by Addison Fox
Several celebrity chefs were positioned around the room, large viewing areas spread out in a half circle before them for their fans to take a seat and enjoy a demonstration. Nathan recognized the chef from one of his favorite restaurants in New York. With a quick wave, the man excused himself from his workstation to come say hello.
“It’s good to see you, Nathan.” Chuck McMasters slapped him on the back, the light smell of garlic wafting from the apron slung low on his hips. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m in Vegas for the weekend and stopped in to see what this event was all about.”
“It’s quite the rush,” Chuck said. “Few shows can boast this many people in such a short window of time.”
“I’m enjoying myself.” Nathan’s thoughts skittered to images of Keira and realized the words were 100 percent true.
He was enjoying the event.
“This is quite the party, and the McBride women certainly know how to put on a show. Keira’s a delicious package. Good business sense and a great pair of legs. What a combination.”
A surge of jealousy sucker punched him, and Nathan fought to keep the bland smile on his face. “Nothing like a woman who’s as smart as she is beautiful.”
“She certainly fits the bill,” Chuck said with a wink before he turned to see one of his sous chefs waving an agitated hand. “I’d better get back over there. The natives are restless.”
Nathan shook hands before Chuck walked off, still chafing at the man’s appraisal of Keira. The woman was the entire package, but it didn’t mean she was a package of meat. With a final glance over his shoulder toward Chuck’s station, where the man ignored his frantic sous chef to flirt with a fan, Nathan resolved to put it out of his mind. He also resolved that he’d pull back the offer he was planning to extend to Chuck to expand his restaurant empire into the Las Vegas project.
“You look oddly satisfied. Please don’t tell me you’ve run off one of the biggest draws of the show.”
As if his conversation with Chuck had conjured her up, Keira appeared at his side. “Not at all,” he said.
She shrugged her slim shoulders. “You must be building takeover plans in your head, then.”
Nathan couldn’t resist the small smile playing the corners of Keira’s lush mouth and felt the tight knot in his stomach begin to untangle. “Join me for a drink and I may share a thought or two.”
“I’m working.”
The hum of activity swirled around them. “The show’s running without a hitch. You’re entitled to a few minutes to yourself.”
“Alone in my room with a bottle of wine and a bubble bath is what I had in mind.”
An image of Keira clad in nothing but bubbles shot straight to his groin, and Nathan bit back a rough cough at the image she presented in his mind. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to the delicate curve of her ear, dropping his voice to a husky whisper. “I’d be more than happy to join you.”
As if realizing what she’d suggested, she bit back a small, strangled moan. “It wasn’t an invitation.”
“Then accept mine and join me for a drink.”
“You’re rather smooth.”
“Darling, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
…
Keira sipped a club soda with lime in the hotel bar a half hour later and wondered how she’d been neatly maneuvered for the second time into having drinks with Nathan Cooper.
She still couldn’t believe she’d come out with the bubble bath line. Or why she’d deliberately sought him out. She had a ready excuse to avoid him—a weekend chock-a-block full of client entertaining and media wrangling, all while running a major conference.
So what was wrong with her?
Shaking it off, she focused on their conversation. She was here, wasn’t she? It was about time she put the interaction to good use and tried to figure out what he was planning with his takeover attempt.
“What’s been your favorite part of the show?”
“I’ve only seen about a third of it.”
Nathan took a gulp of his beer. An entirely inappropriate shot of heat ran the length of her spine as she took him in, her gaze lingering on his lips, moist from the beer. Although he wore designer suits with a casual ease, she found the sight of him in less formal clothing only served to heighten the inconvenient attraction brewing between them.
She couldn’t see his nicely tanned forearms underneath rolled-up cuffs when he wore a suit, nor could she see the imprint of his shoulders through his shirt when he was covered in pressed wool. And there was no way she could see the light smattering of chest hair at the V of his shirt with the hindrance of a tie. The fact she could see those things now had tentacles of need wrapping around her midsection, sensitizing her skin and making her very aware of her own body.
“The wine section moved as smoothly as you said it would. You can see people find their groove around station three and then they’re off to the races.”
“Gotta love those California Cabs.” Keira focused on his words in a vain attempt to ignore the increasing discomfort of her traitorous body.
“But I think my favorite area’s been the appliances.”
She wasn’t sure if it was the word appliance or the oddly wistful note she detected underneath his words, but his comment took her mind off her discomfort. “How so?”
“The floor plan’s incredibly well done, how one dream kitchen flows into the next. You can see how enticing it is to the family looking to remodel or build new.”
“We were worried for the last few years as the housing market suffered, but that area’s stayed incredibly profitable, even growing a bit in participation year after year. I almost think a down market has raised interest in that part of the show.”
“Everyone loves to dream.” Nathan’s voice was quiet as he said it, but it was the words themselves that caught her.
“And what are your dreams, Mr. Cooper?”
What looked like embarrassment flashed across his gaze for the briefest of moments before the cocky grin she was coming to associate with him flashed with full force. “Oh, we corporate pirates dream of lots and lots of cold, hard cash.”
