Private Arrangements

Jonas paused a moment when the waiter returned to clear their table and give them a dessert menu. Jonas looked over at her and said, “Fulton is well aware the only people who will be passengers on his supersonic airship are the well-to-do, since a ticket won’t be cheap. My job is to pique everyone’s interest, restore their confidence in the safety of hypersonic travel and make sure those who can afford a ticket buy one. I will emphasize all the Velocity has to offer as a fun and exciting party airship.”

He paused a moment, then continued, “I’ll need photographs for the brochures, website, all the social networks I’ll be using, as well as the mass media. The launch party will be held in Las Vegas. Then the next day the Velocity will take a trial flight, leaving Los Angeles, traveling to China, Australia, Dubai and Paris on a fourteen-day excursion. That’s four continents. Fulton has invited certain members of the media, and a few celebrities. You will need to be on board for that too, to take as many marketing photos as you can.”

Jonas met her gaze. “As my photographer I’d like you to attend all events as well as travel with me. We’ll want to highlight the airship to its full advantage, to give it the best exposure.”

Nikki breathed in deeply in an attempt to downplay the racing of her heart at the thought of all the time they would spend together. Here he was, sitting across from her, all business. She drew in a deep breath. Evidently he had put the kiss they’d shared out of his mind and was not still dwelling on it like she was. Had she really thought he would?

Get real, girl. Do you honestly think that kiss had any sort of lasting effect on him like it had on you? You’re talking about a man who’s kissed countless women. In his book, one is probably just as good as another. No big deal. So why are you letting it be a big deal for you? If he can feel total indifference then why can’t you?

She knew the answer to that without much thought. As much as she boasted about no longer believing in fairy tales of love and forever-after, and as much as she told herself that she could play with the big boys, she knew she could not compete with the likes of Jonas Steele. Nor did she want to.

She had deep apprehensions when it came to him and they were apprehensions she couldn’t shake off. What if her attraction to him intensified? What if it moved to another level, one that could cause her heartbreak in the end? Could she handle being a Jonas Steele castoff?

“Um, this dessert menu looks delicious. What would you like?” he asked.

What would I like? Having him wasn’t such a bad idea. Deep, dark chocolate. The kind of delectable sweetness that you could wrap around your tongue, feast on for hours and still hunger for more. She wondered about those tattoos she’d heard he had. Where were they? How did they look? How would they taste under her tongue?

Suddenly she felt breathless and her heart was thumping like crazy in her chest. She should feel outright ashamed at the path her thoughts were taking. She needed to get a grip.

She took another sip of wine thinking any time spent around Jonas would drive her over the edge. Already she was imagining things she shouldn’t. Like how his lower lip would taste being sucked into her mouth. She shifted in her seat and forced the thoughts away. And he thought they could work closely together again. Boy, he was wrong.

At that moment, considering everything, she knew what her answer regarding his job offer would be. She would be giving up a golden opportunity, one any photographer would love to have. But she had to think about her sanity.

“Nikki?”

She met his gaze. “Yes?”

“Dessert?”

It was hard to keep her mind on anything but Jonas, and that wasn’t good. “Yes, the apple pie sounds delicious, but the slice is huge. That’s more than I can eat.”

He closed his menu. “No problem. We can share it.”

She swallowed deeply. He wanted to share a slice of pie with her? To him that might be no big deal, but to her that was the beginning of trouble. It was so sad that he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“Nikki?”

If she kept skipping out on their conversations he would begin questioning her attention span. “Okay, we can share it,” she said and regretted the words the moment they left her lips. Sharing a slice of pie seemed too personal, and this was a business meeting. Wasn’t doing something like that considered unprofessional? Evidently he didn’t think so.

The waiter returned to take their dessert order. After he left, Jonas said, “I need to be up front with you. If you do take the job it will require long workdays, but I don’t see it as being as exhausting as the last project we worked on together.”

