Millionaire Playboys: Paying the Playboy's Price
“Hey, Juli,” he called as they reached the semicircular stairs leading down to the parking lot.
She jerked to a halt and spun to face him. Her bright blue eyes nearly made him forget what he was going to say.
Her chin inched upward. “My name is Juliana.”
Stuck-up or not, she didn’t look like the kind of woman who had to buy men. “Yeah, sure. You have a jealous husband who’ll be gunning for me?”
A confused frown puckered her brows. “A husband?”
“The guy trying to stop you from bidding,” he clarified.
“That was my brother. I’m not married.”
“’S’all right then as long as you’re over twenty-one.”
Her long lashes fluttered and a pleat formed between her eyebrows. “You have jealous husbands chasing you?”
She’d ignored his comment about age. “Not anymore.”
Her red lips parted and her chest—a damned fine chest—rose. “But you did?”
“Yeah.” Most guys didn’t take it well when they found out their wives had slept with another man. Rex hadn’t taken the news that some of the groupies were married well, either—especially since the info had often been delivered via their husbands’ fists after the intimate encounters.
He thought he heard Juliana wheeze as she turned to descend the steps. He’d have to be dead not to appreciate her long, sleek and sexy-as-all-get-out legs atop those red heels. She stopped abruptly at the base of the stairs with a distressed expression on her pretty face.
“Problem?”
She touched long slender fingers to her temple and then against her throat. “I rode with friends. I don’t have a car, and I want to…” She looked past his shoulder and panic flared in her eyes.
He turned and spotted the pearl-clad dragon lady who’d organized the event and an uptight-looking man coming through the front door of the club. Understanding dawned. “You want to get out of here?”
“Yes, and fast.”
“Did you write a bad check?”
Impossible as it seemed, her regal posture turned even starchier, as if he’d insulted her. “Of course not. Please, get me out of here.”
These days he avoided ugly scenes. “My bike’s this way.”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She gestured to her skimpy attire. “I’m hardly dressed for a motorcycle ride.”
He ought to leave her, but dammit, he’d agreed to this stupid auction and he would follow through. Besides, he wouldn’t wish the dragon lady on anybody. “I don’t see any taxis. If you need to make a fast getaway, then I’m your only option. Where to? Home?”
She grimaced. “Anywhere but there.”
“Let’s go.” He grabbed her elbow and towed her toward his Harley. She jogged to keep up. When they reached the side of his motorcycle—one of a handful of items he’d kept from his past—he tossed her his spare helmet and waited to see that she knew how to fasten it before donning his own. “Hop on and hold on.”
Seconds later she’d mounted the bike behind him and gingerly clutched his waist, but she kept several inches between them. He twisted the throttle. The engine roared and the bike surged forward as he released the clutch. Her squeal pierced the deep growl of the Harley, and then her arms banded around him with close to rib-cracking force, erasing the gap between them.
Big mistake. Having her naked legs wrapped around his hips with the heat of her crotch pressed snugly against his butt just might melt a few brain cells. And if he couldn’t ignore the softness of her breasts mashing against his shoulder blades and concentrate on the road, then he’d end up wrapping the bike around a telephone pole.
Warm, humid air rushed past them, fluttering her short skirt and baring more of her toned thighs. He forced his eyes away from the tantalizing sight and back on the road. Where could he take her? The shorter the ride, the better. The roar of the engine made asking impossible. Might as well take her to his place since he and Juliana needed to compare calendars and set up the riding lessons.
Pride filled his chest as Renegade’s lights came into view. He’d bought the vacant riverfront building in the historical district eight months ago. It had taken a lot of sweat and most of his cash to turn the downstairs into a business and the upstairs into a home his sister Kelly and her girls could visit. He’d opened his doors four months ago, but business hadn’t been as brisk as he’d hoped—hence his participation in the auction.
He pulled into his narrow private driveway, automatically counting the empty parking spaces out front as he passed. If he wanted to stay in Wilmington near his sister, then he had to turn a profit soon and pay off the bank note.
He parked, climbed from the bike and removed his helmet. Juliana remained seated. She fumbled to unfasten her chin strap and then pulled off her helmet. Rex rocked back on his heels with a silent whistle of admiration. Now there was a centerfold-quality picture—minus the staples—guaranteed to keep a man up all night. Mile-long legs straddling the Harley’s black seat, red strappy heels, skimpy dress, beautiful face, tumbled hair. A hot package.
