The Seduction Plan (5 page)

And now, one small, slender woman was driving him crazy with the need for an answer. Walking over to his desk, he stared out the window, more frustrated than he’d ever felt in his life.

Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his face in an effort to gain a little perspective. She was only a woman, no matter how soft and pretty she had felt in his arms. And just because her lips had haunted his dreams last night, didn’t give him any reason to be this out of control. She was a woman, just like all the others and he could easily find another that would suit just as well.

He’d been telling himself that all day and so far, it hadn’t worked. Victor stared grimly at the work piling up on his desk and wondered how she’d twisted him into a frustrated knot with just that one, simple kiss. And several gut-punch smiles. And the cutest butt and sexiest legs he’d ever seen.

Damn her! Why hadn’t she called?

 

He looked at the phone on his desk for the hundredth time, wondering what she was doing.

She wasn’t going to call. It was already well past five o’clock and if she were going to follow through on his suggestion last night, she would have called earlier. With a frustrated sigh, he sifted through the files on his desk, wondering why he cared so much. It wasn’t disappointment he felt, he told himself as he tried to concentrate on a suggested merger. It was only that he was interested, curious, in her and her plight. So what if she had the best figure he’d ever seen on a woman? And the loveliest eyes? And lips a man could kill for, he thought for the millionth time.

Dammit! Every time he started thinking of her and how he should just walk away and forget about her, an image of her lush, sexy body popped up in his mind. There were so many women out there, he could find a replacement easily. He should just end this silly wait and call up one of those women who would love to be on his arm tonight.

The phone on his desk rang and he smacked the contract down on the other papers, irritated that he hadn’t absorbed a single detail. “Yes!” he snapped into the phone, distracted and irritated as he looked outside and saw the darkened sky.

Lana hesitated, hearing his irritated voice. “I’m sorry. Is this not a good time?” she asked, terrified of what she was about to do and grabbing at any excuse she could to back out of her decision. He sounded angry and that was as good an excuse as any to terminate the call, she thought nervously.

A deep chuckle came from somewhere deep down in his chest, and his mood instantly lightened now that she was talking to him. “Lana, don’t you dare hang up this phone,” Victor said, amusement and relief ringing in his voice. Leaning back in his desk, his mind started imagining what she probably looked like right at this moment. He could see in his mind’s eye her pretty white teeth nibbling nervously at her full, lower lip and his body hardened. Painfully. He knew all the things he wanted to do with those lips, one of which was nibbling on the lower lip with his own teeth. A feral smile tightened his face which would have terrified her if she’d been in the room with him instead of on the phone.

With a silent groan, he pushed that image aside and focused on the conversation. Getting her to meet him was not a foregone conclusion, if the nervous tone of her voice was any indication. It would take all his negotiating skills to bring her around to his way of thinking. But failure was not in his vocabulary.

“It’s about time you called. What are you doing?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and looking at the ceiling. Relief was pumping through him and he didn’t want to analyze any of the other feelings. The room was quiet and there was nothing but white on the ceiling. But in his mind’s eye, he was thinking of all the different things he was going to teach her now that she’d finally given in to her curiosity.

Lana hesitated, biting her lip. “I’m standing in the middle of my living room wondering why I’m calling you.”

He laughed softly, enjoying the fluttery sound of her voice, the feminine tone that told him she was beautiful, even through the phone. “I think we both know the answer to that.”

She didn’t return the laughter. “No. Honestly, I’m not sure what I’m doing.”

 

“You’re satisfying your curiosity. And now that you’ve made the call, I’ll make the rest easier for you. What are you doing tomorrow night?” he asked.

Lana took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Nothing.” She gripped the phone more tightly as a shiver of both fear and excitement traveled up her body, ending in the pit of her stomach and creating a heat wave of desire, pooling somewhere low. She’d committed herself now, she thought worriedly. She couldn’t back down.