In a way Nikki wished that it would be. Then she would be too tired to do anything but collapse in bed each night. Too tired to replay over in her mind every nuance of feelings she’d encountered around him. And too tired to remember that one darn kiss that he’d already forgotten.

Jonas made it through dinner—barely. His gut had tightened each and every time he’d glanced up to see her mouth work while chewing her food. He imagined that same mouth working on him.

And sharing that slice of apple pie with her hadn’t helped matters. They’d had their own utensils, but more than once he had been tempted to feed her from his fork, hoping that she licked it so he could cop her taste again.

He’d meant what he said about doubling whatever salary Joseph’s campaign was offering her. One thing she didn’t know was that Jonas had kept up with her over the past few months. He knew no big accounts had been knocking on her door.

Like he’d told her more than once, she was the best and could handle a camera like nobody’s business. And from the way she was acting she probably didn’t even remember that kiss. She hadn’t even brought it up. In fact she was acting like it had never happened. He didn’t know whether he should be relieved or insulted. He wasn’t conceited, but to think one of his kisses hadn’t left a lasting effect on any woman was pretty damn annoying.

His thoughts drifted to what he’d told her about the job and the time they would spend together. She’d nodded and asked a few questions. Otherwise, she’d mainly listened while he had explained the marketing strategy to her. It was something he knew she could handle.

He only hoped and prayed he could handle it as well. That he would be able to keep his libido in check and his hands to himself. He had a voracious sexual appetite, and considering the fact he was already strongly attracted to Nikki, that meant he had to do whatever was necessary to stay in control at all times.

Control suddenly took a backseat when he looked at her chest. He really liked the shape of her breasts, which were pressing against her blouse. The tips of her nipples seemed like little hardened buds, as if she was aroused. That couldn’t be the case when she was sitting over there eating the last of her pie and not paying him any attention.

His stomach tightened when she finished it off by licking the fork. He again imagined all the things he’d like her to do with that tongue. And since he already knew how it tasted, he could feel sensations stirring in his gut.

Knowing he had to stop thinking such racy thoughts, he cleared his throat. “So, now that you know what the project will entail, do you have an answer for me now or do you need to sleep on it?” And how about sleeping with me in the process? He had to tighten his lips to keep from adding such a suggestion.

Before she could respond, the waiter came again to remove the last of their dishes and to leave him with the check.

It was then that she said, “Thanks for your consideration of me for the job, and I appreciate the offer. But I won’t be able to take it, Jonas.”

He blinked. Had he heard her right? Had she just turned him down? Shocked, he fought to keep the frown off his face. No woman had ever turned him down for anything. Business or pleasure.

There was a long pause and he knew she was waiting for him to say something, so he did. “Uh, all right. Would you like to order another cup of coffee?”

Hell, what else was he going to say? Tell her that it wasn’t all right?

“No, I’ll pass on the coffee. One cup was plenty for me. And thanks for being understanding about me not taking the job,” she said.

Was he being understanding? He doubted it but decided to let her think whatever she wanted. Shouldn’t he at least ask her why she had refused his offer? He quickly figured it wouldn’t matter. There was nothing left for him to do but to move to the number-two person on the list, George Keller. George was a good photographer but could get on his last nerve at times. The thought of spending two weeks with the man had his teeth grinding.

“Well, thanks for dinner. I need to leave now.”

And now on top of everything else, she was running out on him. Automatically, he stood as well. “You’re welcome. If not this time, then maybe we can work together again on another project in the future.”

She shrugged. “Possibly.”

Possibly? Was she for real? Just what was with this possibly crap? His lips curved into a forced smile. “I’m glad you’re willing to keep your options open,” he said, trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

At that moment she moved around the table getting ready to leave, and he felt a sucker punch deep in his gut. Nikki Cartwright was wearing something other than jeans. She had on a very short dress that showed all of her curves and legs he was seeing for the very first time. Long, gorgeous legs.

