Sweet Obsession: Windy City Kink, Book 1 (22 page)

Sasha moved toward her father for a hug, only then noticing the stranger sitting in a wingback chair. “Hi, Dad.”

He gave her a quick hug. “You look pretty, chickadee. Let me introduce you to Jerome.”

The stranger rose with a smile. Whoa, he was tall, at least a few inches over six feet, but double whoa, he probably weighed not much more than she did. Dad made the introductions and she smiled as she shook Jerome’s hand. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

“Jerome is our new Director of Information Technology at the bank,” Dad said. “He’s just moved to Chicago so I invited him for dinner. Sam and Nash and you are close to his age, so I thought it would be good for you all to meet.”

Sasha pursed her lips and gave her dad a pointed look. “Oh really.”

He smiled and patted her back. “Jerome’s quite a technological genius.”

Not as much as Jack is.

Sasha kept her smile firmly in place. “That’s great. How do you like working at the bank?”

Stupid question, with the CEO of the bank right there. What was he supposed to say?

“It’s great,” he said. “I’m really enjoying it. Right now we’re working on a big project to improve our Internet security.”

Sasha turned her head and gave him a long look. “Really?”

“Security is an area of expertise for me,” Jerome enthused. “So I’m really excited to be able to help with this.”

“What kind of security?”

“Oh. I’m sure you wouldn’t understand,” Jerome said with a smile. He smoothed his hair back from his high forehead. “It’s complicated stuff.”

Ugh. Patronizing much?

“Here you go, Sasha,” Sam said, handing her a glass of wine.

“Thank you.” She gave her brother a small smile as she took the glass then drank a big gulp. She turned back to Jerome. “I don’t know much about security,” she said sweetly. “Maybe you could explain it in small words to me.”

Jerome didn’t even bat an eye. “Sure. Well, we’re working on a contract with this company to improve security for our online customers. We’re a big company so we need our team members, customers, vendors and extended business partners to be able to interact with us securely. A lot of people are still nervous about doing business on the Internet and we want to make sure it’s absolutely safe for them.”

“Interesting,” she murmured. “What’s the name of the company?”

“Anzen Security. Pretty impressive record. When they submitted their proposal to us, I knew right away we should go with them.”

Sasha nodded, her insides tightening. “Mmmhmm.” She looked at her dad. “Are you involved with this deal at all, Dad?”

He chuckled. “No. I leave that to the tech guys.”

She nodded and relaxed a little, but her mind buzzed with the knowledge that her father had hired Jack’s company and didn’t even know it. “I see. So Nash. You and Jerome must have a lot in common.”

Nash lowered his chin and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. Sure.”

She patted Nash’s arm. “That’s so good that Dad’s looking out for you and Sam, making sure you have friends.”

Nash choked on the scotch he was drinking. A thick silence descended on the room. Jerome’s eyes shifted from side to side.

Sasha rolled her eyes, strolling over to the big brown leather couch to take a seat. “When’s dinner?” she asked.

The rest of the evening was almost funny. Her parents kept talking up Jerome to her and dropping unsubtle hints about how they were both single. Jerome didn’t seem to mind and stared at her across the table all through dinner in a vaguely creepy way.

God! Mom and Dad thought this was the kind of guy she should be with?

It wasn’t just that he didn’t physically attract her, although that was no small obstacle. His navy blue sweater over a white dress shirt emphasized his narrow shoulders, and navy blue pants that were belted
at his waist
just made her feel sorry for him. He was no doubt a very intelligent and nice man, but whoa damn, there was no spark whatsoever.

Not like with Jack.

That wasn’t just sparks. That was a whole forest fire.

She sighed, poking at her chicken. The only reason she was staying was for the birthday cake she knew had to be coming.

Chapter Sixteen

Jack and Emma walked into the garden show Sunday afternoon. Emma looked around. “Huh,” she said with a shrug. “This is cool, but I’m really not that into gardening.”

“Too bad. Pretend you are. Let’s check out that display with the hot tub.”

They wandered around until they finally arrived at Sasha’s booth. She sat there looking fucking amazing in a pair of skinny burgundy jeans with a loose ivory T-shirt printed with soft pink and burgundy flowers on the front. But she wasn’t alone. Kevin also sat there and they were deep in a conversation.

“It was stupid,” she said. “They haven’t changed a bit.”

Then she looked up and saw Jack. Her expressive face registered surprise, delight, then caution. She never could hide her feelings.

“Hi, Jack. Emma.” She rose from the folding chair she sat on. “What brings you here?”

“I thought Emma would like to see the show,” Jack said, praying Emma wasn’t going to snort too loudly. “She loves flowers.” He looked at Kevin. “Hi, Kevin, how’s it going?”

Kevin rose too and shook Jack’s outstretched hand with a decidedly firm grip. “Good,” he said with a smile. His gaze shifted to Emma and Jack caught the unmistakable male interest. Shit.

Torn between a relieved, happy feeling that in fact Kevin wasn’t in love with Sasha, and a fraternal protectiveness, he introduced Emma and Kevin.

Double shit. Emma returned Kevin’s interested gaze with one of her own in a frank appraisal.

“Hi,” Kevin murmured, gaze fastened on her. “People call me Kevin. But you can call me tonight.”

Oh for fuck’s sake.

Emma laughed. “Good one,” she said.

Kevin grinned. “I have more.”

“So, are you helping Sasha out this afternoon?” Jack asked Kevin.

Kevin barely dragged his gaze away from Emma. “Yeah. It’s kind of hard sitting here all by yourself all day, so I came yesterday for a while to visit and again today. So, Emma. Where have you been all my life?”

She grinned. “Where I’ll be the rest of your life—in your wildest dreams.”

