He glanced at the clock. The day was dragging on.
He’d had three appointments earlier in the morning, but the afternoon was clear. He should prepare for the Hansen deposition scheduled later in the week. But every time he tried to concentrate on a case, his mind drifted to Taylor. Her smile, her adorable blushes, the way her eyes glazed over when she came.
Came for him.
He picked up the phone. He couldn’t focus on work, at least not until he had some contact with Taylor. He had to call her. Again. He’d tried to call her yesterday at home, twice, but had gotten her voicemail.
He didn’t want to seem like a stalker, but if he didn’t hear her voice again, soon, he might start to panic.
Her voicemail picked up. Shit. She couldn’t be blowing him off—could she? No, no way. They had connected. Deeply. She was just busy, that was all. Maybe. Shit.
Maybe she was getting shy, skittish. Yeah, Taylor was beyond shy, she was probably regressing into her shyness. Should he leave another message?
The front door buzzed, indicating someone had entered the office, making the decision for him. Tyanna had left early—something about a party—and both his colleagues were in court.
He hung up the phone and went to the front office.
“Mike, how are you?” Brian covered his surprise and stuck his hand out to greet his client, Mike Hansen, his mind reeling. The first deposition in the Hansen case was not today, he was sure.
“Fine. How long is this going to take? I have a life and it doesn’t include spending a workday giving some lame-ass deposition. You had better make sure that crazy bitch doesn’t get my stock portfolio, Jackson, I swear to God. It’s bad enough I’m letting the house go. You know damn well she’ll be living in it with that asshole she’s screwing. Which is fine, I don’t give a shit, but I’ll be damned if she gets the stocks. I’ve been building that portfolio for ten years while she’d been screwing everyone I know.”
Tyanna. He was firing her the next time he saw her. He was hiring his own legal assistant. It was a done deal.
“I hear you, Mike.” He covered his agitation and tried for a soothing tone. “Relax, we’re building a strong case. This deposition is important, but it’s nothing to get worked up over. It’s just part of the process. Another step toward securing your assets and getting your personal life back on track.”
“Yeah, well let me tell you, Brian, the process sucks. And take my advice, buddy. Don’t get married. Ever.”
Brian ushered his client into the conference room and went in search of a tape recorder and the case file. He wasn’t completely prepared for this deposition, but he’d be damned if it showed.
* * * *
Taylor opened her eyes. She should get out of bed, she really should.
She clicked the off button on her alarm. It hadn’t rung yet but she was already wide awake.
It wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t. People had casual, meaningless sex all of the time. So could she.
She stretched and sat up, took a deep cleansing breath, smelled dust. Oh well, it wasn’t as if she would be entertaining anyone in her bedroom again. There was no use lying to herself. Maybe people had casual sex all of the time, but she didn’t. Wanted to, maybe, but didn’t. Her emotions were always involved. It was an involuntary response.
And her emotions had become way involved with Brian.
Brian. He had called her countless times but she wouldn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. Now that she knew their tryst, as Tyanna had put it, was nothing more than a sex-date, she was too embarrassed to ever face him again.
And Tyanna had even had to coax him. Practically blackmail him into compliance.
It was humiliating.
If she saw Brian again she’d probably do something mortifying like burst into tears. No thanks.
He had to know she’d thought it was more than a sex-date. She had been making love with him—to him, at least. But for him, it had just been sex. And his calls, what were they about? Was he looking for another sex-date? Maybe there was a slump in the office hook-up rotation. No, thanks.
She wasn’t blameless, she knew. She’d been looking to find a way to break through and achieve sexual satisfaction, which she had, but this sort of arrangement wasn’t for her. More time with Brian would just lead to increased heartache.
The sex had been phenomenal, for her.
But now, looking back and knowing it was just some sort of pity lesson he was giving ruined the memory. She was glad to know she was at least capable of achieving an orgasm, but the feeling was overridden by a feeling of disgust—with herself, over the entire experience.