His gaze ran up and down her body and his breath caught in his throat when he realized that she was the same woman whose legs he’d seen in the parking lot earlier. Damn. Holy, hot damn.

Before he could stop himself, he looked up, met her gaze and said in an incredulous voice, “You’re wearing a dress.”

There was something about the look in Jonas’s eyes that gave Nikki pause. Was that heated lust in the dark depths staring at her like she was a slice of strawberry cheesecake with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream on top? He had never looked at her like this before. Not even after the time they’d kissed. She was more than certain that she would have remembered if he had.

She was definitely confused. Did seeing her in a dress finally make him aware that she was a woman in a way that kiss hadn’t? She would have worn a dress around him a long time ago if she’d known it would grab this much attention.

She drew in a deep breath, feeling sexy and seductive for the first time in years. “Yes, I usually wear jeans or slacks because they’re more comfortable for the work I do. But I decided to wear a dress tonight since I’m going to spend some time upstairs.”

He lifted his brow. “Upstairs?”

“Yes, at Mavericks. Tonight is jazz night.”

Jonas nodded. Mavericks was an upscale nightclub on the thirty-fifth floor that had a rooftop bar and a wraparound terrace that provided a panoramic view of the mountains and Phoenix’s skyline.

He stared at her and her outfit for a moment, wondering if perhaps she had a date. Of course if she did it was none of his business. But still, for some reason, he wanted to know.

“Sorry, I hope I didn’t detain you unnecessarily. I wouldn’t want you to be late for your date,” he heard himself saying.

She smiled. “I don’t have a date. I like jazz and thought I’d spend my evening doing something other than watching television.”

He lifted a brow. “You aren’t meeting anyone?”

She frowned. “No. I don’t need someone to take me out if I want to enjoy good music.”

He was well aware of that. However, a woman who was alone and looked like her would be inviting male attention whether she wanted it or not. There was no way he wouldn’t hit on her if he saw her sitting alone. Men made plays for attractive women with only one thing in mind. It was the way of life. He of all people should know.

Imagining her sitting alone in a club while listening to jazz didn’t sit well with him. He met her gaze. “I don’t have anything else to do tonight and I love jazz as well. Mind if I join you?”

Chapter 3

Nikki struggled to retain an expressionless face as she walked into Mavericks with Jonas by her side. She was determined that nothing would make her come unglued, even the feel of his hand in the center of her back as he led her toward an empty table.

“I think this is a good spot,” he said, pulling out her chair.

She had to hand it to him and his brothers when it came to manners. They were on top of their game, and she knew their mother could be thanked for that. Eden Steele had raised her sons to be gentlemen. Becoming notorious playboys was their own doing.

“There’s a nice crowd here tonight.”

She had noticed that as well. She had found out about the lounge’s jazz night from a woman in her aerobics class this morning. Like she’d told Jonas, she enjoyed jazz, mainly because her parents were huge fans and she and her brother had grown up listening to it.

“Would you like anything to drink?” he asked when a waiter materialized at their table.

Remembering what he’d told her over dessert about having to limit his drinks, she smiled and said, “Just a glass of water with lemon.”

Jonas gave her order to the waiter. “And I’ll have the same.”

He glanced toward the stage. The musicians were still setting things up. “Looks like we made it before the start of the show.”

“Yes, it looks that way.”

She had turned her head to look around the lounge, but Jonas got the distinct impression she’d done so to avoid eye contact with him. Did he make her uncomfortable? Nervous?

Then again, she could be avoiding his eyes because she was upset that he had invited himself to join her. The waiter returned with their waters and he watched as she took her lemon and gently squeezed it into the water before lifting the glass up to her lips and taking a sip. He sat there, transfixed and aroused, as he watched her part her lips.

She caught him staring, tilted her head and asked, “Is anything wrong?”

If only you knew, he thought when he shifted his gaze from her lips to her eyes. Her short, curly dark brown hair crowned her face like a cap and emphasized the darkness of her eyes and her high cheekbones.

