by A. C. Arthur
The elevator was taking too long and Linc’s patience was wearing thin, so instead of losing his temper—which he often did—he found the door to the stairs and headed upward.
Jade had just emerged from a soothing chamomile bath topping off her state of pure relaxation. Wrapped in her kimono-style robe she padded barefoot across the wooden floors to the kitchen. Through the open window she heard the rumblings of nightlife awakening on the outskirts of the Strip.
Women of the night and their employers would hit the streets as soon as the sky darkened completely while from a distance the glitz and glamour of the Strip would beckon all with at least a nickel in their pockets. An enticing trap, she thought to herself.
As was Lincoln Donovan.
She’d accepted his deal for one reason and one reason only—to save her sister.
This was the last time, she’d told herself, and now had told Noelle. She’d help her sister out of this jam and then Noelle would be on her own. She refused to spend her time making money just to spend it all on Noelle and her crazy lifestyle. Why her sister thought she could go and gamble with money she didn’t have was beyond Jade’s imagination. Still, she felt compelled to help her. They were all each other had in the world. That had been her excuse all these years even though Jade was sure that if Grammy were here she’d be telling her to let Noelle sink or swim on her own. The next time that’s exactly what she panned to do.
But for now she’d made a deal.
With Lincoln Donovan.
Eight years ago she’d been young and in lust. Now she was older, wiser. This was a business deal and nothing else. Hence the reason she’d killed those dinner plans. Linc needed a date for his parents’ festivities. Well, those festivities hadn’t begun yet. Therefore, there was no need for them to spend time together.
That coupled with the fact that she detested being pushed around. When a man wanted to have dinner with a woman, the normal route was to ask. He’d told her and she’d showed him differently. She smiled smugly and wrenched open the freezer.
“So who was the winner again?” she asked as she frowned at three neat stacks of frozen meals. She had a large variety since this was what her complete diet consisted of, but tonight, for some reason, chicken and broccoli fettuccine just didn’t sound appetizing.
A hard knock at the door had her nearly jumping out of her skin. And when she’d made her way across the room to pull it open that same skin began to heat instantly.
Her throat went dry as her gaze rested on Linc’s wide shoulders completely filling the tiny doorway. He looked ominous, foreboding and commanding dressed in all brown, glowering at her as if she’d just stolen something from him.
Jade squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. “Can I help you?”
His gaze raked over her in a way that left her feeling naked and exposed and she instinctively regretted the question.
Linc cleared his throat. “We had dinner plans,” he said gruffly.
“No, you had dinner plans. I went shopping and came home.”
“I thought it was understood that we were staying at the hotel.”
“You’re staying at the hotel. I have a home, thank you very much,” she quipped.
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Can I come in?”
“No,” she said quickly.
“Jade?”
It was her turn to sigh just before stepping aside and allowing him entrance. “What are you doing here?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
“As I said, we had dinner plans.”
She was instantly uncomfortable as she watched him peruse her apartment. It wasn’t a hovel by any means but Jade was positive it was below Lincoln Donovan’s standards. Just as she’d always been.
“And you left this in the car.”
His voice interrupted the beginnings of her pity party and she looked down at his outstretched hand.
“Oh,” she said then reached for the necklace. “It must have fallen off.”
Before she could take it from him Linc pulled his hand back. “Was it a gift from someone special?”
She blinked wondering why he’d asked. “From Grammy. I mean, my grandmother.”
He nodded, profoundly relieved that it wasn’t from a man. He looked down at the necklace in his hand then back at her. “The clasp is broken.”
Jade reached for the necklace again. Since his arrival it had become increasingly harder for her to breathe. She feared his large form simply took up too much space in her small apartment. She had to get him out of here as quickly as possible. “I’ll have it fixed.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said simply then slipped the necklace into his pocket. “I’m hungry. Can we go to dinner now?”
Jade opened her mouth to speak then quickly closed it again. He’d asked her nicely this time, his voice velvety smooth as his gaze bore through her. She didn’t know how to respond.
“Are you hungry, Jade?”
“Ah…I…I’m not dressed for dinner,” she croaked. Damn, he was getting to her again. She looked down at her robe that had begun to gape a bit at her chest. Hastily she pulled it closed then cinched the belt around her waist.
Linc followed her gaze. “I’m certainly not complaining about your attire but you might want to change just in case other people get the wrong idea.”
“I most certainly am not going out like this. I’m not going out at all. Our deal doesn’t start until tomorrow.”
“I think you’re mistaken.” Linc took a step closer to her. “Our deal started the moment you took my credit cards and hit the mall.”
Jade thought about what he’d just said, recognized the logic and could have kicked herself. Again she reminded herself why she was allowing him back into her life. It’s only for a week, she told herself—seven days and six nights then she’d have what she wanted and he could go back to his rich, polished life. The one she’d never be a part of.
“Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll change.”
He nodded his approval as she stalked past him.
She’d change all right and Lincoln Donovan would regret coming here forcing her to do this tonight. While she wasn’t financially or socially in his league, she had one positive thing going for her—she was a woman.
And he was definitely a man.
A man that wasn’t above being tortured.
