A Taste of Paradise

by Elizabeth Lennox

  This woman fascinated him and he wanted to get to know her. Intimately.

  When she paused for a breath, obviously looking through her notes to try and come up with something more to discourage him, he stepped in to stop whatever it was she was going to say next. “I think we should head over to the site and check it out,” he suggested during a pause.

  Gaia looked right into those intense, green eyes for the first time since she’d started talking. “Go over where?” she asked, but she knew. Her stomach muscles tightened with dread at what his next words might be. Sure enough, he didn’t disappoint her.

  “To the old factory. Let’s head over there and I can take a look at what you’re trying to describe. From what I’ve seen at a distance, I doubt things are as bad as what you’re saying, but you’ve been inside the building. So let’s just go take a look.”

  Logan stood up and was just about to take her hand when his office door burst open. Luke walked in, his head looking down at some papers in his hand. “Logan, this doesn’t…” his voice stopped when he looked up. Instantly, his eyes changed from serious to appreciative, his lips curling slightly as his green gaze shifted up and down Gaia’s figure. “I’m interrupting,” he observed but there wasn’t even a tinge of regret in his voice.

  Instantly, Logan felt the green haze of jealousy rear up and he stepped closer to Gaia. That haze cleared ever so slightly when Gaia moved closer to him, her body shifting as she wordlessly indicated that Logan was her preference. Moving a hand to the small of her back, he silently indicated that he would protect her. Words were not spoken, but the messages were loud and clear. Even to Luke, who shifted his gaze back and forth between the two of them, understood what was being communicated.

  Logan looked at his twin brother, warning him to back off. Immediately, the look in Luke’s eyes changed. The charm was still there, but it was tempered by the knowledge that Logan wouldn’t allow him to tread closer.

  “I’m Luke, the fun brother. You must be Gaia Fisher,” he said, his eyes flipping quickly to his twin. “I looked at your calendar,” Luke quickly offered as explanation when Logan’s shoulders tightened in reaction.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Gaia said, politely offering her hand to the equally handsome man standing in front of her.

  Her eyes moved back and forth between the two men, narrowing as she tried to understand something. The men looked identical but…they weren’t. Somehow, the man who had just entered the office…he was different. He wasn’t Logan. Not even close.

  It was even more disconcerting that she felt nothing, not a thing, when the twin took her hand. When Logan had grasped her cold fingers an hour ago, she’d felt an electric current zip through her arm. With his brother, she felt only the warmth of his grip and nothing else. No zip. No electricity. No awareness of him as a man. He was just…male. Another human being that existed in the world. Okay – yes, an extraordinarily handsome man, but he didn’t stir her in disconcerting ways.

  Not like the man next to her with a chest that was warming her shoulder. There was something about Logan that…

  Shoulder?

  Her head quickly swiveled up to look at him, then at where her shoulder was almost leaning against his chest. Quickly, she stepped away, but once again, her feet…her darn shoes…her hands reached out and…

  Darn it! For the third time, Logan reached out with a strong arm, pulling her right back towards him. This time, her breasts were plastered against his chest, her breath caught in her throat and while she looked up into those green eyes, her heart pounded in her chest as she wondered what in the world she was doing.

  “Careful,” he cautioned softly and his fingers spread out along her spine. “Or maybe you shouldn’t be too careful,” he said in an even deeper, huskier voice. “I think I like saving you.” His eyes crinkled with humor while awareness, tension, crackled between them. She pulled her eyes away from his, intending to step out of his arms, but her eyes latched onto her hand, which was spread out, bracing against his chest. Her fingers wanted to curl up, to slide against his huge chest and discover more of the feel of those muscles underneath that expensive cotton shirt.

  Her fingers started to move, to shift ever so slightly….

  “Logan, this project….”

