The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (13 page)

How could he do this to her so easily?  She almost slammed the bathroom door shut, slamming out his laughing, too-knowing eyes. 
Leaning against the door, she took several deep breaths, unaware that she was clutching his shirt to her chest until she opened her eyes to try and figure out why she could still smell the man’s spicy cologne.  When she realized what she was doing, she relaxed her hold, but then brought the shirt up to her face, breathing in the clean, wonderful scent. 

She pushed herself away from the wall and pulled her pink sweater over her head.  When she slipped her arms into the flannel shirt, it was more of a dress than a shirt.  The ends hung down to almost her knees and her arms were swallowed up in the fabri
c.  She had to roll up the arms several times before her hands could peek out the ends of the sleeves.  Taking the tails, she gathered them up and tied them in a knot around her waist. 

Feeling more than a little ridiculous, she opened the door to the bathroom once again.  She found him staring out at the view but at the first sound of her coming out, he swung around to watch her. 

Her step faltered when she saw the heat in his eyes as he took in her smaller frame wearing his clothes.  “What?” she asked, her fingers nervously tightening the knot around her waist. 

“You look hot in my shirt,” he finally explained. 
He came closer, his hands resting on her hips as he looked down at her.  “Of course, you’d look sexier without it.”

She rolled her eyes and would have stepped out of his arms but he wouldn’t let her.  “What now?” she asked.

His body language changed slightly.  Subtly.  “It just occurred to me that I have you here in my bedroom.  I’ve pictured you here so many times its almost hard to resist the urge to lift you up and carry you over to my very comfortable, very large bed and have my wicked way with you.”  He instantly felt her body stiffen and he controlled himself with difficulty.  “I won’t,” he assured her softly.  “But only because you’re going to love what I have planned.  And if I get you into that bed, it will be a long time before I actually allow you to leave it.”

She couldn’t relax, not with those words hanging in the air.  Even though he’d assured her that they would be doing something else, she still bit her lip with…indecision? 

Surely not, she admonished herself.  But she let out the breath she’d been holding when he took her hand and led her out of the bedroom.

He shortened his stride to allow her to
keep up with him more easily as he led her back out into the crisp, mountain air.  When he walked both of them over to a garage in the back of the house, she still didn’t understand what he had planned for the day.  But when the garage door opened to reveal two tough looking all-terrain vehicles, Sierra quickly started shaking her head and backing up.

With a laugh, she said, “
Drake, there is no way I’m riding on one of those.”

He ignored her and pushed one of them out into the sunshine.  “It’s much easier than you might think.”

She eyed the four wheeled machine dubiously.  “And a whole lot scarier, I’m sure.”  She didn’t think there was anything he could say to her that would prove these vehicles were not only safe, but a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  “They look like death traps.”

He smiled but shook his head.  “
Not at all.  These vehicles grip the road pretty well and I promise I won’t take you on any challenging slopes.  At least not this time.  The steering on my ATVs is much more responsive than on the ones you might have driven somewhere else.  So they’re easier to handle on the corners.”  He stuffed some bags into the machine’s holding areas and looked up at her. 

“I’ve never driven one, good or bad steering, so that kind of reassurance isn’t going to help me get onto that vehicle, Drake.”  She stood there staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.  He must have if he thought she would enjoy riding on something so vulnerable.  It was almost like a motorcycle, but with extra wheels. 

“They are steady and a lot of fun, I promise.  You’ll love it if you only give it a try.”

She still stood back
away from the machine, crossing her arms and shaking her head.  “You can try and convince me all you want, but it simply isn’t going to happen.”

She felt the trembling in her knees the moment she saw the victory in his eyes.  He shrugged and pushed the vehicle out of the garage further, looking over the engine carefully.  “If you don’t want to drive one, that’s fine.  I can deal with that.”

She should have relaxed with his assurance, but something about the way he was accepting her resistance worried her. 

A few minutes later, her wariness was confirmed.  With the engine revving, he pulled on a helmet, then tossed one to her.  She caught it in her fingers, but only looked at it as if it were a foreign concept.  “What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked, bracing herself for whatever he was planning.

“Put it on.”  He grinned and revved the engine one more time.

With a grin
on his handsome face that she could only describe as pure triumph, she started to step back.  His shaking head was her only warning before she somehow found herself on the back of the ATV while he sped off.  He hadn’t tried to cajole her or give her a long list of statistics about the safety or power of the ATV.  He’d simply lifted her off of her feet, ignoring her laughing objections and plunked her onto the back of the double seat.  He then threw his own leg over the seat, effectively trapping her and he revved the engine a moment before he released the break.  Taking off with a spewing of gravel and his grin of excitement. 

She gripped the helmet with her fingers while her
hands held onto his shoulders.  She was sitting behind him so it was hard to see where he was going, but she could see from both sides of him and the land was whizzing by them. 

“You’re going to need to hold onto me more tightly,” he said as he slowed down to turn a corner. 

As quickly as her numb fingers could move, she strapped the helmet on, latching it below her chin.  She was glad she’d done that quickly though when he whipped around a tree and then pushed the power on the ATV.  The wheels ground through the mud as it steadily climbed a very narrow mountain trail.

Sierra panicked as she looked around, but as he continued to expertly maneuver around the trails, she started to relax.  And amazingly, she was actually enjoying the ride while she hugged his waist.  She became excited every time he sped up or rounded a particularly dangerous looking corner. 
Within only a few minutes, she was pointing to different areas, encouraging him to drive in one direction or another and she laughed with thrilling exhilaration as he pushed the machine to go faster or climb higher. 

