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She quickly moved her hands to cover the front part of her thong and was rewarded by Taheim sucking in his breath in admiration.
“You look beautiful,” he said as he brought his gaze back to her face. She blinked several times, caught off guard by his sincerity.
“Thanks.”
“I just forgot something.” He walked over to his dresser and pulled out what looked like a key. When he turned back to her, he didn’t say anything.
She didn’t know what was more awkward: the fact that he couldn’t seem to find his voice after seeing her in little to no clothing, or the fact that she usually had a lot to say, but she, too, couldn’t find the right words at the moment.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t realize he was walking toward her until he was only a few inches away.
What is he up to? And why wasn’t she backing away from him instead of moving closer?
When he reached her, he studied her eyes before his gaze dropped to her lips. She didn’t want to mess up her lipstick, but she couldn’t help but lick them. The groan that escaped his mouth made her bring her eyes toward his lips, as well. In her spare time, Winter often liked to paint, and the shape of his lips was the perfect subject.
Focus, Winter! Don’t forget he was the worst blind date of your life. It wasn’t that she’d forgotten that tidbit of info, but more like she was just choosing to ignore it.
“May I?” he asked, the deep timbre of his voice causing her nipples to harden instantly.
“Sure,” she said, surprised that her voice was so breathless. Wait, what did I just agree to?
He must have sensed that she didn’t know, because he smiled knowingly before kneeling to the floor.
Her eyes widened at the sight of him on his knees precisely adjacent to the part of her that was aching for his touch. Dang! The last touch she should be craving was his! A man who assumed that all he had to do was voice a few words and she’d turn to putty in his hand.
When his hands grazed her thighs, she shivered. She wasn’t sure what he was doing and she was even more worried about the fact that deep down, she didn’t care what he was doing.
She looked down at him and watched him study her left thigh-high. Strong fingers picked up the black ribbon on the thigh high, and slower than she liked, he tied a bow to match the one she’d made at the top of her right thigh.
When he stood back up, their eyes collided once again. The rise and fall of their chests moved in unison and the sexual tension caused her to shuffle from one heel to the other. The intensity in his stare was almost too much to handle.
“Winter, everyone’s downstairs waiting for you to...”
They both turned toward the door as Danni entered and stopped midsentence.
“You’re up,” she finished as she looked from Winter to Taheim.
“I better go,” he said as he turned and walked out the door.
“Um, any reason why you and the guy you claim to hate were in here looking as if you wanted to rip each other’s clothes off?”
“Beats me.” Winter shrugged. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
Danni was grinning like a kid on Christmas, which annoyed Winter even more. If she’d thought she didn’t like Taheim before, she really couldn’t stand him now.
* * *
There wasn’t much that Winter Dupree couldn’t handle, but she was certain that watching a roomful of women drool over Taheim Reed was a torture unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
“Did you hear the rumor that he has another clothing line in the works?” said a perky brunette to a couple women who had conveniently chosen to stand right in front of her and gawk at Taheim from afar. “I swear that man gets sexier by the day.”
“Look at the way he moves across a room,” said another woman. “I’ve heard the way he is in the bedroom is enough to keep a woman pining for more.”
Taheim chose that exact moment to turn, giving them a nice view of his backside covered in a black sweater and dark jeans. “Oh man, I’d love to test-drive that,” said the third woman.
Ugh, forget torture. Listening to them was enough to make her want to pop her eardrums. It wasn’t that she particularly disagreed with them. Taheim was definitely sexy. Even she’d admit that. But unfortunately, his looks didn’t mask the fact that he was still a jerk. A jerk that she had been fantasizing about ever since he’d walked in on her in his bedroom last week, wearing nothing but a babydoll and thong.
When Winter had accompanied her sister Autumn to a business convention in Chicago three years ago, they’d been convinced that the city was the perfect place to open their lingerie boutique, Bare Sophistication. Since their youngest sister, Summer, had a huge opportunity to work for a top New York fashion public relations firm, Winter and Autumn had agreed to take the reins and make the move to open their store. Living in New Jersey had been great, but she was glad she had a life in Chicago. Now, three years later, Winter didn’t have any regrets except for one...going on a date with Taheim Reed.