  Another male voice stepped into the office and Gaia’s hand whipped away from Logan’s chest while she swung out of his arms. There was another dark haired, green eyed, handsome man standing right behind Logan’s twin brother. As her eyes took in both men’s grinning features, she felt the heat flare up from her neck, enveloping her cheeks and even her ears. “Sorry,” she whispered. Stepping out of his arms, she backed up and moved carefully over to the conference room table, stuffing the papers into her portfolio. Their meeting was over. She was getting out of here.

  “Sorry,” the newest voice repeated, but Gaia heard the amusement in his voice as well and she wanted to get out of this office as soon as possible. She didn’t want to speculate on what was so funny to him because she was fairly sure it was her and her stupid attraction to the man she wasn’t supposed to be attracted to. It was wrong and she wasn’t this kind of person. Not in any way.

  “Can I check in with both of you later? Gaia and I were having a discussion about that old factory down on the waterfront. You know, the one by the beach that’s been abandoned for years?”

  Luke nodded his head and Gaia zipped up her portfolio, opening her mouth to tell them that she was leaving so they could discuss whatever they needed to talk about with their brother.

  But the newest man stepped closer. “Tommy showed me those ideas. They’re good. The estimates on cost seem off though.”

  “Gaia, I should introduce you to my brothers. This is Luke, who is in charge of marketing for Steele Industries, and this other oaf is my brother Teague. He’s the construction manager, overseeing all of the projects here in Seattle. Teague just got married to…”

  “Gabriella Hicks,” Gaia interrupted, extending her hand with a genuine smile for the man all the papers had so recently gushed about. “I saw your pictures in the paper. It looked like a beautiful wedding.”

  Gaia had no idea why the man grimaced in that manner, but he seemed like an interesting guy. He was taller than the twins by maybe an inch, but she suspected that he was more laid back than his younger brothers. Although, from the sharp look in his eyes, that might just be a façade. The man was most likely just as sharp as any razor around. Revising her opinion, she decided that he was a force of nature, just in a different way than the two younger men.

  “Gabby Steele,” the man corrected. “She never goes by Gabriella now. I’m sure she’ll explain the difference when the two of you meet,” he said.

  Gaia was just about to apologize and excuse herself, ignoring the man’s obvious assumption that there would be a reason for her to meet his wife, but Luke spoke first. “I think we need to get out of here. These two obviously have something more important to discuss than numbers or steel tension,” Luke said to his brother Teague.

  Teague immediately agreed with a nod of his head and a chuckle. “Catch you later,” and a moment later, both men vanished from Logan’s office.

  Chapter 2

  Swallowing nervously, she glanced down at the table, gathering up all the leftover papers.

  “You ready?” Logan asked.

  Gaia glanced up at him, startled to find him so close. “Ready for what?”

  He handed her a couple more papers. “We were going to head over to the factory, check things out.”

  She quickly backed up a step, but almost tripped over the table. Good grief, was there any time when she wasn’t going to almost fall on her butt around this man?! “Um…I wasn’t…”

  His smile was swift and devastating. “You can’t back out now, Gaia,” he interrupted, knowing exactly where she was heading as he took her hands to stop her retreat. She was nervous. He recognized that with the trembling of her slim, elegant fingers. But he wasn’t letting this wo
man get away. She was slender and sexy and he suspected there was a hell of a lot more underneath her serious demeanor and ugly suit. And he was determined to discover both.

  He wanted her. Plain and simple, this woman was going to be his next lover. He’d seen the interest in his twin brother’s eyes, but had silently told Luke to back off. Luke was a player of the worst sort, but he never stepped in one of his brother’s territories. And Logan had marked the lovely Gaia as his. Both Teague and Luke had recognized his boundary. Of course, Teague clearly had eyes only for his lovely Gabby, but Logan’s older brother had understood the sexual tension that was vibrating in the air between Logan and Gaia. It was pretty hard to miss and even Luke had grasped the situation. It appeared that only Gaia was the one ignoring the issue at the moment.