Her question didn’t give him pause. His brothers claimed he could BS his way out of any question so he said, “No, nothing is wrong. I was thinking about your lemon.”

She lifted a brow. “My lemon?”

“Yes. Did you know there aren’t any in India? They use lime instead. I was disappointed when I visited there a few years ago and couldn’t get any lemonade.”

She smiled grimly and he figured she was probably thinking, Whatever.

“So what’s your favorite jazz group?” he asked her as he squeezed his own lemon into his water, still picking up on her nervousness.

She shrugged. “I basically love all of them, but I grew up on music by the Diz. My parents were huge Dizzy Gillespie fans. I also like Branford Marsalis.”

He nodded and smiled. “Same here. My parents enjoy listening to jazz as well, and my brothers and I grew up on the music. But nothing dominated our house like the Motown Sound.”

He chuckled and then added, “My parents are actually members of Motown Is Forever Association, which is a group of die-hard Motown fans who meet once a year to get their old-school, back-in-the-day groove on.”

Selecting another lemon off the tray he squeezed it into his drink. She had gotten quiet on him again. The conversations at the tables around them were low and steady, which made the quietness at their table all the more noticeable. He took a sip of his water and wondered what the heck he was doing here. Why was he determined not to let their time together end at Mavericks just yet?

He knew the answer. It was simple. He needed to know why the kiss they’d shared had done him in.

By the time the first artist hit the stage, Nikki’s brain cells were almost fried. She was certain Jonas was generating just that much heat. She could actually feel it all over her body, in some places more so than others, which was why she tightened her legs together.

What was his secret when it came to women? Not only did he have the looks but he also had the gift of gab. Although she had very little to say, it seemed he was determined to keep the conversation going. She had discovered there were no lemons in India, that Walt Disney’s body had not been put in cryonic storage and he was convinced a bar of soap between the bedsheets prevented your legs from cramping. She figured if anyone would know about the latter it would be him, considering the amount of time he probably spent in bed with women.

She tried shifting her focus off Jonas and onto the performer. He was killing his saxophone, emitting sensuous sound waves that floated in the room. She recognized the piece and always thought she liked it better with the words, but the sax player was giving her thought. Without the words of undying love, the music still had a message of its own. And the message was stroking her senses, stirring across her skin and caressing certain parts of her body.

“I don’t understand why you’d come here alone, Nikki.”

She glanced over at Jonas and saw he had tilted his head while studying her as if she was a complex object of some sort. Was she that hard to figure out? Evidently he was a man who thought a woman wasn’t complete without a man. She would be the first to admit she assumed a man and woman complemented each other, but only when they were on the same accord. When they wanted the same things in life and when there were no misunderstandings about their relationship.

“Why wouldn’t I come here alone?” she asked.

“Why would you feel the need to?” he countered.

At that moment she felt that she could respond to his questions several different ways since he evidently didn’t understand that some women preferred peace to drama, solitude to unnecessary commotion. But more importantly, a loving relationship to a purely sexual one.

She left his question hanging for a few moments before finally saying, “I don’t date much by choice. At the moment I don’t have time for the games men like to play.”

He met her gaze, held it while he took a sip of his water. “So you’re one of those women.”

He’d said it like “those” women were a dying breed. Probably were if he had anything to do with it. Since she knew exactly what he meant, she said proudly, “Not really. I stopped believing in forever-after a while ago. I don’t mind having a good time myself. But on my own time.”

Nikki was convinced when he curved his lips into a challenging smile that her already wet panties got even more soaked. “Your own time? An interesting concept. One you’d toss to the wind with the right man,” he said, as if he knew that for certain.

She knew his words were both a challenge and an invitation. He was one of those Steeles, those “Bad News” Steeles, so he would think that way. He was of the mind-set that everything would begin and end in the bedroom. And the end result would be hot, sweaty, sexually satisfied bodies.

