with this."
Chloe stared at her.
The woman laughed and breathed deep like an aerobics instructor.
Chloe pulled open the garage door.
"What are you doing?" the woman asked, following her inside.
"I'm going to work in the garden."
"How wonderful. Do you mind if I join you? I can't tell you how long
it's been since I've gotten down
on my hands and knees and worked in the dirt."
"You garden?"
Serena laughed gaily. "Not so much anymore, I'll grant you that. But
there was a day."
A bucket filled with tools and gardening gloves stood on the worktable.
After searching out a second
pair of gloves, Chloe handed them to Serena, then they headed to the
backyard. All the while, the older woman didn't seem to so much as draw
a breath through all her talking.
"Did ... my grandson tell you that I'm from El Paso?"
He had. She remembered now. Though it seemed like ages ago when he had
told her.
"Yes, born and raised," Serena added. A hint of a Hispanic accent mixed
in with her perfectly refined Midwestern neutrality. "My maiden name
was Cervantes. Serena Cervantes, from a long line of Cervanteses dating
back for centuries."
No sooner had Chloe kneeled in the yard, than she sat back on her
heels. "Then how did you end up
in St. Louis?"
Serena sat down next to her on the grass, apparently not giving any
thought to her fine slacks and silk blouse. "I met a handsome young
soldier at Fort Bliss. My grandson's grandfather." She stared out
through the trees that were still green, the mountains in the distance
rising up in shades of purple.
"I was working at my father's restaurant. It was love at first sight. I
still remember that he ordered the combination plate. And when he
finished, just so he could stay, he ordered another."
"Love at first bite."
Chloe couldn't believe she had said that. Serena looked at her, then
started to laugh. Then, amazingly, Chloe did, too.
"I guess that is true," Serena said. "After that, he came back for
lunch every day he could leave the
base. We were married within the year, and the minute he was discharged
from the army, we traveled
to his home in St. Louis."
"Is he still there now?"
"No, God rest his soul. But he's waiting for me in heaven."
"Looks to me he has a long time to wait."
Serena laughed. "I'm blessed with good health, even if I've got three
grandchildren who want to give
me a heart attack."
"But you love them."
Serena looked her directly in the eye. "With every ounce of my being."
Footsteps interrupted their ease.
"How are you two doing?"
They turned to find Sterling standing at the back door. "I'm getting to
know your lovely young lady," Serena said.
Chloe blushed and started to correct her, but Serena cut her off. "I
have an idea."
Sterling groaned.
"It's been a hundred years since I've had real Mexican food."
"Then we'll go have some."
Light sparkled in her eyes. "I have a better idea."
SEVENTEEN
She realized quickly that what Serena Cervantes Prescott wanted, she
got. And she wanted to prepare
a feast.
They didn't have time for a feast, not really, but since the next show
didn't tape until Friday, Chloe relented.
She couldn't believe it when she found herself wrist deep in masa. And
if that didn't stretch the imagination, Sterling Prescott standing next
to her was enough to make her believe she had to be dreaming.
"That's it," Serena instructed. "Spread the masa on the corn husk in a
smooth layer, with more toward
the top than the bottom of the husk."
The entire kitchen in Chloe's tiny house was filled with the signs of
serious cooking. Serena wanted to relive her youth, and her memories
were seasoned by food. When Serena had arrived, she had been
beautifully regal, though reserved. Now, as if the preparation of food
could change people, not only
was Serena's expression relaxing, her elder grandson was changing
before Chloe's eyes as well.
He was still the silently commanding sort. Not an ounce of control left
his chiseled frame. But there was an indulgent love, not the tough sort
that he directed at Ben, that filled his eyes when he looked at his
grandmother and softened him in a way that was compelling and not just
a little overwhelming.
Chloe was intrigued by this man. She felt her heart pound with
poignancy and yearning as she watched this family. The love they shared
was visible. And while it was clear that Sterling was frustrated by his
grandmother's arrival, he also felt a deep respect for her.
"So what else are you making?" he asked with a smile, kissing Serena on
the forehead.
"What else are we making. We're starting with the tamales so we can get
them out of the way. Then
we'll move on to the enchiladas and chile rellenos. Your mother may not
have taught any of her children about cooking, but it's time my
grandchildren learned a thing about their heritage." Serena pronounced
everything with a perfect Mexican accent. "After that, we'll move on to
salpicon and refried beans and
mi padre's
famous slaw."
"It sounds delicious," Chloe offered, meaning it.
"It is. Then tonight we will have all your Roses over and have a grand
feast." She looked at her grandson. "Perhaps you should film that!"
"Are you trying to get on television, Grandmere?"
She smiled wickedly, but said, "Me, never."
Chloe was listening so intently that she wasn't watching what she was
doing.
"That's one interesting tamale," Sterling said to her.
"Oh!"
Instead of moving on to the second tamale, she had added a second scoop
to the first. It made her
mouth dry just to think about taking a bite into the doubly thick corn
masa.