  Her eyes widened and he almost laughed at how pretty she looked despite her nervousness. “But…I’m not ready to…”

  “Do you have to head back to your office?”

  She shook her head. “No but…” Too late, she should have used that as an easy excuse to get away from this man. If she could just break this connection, she could get on with her day. But being with him, traveling to the old factory site, definitely wouldn’t help break this…awareness that seemed to be weaving itself between the two of them.

  “Good, then you have time today to head over there and check things out with me. I just texted Marcy and she’s already contacting the legal department and coordinating a purchase offer. We’ll get that ready in case Teague and I think the project will work. But we have to move quickly.”

  Gaia’s eyes widened with surprise and she held her hands up, palms out as if trying to slow the man down. “Why don’t you hold off on contacting the legal department?” she suggested.

  She didn’t like that idea for two reasons. First, she didn’t want him to spend money on a project that really shouldn’t go forward anyway. And second, she didn’t like the image of lawyers at all. She could already picture them surrounding her and her brother, drowning them in legal problems in the future, simply because Freddy thought this renovation would be a good way to get back at people who didn’t deserve his anger. “Just until you’ve seen the building. The site could be a huge mess.” She knew it was a mess, with weeds and trees growing up, windows broken and damaged support systems everywhere. The idea of the old building morphing into something new and productive was just a beautiful possibility in her mind. She’d come up with a general plan and expenses, but only after Freddy told her what he was planning. That had meant two different estimates, altering the estimated costs enough so that the project didn’t look as lucrative as it might be.

  So why was this man moving forward anyway? What had she done wrong? She needed to think fast, to figure out a way to discourage him from taking on the renovation project. Freddy was only doing this for revenge. She was only pretending to help Freddy in order to get him help. Her brother had promised to get counseling if this project didn’t work out.

  Everything seemed to be out of control!

  Logan directed her out of his office and Gaia seemed to move closer to him, intimidated by all of the very official looking people moving efficiently about in the hallways.

  “The lawyers will be on standby. If the factory infrastructure is everything I think it will be, then I want to move forward on this quickly.” He pressed the elevator button and Gaia looked up at him, craning her neck because he was so tall. “An offer letter needs to be submitted before a bidding war starts and the owner increases the price.”

  “But…what if it isn’t?” she asked, trying to find some hope in this huge mess.

  “Let’s just find out, shall we?” he said, not committing to backing off of the legal aspect.

  Gaia wasn’t sure what to say. And in the end, she wasn’t really given a choice. She’d already packed up her portfolio and her purse was on her shoulder. So, Logan simply put a hand to the small of her back, and nudged her forward when the elevator doors opened up.

  In the close confines of the elevator, he pressed the button for the parking garage and then stepped back. Unfortunately, he was still too close for Gaia’s peace of mind! She tried to move away, but the doors opened on another floor and the dratted man pulled her back towards him, ostensibly to make room for the others as they each stepped into the elevator. Gaia couldn’t stop the shiver of awareness that traveled through her at his touch and she hated to admit it, but there was definitely a thrill when his arm shifted around her waist.

  But then he did something even worse! “Cold?” he asked, bending down low so that his lips brushed her ear.

  For a long moment, she simply stood there, frozen in place. When she felt his hands on her waist, his fingers spreading wide, she almost melted back into him. Trying to be strong, to remember that he was her brother’s enemy, she stood stiffly in front of him and shook her head, denying that she was cold, but the movement only caused the sensitive shell of her ear to brush against his mouth again. She tried hard to control the next shiver but he had a hand on her waist and he caught it immediately. When he chuckled softly at her reaction, she gritted her teeth and tried to step away from him.

  He wasn’t allowing it. More people entered the elevator and she just about groaned when he pulled her back even further. She could feel him, all of him, against her shoulders, her back and…yes, even her bottom. Closing her eyes, she stood as still as possible, controlling her mind and her desperate need to press even closer to him but…goodness, how inappropriate was that?!

