The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1) (27 page)

Nathan frowned at the array of unread reports and memos running down the computer screen in his home office. Leaving work at five o’clock every day to see Chloe cut into his working time, and he needed to catch up. He read through one memo twice without taking in a word. Irritated with himself, he pushed his rolling chair away from his desk and swiveled to face the windows where the lights of Manhattan blazed.

Today’s encounter with Chloe had left him unsettled and restless. The sex had been great. It always was with her. When she’d said she wanted him for himself and no other reason, he’d believed her. Her emotion had been genuine, but there was a tinge of regret in it that made him uneasy. Instead of bringing them closer, her deeper feelings seemed to be putting a distance between them.

Then he’d spilled his guts about the family sword.

“Damn it.” He vaulted out of the chair and paced across the room.

The thought that his father might want to wear the sword had hit him as he described the wedding ceremony to Chloe, and the rest had just spilled out. Even Ben didn’t know he’d used the saber to slice bananas, the most disrespectful use he could think of for it.

He’d told her a shameful secret, but she wouldn’t let him have a meal with her beloved grandmother. What did that say about their relationship?

He wasn’t accustomed to feeling off balance with a woman. Chloe seemed so honest and straightforward, yet there were layers to her he hadn’t begun to understand. It frustrated him. He wanted to know everything about her.

Tapping his finger against his thigh, he stared unseeingly out the window. Knowing too much could get messy. He usually preferred to stay safely on the surface with the women he dated. Things hadn’t worked so well with Teresa because he’d allowed himself to hope for more.

He was falling into the same trap with Chloe. So why did it feel so good?

A buzzing sound came from his desk as his cell phone danced on the stainless-steel surface. The first word that sprang to his mind was
Chloe,
and he was across the floor in four long strides. But the name on the screen was “Luke Archer Cell.”

Surprise made him answer the phone.

“Trainor, I need a favor.” The quarterback’s Texas drawl was stronger on the phone. “I got talked into buying a table at a charity dinner tomorrow night, and I need to fill it up. Miller’s coming, so I’m asking you to come too. And bring a date.”

Nathan sat down and tilted back his chair to prop his feet up on the desk. “Miller put you up to this.”

“Miller? No, he’s just willing to go along with it for a good cause. We’re raising money for foster kids in the New York metro area.”

“That’s not what I meant. He wants to meet my date.”

“Hell, based on what Miller says,
I
want to meet her.” Archer said. “You work fast, man.”

“As I told him yesterday, the meeting is premature. And I have no intention of exposing her to Miller’s curiosity.” Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t about to give up an entire evening of having Chloe all to himself.

“Too bad,” Archer said. “The silent auction has some damn nice jewelry, and all the proceeds go to the kids.”

Nathan dropped his feet to the floor and sat up. He could buy Chloe something beautiful, and she wouldn’t feel guilty about accepting it since it was given in the name of charity. Temptation sank its claws into him.

Archer must have read his silence because the quarterback said, “There’s a listing of the items online. I’ll text you the link.”

“Did you donate a signed football?” Nathan asked, stalling.

“With four tickets on the fifty-yard line,” Archer said. “Miller kicked in an entire set of autographed Julian Best books, along with a prop from the last movie.”

Nathan huffed out a laugh. “Put me down for a TE-Gen10 3-D printer.” He could also get something Chloe would like at Tiffany’s, donate it to the auction, and bid on it for her. But Archer didn’t need to know that.

“Sounds high-tech. So you’ll come.”

“I’m sure I’ll regret it, but I’ll ask Chloe if she’d like to attend.”

“Chloe. Nice name. I’ll text you all the information.”

Archer hung up and Nathan rested the cell phone on his thigh. Would Chloe be impressed or put off by the charity dinner? He shook his head. He never knew with her. Archer’s arriving texts chimed. Nathan read the information before he hit Chloe’s number on speed dial and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Nathan.” Delight, caution, and surprise mixed in her voice.

“How would you feel about a change of plans for tomorrow?” he asked. “We’ve been invited to a charity dinner for foster kids. A friend of mine is sponsoring a table.”

“Is it Ben?” She sounded pleased by the prospect.

“No, it’s Luke Archer.” He waited to see if she would recognize the name.

Silence hummed through the phone for a second. “Luke Archer the quarterback?”

“That’s the one.”

“Of course you’re friends with Luke Archer.”

“Maybe acquaintance is a better description,” he clarified, still not sure what her reaction was.