And Tyanna. She knew Tyanna had meant well, but still, she needed a break from her for awhile. Tyanna was so different from her, she likely wouldn’t relate to Taylor feeling heartbroken at all and would just suggest more casual sex with someone else, as if it were the cure-all.
Heartbroken. Yep, that was it. She was heartbroken.
She got out of bed, went to the kitchen and turned the burner on for the teapot. The kitchen smelled like bananas and she eyed the browning fruit on her little wooden kitchen table.
She should eat, but she wasn’t hungry. She picked up the bunch of bananas and tossed them in the trash.
At least she had work. She had taken on an extra assignment, analyzing and compiling some complicated data material for Scott.
It was a relief to immerse herself in the complicated biochemistry. The data was pushing the limits of her knowledge base and she was having to do some heavy duty research to decipher the rationale behind the data.
It was a welcome distraction from her morose thoughts.
* * * *
“What are you so fired up about?”
Brian took a deep breath, and tried to relax. “The Hansen deposition. You screwed up the schedule, Tyanna. Again.”
Tyanna gave him a quick assessing glance, then flipped open a compact and began applying bright red lipstick. “You know,” she said without removing the lipstick tube from her lips. “You should try yoga or meditation. Maybe a little Tai Chi.” She finished her make-up application, rubbed her lips together and snapped the compact closed. Loudly. She looked him in the eye. “And you should not be giving me attitude. Was it not Tyanna that hooked you up with a sex-date?” She dropped the compact in her purse and zipped it up with an exaggerated swipe of her hand. “In my book, that warrants a little gratitude, not attitude, my brother. And Hansen is satisfied—I sweet talked him when he called you this morning. He is satisfied, the deposition is complete. I do not see a problem.”
Brian glanced around the office, wincing when he saw a door close. He placed his hands on Tyanna’s desk and leaned down, lowering his voice. “Sex-date? What the hell are you talking about?”
Tyanna laughed, not the least bit intimidated. “Aw, now, don’t be frontin’ like you don’t know. Taylor and I are tight. We talk.”
“Taylor thinks we had a sex-date? As in just sex? Just for sex?”
“Uh-huh. And you’re welcome. And don’t worry, she didn’t spill all of the juicy details, not that I didn’t try to get them out of her. She’s just shy like that. She said y’all hooked up, but then she bolted.”
“She bolted?”
“Uh-huh. I was introducing her to one of your ladies from Walters and Browning, Deanna, and Taylor got all bashful and bolted.”
Brian felt the blood drain from his head. His body suddenly seemed like a lead weight. “Deanna?” Even his teeth felt heavy, weighing his head down. He gritted his teeth and leaned in closer to Tyanna. “When was the last time you talked to Taylor?”
Tyanna raised an eyebrow at his fierce expression but didn’t back away even a centimeter. “Huh?”
Chapter Eight
Taylor dragged herself to the deli. Tyanna was pretty much the last person she wanted to see today, but she had called saying she was in a party-planning crisis and desperately needed help. Whatever. As long as there was no talk of Brian, or sex
, or sex-dates, she could handle it.
Of course, there was always talk of sex with Tyanna, because sex was Tyanna’s favorite hobby. And Tyanna would no doubt be fishing for information about her weekend with Brian. But Taylor would handle it. She would just keep changing the subject back to the party.
If Tyanna wouldn’t cooperate, she’d just leave.
She rushed into the deli and grabbed the only available table. She glanced down and realized she was still wearing her white lab coat. Great. She had been so rushed and distracted, she’d forgotten to take it off before she raced out of the lab. No wonder she was so hot.
She shimmied out of the coat and placed it behind her chair, glancing around for Tyanna. Late, as usual. Even in a party-planning-crisis, whatever that was, Tyanna still managed to be late.
Taylor signaled the waiter and ordered two sandwiches, two waters, and a fudge brownie. Maybe chocolate would help her mood.