But good-looking women had caused him plenty of trouble before, so he tamped down his physical response and offered his hand. Gingerly, she curled her soft fingers around his and then struggled to draw her leg over the seat. A glimpse of her candy apple–red panties hit his belly like a fireball.
He caught her elbow as she wobbled on her heels on the cobblestone sidewalk. The evening breeze plastered the silky fabric of her dress against her puckered nipples. Was she wearing anything besides those panties under there? His pulse revved faster. Forget it, Tanner.
She scrubbed her arms and her tiny silver purse sparkled in the streetlights like rhinestones under stage lights. “Could we go inside?”
He motioned for her to precede him. When he reached past her to open the door, her scent, an intoxicating mixture of flowers and spice, filled his lungs. She stepped inside and looked around.
What did she think of his place? He’d played on Wilmington’s TV and film industry. The bar’s theme was movie rebels and renegades—men Rex had identified with back when he’d been a teen who couldn’t wait to break free from family ranching tradition. He’d escaped the day he’d turned eighteen but, seventeen years later, the guilt of his bitter parting words still haunted him.
The bar itself took up most of the back wall. He’d filled the floor with tables—too many of which were empty on a Saturday night. The waitresses leaned against the back wall.
“You don’t have any memorabilia from your music career in here.”
The comment stopped him in his tracks. Juliana knew who he was even though he’d deliberately excluded his recent past in the auction bio. Had she bought him for the braggin’ rights of bedding Rex Tanner, former Nashville bad boy? She wouldn’t be the first with that goal. And as appealing as the idea of hitting the sheets with Juliana might be, he didn’t want his old life intruding here. “No.”
Her assessing gaze landed on him. “Wouldn’t it be wise to trade on what people know of you?”
And be known as a has-been for the rest of his life? No thanks. “My music career is over. If people want a honky-tonk they can go elsewhere. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, thank you. May I stay here for an hour or so? As soon as the auction ends, I can call a friend for a ride.”
“I’ll take you home after we schedule your lessons.” Her eyes widened. “I have a truck if you don’t want to get back on the bike.”
“Thank you, but I think I’ll stay with one of my girlfriends tonight. She can come and get me. My car is at her place anyway. We rode to the auction together.”
Why would a rich chick need to hide? She looked over the age of consent, but looks could be deceiving. “How old did you say you were?”
She hesitated. “I didn’t say, but I’m thirty, if you must know. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that it’s rude to ask?”
His mother had taught him a lot of things. And like an ungrateful SOB, he’d thrown her lessons back in her face. “Aren’t you a little old to be running away from home?”
“You don’t understand. My parents…” She trailed off and took an anxious peek over his shoulder as if she expected them to burst through the door. “They won’t understand about tonight.”
“I don’t have to know the whole story to know running’s not going to solve anything.” A lesson he’d learned the hard way.
“But—”
He held up a hand. “And I don’t want to know the whole story. I’m here to give you riding lessons. That’s it.”
How did she manage to look down her nose at him when she was a good six to eight inches shorter than he was? “Fine.”
He considered leaving her at the bar and going to his apartment to get his calendar, but she and her sexy dress had already caught the attention of the guys in the back corner. The men were regulars, friends of his deployed brother-in-law, and Rex didn’t want anything to happen that would keep them from coming back. “Upstairs.”
He waved to Danny, and pointed toward the private entrance leading to his apartment. From the wiseass smirk on his manager’s face, Danny probably thought the boss was about to get laid. The thought sent a Roman candle of heat through Rex’s veins. He doused it. He’d dodged every advance thrown his way since opening, and he wasn’t about to get sucked into that drainpipe now.
Rex pulled his keys from his pocket, unlocked the door and motioned for Juliana to precede him up the stairs. If she wanted more than Harley and horseback-riding lessons from him, then she’d be disappointed.
Two
Who’d have guessed that after all these years of not getting hot and bothered that she could get turned on by something mechanical? Although Juliana suspected the motorcycle ride wasn’t entirely to blame for her discombobulation.
