by Selena Kitt
“Hello?” she croaked, looking away from Nick’s piercing black eyes.
“Keyonna?”
Keyonna snapped to attention at the sound of that familiar voice, and made the error of saying his name out loud. “Mark!”
From the corner of her eye, Keyonna saw Nick stiffen.
“Have you seen the latest edition of Very VIP magazine?” Keyonna heard Mark ask, his voice a mixture of shock and anger.
Turning her back quickly to Nick, Keyonna replied, “Um, no…but I’ve got a good idea what’s in it. Mark, I never knew you even read that type of sensationalist crap.”
“I don’t as a rule; I hate these gossip rags but Trisha positively devours them – she was the one who showed me this current edition. And well, I’m flabbergasted. I didn’t realize this guy was some famous dude – Nick Vitale. He’s one of the richest property developers in the city – and he was engaged, Keyonna!”
His tone was accusatory, and Keyonna was about to explain that she’d had no clue back then that Nick had been ‘taken’, so to speak. Meanwhile she was fuming; so Trisha had shown him the magazine, huh? That interfering, spiteful little…
But before Keyonna could say a word in her defense, Mark continued, “Keyonna, don’t let his fame and wealth blind you. It doesn’t make him a better catch than me, baby. Nor do his billions. What matters is I’m the man who loves you truly, always have. You just need to…”
Keyonna could not believe her ears. “Are we still on that topic, Mark? For goodness sake! I can’t…marry…you!” she spelled out in exasperation, and then gasped in surprise as the receiver was wrenched from her grip.
Keyonna was open-mouthed as Nick, now stood next to her, barked into the phone. “I thought I told you to back off.”
Nick’s tone was dark and menacing, and Keyonna stared at him in mortification as he added gruffly, “The lady said no. Many times. When exactly are you going to get the message? Because I’m very well of the mind to come over there and make you.” Moments later, after getting no response, he banged the phone back on its cradle.
“There. That should get rid of him,” Nick muttered as he dusted off his hands with self-satisfaction.
Keyonna was scowling. “Wow. Thanks for butting in – again,” were her biting words. “And since when did you change sides? I thought you sympathized with him.”
Nick’s thinned lips eased into a small, sensuous smile as he reached out to take hold of her chin. “That was before I decided I want you for myself,” he rumbled, tilting her face up and planting a warm, possessive kiss on her lips that stole her breath.
Long seconds later, he lifted his head to look piercingly into her wide, mesmerized eyes, saying deeply, “You’re not marrying Mark, Keyonna…because you’ll be walking down the aisle with me.”
* * * *
Keyonna stepped back, away from his distracting touch, his tempting lips. Her heart turned cold against the warm entitlement in his tone. She had a clue about the reasons why he wanted to marry her – and they weren’t good enough.
“No,” she said firmly, turning away.
So that was what his kisses had been about. His passionate ministrations…all that part of a ploy to soften her up for this?
Well, Keyonna told herself he wasn’t going to seduce her into marrying him so he could secure his precious fortune.
“Do you think I’m fooling around?” Nick growled, gripped her elbow and spinning her around so she had to look up into his face. “Do you think I’m asking you on a whim?”
Keyonna held his gaze squarely. “Why are you asking me, Nick?”
Keyonna realized she had to hear it from him. Wanted to know if he could be completely straight with her. For some reason, that meant a great deal.
Nick hesitated, his eyes boring darkly into hers. And then he shrugged, releasing her as he let out an angry sigh. “I need a wife. As soon as possible. Because if I don’t get married in five weeks’ time, everything I own; all I’ve ever worked for, will be going up in smoke. My inheritance will end up being given all to charity – I’ll be left with nothing,” he said factually.
Keyonna let out a ragged sigh of relief. He didn’t look pleased having to come clean, but she could tell he felt some kind of relief at finally being able to lay it on the table.
“And you picked me,” she said more than asked, unable to keep the slight sarcasm from her tone.
