A man might be annoyed by the fact that one woman had so completely enthralled his mind and his body. But Pierce knew a good thing when he found it.
“That would be fine,” Ms. el Hamid stood up, stacking all of the pictures for him. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Danislov. If any other apartments come available that might suit your needs, I’ll send the pictures to you.”
“That would be convenient,” Pierce replied and shook the woman’s hand.
Watching her leave, he looked at the woman’s tight butt and long legs. She had a supremely confident stride and her long, dark hair swished against her back.
And yet, he felt nothing. No stirring in his body for the lovely lady.
Sighing, Pierce turned and headed back to his desk. “Lois!” he called out to his assistant.
Almost instantly, the woman appeared in his doorway, notebook in her hand. “Yes sir?”
“Contact my pilot and let her know that I’ll be flying out this evening. I don’t have a specific time yet. Then tell the hotel housekeeping staff to pack a bag for me for the weekend.”
“Yes sir,” she nodded, then left.
He scowled at the woman who was efficient, but the pursed lips screamed her disapproval. He didn’t give a damn about her opinion of him as long as she did her job.
Walking over to his desk, he dialed Naya’s phone number, not delegating this task to Lois and her disapproving efficiency.
When Naya picked up, even her soft, lilting voice made his body ache.
“What are you doing tonight for dinner?” he asked.
Naya heard the deep voice coming through the line and shivered. Pierce! Goodness, just his voice could make her come alive!
“Naya?” he prompted when she didn’t answer immediately.
“Sorry,” she snapped. “I’m not used to you calling me personally. Usually, you have one of your minions call me or you come down to my area and snap at me, causing all of my co-workers to assume I’m about to be fired. Again.”
His husky laugh sent fire shooting through her body. Heat and need was intense and scary in its power.
“I’ll try to be more sensitive in the future,” he promised. “About tonight and this weekend, do you have plans?”
His voice was silky smooth, like warm chocolate but with a spark of chili powder for spice. Darn it, he was good.
“I’m doing laundry,” she told him, which was the truth. “And scrubbing my toilet.” She’d added that last just to be ornery and point out the differences in their lives. He was rich and powerful. She wasn’t. He lived in a penthouse suite at the most expensive hotel in the city and had a team of housekeeping staff clean for him every single day. She lived alone in a small, bland apartment and had to clean it herself before it became a science experiment.
“How about if I send over a team to do those chores for you and we head out of town?”
Oh, the delicious temptation of his offer. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a good idea. “I don’t think so, Pierce.”
“Why not?”
“Because we…”
“Can’t keep our hands off of each other when we’re alone?” he offered when she didn’t finish her statement.
Naya’s mind and body heated up at the images that popped into her mind. “Exactly.”
“Isn’t that the point?” he offered. “We’ll have several days alone. Maybe by the end of the weekend, we’ll be sated with each other and can have a normal conversation.”
Naya thought about the conversation she needed to have with him. She really needed to tell him about the baby. So far, she’d been unable to speak with him about much. It wasn’t as if their conversations were very profound. Most of their communication was more along the lines of “More!” or something like, “Yes! Don’t stop!” Naya remembered a few Russian words from him that she suspected weren’t fit for polite company.
And she grinned. Yes, the memories of those moments with him were branded in her mind.
“Naya?” he prompted.
Naya jerked at his voice and sighed. “Dinner tonight would be good, but I really do have things I need to get done over the weekend. But…we need to have dinner in a public place.”
His deep, sexy chuckle sent lightning throughout her body.
“I’d had the same thought. How about dinner at the hotel tonight and then we’ll fly out to some place where we can spend the weekend together? One of my homes. You can even choose. Do you want a warm environment? Or mountains?”
Naya’s mind whirled. “Are you telling me that you have a house in the mountains as well as another house in a warm climate?”
“Yes. Which would you prefer?”
“Neither,” she snapped, irritated for a whole other reason. One she wasn’t sure she completely understood. “I’ll meet you for dinner tonight. And the hotel restaurant is fine. But I need to talk to you, Pierce.” She peered through her office doorway, checking to see if anyone else might overhear her conversation. When the coast was clear, she whispered into her phone, “No touching each other!” she ordered.
His soft laughter warned her that he wasn’t going to promise that.
“I’ll see you in my office at six. We’ll drive together to the hotel.”
Unfortunately, he hung up before she could argue with him about that plan. She didn’t want to go to his office. Naya knew what would happen if she was alone with him. It would be better if she drove to the hotel and met him at the restaurant. That way, they wouldn’t be alone in his office or the limousine that most likely would drive him the few blocks to the hotel.
She’d send him a text message…but she didn’t have his cell phone number. Ugh!
Fine, she’d email him right before six o’clock, telling him that she’d meet him at the hotel. That would keep them from being alone together and maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to tell him about the pregnancy. The key was having the courage to tell him as well as keeping their hands to themselves.
Both were difficult to achieve, but she had to do it. Telling him was the right thing to do.
Chapter 15
Naya gasped for air, her body throbbing from the latest release. “We have to stop this,” she grumbled, but her hands slid down over his bare shoulders.
