Behind the scenes, though, cracks were starting to form in the foundation of the company. Amanda thought her investment had exempted her from doing work. After Sylvie did a few high-profile projects, the spotlight shined on Sylvie exclusively.
But money was pouring into the new business, and Sylvie had no idea that Amanda was harboring resentment toward her.
Shaking her memories away, Sylvie decided that she had to renew her focus on work and forget about Erik’s kisses.
“Sylvie.”
His voice made her jump. Whirling around, she offered him a smile. “What’s up?”
“I have a staff who can help you do those measurements. The last thing I need is you falling off that little stepladder when we have janitors who can help.”
“I don’t need . . . Thanks, Erik.”
He crossed over to Sylvie and stroked her cheek. “You have to be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”
“Why would you say something like that?” She turned her head away from his hand and tried to ignore the tingles kissing her spine.
“Baby girl, you’re short. But you thought you’d be able to use a three-foot ladder to measure those windows?” He nodded toward the floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk. “Then I offer you a staff who will be at your beck and call, and you want to act as if you don’t need the help? That is the definition of stubborn.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have a lunch to prepare for?”
“Maybe. But we still need to look over those color swatches, remember?”
Chapter 7
If he was honest, Erik didn’t give a damn about wall coverings, or about colors and textures for the furniture that would decorate his office. All he wanted was to inhale her feminine scent and accidentally on purpose touch her arm or hand.
Damn, her skin felt like silk and he wanted to peel her clothes off and touch her all over. But he had to focus.
“Why would I want red walls in here?” Erik leaned forward and looked at the sketch Sylvie had designed.
“Hello, your logo. And red is a power color. You’re a powerful man, embrace it.”
Erik knew what he wanted to embrace and it wasn’t power. “Maybe we can do a muted red. Add some gold trim and maybe put the company’s logo on the wall.”
She shook her head and eased a little closer to his chest. Erik inhaled deeply as her booty brushed against his crotch. Why did this woman have to smell like strawberries and sweet cream? He already knew how sweet she was, and his mouth was watering thinking about that yoni.
“Those walls are going to be super busy with trim and logos. Make a choice.”
“I yield to your expertise.”
“I knew you were a smart man.” She turned around and faced him with a smile on her full lips. Erik noticed they were bare. No shade of red. Not even a nude gloss, but her lips were still tempting. He brushed his index finger across her cheek.
“Will you have dinner with me tonight?”
She expelled a sigh. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I—”
“Why not? We’ve already gotten the sex out of the way and it’s time what we get to know each other a little better.”
“We work together, and that’s probably not the best idea. We should just leave things on a professional level.”
“I don’t want to do that. There’s something between us and I want to explore it. Tell me if I’m wrong about you feeling the same way and I’ll back off.”
She bit down on her bottom lip. “Erik, I . . .”
“Listen, I don’t normally do this. But there’s something about you that I can’t get out of my head.”
“This is going to be super complicated and we shouldn’t even try it.”
He stepped back and gave her a slow once-over. “What are you afraid of?”
“Nothing,” she quipped.
Erik grinned. “Are you sure? Because a meal won’t kill you and you know I don’t bite.”
“That’s not true, because I’m sure I had a bite mark on my shoulder to ring in the New Year.” She returned his grin. “Not that I was upset.”
Erik folded his arms across his chest. “So, are we on for tonight?”
Before Sylvie could answer, Ingrid walked into the office. She gave Sylvie a cool glance, then plastered a smile on her face.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything, but you owe me lunch.” She crossed over to the front of his desk and looked down at the renderings Sylvie had been working on. “This will photograph beautifully. Good job.”
“Thank you.” Sylvie fought the urge to roll her eyes at Ingrid. It was official, she didn’t like that uppity heffa.
“Damn, I know I promised you lunch, but I got so caught up here. Why don’t we order in and meet in the conference room.”
She shrugged. “Fine. Hope you’re cool with sushi.” Ingrid started toward the door and Erik followed her.
“Text me when everything is set up.” Erik closed the door, then turned back to Sylvie. “Now, you have a question to answer.”
“That was a little rude.”
“Maybe, but I’m tired of being interrupted. Dinner or breakfast?”
She chuckled softly. “Why are you so relentless? Suppose I have plans?”
“Part of me wants to tell you to cancel them, but if you have something better to do, then by all means, let’s have dinner tomorrow.”
“We can do it tonight.”
He raised his eyebrow and licked his lips.
“Dinner,” she explained. “And nothing else.”
Erik threw his hands up. “Didn’t expect anything but a nice meal and some good conversation. But no talk of color swatches.”
“So, unlike your lunch, this won’t be a business dinner?”
He shook his head. “This is about me trying to have a funky good time with a sexy woman who haunts me.” Erik crossed over to her and pulled Sylvie into his arms. “I can’t promise you that I won’t kiss you tonight.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Why wait?”
Erik traced her lips with his index finger. “Because, I want to see these lips painted your favorite color.”
