He discreetly pulled out of her grasp. Would he ever be rid of her? Her constant calls and frequent appearances, with the paparazzi not far behind, made him uncomfortable. He didn’t know what she was up to, but Nash didn’t trust her state of mind.
“Everything okay here, boss?” Ace asked from behind him. Nash hadn’t heard him approach. He, along with several other employees of Platinum Pieces and Dupree Enterprises, were sharing his table.
“Yeah, I was just saying goodbye to Eve.” Nash stepped around Eve. He would definitely have to keep an eye on her.
* * *
Iris’s breath caught in her throat when Nash started toward her, his smooth stride masculine, confident and sexy. Every man in attendance was dressed in black-tie attire, but none worked a tuxedo the way her man did. Black with satin lapels, the jacket draped over his broad shoulders and wide chest like a second skin, cut perfectly for his muscular body. He turned slightly to say something to Tania, and Iris noticed the satin stripe along the outside seam of his long pant leg, complemented by his shiny black wing tips. Good Lord, as dashing as he looks tonight, he could easily play the role of the next James Bond.
A little taken aback when a woman in white stepped in front of him, Iris stood rooted in place, curious to see how Nash would respond. She didn’t miss the once-over he gave the woman’s attire, but was pleased that he didn’t seem interested. Iris couldn’t tell who the woman was from her vantage point, but the lethal glare Nash gave the stranger when she put her hand on his arm could have cut like a knife. Seconds later, he adjusted his suit jacket and continued toward Iris.
“Come with me.” The seductive rumble in his voice demanded her attention. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along, practically knocking her off-balance.
“Nash,” she protested and lifted the train of her gown, barely able to keep up with his long strides. “What is wrong with you?” she said in a frustrated whisper.
He said nothing. Instead, he kept walking. He forged his way through small groups of the fund-raiser’s attendees huddled in the wide hallway, barely giving a cursory glance at those who greeted him. He glimpsed around corners and peeked inside rooms as if searching for something.
“Nash?” He was going too far and the stilettos on her feet were not meant for jogging through the halls of a hotel. “If you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, so help me.”
Instead of responding, he pulled her into a small meeting room and pressed her body against the nearest wall.
“I’ve missed you.”
His mouth covered hers before she could respond and a zap of desire forced her arms up and around his neck. She would never tire of feeling his soft lips against hers and the way his nearness always sent her pulse racing. She pressed against him, savoring the feel of his hard muscles against her soft curves and loving the touch of his hand roaming over her body. His skillful tongue teased and explored her mouth, stoking the sensual flame growing inside her.
He seemed to be in no hurry to end the kiss, but Iris had a sudden flashback of what took place in the community center’s gym weeks ago. She reluctantly pulled back.
“Wow, I’m glad to see you, too,” she said, catching her breath.
“Let’s get out of here.” He continued to run his hands along the curve of her hips until she stepped out of his reach.
“I agree. We really should get back in there.” She ran a hand down her dress to smooth it out. “Tania’s probably wondering where we disappeared to and since I’m already late, I don’t want to miss any more of the program.”
“No, I mean let’s go home. Your place or mine, I don’t care as long as I can bury myself inside you.”
Iris’s eyes grew large. “What? I thought you meant that we should get out of here and go back to the ballroom. We can’t just leave! This is for charity. Besides, do you know how long it took me to get into this dress and get my hair to cooperate?”
He chuckled and kissed her lips. “Nope, but I can’t wait to get you out of that dress, and I’m looking forward to messing up your hair. Baby, I want you so bad. I’m tempted to throw you over my shoulder and find an empty room with a bed.”
Now it was Iris’s turn to laugh. They definitely shared a strong sexual hunger for each other, but she had never seen him so out of control. It was not as if they hadn’t made love recently. As a matter of fact, she would never view her kitchen counter the same way again.
She tucked her small beaded purse under her arm and placed her hands on each side of Nash’s face. “I love that you want to whisk me away and make mad, passionate love to me, but you’re the one who wanted us to finally make an appearance as a couple, despite my misgivings. Are you sure you want to miss this opportunity just because you can’t wait for us to do a little somethin’-somethin’?”
He pushed her back against the wall and her purse fell to the floor. Iris’s eyes drifted shut and a moan slipped through her lips when he covered her left breast with his large hand, his other hand gripping her butt as he started a slow grind against her. He squeezed and kneaded her breast with the expertise of a man who knew how to please a woman.
“Nash,” she said against his lips, knowing it didn’t take much for her to climax when his hands caressed any part of her body. She knew they should stop, but she didn’t have the strength to push him away.
He captured her lower lip between his teeth, and she groaned into his mouth, desire shooting to her toes.
“Excuse me,” someone said from behind Nash, “you guys can’t be in here.”
Iris stiffened and ducked her head. It was as if someone had dumped a cold bucket of water over her.
Nash cursed under his breath and adjusted his pants, but didn’t move from in front of her. It was like déjà vu with the community-center gym and heat rose to Iris’s cheeks when she thought about how it must look, them hunched up together against the wall in evening attire, behaving like horny teenagers.
