Pregnant with the Tycoon's Heir (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 5)

by Elizabeth Lennox

She looked over at him, the martini giving her courage, warming her from the inside out. She stared right back, boldly accepting the silent challenge in his eyes. She could handle this because Ella was close by, ready to save her and they would walk away, go have a burger somewhere, and Naya could tell her friend the whole story. Ella would clap her hands enthusiastically, because Ella did everything with an exuberance that would exhaust a normal human being, and Ella would tell Naya that she handled the situation perfectly.

  In the meantime, Naya would simply stare at the man and convey that he didn’t intimidate her.

  She watched as his lips curled ever so slightly. Amusement?

  Oh no! She was not a joke! No way!

  She lifted her glass again and took a longer sip, watching as his eyes moved from her gaze to her hand.

  She put the glass back down, while keeping her gaze locked on him. Ella would be here. Any moment now. Ella would save her. All was okay because Ella would walk in at any moment and the man would know that Naya was off limits. She would come out the winner and he would walk away with his tail between his legs.

  The man accepted her challenge.

  Wait! No! That wasn’t the way this was supposed to play out!

  Naya’s throat constricted as he stood up. Goodness, what was she supposed to do now? Where was Ella? Where was her savior? This wasn’t how this scene was supposed to play out! Ella was supposed to arrive and the two of them would…

  He wasn’t supposed to pick up his own drink and walk over to her! Umm…why was he coming closer? He wasn’t playing the game properly!

  Where in the world was Ella?

  “I’m here!” her friend gasped as she came up behind Naya, giving her a hug. “Whew!” She sat down next to Naya, dumping her own tote bag on the floor between them.

  “Tough day?” Naya asked, relieved that her friend was here. She glanced behind Ella at the man. Good, someone had stepped into his path and they were talking. But yes, The Wolf glanced at her over his companion’s shoulder, warning her that their interlude might be delayed, but it wasn’t over. Two more people walked over to The Wolf and Naya swallowed a laugh. He caught her amusement, tossing another warning glance in her direction.

  Naya lifted the martini to her lips, sipping defiantly as she smirked in the man’s direction, feeling brave and sexy now that her friend was here.

  For the next hour, Ella and Naya chatted about their days and Naya made a concerted effort to not look behind Ella. There was absolutely no reason to glance over and see if the man was watching her or if he was busy with the people at his table. She needed to ignore him. Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t any of her business.

  Unfortunately, too soon for her peace of mind, Ella’s e-mail went off and Ella glanced down, her lips twisting slightly as she read the message.

  “What’s that?” Naya asked, her stomach tightening because she suspected she already knew what the sound meant.

  Sure enough, as soon as Ella saw the message, she started muttering under her breath. “Darn it! Apparently, there’s an issue at the courthouse!” she explained. Ella pocketed her cell phone and downed the last of her wine. “The newspaper is just going to have to reimburse me for the cab fare because I’m officially off duty. Jacob was supposed to be on call, but he’s not answering, so I have to go find out what salacious issue has cropped up.”

  Naya’s mouth opened and closed, her eyes flashing to the man at the table.

  So, she started to jump off her bar stool, ready to follow Ella out. “No!” her friend held up a hand. “You’re going to stay right here and finish our wine. We just ordered another round.” Her adorable face glowed with a mischievous smile. “Besides, you need to hang around and get that guy’s name behind me.”

  “What?” Naya hissed, glancing behind Ella to make sure the man hadn’t overheard her.

  “Don’t even try it,” Ella came back. “You’ve been watching him since I arrived. So stick around. Show that dork Kevin that you’re not a stick in the mud!”

  A moment later, the whirlwind that was Ella was gone. Naya barely had time to open her mouth as she muttered, “But…I am a stick in the mud,” before her friend was out the door.

  Naya glanced back at the man, her heart tripping over itself with the repeated, silent message. Stay.

  She wouldn’t! She was leaving! Yes, she and Ella had both ordered another glass of wine, but just because it had been ordered, that didn’t mean it needed to be consumed!