The slightly wistful tone she’d heard had disappeared, but Keira couldn’t help being struck by his words. She knew enough of his background to believe he’d had a challenging childhood at best. How did those experiences shape a man? Did they crush out his dreams? Or make him all that much more determined to achieve them?
“Is that all?”
“Oh, yes. I’m a veritable Scrooge, counting my stash late into the night.” He hunched over as he spoke the words, mimicking the famous miser, and she couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter at his actions.
“Are you laughing at me?”
She nodded as another wave of giggles shook her. “Only because you can laugh at yourself. A rather admirable trait, and one my mother insisted on for my sisters and me.”
“Funny, it’s one my mother insisted on as well. ‘Nate, my boy,’ she always said. ‘The man who can’t laugh at himself is a sorry ass, indeed.’”
“A smart woman.”
“As is your mother.” He took another sip of his beer. “You haven’t said much about her.”
“There’s not much to say.” Even after more than a decade, Keira still couldn’t stop her vision from growing misty when she thought about her mother. “We lost her to breast cancer about ten years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What? That wasn’t in your file?”
His tender gaze evaporated at her words and it was immediately obvious what she’d intended as a joke fell flat. “I meant the sympathy, Keira. It’s horrible to lose a parent.”
“I know.” On a deep breath, she reached forward and laid a hand on his forearm. “I know. I only meant to lighten the moment, not insult you.”
He laid a hand over hers and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the way his long fingers blended with hers. The temptation to turn her hand over and rest her palm to
his, linking their fingers, was strong, but she held back.
Even more than the kiss they’d shared the night of the banquet, linking hands in that way suggested intimacy. Connection. And no matter how she was drawn to him, she simply couldn’t act on it.
“I’m sure the loss you feel is great, but I’ve no doubt your mother is incredibly proud of you and your sisters.”
“I’d like to think so.”
“I believe so.”
They sat there for long moments, neither saying anything as the quiet conversation of the bar swirled around them. Keira knew it made no sense. That she could take a moment of comfort out of her busy day with the one man dead set on ruining what she’d built. But as she sat there quietly sipping her club soda, her hand resting under his, she also knew it was true. He’d given her a lovely compliment about her mother as well as comfort over a loss that never fully went away.
Maybe it was the quiet of the moment or the acknowledgment that her mother would have been proud of her, but Keira couldn’t erase the need to make her case, to see if there was any way to penetrate the professional veneer Nathan wore like armor.
“Why is this so important to you?”
She was grateful he didn’t sidestep the question or pretend he didn’t understand what she was really asking. “It’s who I am.”
“No, it’s who you choose to be. Your business has been quite successful up until now. Why us? Why now?”
“You call it choice; I call it good business.” He took a sip of his drink before that deep blue gaze bore into hers. “Call it whatever you want—I follow through on my choices and I don’t turn away from a course of action once it’s been set.”
With startling clarity, Keira sensed his words went far deeper than his business.
And in that moment she recognized just how hopeless it was to think the attraction between them could ever produce anything other than heartbreak.
Chapter Five
Keira dropped onto the plush couch in her suite, determined to take five minutes for herself before going back into the crush of the show. What she really needed was about a million miles of distance from Nathan Cooper, but that wasn’t likely to happen any time soon.
Moments from the last hour washed through her mind’s eye, but one stuck particularly hard. The bleak look in the depths of those blazing blue eyes when he talked about dreams. She’d been so focused on the man trying to take over her company, she hadn’t spent much time thinking about the real person underneath. And no matter how hard he tried to hide it, there was someone underneath, someone who had far more kindness and compassion than he was likely ever credited with.
How had it all gotten so complicated so quickly?
The slamming of the suite’s main door echoed through the lofty area, followed by the unmistakable bellow of her sister. Mayson came tearing through the suite in a colorful wrap dress, her voice practically at a pitch only dogs could hear. “Keira McBride! I want details!”
“I don’t have any details.”
“False.” Mayson dropped down onto the couch next to her, an eager smile on her face. “You were spotted having a drink in the bar with Mr. Nathan Cooper an hour ago. What is going on?”
“How did anyone have time to spot me doing anything? It feels like there are a billion people downstairs. Anyone who knows me should be working to keep them well-fed and happily liquored up.”
Mayson patted her leg. “Yes, well, we do give our trade show slaves a break every now and again. We’re not Dad, remember?”
Keira couldn’t hold back the giggle at her sister’s words. “Which is likely the reason our employees come back every year.”
“Exactly.” Mayson kicked off her heels and curled her feet up underneath her. “Enough stalling. Tell me what’s going on with you two.”
“I don’t know, Mayse. Honest, I don’t.”
“Okay. What do you want to be going on with you two?”
“That’s an even harder question. And one you have every right to be angry about, since the more time I spend with him, the more I want to be going on.”
Mayson’s eager smile faded, replaced with deep concern. “Why wouldn’t I be happy for you? And how can you say that?”