“No, Keyonna, you picked me,” Nick said, his eyes suddenly flashing with irritation as he spun to face her. “My life was going fine until you decided to pull that kissing stunt at the dinner party. I would easily have settled for Rachel, but you blew it and I think it’s only fair that you should at least attempt to make things right. Don’t you?” His brow lifted in a mocking ‘V’ that made Keyonna bristle.
Shoving her hair back, she let out a ‘whoosh’. “Look. I’m really sorry about everything. But there’s no way I’ll…”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if there wasn’t so much at stake,” he said in a cold tone that reminded her of the old Nick; the forbidding, untouchable and ice-cold Nick that made something twist deep within her chest. A shiver of foreboding crossed through her and she hugged her arms to herself.
“You called me a tyrant,” Nick said coolly. “Well, that’s exactly what my father was. Apparently, he intended to teach me a lesson after some long ago imagined slight. He knew I’d do anything to hold on to what’s my birthright. He certainly made me work hard enough all these years to earn it. I was never given any special treatment for being the boss’s only son; in fact I had to prove myself even harder than everyone else to get to the heights I reached.” A thin, mirthless smile crossed his lips. “Do you really think I’d be willing to give that all up?”
Keyonna threw her hands up helplessly. “But what has all that got to do with me? You saw what went on between my ex and I the other night. If I could turn down my one-time boyfriend, whom incidentally I trust and know from way back, why would I say yes to marrying you, a near-perfect stranger?” Keyonna shook her head. “Mark’s marriage proposal was difficult enough to accept but yours is totally impossible.”
“Why impossible?” Nick asked with a thoughtful frown. “Am I that detestable?”
“That’s not the point,” Keyonna said through tight lips. “You and I…we aren’t even friends. And let’s face it, I know there’re tons of females out there who’d gladly fill up the vacant post.”
“But it’s not them I want, is it?” Nick rumbled. He reached out and wrapped his hand snugly around her wrist and tugged her hard against him. Keyonna swallowed with difficulty and strained away as much as his steel hold would allow. As her heart rate increased alarmingly at his closeness, Keyonna wondered if she’d ever be immune to his overwhelming magnetism. She only had to look at him and she desired him – felt weak to resist his physical as well as psychological dominance. But even as he brought out the submissive nature hidden beneath her tough shell, resist him she would…
He cupped her face in his hands, and Keyonna’s lashes fluttered low as he slowly bent down and slanted his lips across hers. Limp with pleasure, Keyonna could only gasp as Nick’s tongue suddenly plunged deep into her parted mouth.
So much for resisting him. He ran his hands down from her throat and slipped them over the curve of her spine to grab handfuls of her jean-clad bottom. Keyonna shivered over and over.
She longed for his kiss and touch; that she couldn’t deny. Hell, she was only human. And Nick effortlessly left her feeling aroused, confused and longing for more. She could hear his breath grow raspy with lust as he deepened the kiss, urging her into a more wanton response. Moaning, she opened wide to his invasion, eager for the lashings of his tongue around hers. He let out a throaty growl of pleasure that vibrated against the stiff nipples she had pressed up against his hard torso.
His stark masculinity left her breathless, her very pussy twitching to be filled, stretched, and pummeled. Nick had the potential to g
ive her exactly what her body needed and yet, a part of her held back. That tiny yet sensible part of her that was screeching for her to take care before she got in too deep.
For the umpteenth time Keyonna wondered what the hell she was really doing. Yes, she felt insanely attracted to Nick. And yet was she ready to put herself in this situation? She barely knew anything about him and already she was feeling things she’d never thought herself able to feel. Hell, just half an hour ago she’d been moments away from having sex with him up on that bar stool just before the phone rang. And once again, she was getting entangled in his silken web of manly seduction and she was melting like an ice-cream cone.
Oh dear. I can just see myself falling for him, realized Keyonna with a jolt. Stupidly, wildly, quickly. He’s all bad for me; I know he’s never going to feel close to the same way I do. He’s a viral stream in my blood and it’s going to take some serious emotional rehab to get him out of my system.
It was official: Keyonna was in deep trouble.