She wore red, come-and-get-me red, that fit her like a second skin. He swallowed as he reached for her hand to help her out of the car. The drive back to the Gramercy had been one of hell on earth. Her scent was intoxicating, coupled with that barely there dress. His blood pressure had steadily begun to rise.
They’d talked amicably in the car, she seemingly without a care in the world while he struggled to keep from blabbering how much he wanted her. They walked through the lobby, Linc noting the stares both from his staff and the guests milling about. He didn’t like that. He’d never really cared before that people watched him, made conclusions about him that were false and unfounded. But the thought of them wondering what was going on between him and Jade didn’t sit well with him at all.
She wore light makeup. A gold frost on the lips, something to darken her eyes and that was it. Her hair had been pulled up to a pile of luminous curls. She looked absolutely delicious and he was ravenous.
“I thought we were having dinner in the room,” she said with a pretty smile.
“We’d better stay in public for as long as possible,” Linc said through clenched teeth.
He escorted her to the restaurant and then to a booth reserved especially for him in the back. Sitting down, she picked up the menu. “I hear the food here is fabulous.”
For endless moments Linc couldn’t speak. He’d watched the sway of her hips as she walked. Then she sat while he remained standing. Her dress was cut low, very low. The view of those luscious mounds had all the blood rushing from his head. He gripped the back of the chair to steady himself then lowered his quaking body down into the seat.
This was not what he’d expected.
She was not what he’d expected.
He wanted her, yes. He’d thought making her spend the week with him was a good idea. But now, he had a sinking feeling that in the next week he was going to get more than he’d bargained for.
“I don’t like when my plans are changed.” He frowned.
Jade lifted a brow. “I hadn’t planned on having dinner with you. Actually, I hadn’t planned on ever seeing you again and I most definitely did not plan to spend the week with you. But life is unpredictable. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned.”
Her voice was alluring, soft and sultry in the dimly lit restaurant. His gaze fell to her lips as he listened to her words. Yes, life was unpredictable and most times things didn’t go as planned. And if he had his way his plan for a week would last much longer.
Chapter 3
Jade sighed as she sank into the deep cushioned couch in the living room of Linc’s penthouse. She was stuffed. Dinner had been magnificent. Giving Linc his due, the restaurant, the casino, the hotel, all of his hard work was apparent. His establishment was every bit as classy and elaborate as his competitors’. But then she’d expected nothing less of him. What did come as a surprise was the fact that he was great with his staff. He knew everyone by their first name, their job title and specifically the shift they worked. And when he spoke to them he seemed genuine. In her experience rich bosses didn’t treat their staff like they were personal friends.
Now he moved comfortably through the room. He’d slipped out of his suit jacket and tossed it on the back of an armchair. Under the pretense of resting her eyes she watched him through slit lids. A white dress shirt had never looked so good, but then she’d yet to see him in anything that looked bad. The way the material draped over his broad shoulders and muscled arms had her heart thumping in her chest. Her gaze traveled down to the gold cuff links at his wrists, then toward the gold belt buckle at his waist. And rested there.
Lincoln Donovan was a well-built man. She could not only see that but had the memory of it permanently emblazed on her brain. The thought of him inside her again made her mouth water. Their one night together had been beyond anything she’d ever experienced since then. As far as initiations go she was sure Linc had been the best. He’d been slow and gentle with her as if he’d already known her inexperienced status. There wasn’t a part of her body his hands hadn’t explored. And it had happened more than once. After the first time he’d continued to lavish her body with attention throughout the night. She thought she’d died and gone to heaven. Until she woke the next morning, alone.
That single thought had her sitting upright on the couch, which was difficult because the cushions were so deep and so soft that keeping her balance was almost impossible.
Maybe if she hadn’t been nursing a crush on him since the first time seeing him one year prior to the night they’d spent together, she wouldn’t have been devastated when he left. And maybe if she hadn’t been filled with silly romantic notions that she would defy her bad luck and fall madly in love with a man who loved her back, she wouldn’t have cried for the duration of that next day.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked, startling her from her thoughts.
“No.” She wanted to stand up, to go to whatever room she’d be sleeping in, and break this connection they still seemed to have. She wanted to get away from him, plain and simple. But she couldn’t get out of the damned chair. She struggled to stand, bracing her hands on the cushions at her sides and attempting to lift herself up.
In seconds he was there, his hands going beneath her arms, pulling her to a standing position, parallel with his tall, rigid form. She sucked in a breath, looked up at him, then to the side. Staring into his eyes was deadly. It made her feel vulnerable, too open for his assault. “I’m ready for bed.”
His hands remained on her, his thumbs grazing the side curve of her breasts. Heat spread through her rapidly with waves of desire building steadily. Her knees wobbled and her nipples hardened—damned traitorous body of hers. He was the enemy. He’d hurt her once, no way was he going to do it again.
She tried to move out of his grasp but he held firm. “There’s a big bed in the master suite,” he said seductively.
He pulled her closer to him until his burgeoning erection was positioned between her thighs. His message was very clear. “I’m ready to go to sleep,” she corrected her earlier declaration.