“And what if I don’t have a quality tube of red lipstick?”
He released her. “Hold that thought.” Erik dashed out of his office and headed for the sample room down the hall.
* * *
Alone in his office, Sylvie wondered what she was getting herself into. Dinner with Erik had the potential to be dangerous. Clearly, she couldn’t hide behind work. She had so many questions about him and where this thing was going. Where did she want things to go? Back to the bedroom? Sylvie couldn’t allow herself to put her heart where it shouldn’t be. And that was squarely in Erik’s hands. What if there was more than business going on with him and Ingrid? Then again, she couldn’t believe Erik would be that much of a dick to openly flirt with her in front a woman he was sleeping with.
At least she knew that he wasn’t married. But he did have a reputation, and Sylvia didn’t want to be another among the Jordanettes. She also wasn’t trying to make Erik settle down with her—either.
Focus on your job! This is about building your brand and not falling in love with this man. Sylvie was ready to tell him that dinner was off and they needed to keep things strictly business.
Then the door to his office opened and Erik’s smile made her want to melt. Then he crossed over to her and opened his hand. Now, she was going to melt.
“Is that Yvonne Red?”
“It is. And if you promise to meet me for dinner, these are yours.”
She grabbed the lipsticks from his hand. “Does seven thirty work for you?”
Erik laughed. “Sounds great. Though, I feel really used right now. Oh, and these aren’t for writing on mirrors.”
“Are you ever going to let that go?”
He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. “You’re going to have to show me exactly what a funky good time is for me to let that go.”
Sylvie shrugged. “I thought I’d taken care of that already.” She looked down at her watch. “I have to go. My supplier and I have to meet about furniture for the waiting room.”
Erik leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight.”
She closed her eyes as his lips touched her skin. “So do I.”
He walked her to the door and they shared a quiet moment. Erik opened the door and watched Sylvie walk away. “Damn,” he muttered.
* * *
Sylvie felt as if she was floating when she left Jordan Industries. That had to stop. Just because the man gave her red lipstick, her favorite red lipstick, it didn’t mean anything. They were sexually attracted to each other and that’s where things ended. Olivia had warned her about Erik’s player ways, and Sylvie wasn’t going to get caught up in it.
But there was something so tender about that simple kiss on the cheek that made her feel all warm and cuddly inside. Shaking her head, Sylvie put her focus on purchasing furniture for the project and not her attraction to Erik Jordan.
She wanted an art deco feel with a hint of elegance, something that would embody the Jordan brand. And she was focusing on color. Reds, orange, and blues. Part of her wondered what Erik’s signature color was. She’d only seen him in formal wear or naked. He wore a lot of gray suits to the office. But a man who created the kind of makeup that Jordan Industries was known for had to have some kind of style that represented him. Sylvie wanted to incorporate that in the redesign because this place was his show to run now. She headed out of the office and to her favorite décor store.
As she drove to the store, which was less than three blocks from JI, Sylvie reminded herself to take a look at the stories about the shake-up at Jordan Industries and how Erik got the big job. She pulled into the lot across from the store and fumbled with her smartphone to pull up the internet browser.
When the app was about to open, she looked up and saw Amanda walking in her direction. The childish part of her wanted to trip her and watch everything in her hands roll into the middle of the street. But she was a mature woman who could ignore the bitch who had tried to destroy her company.
One thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to run. Standing inches from each other, Sylvie smiled. “Well, hello, Amanda.”
She rolled her eyes at Sylvie and kept walking as if she didn’t hear the greeting. As she took a step forward, Amanda dropped the cans of spray paint she’d been holding. Sylvie didn’t even try to hide her laughter.
“I always told you not to use spray paint, but you never listened.”
“Go to hell, Sylvia!”
“Oh, you can talk.”
Amanda picked up her items and glared at her former partner. “What are you trying to do, gloat?”
“Why would I do that? Oh, because you left me in the lurch but I’m still here?”
“No one left you, because you don’t know how to have a partnership. If you wanted it to be all about you then you can do it without my money.”
“And I’m sure you’re happy to know that I have done just that.”
“What do you want, a cookie? You never meant for this to be a partnership, and you made it clear in that article.”
Sylvie shook head. “Is that what this is all about? You didn’t like the article I did about how I dealt with the death of my father? How this business helped me work through my grief?”
“There you go again, with the my, my, my! I mean, damn, Johnny Gill.”
“I’m not doing this with you. If you were ever my friend, you would—”
Amanda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, let’s not do this. Because you think you’re the only person in the world who has ever had pain. Get over your selfish self.”
“I’m selfish? Well, I guess you’re the pot and I’m the kettle. You wanted credit for not doing any work. Your investment didn’t mean you could just sit on the sidelines.”
“My investment is why you made a name for yourself, and you tried to erase me from the company. So fuck you, Sylvie. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. Stephen and I were just talking about you.”