“Sorry,” Nash said over his shoulder. “We’ll be out of here in a second.”
When the intruder left, Nash turned to Iris and they burst out laughing.
“I can’t take you anywhere without getting busted,” Nash joked. They pulled themselves together and sneaked out of the room.
An hour later, they were finishing dessert and the awards portion of the program was about to begin. Iris turned to Nash when she thought she heard his cell phone vibrate. When it vibrated again, he pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. Blood drained from his face.
“What is it?” she said close to his ear.
He handed her the phone for her to read the text while he silently signaled for Ace’s attention.
Her eyes grew large when she read: 911, club on fire-Midtown.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
Nash leaned in close when she handed him his phone back. “I gotta go, but there will be a car outside to take you and Tania home.” He placed a quick kiss near her ear. “Love you and I’ll be by later,” he said and rushed off, Ace matching his long strides.
Love you. Iris’s pulse thumped wildly and her hand flew to her chest at Nash’s parting words. She tried to slow her erratic breathing, but the more she thought about what he said, the harder her heart pounded. Did he mean it? Did he even realize what he said?
“Iris, are you okay?” Tania asked and grabbed her arm, concern in her eyes. “You don’t look so good. What did Uncle Nash say? Is he okay? Did something happen?”
“Oh, sweetheart.” She covered Tania’s hand with hers. “He’s fine. I’m fine,” she said, hoping her words sounded calmer than she felt. “Something happened at the club and he needs to go check it out. That’s all.”
But that wasn’t all...not by a long shot.
Chapter 14
Nash knew the moment the words left his mouth that he had messed up. Love you.
He hadn’t said those words to any woman since Audrey, and had no intention of saying them anytime soon.
What was I thinking?
He cursed under his breath and stared out the car window as Ace drove toward Midtown. Maybe she didn’t hear me. He could only hope. He cared deeply for Iris, but love...
He shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to free his mind from thinking about it any longer. He couldn’t worry about that now. He needed to prepare himself for whatever they would find once they arrived at the club
Hours later, after talking with the police and the fire marshal, Nash faced a section toward the back of the club that had sustained the most damage. Shock and anger battled within his gut as he clenched and unclenched his fists. When he opened the club years ago, his intention was to create an environment for others who loved good jazz as much as he did. Now, years of hard work had been destroyed.
He took a staggering walk back to the front of the establishment. Still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that his club had been ruined. The fire marshal told him the cause had been arson, but finding the person or individuals responsible might be impossible.
This is unbelievable, he thought as he continued to take it all in. The soot-covered walls, the water damage, his once beautiful hardwood floors, all of it would need replacing. It would be months before they could reopen.
Tension wrapped around him like a straitjacket, tightening by the minute. Someone had intentionally destroyed what he had worked tirelessly to build.
He cursed through gritted teeth. Anger singed the corners of his control, his insides a bubbling mass of rage. He turned abruptly and unable to stop himself, slammed his fist through a wall, connecting with plaster and a two-by-four.
“Dammit!” he yelled and doubled over holding his hand, wincing when a burning sensation shot up his arm. He stumbled into the wall and dropped to his knees, pain slicing through his hand and wrist.
Ace raced into the room. “What’s going on?” He rushed over and helped Nash onto a nearby chair, noticing the bruised knuckles on his dangling hand. “What the hell happened?”
Nash swallowed hard and rocked back and forth, barely able to handle the stinging in his hand. “I stupidly rammed my fist into the wall,” he choked out. “I think I might’ve broken my hand.”
“We need to get you to the hospital.” Ace grabbed Nash’s discarded suit jacket and the keys from the top of the bar, along with Nash’s cell phone. “Can you walk?”
Nash nodded, barely withstanding the pain that had now moved to his shoulder.
“We secured the back of the building the best way we could and everything else is locked up.”
“Has everyone left?” Nash asked in a voice just above a whisper.
“Yeah, it’s just us. Let me hit the lights and then we can go.”
Nash’s cell phone rang and he knew it was either Iris or Nigel.
“Do you want to answer it?” Ace turned the phone’s screen to Nash. Iris. “Not right now,” he struggled to say. “Just turn it off. I’ll call later.”
Now he was slow to return her calls because of what he’d said before leaving the fund-raiser. Love you. It had slipped out and he wasn’t ready to deal with what it really meant.
* * *
Iris trudged through the crowded mall, seeing everything, but not really registering anything. The last place she wanted to be was around people. Nash hadn’t made it to her place the night of the fund-raiser. It didn’t help that he’d only called once in the past forty-eight hours and even then she hadn’t talked with him. He’d left a voicemail claiming he was busy. Iris couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding that had gripped her the moment she opened her eyes this morning. He called every day. No matter the time, she could always count on his voice being the last voice she heard before she went to sleep each night.
Something is wrong, and I’d bet my law degree that it had nothing to do with the fire. The nagging thought darted around in her head as she followed behind Tania, going from store to store in search the perfect pair of black pants for a dance she was attending at school the following weekend.