  She needed to get out of here! Naya glanced over at the man who was speaking to a scary looking woman and a man dressed in a sharp business suit. She had to hurry. Naya couldn’t handle this. He seemed very different from the men she’d dated and she suspected that she would lose herself in him. Every time their eyes collided, she felt something coil tightly low in her stomach, something she didn’t want to feel. It was wrong, out of control. She liked control. She liked her universe planned out, neatly organized. Good grief, her canned foods were alphabetized! Her condiments were organized by height and then by color!

  She pulled money out of her wallet and started to put it on the bar to pay for their drinks, but stopped, realizing that Ella had already put money down to cover their tab.

  She looked at him one last time, her chin lifting as she silently rejected his command to stay. She’d leave and she would never see him again. End of the night. End of the story!

  Pierce watched the beautiful woman, amusement lacing the lust surging through him. She’d dared him. Obviously the woman didn’t know who he was or she never would have challenged him so blatantly. He never backed down from a dare. Especially not one from a slender beauty with eyes that were both lovely and vulnerable. If a group of acquaintances hadn’t stopped his pursuit, he would have talked to her and her friend about an hour ago.

  An odd, never-before-acknowledged sense of protection hit him as he moved towards her and recognized that vulnerability. It was a strange sensation, coupled with the lust that he also felt.

  “You don’t like wine?” he asked as he took the barstool next to her, shifting his legs so that they were on either side of her knees. Trapping her.

  Naya could barely breathe. The man was larger than she’d thought. And up close, he wasn’t nearly as handsome, but even more powerfully rugged and alluring. There was something about him that called to her. Pulled her towards him. It terrified and enticed her.

  “The wine is fine. I just…” she tried to shift, but his legs were still holding her captive. “I need to go.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  She stiffened. “I do.”

  He took her hand in his and what she’d been about to say stuck in her throat. “What’s your name?” he asked softly, his fingers skimming over her hand. The touch shouldn’t be so erotic, but there was something about his touch that sent shivers throughout her whole body. And then there was the amazing voice. There was a strange accent to it, one she couldn’t quite place. He was masculine in ways she didn’t understand, and that voice only made her mind cling to his words, wanting more, wanting him to speak to her.

  “Stop doing that,” she whispered, trying to tug her hand away. But his grip was firm, not allowing escape.

  “I like touching you. Your skin is very soft.”

  Naya liked it as well. Too much! “I don’t like you touching me,” she said.

  His hand moved, his finger resting on the pulse at her wrist. “Liar,” he teased with a chuckle.

  Naya had never had a man call her a liar. She dated polite gentlemen. “That’s not the best way to charm a woman,” she snapped, indignation riling her temper even further.

  “Do you want to be charmed?” he asked.

  Had the man somehow moved closer?

  “I don’t want to be charmed. Or touched. And I don’t like the way you’re looking at me.”

  He smiled slightly. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  Naya pulled back, her heart fluttering wildly. “No.”

  “Why
not?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  His fingers moved along the bare skin of her arm. “You can. I promise to be an absolute gentleman.”

  Naya looked down, realizing that he’d released her hand, but now her own fingers were wrapped around his wrist. How had that happened?

  She released his hand, wondering about her reaction to this man.

  He lifted his hand and a waiter immediately appeared as if the command had already been issued. “Have dinner with me, then you can explain why you tried to slip away when you didn’t want to.”

  She looked up at him, then down at his long, elegant fingers as he quickly scrawled his name across the bar tab. “Wait! Those are my drinks!”

  He laughed and took the money Ella had left, folding it up and slipping it into her tote bag. “Yes. I know. But the bartender knew to put everything you and your friend ordered on my tab.”

  “How…?”

  “Because I told him to when we first saw each other.”

  Naya had a vague memory of him whispering something to the waitress, but she hadn’t realized what.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you are a beautiful woman that I’d like to get to know better.” He stood up, not touching her and she felt…bereft in some way. “Please, will you have dinner with me?”