“Good. I’ll send a car around to pick you up at seven o’clock.”

Lana could hear the satisfaction through her phone line and had to smile. Victor was certainly a dominating kind of man. If anyone could get her through this silliness that had gripped her for most of her life, Victor could do it. “Okay. What should I wear?”

She heard the deep chuckle before he said, “I can honestly say that what you wear won’t make any difference in tomorrow’s events.”

Lana swallowed painfully. “Are you sure it won’t be….” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Memories of slipping into bed with Drew, of the horrible thoughts that had filtered through her mind and the instantaneous need to put some space between her and her ex-husband flitted through her consciousness. She hated that Drew could influence her this way, even after all this time.

Instantly all the amusement was gone from his voice. His tone now was soft and reassuring, deep and masculine and definitely filled with a confidence she obviously didn’t share. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Lana smiled and hung up the phone. Her heart was beating frantically and she wasn’t sure she could make it another twenty four hours before seeing him again. She still wasn’t looking forward to the sex part but she couldn’t deny how alive she felt when she was around him. If he could at least help her to feel that once again, then she could add that into her stories and make her characters more alive. That would be worth a lot, she told herself.

And if he could kiss her like he had yesterday, well, then that would just make her dizzy, she thought and actually skipped to her bedroom to put the cordless phone back in its cradle.
Chapter 5

Twenty-four hours later, she wasn’t feeling as giddy. She felt horrible. Her stomach was twisting around in knots and every muscle in her body told her to turn around and run away, maybe even hide but she had no idea where she would hide. Her closet seemed ridiculous but she was so nervous that she wouldn’t put anything past her at this point. She thought of several other places she could go to hide. She could just leave her apartment, go to the mall, window shopping, a coffee shop, a friend’s house. Anywhere that might put her out of sight and out of the hands of humiliation that were sure to grip her as soon as Victor took her into his arms.

As soon as she’d woken up this morning, her mind had screamed at her to call him up and cancel. When consciousness demanded that she face her fears, her heart wanted nothing more than to stay under the covers and pretend like the day wasn’t going to happen, that she wasn’t committed to something awful and terrifying and horrendously embarrassing. She’d slept with her nightgown on the whole night, not even daring to take it off and feel that crazy sense of abandonment she’d felt the previous night when she’d lain in her bed nude for parts of the night as she battled with the decision.

Lana forced herself to get out of bed and shower, eat breakfast despite the fact that she had no appetite and her cereal tasted like sawdust. She sat at her computer, wishing she could write something, anything, to get her mind off of the evening ahead, but her fingers couldn’t type the words because her mind refused to budge from the dread of facing her worst fears.

As she made herself a sandwich for lunch, she tried to become philosophical about the issue. Was sex really her worst fear? She hated spiders, but since she lived in New York City, high up in an apartment building, she didn’t run into many spiders. And public speaking wasn’t on her agenda very often, but she hadn’t enjoyed the experience too much when she’d had to present reports in school. So yes, she thought as she abandoned her half sandwich to the trash bin, sex was her current worst fear, but she allowed that there could be others in the future that would take its place in the queue.

At least ten times during that day, she’d picked up the phone intending to cancel their rendezvous. And ten times, she’d replaced the phone, fearing what his reaction would be. She was being a coward, she knew but she couldn’t help it.

What if Drew was right? What if she was frigid and no man could really turn her on? What if she saw Victor tonight and he kissed her and touched her and she hated it just as much as when Drew had kissed or touched her? Just because he’d kissed her once and it had been interesting, well, thrilling she admitted, who was to say that those feelings would come back? And she’d disappoint yet another man.

Her fingers shook as she showered once again, preparing for her meeting with Victor. She shampooed her hair and dried it so it fell in a soft cloud around her shoulders, the ends curling slightly. She limited her makeup to concealer to hide the dark circles created from a lack of sleep two nights in a row, powder, mascara and lipstick. Looking in the mirror at her reflection, she knew that her eyes were too revealing. Victor would take one look at the terror lurking there and would know what she was thinking.