“How can’t you? The man wants to ruin us.”
“No, he wants to take the best of us and make a profit off us. There’s a very big difference.”
Mayson’s words hit with laser precision, and Keira turned them over in her mind. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. He sees what we’ve built and sees how we’ve brought the company back. It’s what he does for a living, and if his business is any indication, he’s been quite good at it. I’m not saying I want him to be right, but he’s got every reason to think well of the work we’ve done.”
Before she could say anything, Mayson pressed on. “Look, sweetie. I see you around guys. You’re nice, cordial, pleasant, and you smile at all the right times. But you never let them matter.”
“That’s not true.”
At her sister’s raised eyebrows, Keira pushed once more. “Come on. There was Bradley last year. He’s handsome, well educated, and already a partner at one of the city’s top firms. He and I dated for three months.”
“And you tolerated him for each and every minute of those three months.”
She wanted to protest, but Keira knew the truth. She hadn’t wanted Bradley. Or Tom before him. Or Jason before him. None of them fired her up or made her feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Or interested. Or wanting.
Like Nathan made her feel.
Keira tried once more to press the point, to make her sister understand the strange mix of guilt that lay underneath the desire that grew every moment she spent in Nathan Cooper’s company. “Nathan’s not making up the takeover attempt. He’s serious about it.”
“So we’ll fight him.”
Words she didn’t want to even think, let alone say, spilled out. “What if he wins?”
Whatever Mayson had been about to say faded on her lips. Her brown eyes clouded as her voice grew husky. “He can’t win. The company is ours. Our name is on the door.”
Keira knew Mayson’s role as head of creative design for all their properties had her somewhat shielded from the day-to-day business realities of McBride Media, but she also knew her sister didn’t sit by with her head in the clouds. “He has a shot, Mayse. He’s already made overtures to our major stockholders to woo them over to his side and it won’t take much to convince the board to vote his way if they go along. And we don’t have enough shares between the three of us to ensure we can hold him off.”
Keira dropped her head against the couch, touched when Mayson reached for her hand and squeezed. “It still doesn’t have anything to do with how you feel about him.”
“How can it not have everything to do with how I feel about him?”
“Because love isn’t rational or convenient or practical.”
Keira leaped off the couch as Mayson’s words singed her from head to toe. “I’m not in love with Nathan. I barely know Nathan.”
“I’d wager you are in love with him or well on your way to being in love with him. That’s why I’m not pissed.”
“Absolutely not. It’s impossible.”
“Then why are you worried about mixing business with pleasure? Go have some fun.”
Keira shot her sister a dirty look as she paced the room.
She was a rational woman. Rational women did not fall in love with men who were trying to ruin all they’d spent their adult lives working for.
Her earnest thoughts were shattered once more by the image of compelling blue eyes, broad shoulders, and a voice that layered heat and chills in perfect intervals against her nerve endings.
She wasn’t in love with Nathan Cooper.
She couldn’t be.
…
Nathan took up residence in a darkened corner of the private ballroom, his gaze firmly on Keira. He wondered how he’d managed to stand
in nearly the same position twice in less than a week, watching her from afar, as she held court with an adoring audience.
Tearing his eyes from her simply on principle, he took in the others scattered around the room. Happy, laughing people made up various-sized conversation circles around the room, drinks in hand and broad smiles on their faces. The party wasn’t in the main conference hall but was reserved for advertisers and special guests of the event.
“Look what the cat dragged in.”
The voice penetrated his thoughts like a shard of glass. Nathan turned to see Taylor Jackson, the reporter who’d covered the story on his takeover attempt for the Financial Journal.
“I thought you needed a press pass to get in here,” Nathan quipped in return, knowing full well the barb wasn’t going to win him any prizes. He and Taylor Jackson shared a thinly veiled hatred for each other, but it was one that paid mutual dividends.
He provided the story.
Taylor provided the ink.
“She’s quite the beauty.”
Nathan knew without asking whom Taylor spoke of and shifted so his back was to her. “She’s got the brains to match.”
“Why, Nathan, if I didn’t know you so well, I’d say you just gave the woman a compliment. I guess you can afford to be magnanimous as you try to take over her company.”
Nathan shrugged, unwilling to show anything but casual indifference to one of his father’s lead reporters. “Every word is true. She’s a gifted professional.”
“Speaking of truth, the word on the street is that your interest in her goes way beyond her company. Mixing a bit of business with pleasure?”
“And there you go, Jackson.” Nathan leaned forward and patted him on the back. “Just when I think you’ve got a legitimate reason to hold that press pass of yours, you walk through the gutter.”
The cocky grin faltered as the barb hit Taylor Jackson square in the chest. “You know as well as I do my sources are sound.”
Nathan bit back a retort because he knew damn well the truth of the man’s statement. His father enjoyed slinging mud on the pages of his newspaper and was known for encouraging it in his staff, but the retribution for slinging it inappropriately was complete annihilation in the business. A reporter who screwed up a story for West Harrison didn’t just lose his job. He lost a chance of ever getting another one.