  She debated the option. On the one hand, she could walk out of here and never see him again. That was probably the safer option. But as she looked into his dark eyes, something inside her glowed. It might have been the alcohol. But she saw…need? Desire? Whatever it was, it made her feel…powerful.

  “I’d like that very much,” she decided, surprising both of them.

  He took her hand and, why was she walking beside him? She should be following Ella’s footsteps out of the bar, heading to the safety of her apartment and the security of that cherry vanilla ice cream.

  Naya looked around, surprised that things were moving so fast. When the waiter pulled out a chair in a private dining room, she laughed. “You’re awfully confident,” she teased.

  He shook his head as he sat down across from her. “I don’t believe there is such a thing as too much confidence.”

  Naya could have told him that his confidence bordered on arrogance, but she doubted he would even understand. Besides, it was sort of sexy, in an alpha male, he-man kind of way. “Do you ask for forgiveness if you go too far?”

  His hand paused in mid-air as he whipped his starched, linen napkin out. “Why would I do that?”

  She eyed him for a long moment before she burst out laughing. “Of course. Why would you ask for forgiveness? What a silly question.” The waiter handed her a menu and she smiled as she read through the dinner options.

  He smoothed the linen over his lap and nodded for the waiter to pour the wine.

  “How did you get a private dining room here so quickly?” she asked, looking around at the secluded elegance. “I would imagine this room would be reserved far in advance.”

  He shrugged. “I just told the hotel staff that I needed a private room so I could have dinner with a beautiful woman.”

  Her skin tingled with his words and she pulled back, her reaction to this man too strong, too out of character. Still, she shifted on her chair, trying to deny his appeal.

  “Ah, the charm. I figured it would surface at some point.” Naya grabbed her glass of water and drank thirstily. Setting the glass down carefully, she took a slow, cleansing breath. “Perhaps we should start out with an exchange of names?”

  He smiled and Naya was shocked at how the change transformed his features. The dangerous wolf was still present, but it was as if his smile shifted him to a slightly more human form. Sort of like how a werewolf would transform during a full moon.

  “I’m Pierce Danilov,” he said, extending his hand.

  “Naya Banks,” she replied, accepting his handshake but was startled once again by the electric current that shot through her. Quickly, she pulled her hand back, sliding her fingers around the glass of ice water but not lifting it to her lips. She wasn’t sure she would be able to hold the crystal glass just now.

  “And what do you do, Mr. Danilov?”

  He chuckled softly. “I think after spending so much time together in the bar, we should be on a first name basis.”

  Naya agreed, but thought that the formal use of his name was better. “I was with my friend and you were with your co-workers,” she argued.

  “We were physically with other people. But we were mentally with each other the whole time.”

  She’d thought so as well, but Naya decided that a change of subject was probably a wise choice. “Who were those people you were talking with?”

  “Business acquaintances,” he replied. “Who was your lively friend?”

  Naya smiled. “Ella’s exuberance can be rather blinding.”

  “Yes, she’s a very…interesting person. She has a great deal of energy.”

  A surprising burst of jealousy hit her at his clearly admiring words. “Ella is…” Naya toyed with possible explanations for her friend in her mind. “She’s a wonderful person,” she finally admitted, “but she’s…”

  “I’m not interested in your friend, Naya. I’m interested in you.”

  Those words, spoken so simply but with a powerful force, soothed her. She lowered her eyes, tying to come up with something funny to say in response. But in the end, all that came out of her mouth was, “Thank you.”

  The waiter arrived to take their dinner orders, then left with silent efficiency.

  “Tell me about yourself,” he urged. “What do you do for a living?”

  She sighed, wishing that her life was a bit more exciting. “I’m in marketing,” she explained. “I love figuring out how to explain new products and get them out into the world.”

  “You prefer the creative side of business?”