She looked up from the menu to add a cup of hot tea to her order and saw him.
Brian. Brian Jackson was entering the deli.
She quickly averted her eyes to the waiter, who was standing with an expectant look on his face. “Tea. Add a hot tea with lemon.” She would not look up again. He was probably grabbing a carryout order. Oh, God, please let him be here for a carryout order and not dining in. Where the hell was Tyanna?
“Taylor.”
So much for avoidance. “Hi.”
“Mind if I join you?” Brian pulled out the chair across from her and sat.
“Actually, I’m meeting Tyanna for lunch.”
“No, you’re not.”
Taylor tried not to notice how great he looked. He was in a suit and the man wore a suit like no man she’d ever seen. Crisp white shirt, steely blue tie, and the jacket matched his eyes, his incredible black eyes. “I’m not?”
“No. I convinced her to let me come in her place.”
“Oh?”
“I wanted to see you. And Tyanna wanted to keep her job, so we came to a peaceful resolution. She decided to allow me to come in her place to see you and I decided not to fire her, so it worked out for both of us.”
Taylor raised her eyebrows in shock. “You were going to fire her? Because of me?”
“No, not because of you, although the mess she helped create between us was enough to send me over the edge. I was going to fire her because she screwed my schedule up one too many times and nearly made me look like an ass in front of a client. Again. But I don’t want to talk about Tyanna.”
“Okay.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Okay.”
He grinned. “That’s okay?”
“Yes, okay.” She was doing it again, repeating the same word. It wasn’t her fault. Attractive men had always made her stupid.
And Brian was beyond attractive.
He was...well, he was a beautiful man. A beautiful man with a beautiful… “Uh, Brian, maybe now isn’t a good time. I have this experiment running and I really didn’t even have time for lunch, but Tyanna wouldn’t take no for answer. You know how she is.”
She fumbled for her purse, struggling to rid her mind of the image of his cock. His majestic cock.
Brian reached across the table and stilled her hand, which was opening her wallet. “Taylor, please. Sit with me. I just want to talk.”
Taylor let out a gust of air, giving in. “Okay.”
She would sit with him. The embarrassment of running into him was over, hopefully. Running away from him once before had only resulted in regret. Taylor would listen to him, just play along—pretend their encounter was casual and meant nothing.
Putting her wallet back in her purse, she looked up at Brian. Mistake. He affected her too much. Focusing her gaze downward, she concentrated on the straw sticking out of her water glass.
“Listen, Taylor, I think there has been a misunderstanding between us. I spoke with Tyanna and—”
“You talked to Tyanna about us?”
“Yes, sort of. Tyanna isn’t the easiest person to talk to—she takes everything the wrong way—but I tried to talk to her. She seems to think she set us up on some meaningless one night stand—”
“Brian, it’s okay. Tyanna was just…being Tyanna. I know you aren’t looking for a relationship. I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I don’t?”
“No. Taylor, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, that’s true. And Tyanna set us up for something casual, I don’t deny it. I really wasn’t into going on a blind date, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Taylor snorted. “Yeah, she never takes no for an answer.”
“Exactly. I intended to keep things casual between us—before we met. But meeting you changed everything.”
Taylor looked up from her straw, into his eyes. His eyes were full of sincerity and an unexpected vulnerability.
She reached for his hand across the table, an instinct. It felt warm, a little clammy, as if he was nervous. “It did?”
“Yes, bunny. I am definitely looking for a relationship. With you.” Brian moved her hand until it was enveloped in his. “A serious relationship.” He squeezed her hand.
Oh God. He wanted her?
Taylor blinked. Stunned.
She felt her cheeks heat up, knew the splotches were spreading. “Okay.”
Chapter Nine
One month later...
Brian paced from the kitchen to the courtyard and back again. He wanted everything to be perfect. It had to be perfect.