“Have a seat.” Rex prowled around the den of his apartment flicking on lamps to reveal a very masculine decor of cappuccino-colored leather and dark wood. The furniture looked expensive but not new. Relics from his days at the top of the country-music charts?
Juliana perched on the edge of the sofa tallying sensations and classifying the wide range of emotions she’d experienced tonight. Safe wasn’t among them. She had an inkling this might be the beginnings of lust, but she couldn’t be sure.
Fingers of wind had ripped at her clothing and tried to pull her off the bike when Rex had raced the motorcycle down a long, straight section of road. The scream bubbling in her throat had been caused by terror mixed with a smidgen of excitement. Each time he’d leaned into a curve, her heart had pounded so hard she’d thought it would explode. He’d probably have bruises tomorrow from where she’d clutched him so tightly. By the time they’d arrived at Renegade she’d practically burrowed under his skin.
And she’d liked it there.
Rex’s abs had been steady and rock-hard beneath her knotted fingers, and the rough texture of jeans had abraded the sensitive skin of her inner thighs and the tender flesh between her legs. The heat of his broad back had seeped through his T-shirt and her thin dress to warm her breasts more effectively than any caress she’d ever experienced. When he’d climbed from the bike, her legs had been too weak to follow. In fact, they still hadn’t quit shaking.
Which caused her extreme reaction? Fear or physical attraction? She didn’t have much experience with either. In the past, she’d always been drawn by a man’s intelligence more than his physique, but her reaction to Rex had nothing to do with his brain. She hated to admit she was shallow enough to look forward to exploring this new terrain.
He sat beside her on the sofa, opened a calendar on the coffee table and then angled to face her. The outside seam of his jeans scraped her knee and thigh. A shiver worked its way to the pit of her stomach and settled there like a hot rock.
“I usually work nights, so your lessons will have to be late mornings or on my days off. Which works for you?” The flirtatiousness he’d displayed at the auction disappeared behind a no-nonsense businesslike demeanor. Since she was counting on him to lead her astray, that wasn’t a desirable development.
“I work weekdays.”
“Doing what?”
With him sitting this close and holding her gaze that way, Juliana had a hard time remembering what consumed most of her week. His scent and proximity had the oddest effect on her ability to think clearly. Funny, she lived for her job…What was it again? Oh, yes. “I’m an account auditor with Alden Bank and Trust.”
His narrowed gaze traveled slowly from her face to her bare shoulders, over her dress and then her legs. Her body reacted as if he’d touched her by tightening, liquefying.
So this was animal attraction? She’d heard others talk about it, but she’d never experienced the sensation. She wanted to pick it apart and study the components the way she would account entries during an audit. Flushed skin. A tingle in her veins. Accelerated heart rate. Dampened palms.
“You don’t look like any bean counter I’ve ever met.” His skeptical expression robbed the words of any compliment and hit a sore spot. After earning an MBA from the local university, Juliana had accepted a position in the family bank’s home office. She’d had to work doubly hard to prove her worth and quiet the rumors of nepotism, and she’d been proving herself ever since. But this wasn’t work. She wanted Rex to see her as a desirable woman, not as a highly credentialed bank auditor.
“I’ve always been good with numbers.” She downplayed. It was people skills she lacked. Growing up, her brother had been the socially adept one who’d held the titles of class president, homecoming king and every other desirable position. Juliana had been an ugly duckling who’d preferred books and horses to people. Andrea and Holly had been, and still were, her only close friends.
Rex thumped a beat on the table with his pen, drawing her attention back to his big, rough and scarred workman’s hands. She’d listened to his music and it amazed her that such strong, masculine hands could pluck a guitar so beautifully. “We’ll meet after you get off work on Mondays and Thursdays, my days off. That’ll give us a couple of hours of daylight.”
She caught herself watching his lips move, blinked and refocused on his eyes—dark, knowing eyes that seemed to look right inside her.
“I’ve leased a smaller bike for you,” he continued, “but you can’t drive it until you’ve earned your motorcycle learner’s permit and mastered a few basic skills.”
The unexpected turn of the conversation pulled her from her corporeal exploration. “A learner’s permit?”
“Required by North Carolina law. I’ll give you the booklet tonight. Start studying. You’ll have to take a written test at the Department of Motor Vehicles.”