  Naya nodded her head. “Yes! Originally, I wanted to be an artist, but I went to a private boarding school for…” she paused, not wanting to go into the details of how she’d been a scholarship student at one of the most exclusive boarding schools in the world. It was a painful and wonderful period in her life, but he didn’t need to know about those silly high school fantasies. “I have an…” she stumbled, trying to figure out a good way to explain her relationship with the amazing Lana Kosta. They weren’t friends…but not really enemies. Not anymore. “…Acquaintance who is actually a brilliant artist. That’s not really my thing.” It was Lana’s thing, she thought. The woman truly was brilliant. “But marketing…” she smiled. “I like the creative as well as the psychological aspects of the job.”

  They talked about her job, the city, politics and a variety of other subjects and Naya slowly relaxed, enjoying Pierce’s company much more than she’d thought possible while sitting in the bar earlier tonight. The wait staff was efficient, the wine excellent, and the food absolutely delicious. If her stomach quivered every time he laughed or smiled, she ignored that feeling. He asked her questions and, even more amazing, seemed genuinely interested about her answers. When she tried to breeze over her answers, he delved deeper, not letting her get away with superficial responses.

  By the time dessert was served with a warm glass of brandy by her elbow, Naya realized that she still didn’t know much about the man sitting across from her.

  She didn’t want to check the time, afraid that if she knew how little time she had left with this enigmatic, handsome man, she might not like it. At this moment, she didn’t want the evening to end.

  “I know your name is Pierce, but other than that, I’ve been doing all the talking,” she said and leaned back, taking her dessert fork and loading it with a dab of the decadent looking chocolate mousse the waiter had brought out moments ago. “Tell me about yourself. What do you do, Pierce? What’s your area of expertise?”

  His eyes narrowed. “I’m good at finding things that need to be acquired.”

  Naya’s eyes widened at the sexual
innuendo lurking behind his words. “That’s a strong statement. What kinds of things do you acquire?”

  He shrugged one of his broad shoulders. “Art. Real estate. Companies in trouble.”

  She waited, holding her breath as she wondered if he might say “women”. She didn’t want him to be callous. She wanted him to be romantic. Slightly vulnerable.

  Of course, the man didn’t appear vulnerable in any way. She suspected that there was solid muscle underneath his expensive suit. Her teeth caught on the fork as she stared at him.

  “You’re exceptionally beautiful,” he said, his voice husky as he reached out to capture her hand.

  Naya blinked, startled, and yet, flattered. “I don’t think I’m any prettier than the next woman,” she argued, squirming in her chair.

  He smiled, his thumb rubbing over her palm. “I think that only makes your beauty more incredible.”

  She started to pull her hand out from his grip, feeling silly because she was falling under his spell, but didn’t want to. “Pierce, this isn’t really…”

  “What’s wrong with your brandy?” he asked, taking a sip of his own.

  She looked down at the dark liquid, shaking her head. “I’ve had enough to drink tonight.”

  His lips quirked. “Are you drunk?”

  “No.”

  He stood up. “Good. Then I can do this. Finally.”

  Naya blinked, not sure what he meant. When he pulled her closer, it wasn’t a jerk. But he slowly, relentlessly pulled her into his arms. She had plenty of time to pull away, to say no. But she was transfixed.

  When his lips finally touched hers, Naya gasped at the shock. And she couldn’t hold back. Moving closer, she gripped the lapels of his suit, using the leverage to pull him down lower, deepening the kiss. It didn’t take very much for him to take over. He pulled her closer, pressing her against him. His hands moved to her hair, his fingers tangling in her tresses as he kissed her deeply, his mouth moving over hers hungrily. When his tongue invaded her mouth, she was completely lost!

  “We can’t do this here,” he growled as he reluctantly pulled back. Taking her hand, he barely waited for her to grab her tote bag before he led her out of the private room. Naya’s body hummed with unsatisfied hunger as they wove through the mostly empty tables of the hotel’s main dining room. Naya almost ran trying to keep up with him. As soon as the elevator doors closed, providing a modicum of privacy, Pierce pressed her back against the wall of the elevator cab. Over and over, he kissed her, his tongue mating with hers as she shifted against him. If she’d been thinking, the wanton movements of her body might have horrified Naya. But she was too far gone for coherent thought. Every time he touched her, kissed her, she needed more.