Drake
wasn’t sure if he would be able to maintain his control throughout the ride.  Each time he turned a corner, he felt her soft breast against his back, her soft breath against his shoulder when she laughed and her thighs pressing against his hips.  He’d suspected that she would like riding the ATVs, but he’d had no idea how much she’d like it.  She was completely into the danger now.  And he was both loving her excitement and gritting his teeth against the lust surging through his body with her softness pressed so firmly against his back. 

When he felt her grip around him loosen, he knew that it was probably time to stop.  She had to be worn out. “Are you hungry?” he asked, turning slightly so his voice would carry above the sound of the engine.

“Starving!” she called back to him.

He nodded, then turned the vehicle towards the south, heading down a barely-there pathway.  When they reached his destination, he turned off the engine and let her enjoy the majesty of the view in silence.

“Wow,” she sighed, looking out at the mountains laid out in front of her. 

“I know.  Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

He stepped off of the ATV and went to the back, unsnapping some industrial strength hooks on the sides of the machine.  The back area of the vehicle was actually a place to carry things and Drake pulled out a bag.  Sierra watched, her mouthwatering as he spread out a blanket on one of the warm rocks, then handed her a sandwich and a lemonade.  There were also bags of chips and some decadent cookies but Sierra curled her legs underneath her and accepted the sandwich and drink gratefully.  “This is delicious,” she gushed as she bit into the tomato and mozzarella sandwich with some sort of spicy, tangy spread.  “Who made this?”

“I did,” he replied as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. 

She eyed him out of the corner of her eye.  “Are you sure you didn’t buy this at some fancy grocery store?  Cooking just doesn’t seem like an activity you would enjoy.”

“I love cooking actually.  It’s pretty relaxing.  My housekeeper continues to find different ingredients for me.  I like the challenge of coming up with something interesting to make with each of her finds.”

She wasn’t sure that she believed him, but she didn’t really feel like arguing about the issue on such a beautiful day.  “So how long have you owned the house?” she asked, changing the subject.

Drake
almost laughed out loud at her.  She was sitting near him looking extremely prim and proper, completely disbelieving that he might know how to cook even though he’d cooked her a delicious pasta meal for her just over a week ago.  Did she think that had been a fluke? 

Deciding to humor her, he said,
“I bought the land about six or seven years ago.  The house was only finished maybe three years ago.”  He’d just have to show her tonight how well he cooked when he had her back at his house.  While he watched her and answered her questions, his mind thought about the different things he might prepare for dinner.  And all the things he would do to her before and after their meal. 

“Why did it take you so long to finish the house?” she asked, wondering if he’d had financial problems after his hospitalization.  She couldn’t outright ask him about that though.  Not without revealing her connection.  Monday, she promised herself.  She’d tell him
all about her past and her father’s criminal history on Monday.

“
Initially, I was wrapped up in a personal project and couldn’t take the time away from that to focus on building this house,” he explained, his mind flashing back to his crusade to imprison the man who had beaten him almost to death.  He’d delegated almost all of his duties that year so he could focus only on finding evidence that would put Joe Berutelli into prison.  He didn’t want to tell that to Sierra.  She looked like she might faint just at being in that man’s presence.  He didn’t want her to know that he’d basically put his life in danger on several occasions in order to get back at the sociopath.  “I couldn’t find an architect who knew how to do what I wanted to do.”  It had all worked out in the end.  The man had been murdered after a quick murder trial of his own.  That trial had resulted in Joe Berutelli finally been put behind bars without possibility of parole.  Drake felt no guilt that the man had himself been murdered in prison by one of his enemies. 

That was in the past
and he was here with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life as she sat primly on the blanket across from him, nibbling at her sandwich while he made plans for their night together. 

He had a slight pang of guilt over the memory of the woman from the hospital.  Once he’d gotten Joe Berutelli taken care of, he’d worked hard to track down the woman who had saved his life.  Not just once by calling for paramedics after he’d been dumped
in a filthy alley.  But throughout his long recovery, he remembered feeling her sit close to him, her hand touching his arm and her voice begging him to fight the pain, to fight and return to the world.  Her voice had been vague and her face always fuzzy because of the incredible pain he’d gone through so he never had a very good look at her. 

Unfortunately, by the time he’d
finished with Berutelli and come back to find his mystery woman, the trail had gone cold.  No one at the hospital could give him anything but vague descriptions of the woman.  Besides blue eyes and long, brown hair, all they could say was that she was pretty, painfully thin and always looking sad. 

Drake pushed thoughts of the stranger out of his mind.  He’d searched for her for so long without any trace of her.  At times, he thought she might have been a figment of his imagination.  He needed to give up the hope of finding her, especially since he’d found Sierra.  And there was no way he was going to lose her. 

Yes, his luck at finding this stunningly sensuous woman was proof that it was time for him to move on with his life. 

Starting tonight.  He chewed on his sandwich while his eyes moved over her tiny waist where his shirt was knotted, her long legs encased in those tight jeans that were now covered in dust.  Even her porcelain skin looked dusty and darker with flecks of mud splattering her high cheekbones but he thought she looked delicious! 

She stopped before taking her next bite of her sandwich, not sure she understood what he was telling her. “Are you saying that you basically designed the house?”

He focused back on the conversation, pushing the past where it belonged. 
“Yes.”  He winked at her shock.  “I’m going to hold you to that marriage proposal earlier.”

She ignored his teasing and stared at him.  “So you knew what you wanted to do but no one knew how to create it?”