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“More than my business attire?”
Lucius shook his head. “Not more than, just that you appear more yourself.”
“And how would you know that?” she countered.
He dodged her question. “Am I wrong?”
She laughed and leaned back in her chair. “No, I prefer jeans to suits and skirts, but it’s a necessary evil at times.”
“Agreed. So tell me, Naomi, how does someone as young and vibrant as you decide to take on starting her own business?”
Naomi shrugged. “It might have been a notion to some, but Kelsey and I—that’s my business partner,” she added, even though he already knew this information, “didn’t want a nine-to-five job. We wanted to be in charge of our own destiny.”
“I can understand that,” Lucius responded. “I wanted the same thing. To be my own man.”
“From the looks of it you succeeded,” Naomi replied.
“Wow. That sounds like an insult coming from you.”
Naomi shook her head. “Not an insult, just the truth. You’ve done quite well for yourself, Lucius Knight. Not only are you in the business magazines as a self-made millionaire, but you’re also in every gossip rag, thanks to your dalliances with beautiful women. Unlike most rich men, you’re not spoiled, but you definitely have their confidence and arrogance.”
“And I take it those are traits you don’t admire?”
“Quite the contrary. I admire confidence and believing in oneself.”
“But not my arrogance?”
Her brow rose. “Wasn’t it you who pretty much ordered me to meet you down here for a cocktail?”
“I didn’t order you. You were welcome to decline the invitation.”
“I doubt you would have taken no for an answer.”
He threw back his head and let out a peal of laughter. She was right. He wouldn’t have taken no for answer, not when he suspected that Naomi found him equally as attractive as he found her. “All right, Naomi. I suppose you’re right. Would it also surprise you to know that I knew who you were before we met?”
“Not at all. My vice president informed me of Knight International’s interest in my company.”
The waiter returned with their order and placed the drinks in front of them.
He noted her emphasis on the word my. Naomi knew of his desire to control Brooks and Johnson, which made her a formidable adversary. “So you’ve prejudged me? You should know my interest is not only professional, but personal.”
Naomi chuckled, reached for her drink and took a few calming sips before answering. “C’mon, the only reason you’re trying to charm me is so you can find out more information on Brooks and Johnson.”
“That’s not the only reason.” Lucius sat upright and leaned closer to her. His eyes caught and held hers over the circle of light from the votive candle on the table between them. His dark eyes bored into hers and spoke without words of his desire for her. She dropped her eyes under his intense scrutiny.
Naomi might be confident in business, but just then he’d seen a flash of the old Naomi. The sensitive, innocent Naomi who’d once admired him. Now, however, he didn’t want her admiration—he wanted her to want him.
* * *
Naomi couldn’t hold Lucius’s gaze and lowered her lashes. His eyes had darkened dangerously with what Naomi felt was akin to lust. His face was hard and lean, just like his body. A body that was emphasized by the wine-colored polo shirt that revealed his bulging biceps and black jeans that showed off his trim waist and long legs.
Naomi felt an unwelcome surge of excitement. Her body felt heavy and warm due to his unrelenting gaze. She reached for her drink, and Lucius caught her hand. Naomi’s pulse pounded at the smoldering flame in his eyes.
“Why don’t we stop playing games? Let’s quit acting like there isn’t a mutual attraction sizzling between us.”
“There is no attraction,” Naomi threw back at him caustically.
“Don’t deny it. The chemistry has been there from the moment we reconnected.”
“Only a rich, arrogant millionaire intent on getting his greedy hands all over my company would say that.” She rose from the chair she was seated in. “Neither I nor my company is for sale, Lucius.”
She stalked out of the lounge with as much dignity as she could muster given that he was partly right. There was something there between them. She had to be on her guard with Lucius at all times. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—fall prey to his charms like most of the women he encountered.
She was in the elevator and the doors had nearly shut when Lucius caught up to her and worked them open with his large hands before stepping inside.
They were alone in the elevator.
Lucius glanced at the elevator buttons. “We’re on the same floor, fate is bringing us together.”