Although she hadn’t had any family in Chicago when she first moved, she hadn’t been surprised when her cousins Micah and Malik Madden moved to the city from their respective towns. Micah had been a police officer in Arkansas before he joined forces with Shawn Miles to open M&M Security in Chicago. Malik, a private investigator with offices in Detroit and Chicago, had also decided to move from Detroit and make Chicago his permanent home. Why had both of her male cousins decided to move to Chi-Town? Well, as much as Winter and Autumn would have loved to believe a part of it had to do with them, Micah and Malik had both proved their moves had more to do with the Chicago natives they’d fallen in love with.
Which brought her to the reason she was attending this party despite the fact that it was being held at a lounge owned by Taheim’s brother. She glanced over at the happy couples, who were beaming with joy. Her cousins had both fallen in love with cofounders of Elite Events Incorporated, a very respected event-planning company headquartered in Chicago. Winter admired the success of the founders, Imani Rayne-Barker, Cydney Rayne-Miles, and Winter’s cousin-in-law, Lexus Turner-Madden, and soon-to-be cousin-in-law, Mya Winters.
“I don’t really understand the point of having engagement parties.” Winter turned at the sound of her sister Autumn’s voice.
Leave it to her sister to try to rationalize an event that people had been celebrating for decades. “You know, we should be happy that Micah married Lex and that Malik and Mya will be married soon. Especially since we and our other male cousins are nowhere close to getting married.” Malik and Micah had four other brothers, all of whom were single. “And you should also prepare yourself for baby showers that I’m sure are right around the corner.”
“Another pointless celebration,” Autumn chimed in. “I’m happy for them. I just don’t understand why we need manmade holidays, or in this case multiple celebrations, to celebrate a marriage. And baby showers are superficial. I curse the person who took such a sacred act as bringing a baby into the world and labeled the gathering a baby shower.”
Winter gave her sister a blank stare. “Your brain never ceases to amaze me.”
“What?” Autumn said with a shrug. “I thought you’d be happy that I came over to discuss my views on pointless celebrations rather than the fact that you obviously can’t take your eyes off Taheim.”
Her tone of voice was normal, but clearly, mentioning his name had gotten the attention of the women in front of them, who walked off after shooting them looks of irritation.
“See, and now you can thank me for running off those drooling women.”
“Do you think before you speak?” Winter asked as she unscrewed her water bottle to take a much-needed sip. She refused to believe her sister was right, but deep down, she knew it was true. Looks-wise, Taheim Reed was everything she wanted in a man. His creamy milk-chocolate complexion, intense almost-black eyes and strong scored jawline had been the star of more than a few fantasies. Even worse, she’d even used him as inspiration when crafting a new lingerie line that she was working on for Bare Sophistication. Like her, he was also an entrepreneur, which she assumed was the only reason their mutual friends had thought they would be a good fit together.
She watched him walk over to his business partners for R&W Advertising, Jaleen Walker and Imani’s husband, Daman Barker. That was another thing Winter hated that she liked about him. Whether it be women or men, people were just drawn to him. He was such a people person and his charismatic ways worked on everyone...except her. If they weren’t arguing about the color of the sky, as if that even warranted an argument, they were pretending that the other person didn’t exist. Her eyes roamed over his muscular arms encased in fabric before moving to the collared shirt peeking out from underneath his sweater. She appreciated his style and the fact that he always dressed to impress. Being that they were both designers, she understood making a fashion statement in clothing from your own line, but she’d bet that his athletic frame would look good in anything. Even better if he were wearing nothing at all.
Suddenly, her body tensed with awareness, causing her eyes to rush to his face. As she’d figured, his gaze was pinned to her, and for a brief second, she forgot that she hated the guy. That he was the worst blind date ever and the only guy she’d ever met who’d caused her to lose her temper in public. At the sound of her sister mumbling, she broke eye contact and turned to Autumn.
“Two forty-six, 247, 248, 249.”
“Is there a reason you’re counting?” Winter asked.
“Two fifty. As a matter of fact, there is a reason I was counting.”
She waited for Autumn to continue and quickly realized that she wasn’t going to explain further. She really wasn’t surprised. Autumn spoke only when she felt it necessary or when she wanted to rattle off about a statistic or her point of view on certain topics. Her sister was the walking dictionary definition of brains and beauty. Winter could appreciate her uniqueness.