“Tania, this is the hundredth store we’ve been in. It doesn’t look like we’re going to find the perfect pair of black pants. Maybe we should check online, because I’ve had enough of the mall.”
“Okay, but just one more store,” Tania insisted, shifting all of her shopping bags to one hand in order to pick up a small satin handbag. She turned it over in her hand several times before checking the price, and then she placed it down and picked up another one.
“Tania,” Iris said in a frustrated tone.
Tania sighed and huffed dramatically, but Iris was immune to her theatrics. She had seen it plenty of times. After a couple of months of living together, she learned really quickly that Tania would try any tactic to get her way.
“Are you in a crappy mood because of Uncle Nash?”
“I’m just worried about him.” She slung her arm around Tania’s shoulder as they headed for the exit.
“Yeah, me, too. He didn’t call this morning like he usually does. When I talked with Ms. D., she said he must have gotten in real late because he wasn’t home when she went to bed and he had already left the house by the time she woke up.” Tania wrapped her arm around Iris’s waist. “Every time I call him, I get his voice mail. Do you think he’s okay?”
“I’m sure he is, honey.”
Iris was tempted to hunt him down. No matter what he was going through with the club, it was no excuse to ignore their telephone calls.
“Why don’t we stop by Whole Foods on the way home and pick up dinner? We can veg out in front of the TV, then—”
“Well, isn’t this cute.”
Oh, great. Eve Vanlough.
“Hi, Tania,” Eve greeted. “This is Nash’s niece,” Eve said to her friend standing next to her. “And...who are you, the nanny?” Both women smirked at Iris.
Tania’s shoulders stiffened and Iris wanted to wipe the smug look off Eve’s and her friend’s faces. She had realized late last night that Eve was the woman in the white gown Nash had been talking to at the fund-raiser.
“No, actually I’m Nash’s girlfriend. Excuse us, we were just leaving.” Iris intended to guide Tania around the two immaculately dressed women, but Eve stepped in front of them.
“But I’m not done talking with you.”
Iris clenched her mouth shut to hold back the angry retort hanging on the edge of her tongue. What in the world had Nash seen in her? Even though she had a cute face and a petite body, Eve still lacked tact and good common sense.
“You must not know who I am.”
“She knows who you are, she just doesn’t care,” Tania retorted. Iris squeezed her shoulder, hoping to keep her quiet.
“Well, you need to understand something, if I catch you dancing with my man again, I will—”
“Excuse me?” Iris said and dropped her arm from around Tania’s shoulder, stepping forward. “Are you threatening me? Because apparently you don’t know who I am. I will have assault charges, harassment charges and anything else I can think of brought against you so fast it will make your head spin.”
“Yeah! She’s the best defense attorney in town and she doesn’t play like that!” Tania added, but closed her mouth when Iris narrowed her eyes at her.
“Oh, please, you don’t scare me,” Eve said with one hand on her hip and her other waving in the air. “I don’t care if you’re Judge Mathis. I’m not about to let anyone come between me and my man. Nash and I have been dating for months, so you need to stay the hell away from him.”
“You and my uncle aren’t dating! He doesn’t even like you,” Tania snapped and dropped her bags, charging toward the woman. “He dumped you a long time ago. So you need to get a clue!”
“Tha
t’s enough, Tania,” Iris said and pulled her back.
“Oh, Tania, I see you still haven’t learned how to stay out of grown folks’ business. But if you must know, your uncle and I have been together for months,” she said, her eyes trained on Iris.
“Come on, Evie.” Her friend grabbed hold of her arm. “Let’s go, people are starting to stare.”
“Why don’t you ask him where he was all night?” She smirked and turned to walk away, but stopped. She looked Iris up and down before saying, “I can’t believe you actually thought you had a chance with him.”
* * *
Nash stared down at the blueprints spread across the bar, wondering what else would go wrong. Since the fire at his midtown location, he was more determined than ever to get the new club opened. They were ahead of schedule with the renovations, but thanks to a city inspector, some electrical wires would have to be rerouted, which could interfere with the drywallers’ schedule.
“Jay, will we have to move the wires for the mounted light fixtures along this wall?” Nash pointed with his left hand to an area on the blueprint where the VIP section would be. He still wasn’t used to his right hand being in a splint due to three fractured knuckles, but he had too many things to get done to let it slow him down.
“No. Those are fine,” the contractor said.
“What does that mean as far as time and money?” Nash asked.
“Maybe a few hundred dollars. It’s not that big of a project since the drywallers haven’t put up these walls,” Jay said, pointing to the wall that divided the small banquet room and the long closet of the staff’s lounge. “Now, it’s another story when we tackle the plumbing issue I told you about Monday. We’re talking a few thousand dollars and at least twenty man hours to get that done by next Friday.”
Nash ran a hand over his head and cursed under his breath. Just once he’d like to get a construction project done on budget and without a lot of setbacks. He let out a weary sigh. Making decisions on two hours of sleep probably wasn’t helping, but he trusted Jay. He had overseen the renovations of the midtown club and hadn’t steered him wrong.
Legal Seduction Page 14