“Right,” he laughed.
A moment later, he stood up and walked into the small bathroom. The plane was flying…somewhere…Naya had no idea where they were going. But at this particular moment, she didn’t really care. Her body felt as if it were floating, the release of endorphins or whatever it was that happened after sex, made her sleepy.
“I don’t have any clothes,” she muttered as she rolled to her side. Her eyes were heavy and it was dark outside. Sleep was quickly enveloping her in its sweet release but she fought against it, knowing that she needed to talk with him. She had to have a conversation with him, but at this moment, she couldn’t remember why.
“Go to sleep, Naya,” he said, his strong arms pulling her against him and she sighed as she rested her head against his shoulder.
“Need to talk,” she muttered, but her eyes were already closing, exhaustion from work and worry and, well, the beginning stages of her pregnancy, were all combining to eliminate consciousness.
Naya’s last thought before she fell into a deep sleep was that she loved it when his hands stroked her hair.
The knocking sound irritated her and Naya snuggled into the warmth beside her.
“Sir, we’ll be landing in twenty minutes,” someone called out through the door.
Naya lifted her head off of Pierce's shoulder and looked around, trying to orient herself. This wasn’t her bed and it wasn’t her tiny apartment. So…where was she?
“Good morning,” Pierce’s gruff voice growled in her ear.
Immediately, she gasped when she realized that she was curled around him, her leg on top of his thick, muscular thigh. Once again, that terrifying need was upon her and she turned her head, looking up at him. Those blue eyes stared back at
her and she shivered. He wanted her as well.
“We can’t!” she replied.
“I know,” he said, but still, neither of them moved.
“I need a shower.”
“No time. We’ll shower when we reach my house.” And with that, he stood up, both of them carefully extricating limbs from being tangled with each other so that they didn’t forget that the plane was landing.
When he stood up, Naya’s eyes drifted over his naked form, her mouth going dry at the realization that he was fully erect and staring at her with lust in his eyes. Probably the same lust that was in her eyes.
“I’m getting dressed,” she told him. “You have to go…somewhere else.”
He laughed. “You can dress in front of me,” he told her, but he turned and headed into that small bathroom.
Naya realized that she desperately needed that bathroom as well. And a toothbrush. A brush would be nice, too. Instead, she slipped out of the very soft, very comfortable bed and grabbed her clothes. They were scattered all over the floor and she blushed, remembering the previous night. They hadn’t made it to dinner. He’d been furious to find her walking along the street towards the hotel and had ordered her into the limousine. After that, well, the anger had turned to passion and they’d skipped dinner. It had been a brutal fifteen minutes on the plane while they both waited, staring at each other, while the plane took off. Naya remembered staring at Pierce, her body throbbing with the need to be with him. But safety required that they be seated with seatbelts on during take-off. She’d read the intention in his eyes though. Naya knew what he was planning once they were able to take off their seatbelts.
And that waiting was the reason her clothes were scattered all over the floor.
Sighing, Naya quickly pulled on her underwear and skirt. She was trying to figure out what had happened to her shirt when he stepped out of the bathroom.
He realized that her clothes were a mess and smiled, winking in her direction. “We’ll go shopping for some clothes before we drive to my house.”
She shook her head. “Where are we?” she demanded, pulling her shirt inside out, not sure how the silk blouse had become so tangled up.
“Aruba,” he told her, then reached out and pulled her closer. “You’re going to look amazing in a bikini,” he growled before kissing her gently.
Naya’s head spun for several moments after he released her to pull on his own shirt. She remembered the silk in her hands and looked down, shaking her head as she continued to untangle the shirt and pull it on over her head.
“Come, we need to be seated before the pilot lands the plane.”
She followed him out the bedroom door and into the brightly lit main cabin. They immediately sat down and buckled their seatbelts, only moments before the pilot informed them that they were cleared to land.
Five minutes later, the plane taxied to a stop. The flight attendant lowered the stairs and Pierce took her hand, leading her down the stairs and onto the tarmac where a Jeep was waiting for them. It was one of those open air Jeeps with a roll bar over the top and Naya lifted her face up to the Caribbean sun, letting the rays warm her up.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” he said and led her to the passenger side of the Jeep.
Naya nodded and slipped into the seat, feeling free and wonderful with the heat that was softened by the gentle humidity. “It’s wonderful.”
He leaned forward and kissed her, smiling down at her. “Better than cleaning your toilets, ya prav?”
Naya laughed, unable to retain her wariness of the man when he was carefree and charming like this. “Much better,” she replied, smiling as he started the engine and drove out of the airport.
“You need different clothes,” he announced with a sharp nod.
Naya shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears. “Just a pair of shorts and some…well, just drop me off and I’ll get what I need.” She noticed that his accent was thicker now, and he fell back to his native language more often. It was…sexy. Unfortunately, Naya didn’t need him to become sexier. She needed to…she needed to tell him about their baby, she thought as her hand fluttered over her stomach. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t ever felt that miserable morning sickness after a crazy bout of sex with Pierce. What did that mean? Was that normal? She’d always heard that crackers helped appease the nausea, but sex?