Sighing, she turned away from the mirror. She couldn’t hide her terror and maybe it was better that he understand her state of mind. If he thought she was more blasé about this adventure, then he might take things too quickly, more quickly than she was able to handle and that would only lead to failure.

Walking across her bedroom, she faced her next dilemma; what to wear. She tried on several dresses but in the end, she decided on a simple black, wrap around dress that hugged her figure and gave her a small amount of confidence. The deep V of the neckline helped her feel pretty and sexy, even though her stomach felt as if it were going to leap out of her body at any moment.

Or maybe the dress was too sexy? Turning to look at herself, her fingers fiddled with the neckline. Maybe he’d take one look at her and think she was ready for anything. That would be horrible because even though she’d agreed to dinner with him, she still wanted the opportunity to back out if things became too painful. And she didn’t want to tease him, she thought.

Just as she made the decision to change into a more conservative dress, the knock on her door told her that her time was up. She had two choices. She could open the door and go with the driver to meet Victor and find out if he could show her something different. Or she could send the driver away and hide here, never know if she could be missing something wonderful, something exciting and adventurous. A little voice inside her assured her that any time spent with Victor would be extraordinary and she should push her fears away until she was sure there was something horrible on the horizon. Borrowing trouble and worries only led to a boring life.

Although, if she went with the driver, she could be humiliated beyond anything she’d ever experienced before. Drew wasn’t nearly as devastatingly handsome as Victor. Victor was a man’s man and seemed to thrive on challenges and overcoming obstacles. Why, she thought that after one afternoon in his company, she didn’t know but instinct told her it was true. And if he was demanding, what would he think of her if she couldn’t perform up to his standards? Would he reject her? Taunt her as Drew had done?

But she could also find out something wonderful. Victor’s kiss from the other night had certainly stirred something within her that she hadn’t realized was in her capabilities.

Another knock sounded at her door and she jumped, startled at the sound when her mind was working a mile a minute to figure out what to do.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, still not sure what she was going to tell the driver. Her strappy shoes were dangling in her fingers as her hand shakily opened the door.
Chapter 6

Instead of a cab driver or uniformed driver, she saw Victor himself, holding a huge bouquet of red roses. “I thought you’d never answer the door,” he said a moment before he walked into her apartment. He tossed the flowers down onto her kitchen counter, then took her into his arms and kissed her, one hand sliding into her hair and holding her head, the other wrapping around her waist, gently bringing her body close against his.

The kiss was wonderful, sweet and gentle but at the same time, made her stomach tighten with expectation and yearning. When he started to pull away, he came back to her, pulling her soft body more firmly against his hard one, leaving no space between them from her shoulders to her knees but she didn’t mind. She loved the excitement that stirred inside her, making her feel pretty and wild and wonderful. She wanted the feelings to never end. This kind of exhilaration banished all of her worries. She couldn’t think, couldn’t dread the night and the inevitable events. All she could do was follow his lead and enjoy the thrilling shivers that raced through her body as his hand stroked her side.

He lifted his head and looked down at her. “You were about to change your mind, weren’t you?” he said, his voice husky as his dark blue eyes looked down at her.

 

She wanted to deny it but couldn’t lie when his intense gaze was boring into her mind. “Yes,” she finally admitted.

Something fierce burned in his eyes and she shivered slightly. Then it was gone and he was in control again. “Come along,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her out the door.

Lana quickly slipped her shoes on her feet, then grabbed her coat before following him out of her apartment. “What about the flowers?” she asked, suddenly terrified now that he was here and larger than she remembered him from the day before.

He took her hands, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about the flowers,” he said calmly and gently led her out the door, shutting it firmly behind them. “I’ll buy you more if those wilt. I want you where I can convince you that everything is going to be perfect.”