Sterling came up beside her, his arm brushing against hers. He took the
corn husk and dumped the masa mixed with broth and chile sauce back
into the bowl. Then he guided her hands as they started over.
"You know how to make tamales?" she asked, a little rattled.
"No, but I'm getting pretty good at learning new tricks."
Needing to concentrate on anything but how this man made her feel, she
turned her attention to Serena. "How many grandchildren did you say you
have?" Chloe asked.
"Just the three. Which have proved more than enough, given that they
are all a handful."
"There are the two men, but who else?"
"I have a granddaughter. Diana." Serena cast a baleful eye on her
grandson. "She's been threatening
to show up here herself."
Chloe heard Sterling's groan. But whatever concern she experienced
disappeared the minute Serena left the room in search of Ben, who was
next door. Sterling took a step so that he was behind her, then he
got even more serious about tamales.
Her breath caught as his hand guided hers. Electricity sizzled through
her when his chest touched her back, and every time he reached for
something, their bodies came even closer together. The heat of him
always surprised her. She told herself it was all the burners on the
stove going. But she knew that it was him. He exuded a heat that she
wanted to sink into.
"Now you're getting the hang of it," he said against her ear.
A shiver of delicious yearning ran down her spine, so delicious that
she felt like a guilty teenager when
the back door banged open again.
"The Catch looks caught," Serena announced with a laugh. "Enough with
you two lovebirds."
Chloe ducked away. "Oh no, we aren't..." She felt flustered. "We are in
the middle of a dating show or contest. And we can't be unfair to
Mindy. She's a dream. Perfect Rose material."
Serena glanced back and forth between the two of them and didn't look
like she believed Chloe for a second. Thankfully the woman only
shrugged and commanded them to finish up with the tamales.
Every nerve tingled in Chloe's body as she scooped up the shredded,
seasoned meat-filling and placed it on the now perfectly smooth masa.
Serena didn't want any mistakes, and she came over and showed Chloe how
to spread the filling along the center, then how to roll the corn husk
and fold the bottom to create what was now recognizable as a tamale.
"
Perfecto!
" Serena exclaimed.
In short order they finished up the tamales, then moved on to a dish of
succulent beef enchiladas with red sauce and chile rellenos that made
Chloe's stomach grumble. And by the time the afternoon sun was fading
in the sky, they had a feast that she thought she might be too
exhausted to enjoy.
But it was food, after all, and the most heavenly of food available.
Truly homemade Mexican food.
Shy sweet Mindy arrived with Julia and Ben. Even Kate and Jesse piled
into the small house.
"I could smell the chile two doors down," Jesse enthused.
He was playing the best golf of his life, and Chloe had never seen two
happier people. They talked and laughed, and Chloe wondered if she
would ever have something like what they shared. When she
glanced up, Sterling was studying her.
His gaze had that heated smolder to it. And then he smiled.
The entire table of people laughed at something Julia said. But neither
Sterling nor Chloe heard what it was. He studied her with a sensuality
that was matched only by the intensity in his eyes. Chloe sensed that
things were coming to a head between them.
Everyone had a wonderful time. They ate lots of food and drank
margaritas, and by the end, everyone had a rosy glow.
"Ben," Serena stated, "since you're the designated driver, I'm ready
for you to take me to the hotel."
"I thought you were staying here," Sterling said.
She gave him a look, one delicate brow raised in amusement. "No, no,
no. I just wanted to come here first to see what it is my boys were up
to. Now I know." She practically snorted. "And now I'm ready
to go to the hotel. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted."
When the group finally broke up, Chloe staying behind to clean up the
mess, Sterling motioned for Ben
to follow him into the living room.
"I'll just be a minute," Ben told their grandmother. "What is it?" he
asked his brother.
Laughter from the kitchen floated out to them. Through the doorway,
Sterling could see Serena and Chloe talking and laughing. Two
realizations hit him at once.
More and more he understood that Chloe's view of men was skewed by her
past. Beyond that, he finally understood why he had felt empty and
restless. It hadn't been challenge that was missing from his life.
Sterling turned to his brother. "The deal's off."
"What?"
"The challenge, or whatever it was."
"But you're about to win—you'll save the station, and Chloe clearly has
fallen for you. I'm on the verge of having to suck it up and return to
St. Louis."
"I don't want Chloe that way. I want Chloe to know who I am, good or
bad, and let her make the decision based on the truth, not based on
this crazy challenge neither one of us ever should have agreed to." He
hesitated. "And I don't want you returning to St. Louis unless you want
to."
Ben's dark eyes widened with surprise. "What happened?"
"Chloe happened. Chloe made me realize what was wrong, why I got myself
into this mess."
Ben cocked his head, waiting for the answer.
"She made me realize that there's more to life than work and winning
and closing the best deals. And
after learning about her past, I want to give her the family she never
had. I can see now why she is
trying to spend more time with her father. He's all she has. But now
she has me, too. I can give her
more family."