“I know just how to put you to sleep.”
Jade’s breath caught in her throat. How could one man’s touch erase all intelligent thought from her mind? It hadn’t been this way with Charles. Then again, she and Charles never shared an active sex life. Come to think of it sex had never been the same for her since that first time with Linc, hence the reason she didn’t indulge as much as the average twenty-eight-year-old. Still, she was determined not to indulge with Lincoln Donovan again.
She pressed her palms against his chest and tried to push him away. That in itself was a mistake. She loved the feel of his rigid muscles beneath her hands and reflexively moved them over his pectorals, to his broad shoulders and down those hard biceps. “I don’t need you to help me sleep,” she whispered in a voice that didn’t sound like her own.
He exuded strength, masculinity and pure unadulterated sex appeal and she wanted him. She didn’t want to, but it was undeniable. She could accept lust but she didn’t have to act on it. She wouldn’t act on it.
Linc’s pulse raced. Had he ever wanted a woman so badly before? Blood pumped fiercely to his groin until his erection strained against his zipper. He pressed into her center again marveling at how perfectly they fit. Her breasts rubbed against his chest and she was touching him. Damn, her hands on his arms of all places were even driving him wild. Each time her fingers flexed over his taut skin he felt the urge to lift her dress and thrust himself inside her grow stronger. She was trying to tell him that she didn’t want him, he could hear it in her voice. But her body was telling him something different.
He stared at her mouth. Propelled by need he leaned down and captured her lips. His mind was full of her as his tongue slid seductively over her closed lips. Her lids fluttered and he drew her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked. Her fingers clenched on his arms. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Heat raced through his loins and he nipped her lip. She whimpered and he suckled the spot gently. Her taste was simply intoxicating, filling him with something he was sure he’d never felt before.
His tongue plunged inside seeking hers then stroking, suckling and mingling. Her arms went around his neck, pulling him down closer, opening her mouth, taking his tongue and twirling it against her own. Linc closed his eyes to the sensations, the room beginning to slowly spin out of control. Desperation spread through his body like a disease. He could not get enough of her. His hands moved to her back, down to her bottom where he cupped the voluptuous mounds, pressing her center firmly into his erection. Her legs parted with the movement and he moaned deeply into her mouth.
Hot and wet, the kiss continued deepening until his hands finally slipped to the hem of her dress. Fiercely he jerked on the material, pulling it up to her waist. As if following an unknown signal his hand grazed the rim of her panties. Deft fingers pushed the material aside, slipping into her dewy folds.
What had started as a way to get out of a debt was quickly turning into a disaster in the making. She loved kissing him, loved the feel of his hot mouth on hers. But then he’d touched her there and was now touching her even more. Intimate strokes between her legs were like a beacon in Jade’s head and she summoned all the strength she had to wrench herself out of his arms and step away. Breathless from the kiss and thoroughly confused from the emotions he’d aroused, she turned her back to him and tried to regain her composure.
Long seconds ticked by in the silent, sexually charged atmosphere and she wondered briefly what he was thinking, then decided that she didn’t care. This was business. There was no room for her feelings to get
involved, not with this man, not with any man again. She turned back to find him staring at her, hands fisted at his sides. His eyes were dark with desire, his chest heaving.
It didn’t matter. She was his employee for one week. She had to make her stand now or she’d lose before the game had even begun.
“I will sleep alone.”
Never, in all his thirty-two years had Linc entertained the idea of forcing a woman to do his bidding. That thought alone caused him to tremble and hesitate. He wanted her fiercely, could imagine his erection slipping inside of her the way his finger almost had. Dragging a hand down his face he inhaled her essence, felt his gut clench and swore. “We made a deal.”
Jade squared her shoulders and stared at him, fighting the urge to give him what they both desperately wanted. “The deal was for a date for the week. When I sleep with a man, it’s on my terms, my decision. It’s not a part of a job.” She walked out of the room slowly enough for him to stop her if he wanted to although she knew he wouldn’t.
Linc might be arrogant and he might be domineering but—even though she’d accused him of it—he was not cruel. He wouldn’t force her to do something she didn’t want to do. He’d proved that the night of the party. He hadn’t done anything to her without her express permission first even though they’d both been drinking. No, if she slept with Lincoln Donovan again, business or not, it would be because she wanted to. And because her heart still hammered in her chest, her lips still tingled from his kiss, her center still pulsed from his touch, that thought alone frightened her.
Linc awoke the next morning in the master suite. Alone. He hadn’t taken a cold shower in years, but last night after she’d almost kissed the wits out of him then left him standing there panting like a dog in heat he’d had no other choice.
He’d lain awake for hours trying to get her out of his mind, trying to erase the feel of her body against his, the scent of her desire out of his head, that look of fear he’d glimpsed seconds after she’d pulled away. Another hour was spent kicking himself for moving so fast. They hadn’t been together in eight years. It was foolish of him to instantly try and pick up where they’d left off. Because he hadn’t stuck around he’d never known how she’d felt about that night they’d spent together. He’d immediately moved out of the dorm, returning to campus only to take his remaining classes. He hadn’t wanted to bump into her again.