Nikki noticed the sudden darkening of his eyes and flaring of his nostrils. If she didn’t know better she would think that the pure animal male in him had picked up an arousing element in her scent. She’d heard some men had the ability to do that. Men who were acutely in tune with a woman.

And she wished Jonas wouldn’t look at her the way he was doing now, like he could see more than normal people could with those green eyes of his. It was as if he could see right through her blouse, past her bra, directly to her nipples, which were responding to everything male about him. Certain things a woman couldn’t evade, and her response to a gorgeous man was one of them, no matter how wickedly sinful the man was. And he was wickedly sinful. From the crown of his wavy hair to the soles of the Salvatore Ferragamo shoes he was wearing.

Thinking too much quiet time had passed between them, she decided to address what he’d said. “By the ‘right man,’ you’re talking about a man like you, I presume.”

That sinfully sexy smile widened. “And what kind of man am I, Nikki?”

Why did he have to say her name with such passion, such sensuality? And why was he intent on engaging in what she considered wasteful conversation? He knew the kind of man he was; he certainly didn’t need her to spell it out for him. But if he wanted to hear it directly from her lips then…

“You’re a man who loves women. Not just one or two, but plenty. You’ll never settle down with just one, nor do you want to. Life is about women and sex, but mostly sex and more sex. You play safe. You play fair. But you play. And you will always play.”

Jonas shrugged. Yes, that pretty much sized him up and he had no shame. There would never be a single woman to capture his heart like they’d done to Galen and Eli. There would never be a woman to make him feel anything other than a tightening in his groin. And that’s what was so hard for his mother to understand and accept. But eventually she would. She had no choice.

Instead of responding to what Nikki had said, since her words really needed no response, he settled back in his chair to continue listening to the music. And to think some more about the woman sitting across from him. She might not want the hot sheets, sex and more sex, but something about being here with him was getting to her. He was a hunter and could pick up the scent of an aroused woman a mile off. And some part of his presence, and their conversation, had turned her on. He was certain of it.

He had no doubt she wanted to believe everything she’d said. Although she hadn’t admitted such, he had a feeling that deep down she did believe in that nonsense about forever-after. He’d bet at one time she’d been wrapped up in the notion of a house with the white picket fence, babies and the words of undying love from a man’s lips.

Who was the real Nikki Cartwright? his mind demanded to know. She’d peeled off a layer tonight by wearing a dress instead of jeans, and he liked what he saw. Who would have thought she had legs that looked like that? Legs that could probably wrap around a man real tight, grip him pretty damn good while they had nitty-gritty, between-the-sheets sex.

He took a sip of his water and appreciated how the cold liquid flowed down his throat to cool his insides. He knew the score with her and conceded he needed to leave her alone. Her turning down his job offer was probably a smart move. And to be quite honest, he really didn’t have any reason to be sitting here with her, sharing her table, and listening to jazz.

He had tried not to notice her at Eli’s wedding when she’d moved around the room snapping photographs. She had looked cute then…and busy. To keep his attention off her he had pretended interest in a couple of single women who’d flown in to attend. He’d eventually left the wedding reception with one of them.

And talk about leaving…Jonas knew he should go, tell her it was nice seeing her again and that he regretted they wouldn’t be working together again and that he understood. His jaw tightened knowing that was one lie he could not tell because he did not understand it. Why was she walking away from an opportunity that could ultimately boost her career?

“That was beautiful,” she said when the saxophonist ended the song. Like others, she stood to applaud, and Jonas’s gaze automatically lowered to her legs. What a pretty-damn-stunning pair of legs they were. He had never considered himself the leg man in the family—everyone knew that was Eli. His favorite part of a woman’s body usually was the middle. Specifically, what lay at the juncture of her legs. All the others parts—the legs, the breasts, the thighs, hips and backside—just whet his appetite. And as he continued to stare at Nikki’s legs he could feel not only his appetite being whet but also himself becoming fully aroused in one hell of a way.