Forcing calm to rest over her racing nerves, Keyonna pulled back from the far too tempting sensation of his hard body and even harder arousal prodding her abdomen. He released her lips but wouldn’t let her completely go, grabbing her face once more as he gazed down into her eyes.
He scanned her features, making Keyonna flush as she became self-conscious, wondering what he was thinking. And yet his gaze was warm, appreciative, making a pool of heat settle inside her quivering belly.
“Perhaps I need to rephrase my earlier statement,” he said calmly, his tone in contrast with the black heat swirling in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have simply stated that I need a wife. I should have told you the whole truth – that it’s you I need, and not just any willing woman picked out from my ‘multitude’ of admirers.”
He smiled somewhat ironically, taking her hands and lifting both wrists to link behind his neck. Keyonna was brought as close to his formidably solid frame as any two people could be with their clothes still on. Keyonna could feel the thrilling firmness, the undeniable power of his masculinity as her soft body quivered against his.
“Do you feel what you do to me?” Nick rasped, running his hands down the sides of her hips, grabbing them and bringing her roughly against the throbbing thickness at his groin. Keyonna let out a tiny whimper of arousal as she came in contact with the undeniable swell of his own desire.
Tongue-tied, Keyonna felt torn by the wish that she could pull back and place some distance between them – as well as the longing to get this gorgeously sexy man between her legs fast. Keyonna tried to calm her raging hormones, breathing in deeply as she closed her eyes so she could think with more rationality. A hard feat considering that Nick was now placing tiny kisses along her neck and up to her quivering mouth.
His lips were pressed lightly to the edge of hers, so tantalizingly close and yet, still out of reach as he murmured, “And it’s been that way since the first time I ever saw you. I don’t think I could ever forget that day. It was a meeting concerning my new luxury high rise apartments’ project. There were other people present but then you walked in and all I could think was damn.”
Nick plucked sensually on her bottom lip, his teeth nipping into the soft flesh. Keyonna’s palms spread flat over his chest and she was struck with surprise at how fast his heart was pounding beneath her touch.
“You had this air about you that only a man with ice in his veins could miss,” Nick went on in that hypnotically husky voice of his. “Never had a woman made a business suit look so hot. It wasn’t even super short or tight, but the way it hugged your thighs and that ass, it didn’t have to be.”
He suddenly chuckled, the sound stirring the tiny hairs on her skin, his sweet warm breath teasing her nostrils. “You’d come in and barely even spared me any attention above what the formality of the situation required. My manly pride was irked even as my cock grew so hard I had to stay seated behind a desk for the rest of the meeting. I’d never felt so physically drawn by any woman, not within seconds of meeting her. But with you it was different; everything about you appealed to me on the deepest of levels. Your skin…so smooth and rich that it should have its own name.”
Nick lifted his fingers and trailed them down her bare arm, before running them up again.
By this time, Keyonna felt her secret folds saturate themselves with heedless desire for this man making love to her with his words, his voice. And now his hands, as they smoothed up to run through her scalp.
“Your hair…thick, black and glossy, framing your beautiful face with the soft bangs almost sweeping over one eye. It made me want to reach out and tuck the locks behind your ear to keep them from covering those beautiful eyes; dark, bright, round and seductive – all at the same time. And your lips – fuck, Keyonna. The things I thought about your lips, that first time and since. So full and soft-looking, the outline perfectly shaped and tinted just the right shade; in short simply too kissable for words. Over and over I pictured them on my own lips, on my neck…my cock. Damn. I wanted you and it was almost impossible to hide it but hide it I did. I told myself to think of dead puppies, fat nuns – old saggy boobs. Anything to keep my insanely intense reaction to you a secret.”
Nick smiled wryly, his thumb smudging her lips gently as he stared down at her. “I know I’ve played the major asshole to you – but you could call it a defensive mechanism. You have a way of getting to a man, and I didn’t want to fall. And yet, I have.”