If Amanda thought she was going to get a rise out of Sylvie with that little revelation, she was dead wrong. But inside, Sylvie was boiling.
“It’s a shame that you two don’t have anything else to talk about.” She started to walk away.
“Oh, we do have other things to discuss, like our future son or daughter.”
Sylvie stopped in mid stride. Spinning around on her heels, she saw that Amanda had a baby bump.
“Congratulations,” she said, then quickly walked to her car. Sylvie climbed in the Jag and pounded her hand against the steering wheel. She tried not to allow her tears to run down her face. But of all the women in the world that Stephen could’ve knocked up, it had to be that tramp?
Stephen wanted kids when they were together, and Sylvie had wanted to give him a child. But the more they’d tried without success, the more her soul was shattered. Without telling him, she’d gone to her ob-gyn to find out if she had issues conceiving. It turned out that her infrequent periods were because she only had one functioning ovary. While her doctor told her that she could conceive, it would be difficult. The only person she’d ever shared the news of her doctor’s appointment with had been Amanda.
Now, to see her standing there with a uterus full of Stephen’s baby shook her core. Wiping a stray tear that slid down her cheek, Sylvie started the car and tried to pretend she didn’t give a damn.
But it hurt, knowing that he had given Amanda the one thing she’d wanted when they had been together.
Chapter 8
Erik couldn’t put his finger on it, but Ingrid had an attitude. Maybe it was the fact that she kept jabbing her sushi rolls with the chopsticks, as if they had stolen her money. They’d been sitting in the conference room for about twenty minutes and she hadn’t said a word about what the company was going to do to make the launch of Logan’s line the topic of conversation, rather than Simon’s arrest.
“You all right?” Erik glanced at her over the rim of his cup of iced tea.
“Yes. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Thought this was a business lunch, and you usually talk a mile a minute.”
She rolled her eyes. “Excuse me for doing my job.”
“Hold on. I know I’ve been leaning on you a lot lately, but if there’s a problem, let me know.”
“Sorry, Erik, I’m just a little tired. When do you think we can get Logan to come and talk about his line? Who’s going to design it, by the way?”
Erik snorted. “Me, of course. Just because I’m CEO doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my work in the lab.”
“Isn’t that what Simon did?”
“There are a lot of things my father did that I won’t be doing.”
“Has the board agreed to this?” Ingrid stabbed another California roll with her chopsticks. “You’re going to have to dig the company out of this PR nightmare, reassure the stockholders that the company isn’t going under and . . .”
“Keep someone from staging a hostile takeover. It’s a good thing I’m able to multitask.”
Ingrid snapped her fingers. “We have to show you doing the work. Maybe you and Logan should do a photo shoot in the lab. We can shoot a video and call it ‘A Day in the Life of CEO Erik Jordan.’”
He popped a crunchy roll in his mouth and nodded. “I’ll get Logan on the phone and make sure he doesn’t plan to leave the country anytime soon, and get this going.”
“Do we want to make this a scripted thing or just capture the real?” Ingrid took a sip of her tea and relaxed in her seat. “We can get together tonight and come up with a realistic script.”
“Tonight isn’t going to work. I have plans.”
“With the interior decorator? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Erik raised his right eyebrow as he dunked a California roll in eel sauce. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
>
“What do you know about this woman? The last thing we need is to be opened up to another scandal. Suppose things go left with you two and you have to let her go or she decides that she wants to pile on to what we’re currently dealing with? You’re going to have to exercise more caution with your extracurricular activities now that you’re sitting in the big chair.”
Erik took a deep breath and thought about his response. While he could appreciate Ingrid’s advice, he didn’t need it.
Sylvie could’ve run to TMZ or any tabloid the day he walked into his office and found her measuring the floor. She didn’t and probably wouldn’t. “I got this.”
“I hope you’re right. Just keep in mind, she’s not a disgruntled model making up stories because she didn’t get her face on a new product. And in this climate, even the rumor of sexual harassment would be enough to bring you down.”
“That’s not going to happen, because I’ve never done anything with a woman that she didn’t want.”
She rolled her eyes. “Now might be the time for you to settle down and stop your serial dating.”
“That’s cute, you’re worried about me.”
“I’m worried about this company, and since you’re now the face of it, I guess I do have to put you on my worry list.” She licked her lips. “And I get that you’re single, rich, and sexy. But you have more to think about now.”
Erik grinned. “What are you suggesting? A fake marriage? A media-suitable girlfriend? I’m good with that because what I do outside of saving this company doesn’t matter. Things are bad, so I don’t plan to get serious about anything but work.”
She smiled and nodded. “Then it seems as if we’re on the same page.” Ingrid grabbed the last California roll and handled it with less violence. Erik was sure that his PR maven was tired and made a mental note to try and make her job easier.
“Let’s talk about this article that my father was so excited about doing. How are we going to frame this story and make it about the new direction of Jordan Industries and not the sins of the father?”
Tempted at Midnight Page 8