Candles. He’d forgotten candles. He searched in the cabinet under the sink and found a small outdoor citronella candle. Not the most romantic scent, but unlike the vanilla scented candle in the bedroom, it would keep the mosquitoes at bay. Mosquitoes were not romantic.
He placed the candle in the center of his patio table and lit it, then adjusted the china plates slightly, wanting everything to line up symmetrically.
The doorbell rang, the distant melodic chimes echoing out of the patio door. He raced to the front door and opened it.
Taylor smiled, the shy half smile he loved. “Hi.”
Her hair was swept up in a loose bun and she was wearing a sage green sundress with spaghetti straps. He wanted to rip the dress off of her, right then. Damn, she was beautiful.
“Hi, bunny.” He dragged her to him and kissed her, savoring the familiar lemon-touched flavor that was uniquely Taylor.
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered as he let her go.
He led her to the patio, enjoying the petite weight of her hand in his and anticipating her reaction to the setting he’d created.
“Oh, Brian, this is amazing.”
He tracked Taylor with his eyes as she scanned the courtyard, taking in the scene he’d created. Wanting an ultra-romantic atmosphere, he’d made a candlelit dinner for two and had strung white lights in the two trees, near the mama cat.
“Are the lights for me or the kittens?”
“For you. Everything is all about you.”
Lowering her head in the natural shy gesture he loved, Taylor busied herself with checking on the kittens. She moved the branches to the side, the light from the trees illuminating the mama cat, who looked up at her sleepily, her eyes shining silver. The kittens were visibly larger, their eyes open, and they were climbing all over each other, full of energy.
Taylor reached down and picked up a fuzzy grey kitten from the pile and held it to her chest, stroking its tiny head between the ears. It purred. “I think I’m in love.”
“Me too,” Brian whispered before nuzzling into her neck and kissing her softly.
Surely he didn’t mean with her. No, it was too soon for a declaration of love, even if they were embarking on a relationship. But Taylor tingled at his words and his lips. She could definitely fall in love with this man, probably already had.
“Are you keeping any of them?” Focus on the cats, not his words. The cats were safe.
“If you want me to.”<
br />
More kisses on her neck. His tongue stroked her ear lobe and his hands had found her behind. “You’re awfully agreeable.”
“Bunny, I said it was all about you. I’m hoping you’ll be agreeable, too.”
Taylor was feeling more than agreeable. His hands were squeezing her ass, making her wet and achy. She put the cat back with its mother and turned to Brian.
He smiled, took her hand and led her to a chair, sitting and pulling her onto his lap. Taylor settled, enjoying the humid air on her skin and the feel of his erection jutting into her hip. She glanced over his shoulder at the elegantly set table. “Aren’t we going to eat?”
“In a while. Can you wait?” His hand was on her lower back, massaging her in slow circles.
“Sure.”
His hand moved up her back and found her neck, drawing her to his mouth. “Good, because I want you.” He kissed her. Slow, sweet. Thorough.
Arousal came over Taylor in a rush. She melted at his touch, craved every part of him. She moved to straddle him, thankful the chair was wide. She rubbed her mound over his jutting length, hungry for more.
She felt a sense of power come over her, sensual power. She’d never before taken the lead with a lover but she suddenly wanted the control, all of it. The hesitation was there, within her, just beneath the surface. She felt herself begin to pull away but she forced it away, took control.
The idea that Brian wanted her, really wanted her, for more than a sex-date still thrilled her.
Empowered her.
She drew away from his mouth, keeping her eyes on his. “I want to fuck you.” She reached between them and unfastened his belt, unzipped his zipper.
His eyes filled with lust. “Here?”
“Here.” His cock sprang free. She unbuttoned her bodice, pulling the spaghetti straps over her shoulders and letting the top of her dress fall to her waist.
“Oh, yeah, honey.” Brian’s hands palmed her breasts, tweaked her nipples through the lace of her strapless bra. “Damn, this is hot.”
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