Ben clapped his hand on his brother's shoulder. "This is a brother who
makes me proud," he said with great feeling.
Sterling glanced back at his grandmother and the woman he loved.
Yes, loved.
The sensation was powerful and amazing, nearly bringing him to his
knees. He loved her and wanted
her to marry him, despite whatever skewed feelings she might have
toward men. He would change her mind. He would prove that he loved her.
But first he had to tell her who he really was.
He hated the thought that this might be the end, that she might never
forgive him. But he had to do it.
He had to have a chance to spend time with her as himself. One true
moment. Whatever the consequences. He wanted her to see him, the real
him. And when Ben and Serena finally walked out the door, Sterling
couldn't help himself when he leaned down, cupped Chloe's chin, and
kissed her. Softly. Just once. Then he kissed her long.
When he pulled back, her breath sighed out of her. "What was that for?"
"Have I told you how special I think you are?"
She pressed her hand to his forehead. "Are you getting sick?" She
glanced after his grandmother and brother. "Maybe I should get them
back here."
"I'm fine. And my grandmother can't fix what's really wrong."
Chloe laughed. "She seems like the type who could fix anything. She's
lovely."
He nodded. "She is. She's always been strong and good."
"Is she your mother's or father's mother?"
"My father's. But that isn't what I want to talk about."
"No, I don't suspect it is," she replied with a smile, turning back to
finish up the dishes.
Sterling wasn't a man to talk about himself. And certainly not to talk
about anything personal. Most people were enthralled with their own
stories. Which was fine by him. He listened and learned a lot, which
put him at a distinct advantage when he was making deals. Deals that in
the long run didn't matter.
He had learned that Chloe was one of those people, like him, who didn't
talk about themselves. Now he had a better idea of why she didn't. A
mother who never married, then was killed in an accident when Chloe was
young. Leaving.
Unable to help himself, he wrapped his arms around this woman he loved
and breathed in the scent of her. After the next few minutes, he wasn't
sure what would happen. With most any other woman it wouldn't have
mattered. But with Chloe it was different. Which meant he had no
choice. It was time.
He set her at arm's length. "Chloe, we need to talk."
"Trey, what is it?"
He looked her straight in the eye. "That. Trey."
She went very still. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not Trey Tanner."
He could hardly believe the way his heart beat nervously. But he
wouldn't allow himself to go easier
on what he had done.
"I've been lying to you since that first day in the conference room at
KTEX."
He could tell he had surprised her, but he couldn't gauge how upset she
was.
"This doesn't excuse my actions, but I want you to know that I never
intended to lie, just as I never intended for it to get so out of
control. Suddenly Julia was calling me Trey Tanner and you were saying
all those horrible things about Sterling Prescott and Prescott Media
that I... well..."
"You what?" she asked with an icy calmness that made his blood run cold.
"I lied," he stated clearly, knowing he couldn't whitewash it. "I am
Sterling Prescott."
Then he did something else that wasn't like him. He waited for her to
respond instead of demanding
an answer.
She only stared at him, her blue eyes like chips of fury. He was
stunned at the emotion he felt. He realized in that second that he
couldn't afford to lose her.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I never meant for this to happen."
"Why are you telling me this now?" she asked with a cold cautiousness.
"Because I was tired of living this lie."
He laid it out for her, admitting his error, praying that she could
find it in herself to forgive him. He remembered the unexpected thought
he'd had days earlier that maybe he wouldn't be forgiven. Looking
at her now, taking in her nearly black hair and bright blue eyes that
burned with a piercing and incisive iciness, he felt a biting pain at
the thought that he had been right.
And that was unacceptable. "Chloe—"
She cut him off. "Tell me this. Now that you've confessed, and as long
as you're in the mood for a heart-to-heart, what do you really plan to
do with KTEX?"
He stared at her forever, remembering his original plan. The
three-jeweled trifecta that would be a gold mine of advertising revenue
for Prescott Media. He had told his board of directors about it. He had
a press release written and waiting to be sent out. He would fail at a
goal he had established if he didn't swallow KTEX and combine it with
the Tucson and Albuquerque stations. All because he had fallen in love
with this woman.
"I will do whatever it takes to make things right for KTEX."
Her eyes narrowed. "You're not trying to ruin us?"
"Chloe, why would I ruin you?" He wanted to touch her, wanted to pull
her close and have her say
three simple words. I forgive you. But he understood there was nothing
simple about it.
She inhaled sharply. "Swear that you'll make everything right."
"Chloe, you have my word."
Her irises dilated and her breathing grew agitated and shallow in her
chest. And when she opened her mouth to speak, he couldn't imagine what
she was about to say.
"I already know who you are."
A stunned moment of silence passed before his shoulders came back, his
spine stiffening in surprise—
and something else. "You know?" he demanded. "For how long?"
"Since we started taping the show. I called your office and I asked for
Trey Tanner's secretary.

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