“Well, I guess if it’s for a good cause . . .” She gave a funny little laugh. “The Empire was my father’s favorite football team. I watched Luke Archer win four Super Bowls.”

“Then he’ll enjoy your company more than mine. I’ve never seen him play.” He’d buy the tickets Archer had donated to the auction as well as the planted jewelry.

“You’re not a football fan?” Chloe sounded astonished. “I figured with your military background . . . the Army-Navy game and all that.”

He made a wry face even though she couldn’t see him. “When I was in front of a screen, I was playing video games.”

“That makes sense.” She gave a little sigh. “There’s so much I don’t know about you.”

He didn’t like her tone. It was almost sad. “We have plenty of time to find out all those things.”

“Plenty of time,” she echoed, but without conviction. “Oh my goodness! I just realized . . . What should I wear to the dinner?”

“You have all the outfits from Saks, so you can pick one of those.” He allowed a touch of smugness in his voice. “It’s cocktail attire.”

“So I don’t have to wear a long gown.” Relief laced her words.

“I vote for the blue dress, as always.”

“It might be a little, er, formfitting for a charity dinner.”

He remembered how the stretchy lace outlined her hips and clung to the curves of her breasts. “Your form is what I love, so that works for me.”

She caught her breath at the compliment. “All right, I’ll wear it. But I’m not going commando at a public dinner.”

“I knew I’d regret agreeing to Archer’s invitation,” he said, but he was smiling. He would enjoy seeing what kind of lingerie she chose for the sexy dress.

After he hung up, he had the thought that maybe he didn’t want Archer and Miller seeing her curves. He balanced that against the prospect of peeling the dress off her on the way home from the dinner and decided to let his request stand.

Now he just had to fit a trip to Tiffany’s into his schedule tomorrow.

As she walked through the doors to cocktail hour at the ritzy midtown hotel, Chloe tightened her hold on Nathan’s arm and pasted on her most confident smile. Honestly, she wouldn’t have agreed to come if she hadn’t known how thrilled her father would have been to meet Luke Archer.

A hostess dressed in a black suit walked up to them with a tablet in her hand. “Mr. Trainor and Ms. Russell, Mr. Archer asked me to escort you to him.”

Nathan nodded and put his hand against the small of Chloe’s back to indicate she should follow the young woman. “How did she know who we were?” Chloe asked in an undertone before she stepped in front of him.

Nathan looked uncomfortable as he shrugged. “They prep the hostesses with photos of major donors. It’s part of the courtship dance. They make you feel important so you’ll give them more money.”

The hostess stopped and looked over her shoulder, so Chloe hurried forward. Nathan was a major donor. It shouldn’t surprise her.

She made a surreptitious scan of their fellow guests as she walked through the chattering crowd. The women wore clothes that reeked of money, and the suits of their male counterparts clearly did not come ready-made off a rack. Thank goodness Nathan had sent the extra outfits to her house! She would have been woefully underdressed in her own clothes.

Of course, he looked superb in a midnight-blue suit with a light-blue shirt and yellow tie, his hair tamed into neat waves that brushed his collar. She caught several women casting envious glances her way, which made a smug little smile turn up the corners of her lips.

The hostess touched a guest’s shoulder to clear their path. As the guest moved aside, Chloe saw Luke Archer, with his signature mane of blond hair, standing directly in front of her. His head was bent as he listened politely to the animated conversation of a petite blonde woman who had her hand tucked in his elbow. As Chloe and Nathan approached, he turned those famously piercing blue eyes on them. She realized the blonde woman wasn’t quite as small as she’d thought. Luke Archer’s height and broad shoulders just made her appear tiny.

“Good to see you, man,” the quarterback said, gripping Nathan’s hand briefly before turning to Chloe with a surprisingly easy smile and a charming Texas twang. “You must be Chloe. I’m Luke Archer.”

His big hand engulfed hers and she wondered how many footballs he’d thrown with it. “I know. I’ll never forget the eighty-two-yard pass you made to win the Super Bowl. My heart was in my throat as that ball flew through the air,” she said. “I’m a great fan of yours.” She nodded toward the rest of the room with a smile. “Along with everyone else here, I suspect.”

He shook his head. “There are plenty of Patriots and Dolphins fans here.” He turned to his companion. “Jane Dreyer, meet Chloe Russell and Nathan Trainor.” The woman gave them a dazzling smile as she shook hands. She was about fifteen years older than Luke, had straight platinum-blonde hair, and wore a simple long-sleeved purple sheath adorned with a gorgeous collection of gold chains and bangles. “Jane is Gavin’s literary agent,” Luke added.