He shook his head again. “Not a chance, dorogoy. I dragged you here to see that luscious body in a bathing suit and I don’t trust you to get something that will do that body justice.”
Naya looked down at her figure, not sure what he meant. “I’m not sure I trust your judgement when it comes to clothing,” she replied.
He grinned and her stomach fluttered. “Ah, but you don’t know what I’m going to suggest.”
She didn’t, but she knew him and he was a lot more adventurous at everything than she was. Naya had grown up counting pennies and budgeting everything, wearing used clothing and buying things at second-hand stores. It wasn’t until she’d been accepted at The Burling School that she’d worn an outfit that hadn’t been previously worn by someone else. So the idea of buying a whole new wardrobe for one weekend just wasn’t going to happen. Her frugal soul couldn’t handle that kind of extravagance. They drove for several minutes, leaving the small airport behind as they drove along the beach road with the sunshine beaming down on them and the soft air lifting her hair from the open windows. Finally, they came to a small shopping center. “That place looks good,” she said, pointing to what was most likely a discount store.
“Nope,” he argued and kept on driving. Five minutes later, the island wasn’t very big, he pulled into a parking space in what looked to be the main shopping district. There were pretty white, pink, yellow and soft blue store fronts, and everything looked very upscale.
“I can’t afford anything here,” she told him, shifting in her seat nervously.
He laughed again. “You’re not buying anything here, Naya,” he warned and walked around to the passenger side, lifting her out of the Jeep and setting her feet down on the wooden walkway. He then took her hand and led her into one of the stores with a well-known designer name on the outside.
“This is too expensive!” she hissed, trying to tug her hand away from his.
He released her hand as one of the salespeople stepped up. “How can I help you?” the salesperson asked, giving Pierce her best, brightest smile.
“Ms. Banks needs a bathing suit and several new outfits.”
The woman turned to Naya with a solicitous smile. “Size ten?” she asked.
Naya’s cheeks turned pink as she nodded. The salesperson was something like a size zero and looked more glamorous than Naya could ever hope to be. “Yes. Ten is about right.” Although, sometimes her body preferred a size twelve, but she was currently in the smaller size. Not for long, she thought as her hand drifted to her stomach.
The woman immediately walked over to one of the racks and pulled out a pair of white shorts and a silky tank top. “How about if we start with these? You can start trying them on and I’ll bring more to you.”
Naya knew that she’d never wear white shorts. They just weren’t practical. Plus, she’d most likely sit in something disgusting the first time she wore them out. That was just her life so white shorts weren’t her thing.
But she wasn’t sure there was any way around it. “Fine. But darker shorts,” she asserted firmly. Naya didn’t glance at Pierce. She wasn’t asking for approval.
The woman immediately pulled out a pair of navy shorts that still matched the tank top and led Naya over to one of the dressing rooms.
Naya stepped inside and tried on the shorts. They fit her perfectly and she loved them, but she gasped at the price tag. “I can’t buy these!” she announced.
“You’re not buying anything,” Pierce said when he opened the dressing room door. His eyes moved up and down her figure and she knew that he liked what he saw. “Take those off and try this on,” he
ordered, handing her a tiny bathing suit.
Naya looked at the miniscule triangle and laughed, shaking her head as she stepped backwards. “No way! I need more material than that!”
He must have anticipated her response because he immediately handed her another bikini, this one with much more material, but it was still smaller than anything she would have chosen herself.
An hour later, Pierce had bought her four pairs of shorts, three dresses, four bathing suits, three pairs of sandals in different colors, a beach bag, several hats, a pair of sunglasses and a matching bathing suit cover-up. “Stop!” she laughed, refusing to try on anything else.
“Fine. I’ve already bought you underwear,” he warned her. “But I think we need some food. Are you hungry?”
At the mention of food, she nodded. “Starving,” she told him.
They ate at a noisy restaurant that was right on the beach but had the best fried fish tacos she’d ever tasted. He ordered a beer for himself and a glass of wine for her, but she stuck to the water. He looked at her glass of wine curiously, but didn’t say anything.
By the time they walked back to the Jeep, Naya was exhausted. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the time zone change, her lack of sleep the night before or her pregnancy, but she could barely keep her eyes open. She was wearing a pair of navy shorts, navy sandals and a pretty white tank top as well as the sunglasses he’d bought her. Plus, the sun on her bare arms and shoulders felt…amazing!
“You need a nap,” he announced and drove out of the parking lot. Naya was vaguely aware of the changing landscape. They’d gone from an urban setting to more trees and then almost complete jungle, although they were still driving along the street that paralleled the ocean and white beaches. Since the island was only twenty miles long, it didn’t take long before he pulled into a driveway. But by that point, with the warm, humid air and exhaustion pulling her down, she was almost asleep. She revived herself long enough to walk into the beautiful house done in white with splashes of green and navy, but he led her up the stairs into a breezy room. “Go to sleep,” he said and kissed her on her forehead. “Come downstairs when you feel better.” And then he was gone.
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