“And what reason were you counting, Autumn?”
“I was counting the number of seconds it took you to not so discreetly gape at Taheim. At thirty seconds your eyes showed interest. At 105 seconds you began to admire things about the way he looked tonight that I assume you hadn’t allowed yourself to notice before. At 195 seconds your heart rate increased when you noticed he was staring at you just as intently. At 250 seconds you finally noticed I was counting.”
She opened her mouth to say something about Autumn’s observation but closed it when no words came out. She scrunched her eyes together instead before crossing her arms over her chest. A chill went down her spine when she thought about the fact that her sister’s stats also meant that she and Taheim had spent almost a full minute just staring at each other.
“Don’t give me that look,” Autumn said. “Especially since you really aren’t that upset at me, since your first coherent thought was obviously the fact that you and Taheim could spend that much time staring at each other. Pretty odd for enemies, don’t you think?”
Winter finally let out a frustrated breath. “You don’t know what I’m thinking.” In response to Winter’s statement, Autumn smiled. Truth be told, Winter and Autumn had been reading each other’s minds since they were kids. When Summer felt left out, Winter had to remind her that she and Autumn were Irish twins since they were born eleven months apart.
“Whatever,” she said with a wave of her hand. “He’s easy on the eyes, so I just got a little distracted.”
“Since your breathing still seems to be labored, I believe you meant to say that you got sexually aroused at the sight of him. Not distracted.”
Winter uncrossed her hands and placed them on her hips. “For once, can you try not to state the obvious?”
“I didn’t know I was stating the obvious,” Autumn said in a serious tone. “I mean, I could tell you were sexually aroused and I wouldn’t put it past a few others to notice the same chemistry whenever you both are in the same room. But I stated my observation because I didn’t think it was obvious to you.”
Winter dropped her hands to her sides and let out a deep sigh. She really didn’t like the fact that Autumn was right yet again. She’d had no idea people could sense the sexual tension between her and Taheim.
“I’m stepping outside to get some air,” she said as she pointed to the rooftop terrace. Maybe the cool late-October air would help lower her body temperature.
Chapter 3 (#ulink_20a729af-5be9-5e87-94bc-f6da2d839322)
“Taheim, did you hear what I said?”
Taheim tore his gaze away from the five-foot-seven cappuccino beauty with the luscious hips and round hazelnut-colored eyes in time to catch the intuitive glances of his friends Daman and Jaleen.
“Come again?” Taheim asked Daman. His friend shook his head.
“Never mind. It wasn’t that important and I wouldn’t want to stop you from watching Winter walk across the room.”
“Man, I’m not even looking at that woman.” Just as the words left his mouth, Winter glanced over her shoulder before stepping out onto the rooftop terrace. He instantly felt that familiar kick in his gut whenever she looked at him. That kick had gotten even stronger since he’d found her in his bedroom last week. Of all the women for him to be attracted to, it had to be the only woman in Chicago he didn’t get along with.
“Oh really,” Jaleen said, taking a swig of his beer. “So if your eyes weren’t trained on Winter, who I must say is looking good tonight in that sleek black skirt and red blouse, then do tell who has your attention.”
Taheim pinned Jaleen with an irritated stare before he quickly masked his feelings. He didn’t like the fact that Jaleen sounded as if he was checking out Winter, even though he clearly didn’t have any claims on her. In fact, his reaction was downright ridiculous considering his nonexistent relationship, and friendship, with Winter.
“With all the sexy single ladies in this room, Winter Dupree is definitely not getting my attention.” He waved his arms around the room to emphasize his point.
Daman and Jaleen shared a look of disbelief that didn’t go unnoticed by Taheim.
“Seriously, guys, that’s a headache I don’t need right now.”
“Problems with your clothing line?”
“No, sales are great and I even have a big city tour scheduled for next spring to visit the retail stores that will start carrying the line next year.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Taheim took a sip of his tequila. “It’s the men’s nightwear line that I want to debut before the end of the year. I’d like to get it in stores early next year and talk to retailers about it during the big city tour. T.R. Night will be different from the clothing line, and I guess I’m just trying to figure out the perfect time for a debut.”