Her prize package required her to take a test? That hadn’t been in the fine print, and she always read the fine print. “I work fifty to sixty hours a week. When am I supposed to find time to study and take a test?”
“Before the end of the month—unless you want the newspaper to report that you couldn’t pass.”
Her competitive instincts stirred. She hadn’t taken a driving test in fifteen years, but she’d always been an excellent student. “Fine. Twice a week at six o’clock for four weeks.”
“I’ll let the reporter know.” He closed the calendar and planted his hands on his knees. “Listen, Juliana, Renegade needs all the publicity it can get out of the newspaper series. You might not have noticed but the place isn’t packed.”
“I noticed. Business accounts are a large part of my job. Empty tables mean reduced revenue and reduced revenue means—”
He leaned toward her. Her mind went blank and her heart leaped in anticipation. She snatched a quick breath, wet her lips and lifted her mouth, but Rex didn’t kiss her. Instead he dragged a fluffy pink boa and a small pink purse from beneath his sofa cushion and sat back again.
She blinked in surprise. Had she bought a cross-dresser? “Yours?” she squeaked.
The rugged lines of his face softened and his eyes warmed, turning her insides to mush. “My nieces’.”
Shock receded. The rebel had nieces. And judging from his expression, he had a soft spot in his heart for them. The idea of using him to further her um…physical education had been a lot easier when she’d believed him to be one-hundred-percent bad boy, a heartless seducer of innocents, a man who’d get the job done and not think twice about it. Now the images of reckless rebel, concerned business owner and doting uncle tangled in a confusing mass in her head. But instead of turning her off, the combination intrigued her and made her want to know more. Not a good idea since this was a short-term project.
He stood and tossed the dress-up items into a wicker basket in the corner. “Let me make one thing clear. You bought horseback and Harley riding lessons and you’re going to get them. But riding lessons are all I’m offering.”
Half-dozen heartbeats later, his meaning sank in. Mortification burned over her skin like a desert wind. Was she so transparent? He couldn’t know that she wondered how he’d kiss, how he’d taste and, more specifically, how she’d react to his embrace. Could he?
She wobbled to her feet. “I—I appreciate your candor.”
“You ready to call for your ride yet?”
He couldn’t wait to get rid of her. How embarrassing. Had she ever had a date so eager to show her the door? “Certainly.”
The evening was not going as she’d anticipated and she had no idea how to get it back on track. What did she know about seduction? She’d counted on him doing all the work.
Why hadn’t she developed a backup plan?
“So is he as great as he looks or is he all beauty, brawn and no brains?” Holly asked as Juliana climbed into her friend’s Jeep outside Renegade.
“He’s not just a pretty face.” His dedication to his nieces and his business savvy in using the auction and the monthlong newspaper coverage as advertising proved Rex was more than an empty-headed pretty boy. “Did you get your firefighter?”
Holly abruptly reached for the radio and flipped through the stations. “No.”
The rat. Had she and Andrea chickened out after sending Juliana into the bidding wars like a sacrificial lamb? “You promised you’d buy him.”
“No, I promised I’d buy a bachelor and I did. The firefighter went for more money than we agreed upon—although you certainly broke that rule, didn’t you? Besides, Eric was desperate.”
Juliana recoiled. “Eric! My brother, Eric?”
Holly darted a glance in her direction and nodded.
“You cheated.”
“No, I didn’t. I wanted a man who would give me candlelit dinners and take me dancing. Eric’s package promises Eleven Enchanted Evenings.”
Juliana didn’t like the blissful smile on Holly’s face—not in connection to her brother. “But it’s Eric.”
“So?”
“You wanted romance. Eric is no Prince Charming to your Cinderella. I’m having really icky thoughts of my brother kissing you good night, and I don’t want to go there.” She shuddered.
“I know you don’t want to believe it, Juliana, but Eric is as much of a hunk as your rebel.”
“Ick. Ick.” She stuck her fingers in her ears. No matter what her friend said, Holly had cheated by taking the safe way out. She unplugged her ears. “You and Andrea convinced me to go out on a limb and buy Rex. There is no risk involved in buying someone you know. Did Andrea also turn coward? Who did she buy?”