  She almost ran out of the elevator when the doors opened on the parking level. With her keys out, she was rushing towards her car. But he stopped her by grabbing onto her arm and spinning her around. As he looked down at her, a pulse seemed to beat between the two of them. Something throbbed, an awareness that wouldn’t be banished even in the dim light of the concrete structure. “No need to drive two cars. We’ll take mine.” Did his fingers just caress her arm? Was she imagining things?

  A moment later, he had the doors to his beautiful black Tesla open and waited patiently for her to get in.

  She looked at the supple, dark leather of the car’s interior, then up into his green eyes, actually afraid to get into that vehicle. Not because she thought he would harm her in any way. But because there was something going on, something she couldn’t acknowledge. “I need to drive myself. I’ll need to get back to work after this.”

  “I’ll drive you back after lunch. We have a lot to discuss.”

  “But…”

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “What’s your boss’ name?”

  She shook her head, not willing to give him that information. “I can’t…”

  “Donovan?” he asked and winked when her mouth fell open in shock, confirming that Donovan was her boss. “I’ll call him and ask him to assign you to us temporarily. We need several condos decorated and lobbies updated, so we’ll use your services until the warehouse renovation project needs more of your time. We already have a consulting agreement with your firm, so it won’t be a problem.” A moment later, he was talking to her boss who seemed overly pleased to assign Gaia to the Steele Industries projects for the foreseeable future. Less than two minutes after making the call, he slid his phone back into his pocket. “Done. You’re mine now.”

  Gaia’s breath caught in her throat with those words. The idea of being his woman, of being entitled to touch him…

  No! That can’t happen! This man was strictly off limits! Why did she have to keep telling herself that?

  “I’m my own person,” she said, glaring up at him. “But I’ll concede that you’ve gotten your way this time.”

  He chuckled when she stepped into the soft leather interior, slamming the door before walking around to the driver’s side.

  “You cheated,” she announced as soon as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  He laughed again. “I want to win.”

  Glaring out the front windshield, she refused to look at him. But she c
ouldn’t ignore his laughter or the tension that was even stronger in the close confines of the vehicle.

  The purr of the engine roared to life, vibrating right along with the tension inside the vehicle. She stared straight ahead, refusing to look at him. Thankfully, she didn’t need to give him directions to the warehouse location because she wasn’t sure she could have done that. Her mind was too focused on not allowing her body to lean in towards his, to keep her eyes from glancing down at the hard, male thigh so painfully close to her hands. When she realized that her knees were pointing towards his, she quickly shifted away from him, pointing her knees towards the door instead and ignoring his chuckle, which told her he knew exactly what she was doing and why she’d shifted her legs.

  “What made you think this location would work?” Logan asked as they pulled up outside of the warehouse. The parking lot was no longer accessible by regular vehicles due to the damage from time and lack of resources to fix things. So instead of parking in the damaged lot, he chose a space on the street, smoothly pulling into a spot.

  Gaia looked around, shielding her eyes from the sunshine. “I’ve always loved the challenge of trying to bring old buildings back to life,” she told him honestly, leaving off the part about her brother’s revenge. She didn’t think this project would work because of all the neglect. The building was too old and, most likely, unstable so she was almost certain that Logan would reject the idea.

  “You’re going to need to look carefully at all the exposed steel,” she warned him. “I mentioned several potential problems earlier in your office, but I’m sure you’ll see other issues that I’m not trained to notice.”

  “What other problems are you anticipating?” he asked, coming around to her side of the vehicle and standing beside her as they both looked at the structure.

  She stepped away from him slightly, trying not to be too obvious about her efforts, and slipped her sunglasses on, hiding her eyes from his too-knowing gaze. She was getting tired of this dance, trying to put some distance between them only for her efforts to be foiled by his maneuverings. So she wasn’t as diplomatic when she answered him this time. “I don’t know. That’s up to you to figure out. I just did the designs. You’re the architect.”