by Ashlee Price
That was what I was hoping for as I made my way to the front of the room and sat down. There was a bunch of notes of things that we had to go over, but they were all blurring in front of me. I wasn’t worried about the agenda or what had to be done to end my job. I was much more worried about the man who was alone in my office.
Had he known who I was that night at the art gallery? He had said that he was going to talk to me before I left, but what he didn’t say was why. Had he found out who I was and decided to follow me or what? It didn’t make sense, and I started to realize that nothing seemed to make sense when he was around.
The meeting got started without me. I was glad that everyone was there and was ready to start. I kind of just sat back and let them have it out. I was supposed to be supervising it, but the whole week I had been dropping the ball in that respect and today was no different. My mind was too worried about what would happen after we closed down the museum. This time around, though, my mind was on the handsome man who was waiting for me in my office. I still hadn’t figured out what I was going to do if he was actually still there when I got back.
I didn’t have long to think about it, because before I knew it, my assistant Justine was calling it a day. I watched helplessly as the people around me started to get their things together and leave. I was the last one in there save for Justine, and she was looking at me a little queerly.
“Are you okay, Erin?”
I kind of shrugged. “Yeah, I am fine, why?”
“Well, because you didn’t say a word for like an hour. I don’t think you have ever been this quiet. I thought we were going to talk about the severance packages today?”
I could feel my cheeks getting red. I had let the meeting stop and there still wasn’t any resolution to half of the problems that we had. Everyone had been worried about what was going to happen when we all lost our jobs. I was supposed to make it better and let them know that we were thinking of them and that I was making sure that Bishop was going to help them through the transition. He had offered each employee a very tidy sum for every year that they had been at the museum. It was part of the meeting that I had been looking forward to, and at the end of it I hadn’t been able to even think straight enough to bring it up.
Walking back to the office, I almost forgot about Drake for a moment, but as soon as I walked in the room I saw he was still there.
“You are still here.” I didn’t say it as a question. It was more a statement, and I was sure that he could tell by my tone that I wasn’t necessarily too happy about it.
“Did you really think that I wouldn’t be?”
I kind of sighed under my breath, more tired than affected by his close proximity. There was something in me that just didn’t want to talk about anything with him. He was the enemy in many ways, and I didn’t get why he was trying to play nice. There was a part of me that didn’t want to be nice, but there was a bigger part of me, the one that was raised by a gentleman, that told me that I had to at least be cordial. It wasn’t hard to do with such a devastatingly handsome man.
“No, I figured you had more important things to do, like conquering the world. I searched you on the internet last night, and I wonder why someone like yourself is so keen to take over a museum.”
“You didn’t read that it was for my new club?”
I told him that I had heard about it. “Don’t you think we have enough clubs and things of that nature in the city already? What we need is more culture, and taking away the museum is going to take away something that this city really needs.”
I was overdoing it, I knew I was. We weren’t the only museum in town, not by a long shot, but I liked to think that we had something special to offer. Many of our collections were hand-picked by me. Each piece was something that I thought would be a benefit to everyone in New York, and I hated to see it all go away. Soon every single piece that had been found and acquired with care was going to be sold in an auction, and there was no telling where it was all going to go. I know I wasn’t supposed to care, but I did. There was too much of me and too much of my father in every nook and cranny of the place. I couldn’t play nice.
“I didn’t know that you were so passionate about this, Erin. Are you that sure that New York needs this little museum?”
“It does. I know that it doesn’t mean much to you, but it is a big part of the neighborhood, and I know that if you just talked to some of the people who come in, you would see that.”
“Do you really think that you could change my mind?”
I knew that I couldn’t change his mind. It was like looking at Bishop. He had been so ready to move on, and nothing that I could have said would have made him change his course of action. Drake was looking at me in the exact same way. I didn’t know what to say.
“No, I guess I won’t change your mind. So I don’t really know why you are here. I mean, you are buying the building, not the museum, so why do you keep popping up?”
“When I came here the first time to look at the building, I couldn’t stop looking at you. Then I was there to see Rose Woods about some PR for my club.”
“And now?”
“And now I am here because I want to take you out. Ever since I saw you I have wanted to get to know you better, outside of work.”
That was not at all what I was expecting. I finally met the dark gaze that was centered on me. “Are you asking me out?” I couldn’t believe the audacity of him.
“Yes. Come out with me and have a drink.”
“I don’t think that is such a good idea, Drake. Do you really think that it would be wise, considering the circumstances?”
He straightened up and nodded his head. “Well, I just know that I want to go out with you. Your circumstances can be changed, and I am the one that can change them.”
I didn’t like where this was going. I was sure that I had seen a movie about this very thing. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, come out with me, Erin, just one time, and I will keep the museum going.”