Chloe knew Gavin meant Gavin Miller, the author of the hugely successful Julian Best series. He was another of Nathan’s acquaintances. She wondered what other famous people they would run into here.

“I’m trying to persuade Luke to write his memoir,” Jane said. “You’d want to read that, wouldn’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Chloe said.

Luke shook his head. “Maybe when I retire from football.”

“I’ve explained that he needs to write it now, while he’s at the height of his career,” Jane said, appealing to Chloe and Nathan again. “That will give him the broadest platform of readers.”

“She makes a good point,” Nathan said.

Chloe was surprised to see a flicker in the quarterback’s air of steely confidence as he said, “I’m not much of a writer.”

“Not a problem,” Jane said. “I have some fantastic ghostwriters as clients.”

“Where’s Gavin?” Nathan asked, glancing around.

“He took my date to look at the auction items in the next room,” Luke said, appearing relieved at the change of subject.

“We’ll have to bid on some of those too.” Nathan looked down at Chloe with a smile. “For the cause. I hear Luke donated an autographed football you might like.”

“I’d love that, especially knowing it’s supporting the foster kids,” she said. It seemed safe to agree to that. An autographed football couldn’t cost all that much, could it?

“Trainor, you actually came.” Another tall man, this one dark where Luke Archer was blond, strolled up to the group accompanied by a young, very trim woman. “I didn’t think you would.” He turned a flashing smile on Chloe.

“Good to see you too, Miller,” Nathan said with an amused edge to his tone. “Chloe, this is Gavin Miller.”

Gavin projected a cynical, devil-may-care attitude in contrast to Luke’s almost palpable discipline and self-control. The author’s striking green eyes held a glint of mischief. Yet she noticed dark circles under them. “Chloe, the pearl beyond price, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Instead of shaking her hand, he gave her a brief hug. “Allow me to present Elyssa Lauda, Luke’s personal trainer. And a very lovely one at that.”

That explained Elyssa’s perfectly defined arm muscles, but Chloe was puzzled by Gavin’s description of herself. As she shook hands with the trainer, she caught an exchange of glances between Nathan and Gavin, one warning, the other challenging. Something was going on between these men that Nathan hadn’t clued her in on.

Miller maneuvered himself around to stand beside Chloe. “So tell me how you and Nathan met. Being a writer, I’m always interested in the backstory.”

It figured he’d lead with an awkward question. “I worked for him, briefly. I’m temping between permanent jobs.”

Interest flared in the writer’s green eyes. “An office romance, then.” He raised his dark eyebrows at her. “So you spent hours in his company and still agreed to go on a date with him. You’re a brave woman.”

Nathan slid his arm around her waist. “
Foolhardy
might be a better word,” he said. “Not to mention the fact that for the first few days of our acquaintance, I had the flu.”

Chloe was surprised he would admit that, but she played along. “And germs make him cranky.”

“I’ll bet.” Luke joined the conversation, startling Chloe. She looked up to see the three men locked in a staring match.

“Chloe and I are going to take a look at the auction offerings,” Nathan said. “We’ll meet you at the dinner table.”

He guided her away from the group toward another door, stopping a server with a tray of filled champagne flutes to take two of the slender glasses. Several people greeted him, but he just nodded and kept going, his arm like a steel band around Chloe’s waist. As soon as they reached the next room, she slipped out of his grasp and turned to face him. “So what’s going on with you, Luke, and Gavin?”

His expression became unreadable and he took a swallow of champagne. “Just some typical male posturing.”

“About what?”

He looked away for a long moment. “You notice Gavin brought his agent and Luke brought his trainer.”

“So?”

“I’m the only one who brought an actual date.”

“How do you know those aren’t real dates?”

“Because Luke and Gavin don’t look at them the way I look at you. They don’t find a way to touch them at every opportunity like I do you.” Nathan smiled down at her with something in his eyes that made it hard to breathe. “They’re jealous, plain and simple.”

“About me?” Chloe was flabbergasted.

He slipped his arm around her again and brushed his lips against the side of her neck, sending shivers rippling over her skin. “I’m the only one who gets to do this. And this.” He shifted his hand to press it against the thin lace covering the curve of her behind. The splay of his fingers reminded her of what they’d done before they’d dressed to come to the party. Heat bloomed between her legs.

“Stop distracting me,” she grumbled. “Why didn’t they bring real dates?”