“Clayton.”
Sympathy squeezed Juliana’s heart and she sighed. “So she’s really going through with it, then?”
“That’s what she said.” Holly didn’t sound any happier about the situation than Juliana.
“I hope he doesn’t break her heart again.”
“I hope your rebel doesn’t break yours. Those were some serious sparks between you when he walked you out.”
Sparks? One-sided sparks, maybe. Rex Tanner didn’t seem the least bit interested in fanning the flames Juliana could feel licking at her toes. At the moment, she had no idea how she’d change his mind, but given what she knew of his past, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
“You are completely off base with that observation, my friend, and my heart will be just fine, thank you. Remember, my time with Rex Tanner is limited. He’d never fit in with my long-term career goals, and I seriously doubt an anal-retentive bank auditor whose idea of adventure is trying a new shade of nail polish would fit in with his.”
Rex peeled his gaze from Juliana’s behind for the fifth time and shook his head. Jodhpurs. He should have expected as much from a high-society chick who wrote five-figure checks without blinking.
“Next time wear jeans.” Her formal riding attire was a far cry from Saturday night’s scanty, sexy dress, but her jodhpurs looked as if they’d been spray painted over the luscious curve of her butt, and her sleeveless cotton blouse conformed to the shape of her breasts like a lover’s hands. She’d pulled her shiny hair back with a clip and perched one of those prissy black velvet hard hats on her head—the kind horse-jumping folks wore. The siren-red nail polish was gone and so was most of her makeup. She looked better without the war paint. And why was he noticing? Her smooth skin had nothing to do with riding lessons.
“The boots are okay, and I can live with the hat.”
“Please stop. Your flattery will turn my head,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm, making him wonder if he’d read her lingering glances wrong Saturday night. “If I can find the time, I’ll buy some jeans before Thursday.”
He paused with the saddle midair. “You don’t own a pair of jeans?”
“No. Casual Friday at the bank never gets that casual. You certainly have a lot of requirements for this package that weren’t included in the description listed in the program.”
“Most of it’s common sense.” He settled the saddle and saddle pad on Jelly Bean, the palomino mare he’d bought for his nieces. “Putting on a western saddle is similar to an English one. Here’s how you secure it.”
After demonstrating, he unfastened everything and stepped back. “Your turn.”
Juliana tackled the task, but the mare tended to be lazy on hot summer afternoons. She bloated her stomach to prevent the tightening of the cinch around her belly. Juliana lacked the strength to make Jelly Bean exhale.
Positioning himself behind her, the way he did with the girls, he reached around to help her pull the leather strap. Having his arms around an attractive woman made his veins hum. He tried to ignore it. Unlike with his petite three- and five-year-old nieces, Juliana’s taller frame lined up against his like a spoon in a drawer. Or a lover in bed. The mare shifted, bumping Juliana and her tightly wrapped behind against him.
Within seconds, her pants weren’t the only tight ones. Rex steadied her and then stepped back, putting several yards and the hitching post between them. “Try the bridle next.”
Juliana definitely knew her way around a horse. She rested the mare’s muzzle against her breasts while she eased the bridle over her ears and brushed her forelock out of her eyes, and then she rewarded Jelly Bean for cooperating with a stroke down her golden neck and a scratch between her perked up ears.
He envied the horse being pressed between Juliana’s breasts. Unacceptable. The auditor was off-limits. “Mount up.”
She lifted her foot a couple of feet off the ground until the pull of fabric across her hips restricted her movements, and then she put her boot back down and looked at him over her shoulder. “Would you give me a leg up?”
Was there more than a legitimate request for help in her words? A tentative smile quivered on her lips—nothing seductive about it. In fact, he’d swear he saw nervousness in her eyes.
Get over yourself, Tanner. What does it say about your ego that you suspect every woman you meet of trying to get into your pants?
“Sure.” As he did with the girls, he clasped Juliana’s waist and lifted. Bad move. He didn’t need to know that her waist was tiny or that her body heat would penetrate the thin fabric of her pants. He yanked his hands free so quickly Jelly Bean—the calmest horse he’d ever encountered—spooked and sidestepped. Rex lunged forward again, expecting Juliana to fall off, but she grabbed the saddle horn and managed to stay on.