Kevin laughed, his high-wattage smile equaling Emma’s. Jack sighed.

Then Kevin looked back and forth between Jack and Sasha. “Hey,” he said, turning to Emma. “There’s a really cool display of flowers at the back. Let’s go have a look.” He took Emma’s arm and led her away. He called over his shoulder, “Back soon. Talk amongst yourselves.”

Jack rolled his eyes and then faced Sasha, who was smiling.

“It’s not funny.”

Her eyebrows rose. “What’s not funny?”

“Those two flirting.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

He rubbed his chin. “Dammit. I don’t know. In a way I’m happy because it means he’s not into you.”

She rolled her eyes. “I told you that.”

He couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah. You did. So. How are things going here?”

“Really good! I’ve had a lot of people stopping to talk and quite a few who seemed genuinely interested. I’m going to follow up with them next week.”

“That’s great. I guess that’s what it’s all about.”

“Absolutely.”

“How was dinner with your family?”

“Shitty, thanks.”

He arched an eyebrow. God, she was cute.

“They had some guy there they were trying to set me up with. Oh hey! He works for the bank, in their IT department, and he was telling me about this big contract he’s negotiating with
your
company.”

His gut clenched. “Oh yeah?”

She eyed him, arms folded. “You never mentioned a contract with my dad’s bank.”

“Well. The truth is, I’m not involved with that deal. Adam’s been handling it all. And…it’s not all signed, sealed and delivered yet.”

Her pretty lips pouted. “But you know about it.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

She studied him.

“It’s a confidential business deal,” he said quietly. “What do you want me to say, Sasha?”

“I want you to tell me that this is just a coincidence.”

He couldn’t tell her that. But he wasn’t exactly ready to confess everything to her at that point. “The bank is an awesome potential customer,” he said quietly. “When they put out an RFP, we would have been crazy not to bid.”

She nodded.

“When are you done here?” He moved closer and set one hand on her hip.

“Six.”

“Come have something to eat with me after.”

Her bottom lip protruded in a very sexy way. “With you and Emma?”

“No. I’m ditching her.”

She laughed. “You might not have to. She seemed pretty interested in Kevin.”

He growled and she laughed again and patted his cheek. “What is with you alpha protective men, for God’s sake? She’s fine! She’s an adult. And Kevin’s a great guy. Hey, you have me to vouch for that.”

He grunted. Then he stepped aside as a couple stopped to look at Sasha’s pictures and talk to her about the patio they wanted to build. He listened to her as she asked them questions, clarified things and threw out a couple of ideas they apparently loved. Then she was handing out promotional material and her business card.

Her smile and the enthusiasm with which she talked about design impressed him. And made him hot for her. He gave his head a little shake, standing there watching and listening to her.

Before the couple moved on, she’d actually made an appointment to go to their home and start working on some concepts.

“Good work,” he murmured as she returned to his side.

She smiled and her eyes sparkled. “Thanks. That sounds really promising. They’ve already been looking around and talking to other people, so it means they’re serious. Some people who come to this show just have a vague idea that someday they’ll do something and that doesn’t always turn into actual business. Although, you never know down the road.”

“You have your car here?”

“I do.”

“I’ll pick you up at home then. Seven?”

She sucked briefly on her bottom lip. “Jack. I don’t know if this is a good idea…”

He was trying hard not to push. He’d left her alone all day yesterday, even though late last night he’d had the crazy idea to drive over to her place and see if she was home yet. But God, now he’d had her in his bed, it was even harder to get her out of his mind.

“I thought we’d been through that,” he said, reaching out to stroke a finger across that wet bottom lip. He shifted closer and bumped her hip gently with his. “We’re getting to know each other again. Right?”

She nodded. “Right.” She drew in a breath that lifted her breasts beneath the thin T-shirt. “Okay. Seven o’clock.”

“What kind of flowers are those?” he asked, pointing to a pot on the floor.

“Camellias. They’re one of my favorites.”

“I like them too. Nozumo Sensei has those growing in his yard. He has a kind of Japanese garden in his backyard that’s really cool. He once tried to tell me the meaning of all the plants and flowers he had planted there.”

She nodded. “It’s true, they do have meaning.”

“Like that ‘red roses means love, yellow roses means friendship’ stuff.”

Her soft laugh warmed him inside. “Like that, yeah. I don’t know the meaning of the camellias, but I do know that bamboo is a symbol of endurance. It looks slender and vulnerable, yet it’s very strong.”

His insides clenched. He stared at her. “Like you.”

“What?” Her eyebrows knit together.

“Never mind. What about the plants you plan to put on my rooftop garden?”

“Hmm. Well, I do plan to use some bamboo and some shrubs. I’d have to do some research on the others.”

“You always did like flowers and growing things. I remember all those little pots of violets in your room.”

She gazed at him. “Oh yeah.”

“And how you liked to spend time in the greenhouse and help the gardener.”

“I love that greenhouse,” she admitted. Jack had never been in a home that had a greenhouse, but the property the Bandel home was on was huge, and a part-time gardener looked after it. “Someday I’d love to have a house with a greenhouse where I could grow my own things.”

“What about actually owning a nursery?” Jack asked.

She shook her head. “I worked for a big nursery when I started doing landscape design. I do like growing things, but…I couldn’t do everything. I kind of like keeping things small.”

He nodded. He understood that and respected it, although his and Adam’s goal had been to grow their business as much as they could. He loved the challenge of that. But he also got the desire to be able to stay hands on. He’d had to give up on that a long time ago when things had gotten too big for just him and Adam.

Emma and Kevin returned then, and Jack took in her smile and the way she kept looking at Kevin. “You should see the fountain over there!” she told him. “It’s amazing. Are you having a fountain on your roof?”