“I assume they don’t have any to bring.” His lips curved into a gloating smile. “Forget about them, let’s donate some money to the kids.”

Chloe let him lead her to the first of a series of round tables dotting the room. Auction items were artfully displayed atop forest-green tablecloths. Well-dressed patrons were circling the tables, chatting and occasionally pausing to write on the bid sheets. Nathan threw a cursory glance at the first few offerings before his eyes lit up at the sight of Archer’s autographed football. They’d been given a number when they checked into the party, and he scrawled it on the sheet along with his bid.

Chloe’s eyes widened as she read the description of Luke’s donation and realized it included four fifty-yard-line seats to an Empire game. Then she checked Nathan’s bid and nearly choked. “I don’t care how good those seats are, they’re not worth that much.”

“It’s just a way to give money to the charity, darling,” Nathan said. “I might as well get something that we’ll enjoy in the process.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him even as she savored being called darling, although he was probably doing that in an attempt to overcome her scruples. “You said you’d never seen Luke play, so you wouldn’t enjoy the game.”

“I’ll enjoy watching you enjoy it.” He towed her past three more tables before stopping in front of a display of jewelry laid in the distinctive blue-green boxes that marked them as Tiffany’s. One box held a bangle bracelet in white gold covered with a random mosaic of small sapphires and diamonds that glittered in the spotlight over them. The other contained a pair of earrings—two long, dangling bars of white gold encrusted with the same pattern of sapphires and diamonds. They were stunning in their dazzling simplicity.

“What do you think of those?” he asked.

“They’re beautiful. Both classic and modern,” Chloe said cautiously.

“Like you.”

She looked up to see him smiling at her. “That’s a very nice thing to say. But do not bid on those. They must be worth a small fortune.”

He glanced at the bid sheet. “Not even a tiny fortune.” He picked up the pen and wrote his number, and a bid that was double the one before it.

Chloe gasped. “Nathan, stop! If you win those, I will not accept them.”

He looked taken aback. “It’s just a dona—”

“A donation. I get it, but you can’t give those to me. It’s bad enough that I took this dress and these shoes.” She waved a hand down at her clothes.

He put down his champagne glass and wrapped his hands around her shoulders so he could lock his gaze on hers. “I want to give you things that will make you happy. What’s wrong with that?”

She couldn’t tell him that they wouldn’t be together long enough to go to the football game or for her to wear the jewelry. “What’s wrong is that I can’t give you equally amazing things in return.”

His eyes went dark with an emotion she couldn’t decipher. “Is that really the problem? Because let me tell you what incredible things you’ve given me.” His grip on her shoulders intensified. “You’ve given me Prometheus. I wouldn’t have gone near it without you. I have a new perspective on my friendship with Ben, thanks to you. You’re even forcing me to deal with my father.” Heat flared in his eyes. “You’ve given me the pleasure of your beautiful body.” He rubbed his fingers against the fabric of her dress, making her breasts ache with the desire to have him touch them the same way.

Then he floored her. “You’ve given me joy. I haven’t had that in my life for a long time.”

That did it. All the barriers and excuses she’d put up around her heart disintegrated into dust and blew away. She loved this overbearing, complicated, brilliant man to the depths of her soul.

Chloe wanted to stop time right then and there. To let herself bathe in this marvelous feeling, to soak in it and let it pour over her. She had been fighting this love for so long. It felt good to relax into the emotion for just a few fleeting moments before she had to deny it.

“What is it, Chloe?”

He was far too attuned to her. She shook her head. “You can’t buy me the jewelry.” And she couldn’t be in love with him. It was impossible.

She saw hurt in his eyes, sending a jab of guilt through her chest. She hated to cause him pain, yet all too soon she was going to do far worse than turning down some auction items.

“I said too much.” He shook his head at himself. “No wonder you looked stunned. Forget about my outburst. Let’s find Archer and Miller.”

He tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and laid his other hand over hers, but she could feel his withdrawal. He’d bared his emotions to her, and she’d rejected his honesty. Misery washed away most of the exultation she’d felt before.

As Chloe walked silently beside him, Nathan berated himself for dumping his issues on her. Her expression of shocked disbelief lingered in his mind’s eye. He had hoped to make her understand how much he owed her, but all he’d succeeded in doing was to show her how screwed up he really was.

Bringing Chloe to this event was a mistake. Miller was watching her like a hungry hawk. Archer was sizing her up as though she were a first-round draft pick. And now he’d revealed things about himself she didn’t want to know.