Drake stood up and smiled at the shock on my face. I couldn’t help but respond to the boyish grin with one of my own. I couldn’t help it, and I think he knew that as well. He handed me a card and I didn’t even look down at it. Instead I was feeling his hot hand and fingers against mine and trying desperately to breathe. I just needed to breathe. Why was it so hot in here, and why was the oxygen becoming so thin?
“Just think about it, Erin. But don’t think for too long. I am not going to wait forever.”
I just nodded like I didn’t have any sense. When he looked at me I really didn’t, so there wasn’t much to act. He was gone before my mind was working well enough to do anything anyways. I was sure that I had looked like an idiot, but could what he said really be true? Could it really be that easy? All I had to do was go out on one date? I wondered what that would entail, and if he would even stick to his side of the bargain. Could I really trust a man like him? I turned the card in my hand and wondered.
To be continued…
THE PRICELESS ONE
A Billionaire Romance
(Contemporary Romance Novels)
Book 2
LOST
By : Ashlee Price
Description
Drake isn’t usually the type to get attached. He’s had a slew of one-night stands that didn’t turn into anything more, but things are different now. Now he has met Erin, and when he finally talks her into really giving him a chance, Drake wants everything to be perfect. By the time he tries again, they are both so ready that it all happens in a flash.
No longer is he worried about finding something new to keep his attention. His focus is on the museum curator who is just too beautiful for her own good. She isn’t his type, but maybe that is why she is so unforgettable. He has to work for her affection, work for the lust that he wants so desperately to see in her eyes.
Erin is perfect, except that she is almost like an addiction. He cannot get enough, and before long it is hard for Dra
ke to think of anything else. He seems to have forgotten altogether that he had made promises to Erin – promises that he was not going to be able to keep. What would she think of him then?
Chapter 1 – Drake
I was waiting for her to call. I knew she was going to. She had to. How could she not? I was willing to fix everything how she wanted. I still wasn’t sure if I was just lying about it all. I think I was. I hadn’t meant to say it, but it had come out and there was no way that I was going to back down now. It was the first time when we were talking that she’d seemed able to consider having anything to do with me. Before I made the offer to keep the museum going, I knew that there would have been no way for her to say yes. After a couple of days, I started to wonder if she was going to take the bait or not.
When the phone rang I jumped a little. I had been waiting for the phone call for some time, and when I finally heard her quiet and breathy voice, there was nothing I could do but relax. She was finally falling into my web. I hated how long it had taken, but I was okay with it if she was mine now.
“Good to hear from you, Erin. I was starting to wonder if I would at all.” I hadn’t really, but there had been a few moments that I hadn’t been very sure. Other girls wouldn’t have played coy and blown me off like Erin had. It was part of the reason that I had made sure that I met her with an offer she couldn’t refuse.
“I didn’t know if I was going to call you, Drake, if I’m one hundred percent honest with you. I think you are used to getting what you want, and I want you to know that if I agree, it is just a date.”
I wished that I could see her face. To have seen her lips form those very words would have been enough to send me over the moon. But instead, I was only able to see it in my mind and that wasn’t really good enough for me.
“Of course, Erin. I would never turn it into something that it wasn’t. I usually don’t have to go to such extremes for a date.”
There was silence and I wished again that I could see her. I wondered which Erin I was going to get. The meek and mild side of her was skittish, but when I had gone to her office, she had come back with fire in her blood.
“Come with me to dinner. It is just an innocent date, Erin Adams, nothing more.” I could think of so many other things that I wanted, but I was patient and I didn’t mind waiting. There was a part of me that wanted to say something to her, but I didn’t want to scare her away and I knew that that was a definite possibility if I wasn’t careful.
“Um, okay, Drake. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any funny business. I don’t want to keep my job that bad.”
I didn’t like her comment. Why didn’t she see it like everyone else did? Her friend was dying for it after one look, much like everyone else that I met, but Erin was almost immune to my affection and it still bothered me. I knew that her denial of my presence was part of the reason that I wanted her so badly, but I still didn’t quite understand it. When I was dying to kiss her, to be inside of her, there was nothing I could do but want things to be different.
“I assure you that it is nothing like that, Erin. I hate to think what you must think of me if you believe such things.”
“Well, you are the one that is blackmailing me for a date, so it seemed appropriate.”
I smiled into the phone, glad that I’d gotten the fiery one instead of the meek side of her. I liked the smart mouth on her when she was upset, and at the moment she was raring to give me a tongue lashing. Call me crazy, but I wanted one from her.
“I guess you could see it that way if you wanted to.”
“How would you look at it?”
I stopped for a moment and silenced the words on my lips. I had to be careful, and her quick wit had me using my own. What I was going to say was too much and I had to once again tone it down for her. I was used to dealing with women who were just as forward as I was. Erin was not the same at all.