“If you’re worried about the market accepting T.R. Night like they did Collegiate Life, then I don’t think you have anything to worry about. The release will be successful.”
He nodded his head at Daman, glad that he had friends who knew just what to say when it came to his diving into another project. Taheim was an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. In addition to being a cofounder of R&W Advertising and the creator of Collegiate Life, he handled all the marketing, promotions and advertising for his brother’s chain of nightclubs and lounges, as well as his parents’ Midwest restaurant chain. Even with all his success, every now and then he ventured into a project more personal than the others. In this case, T.R. Night was that project.
“Thanks, man. The nightwear line has been a little more challenging than the clothing line, but I’m really excited about this.”
“You should be,” Jaleen said. “And if you’re stuck on any designs, there is this one designer who specializes in nightwear who I’m sure could offer you some great ideas.”
“In Chicago? I’m pretty familiar with all the designers in the city. Besides, I think I’m okay on the designs.” There were a few things he questioned, but for the most part, he knew he would figure it out.
“I was referring to Winter.”
Taheim shot Jaleen a look of disbelief. “Is there a reason you keep bringing her up today?”
“I’m just saying. She’s got talent and if you are struggling with any designs, she could probably help.”
“I don’t and never will need the help of Winter Dupree. We can barely stand being in the same room with one another, let alone discuss business. I’ll pass on that.”
Jaleen shrugged. “So did you decide on a date for the debut?”
“I actually have a meeting tomorrow morning with Ajay to discuss something he had in mind for the grand opening of his night lounge in December.” His brother had worked hard to be the most successful club and lounge owner in Chicago and Taheim was glad to see he was finally reaping the benefits of all his hard work.
He was about to continue when he felt a jolt in his pants. Crap. He already knew that Winter had returned from the rooftop terrace without even turning in her direction.
Don’t look her way, he thought to himself. It wasn’t that he cared what his friends would think if they caught him staring at her again, but rather the fact that he needed to get through the rest of the night without imagining her in that mouthwatering lingerie.
Despite his best efforts, his head slowly turned to where she had joined her sister. He hated to admit it, but he was still disappointed by the way he had acted during their blind date. Yes, there were times that he went into dates already knowing that they would end with the woman in his bed, but he hadn’t gone into his date with Winter assuming that. But the minute he’d seen her sitting there her beauty had taken him aback. Winter wasn’t the type of woman to cake on too much makeup every day, but rather she applied just the right amount to accentuate her features.
When women met him, they immediately wanted to date him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t only because of his looks and personality but also because of his money. Or the money they assumed he would dish out to them. Sometimes he felt like a walking ATM rather than an astute businessman who had been fortunate enough to land a few successful business deals. Winter didn’t seem like other women, and instead of going into the date differently, he’d acted like a jerk.
He watched her bring her water bottle to her mouth, instantly jealous of the item as her lips closed around the rim. Lips that would look perfect enclosed around his mouth instead. His eyes left her lips and connected with hers, and he was not surprised to see her looking back at him. He thought she shot him a soft smile, but he was too far across the room to tell.
“So this is you paying attention to other women and ignoring Winter?” Jaleen asked, as he looked in Taheim’s line of vision.
“Whatever, man.”
“Why don’t you just ask her out again?” Daman asked.
“Hell naw, I can’t. The last one was bad enough.”
Daman and Jaleen shared a look, but luckily, they changed the subject. He was being serious when he said he couldn’t ask her out again; however, the reason why wasn’t that the last one had been so bad. The real reason he couldn’t ask her out again was because deep down, he feared what would happen if the date actually went well.
* * *
Taheim admired the exterior of the lounge that his brother Ajay was opening in a month and a half. The South Loop area in Chicago had a good vibe to it and he had every idea the lounge would be successful.
“Ajay, you in here?” he yelled as he walked through the side door.
“I’m back here, bro.”
He followed the sound of his brother’s voice until he reached a room in the back of the lounge.
“What’s up,” Ajay said as they touched fists. “How was Malik and Mya’s engagement party yesterday? I hate that I missed it, but this place keeps me busy.”
“It was nice. The team you have working there was great.”