Don’t, Keyonna. Don’t listen, she warned herself frantically. His honeyed words, his sweet touch; the stroke of his lips across hers…it’s all just a ruse, she thought. He’d say anything to convince me to fall in with his marriage plans…
“Are you saying you’re in love with me?” Keyonna blurted out, finally finding the strength to edge away from the distracting pull of his beautiful mouth. She couldn’t think straight when he kissed her. Steeling her heart and her body’s weeping needs, she drew completely out of his hold while her eyes glared at him.
He released her, a twisted smile playing on his lips. “I should have known you’d ask that. Love…do I even know what that means?” He shrugged carelessly. “All I know – all that matters, is that we “vibe” in ways I haven’t felt with a woman in a long time – if ever. What’s that word they call it these days? Ah, chemistry. We’ve got good chemistry, Keyonna. And it goes both ways which is more than some so-called love-struck couples out there can claim.”
When he reached out again to grasp her chin with his thumb and forefinger, Keyonna didn’t flinch away, not when his touch was as caressing as his tone when he added softly, “I need you.”
“Just like you needed Rachel?”
Keyonna couldn’t help pricking him further. Couldn’t he see the many different ways in which this would never work? For one thing, there was no way she could settle for whatever he was asking; not with a man like him.
It would be a cold-blooded and calculated arrangement, and yet here he was citing the highly charged physical awareness they shared so instinctively for each other. Was that enough for her to agree to this farce? No way. Keyonna wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t born yesterday. She couldn’t hide the truth from herself that she was crazily attracted to him – could probably even be falling for him. And yet she wasn’t that desperate to have him that she’d allow herself to be used as a pawn in his billion-dollar stakes.
Her words made him sigh impatiently, his brow furrowing as his hand fell away from her chin. “I told you; I would have made do with her, yes. Rachel and I both knew the score. Two powerful and wealthy Italian-American families joining to cement their fortunes and friendships. Since we were younger, we’d had it at the back of our minds that we were meant to be husband and wife. There were moments when I considered resisting this impediment to my freedom of choice. But then out of respect for her father, I decided to stick with the program, so to speak. Besides, I’d already stopped believing in romance, or love. So I saw nothing wrong in progressing with an arranged marr
iage with no feelings involved. And then of course, my father died leaving that clause in his will commanding me to get married within a certain period. This narrowed my options even further. So I had no choice but to remain with Rachel anyway, because she was available and willing. And now she’s neither. Remind me again whose fault that is?”
Keyonna chewed on her bottom lip in confusion, deciding to ignore his sarcasm. Sighing, she replied, “I’ve apologized over and over for what I did, Nick. Kissing you at that party – it was totally out of line. Mark was pushing me to the end of my rope. And then you…you were being hateful, saying things that made me feel like germs found in a petri dish. And now you want me to marry you? Uh, uh. I’m not even going to consider it. Sorry. It’s a pity you came all this way on a lost cause, Nick. But that’s my final answer – in a word….no.”
Keyonna held his narrowed gaze with her chin raised high, forcing the quaking in her stomach to subside.
The slow, steady smile breaking on his lips did nothing to ease her apprehension, and she resisted the urge to wrap protective arms around herself.
“I was kind of expecting you to say that,” Nick murmured, that grim little smile on his face. “And I truly hoped that it wouldn’t have to come to this, but you’ve forced my hand, Keyonna.”
Keyonna frowned at his words and watched him retrieve an envelope from inside his suit, before holding it out to her.
“What are you talking about?” she asked suspiciously, her eyes fixed on him. “And what’s that?”
“Open it,” was all he said, handing her the envelope and turning away to look through the window.
Heart pumping faster, Keyonna opened the envelope, took out the folded sheets of paper and then scanned the printed lines with rising dread.
“How did you get hold of these?” Keyonna asked on a strangled gasp, her wide eyes flying to rest on his broad-shouldered back.
He merely shrugged, not bothering to look around. “I’m a powerful man, Keyonna. In more ways than just money. And yet in this case, my power and money did aid in letting me gain access to vital information – information that had me buying controlling shares in the same company financing your latest project.”