“I would look at it like I’m a determined man who will do what is necessary to get what I want.” I left out what I wanted from her. I was sure that my voice and tone were clear on what I wanted. Every time I saw her she couldn’t meet my gaze, so I would assume that my eyes were more than willing to tell her what my mind and body desired more than anything else. Erin had plenty of signs telling her what was needed from her.
“What do you want?”
Her small voice sent a shiver down my spine. Again I had to literally bite my tongue to stop the words that were dying to flow out of my mouth. Why did she have to ask me such a question?
“I just want a date, Erin… and maybe a kiss.”
She sighed with a little relief and told me that she would agree to one, but not the other.
“We will see, Erin. Wear that dress that you wore to the art exhibit downtown and I will have a limo there to pick you up at seven.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, tonight. I don’t want you to change your mind again, so I will be there.”
“Okay.”
That was all she said before she hung up. I should have felt better than I did. There was a surge of excitement and the same feeling that I got when I had solved a hard puzzle. She was the puzzle, though, and it was hard to piece together what I was supposed to do next. My body responded to her voice and tone, but now I was left thinking of her alone in the office.
Still, I was smiling, and there was nothing that was going to take me down from the cloud I was on. I shouldn’t have felt this way, but it was the first time in a long time that I felt challenged. I mean, sure, I had to lie to get here, but there was a saying about business and love. I planned to be cutthroat in both, as I had been for many years. It was the best way to ensure that I got what I wanted. There was a little guilt that I had lied to her, but I kept reminding myself that once I got her in my arms, it wouldn’t matter how she got there.
My mind went to the dress that she had worn to Rose Woods’s place. It was the one thing that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of, no matter how good the pictures were on the wall. It hadn’t been that it was overly sexy or anything like that. It had flattered her slight curves well, but it was the transformation in it that had made me see red. Erin had looked so different from before, and I hoped for the subtle sexy change again.
Sitting back, I had to smile. Everything was finally going as planned, and part of me that hoped I would be able to convince her that she needed me as badly as my body thought that I needed her. I kept trying to tell myself that it was finally going to happen, but I had to wonder. There was a part of me that still wasn’t so sure. If she had been any other woman, I would have already had her screaming my name beneath me, but Erin was different. This was one of those times that I wished she was the same as all of the rest.
Chapter 2 – Erin
The Dragon Fly was not at all what I had expected, and neither was the drive over to the club. Silly of me to have done what he asked, getting dressed and leaving my hair down just like he requested, but I had thought I would meet him at seven. When the limo pulled up, I could feel my heart racing. The fact that he hadn’t been in the vehicle was a little disheartening. I was supposed to meet him over there, but I felt a little strange riding there by myself.
Now I was standing on the large, sweeping staircase that led up to the hottest club in the city and I felt like I was out of place. There was a line forming around the side of the building that almost stretched to the other street, and I was nervous about doing what Drake had told me to do. He wanted me to just walk right up to the bouncer and give him my name.
I could feel the dirty looks on me for skipping ahead. I saw myself through their eyes and understood perfectly how they’d wonder why a girl like me would expect special privilege. I was too plain for that. However, Drake had made it clear that it would take too long if I waited in line. So I did as he had said to do, even though I was shaking a little inside the whole time.
“Hi, I’m here to see the owner, Drake?”
The tall man in the suit looked at me. I could tell that I
was lacking in his eyes. I tried to straighten myself up, but it was hard to when the guy was looking at me in such a way. I gave him my name a little defiantly and waited for him to tell me to beat it. I was already done with the whole date and I hadn’t even made it in the door yet. I turned around, not sure if I was going to the end of the line or what I was going to do. I had a thought to just leave, right then and there.
If the man hadn’t said my name again like he did, I would have not looked back. He had a smile on his face, and whatever was written down next to my name had him treating me a whole lot differently. Now he was introducing himself as Dante and walking me to the VIP room where Drake was supposed to be waiting.
“I’m really sorry about that. You don’t know how many women I have that come in and say that they are here to see Drake. He has never left a name at the front before, though, so you must be the special one.”
I smiled back at him, not knowing what to say. It was hard for me to talk to him when I was thinking about what he had just said. What did he mean that I must be special? I knew that Drake was pulling out all of the stops, most likely to get into my pants, but I wasn’t sure why. He was handsome and rich and could have anyone that he wanted, so I still wasn’t sure what he wanted with me.
The club was loud and Dante came back and got me once when I lost my way through the throng of dancing people. His hand was soft on my arm. I think that he felt sorry for me. It was clear to anyone who could see me that I was not supposed to be there. I was out of my element, and I’m sure it showed to anyone who noticed me. It was hard not to feel out of sorts, and I was practically shaking when I was led up the stairs to the curtained-off area at the top of the club. The curtains were drawn and I couldn’t look in, but I knew who I would find in there.