Then he walked purposely toward her, and Naomi automatically shrank back a couple of steps. But when she did, her back hit the wall—not a good position to be with a dangerously sexy man like Lucius. His hands splayed on either side of her face, caging her in.
“You do want me,” Lucius countered, “even if you won’t admit it.” He reached for a strand of her hair and twirled it around his index finger. “How about we put your resolve to the test, hmm?”
Naomi caught the challenging gleam in his eye right before his lips descended on hers. Naomi thought the kiss would be hard, but it was soft, as were his lips. She’d always wondered what they’d taste like, and now she knew. He sipped at her lips until she gasped and a low moan escaped her lungs. Lucius used it to his advantage, demanding full entry between her lips at the same time his hands slipped from the wall to cup her bottom so he could press her to him.
Naomi felt his hard, flat stomach and his broad chest as he held her firmly to him. She also felt the swell of his erection that sprang to life against her stomach. His hands ran up and down her body, and Naomi trembled.
Lucius lifted his head long enough to stroke her hair back from where some had fallen around her face, his eyes searching hers for a sign to stop. Finding none, he lowered his mouth once more to engage hers. He kissed her top lip, wetting and nibbling it with his tongue before going to her bottom lip. He sucked on it voraciously, and Naomi felt her nipples become taut and expectant. Of what?
Of Lucius’s mouth on them?
The elevator doors suddenly opened, and Naomi sprang from his embrace as if they were two randy teenagers caught making out underneath the bleachers. The bellman smiled at them both and pressed the button for the next floor.
Clearly, he knew what they’d been up to.
Did she?
What had possessed her to kiss Lucius back? Naomi knew what Lucius wanted, and she had no intention of succumbing. And as soon as the bellman was gone, she would tell him so.
She didn’t have to. Once he’d disembarked two floors up, Lucius turned to her. “That was bad timing. I should have waited until we were in my room.”
“Your room?” Naomi asked. Her shoulders squared. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Lucius’s hand rubbed his neatly cropped head. “Really? Are you going to act like you didn’t enjoy that kiss just now? Like if that bellman hadn’t interrupted us, you wouldn’t have been mine for the taking?”
“Of all the...” Naomi stabbed at the elevator button. She couldn’t wait for her floor to arrive.
Lucius leaned back against the wood paneling inside the elevator, regarding her quizzically. He watched the rise and fall of her chest, and his gaze immediately dropped from her eyes to her breasts. Was he assessing their size? Did he prefer huge breasts to her B-cup ones?
His eyes returned back to her face, and she felt flushed. He couldn’t know what she was thinking, could he?
“All right, Naomi. I’m going to let you go tonight.”
“Let me go?”
He smiled at the challenging tone in her voice. “That’s right. Because, trust me, if I tried, I could seduce you into my bed tonight, but I won’t. I want you to come there willingly.”
“There is no way in hell that’s happening.”
The elevator chimed and doors opened, indicating it was their floor. She stepped out and turned around long enough to hear Lucius say, “We’ll see. We’ll see.”
Chapter 4 (#u7fa79598-b083-56f1-8de7-c5944e8e9616)
Naomi was in a foul mood the next morning for the final day of the conference. She hadn’t slept well, having tossed and turned due to the melodramatic threat Lucius made the previous evening. He’d made it clear that the inevitability of them becoming lovers was a foregone conclusion.
Was he right?
Naomi didn’t want him to be.
Or did she?
He was right in that they had chemistry in spades, but how could there not be when he stared at her like he was dying of thirst in the desert and she was his oasis? It was enough to put any red-blooded woman on alert.
Once she’d returned to her hotel room, her mind had gone haywire. The memory of Lucius kissing her, his tongue delving deep inside her mouth, the way her nipples had turned rock hard along with the telltale sign of wetness between her legs, tormented her. It had been shocking how turned on she was by one kiss from Lucius. Naomi’s face flamed at the realization she’d wanted him—or at least her body did.
Was this a sign that her former crush on Lucius had never gone away and instead had just been buried deep in the recesses of her mind until his kiss brought it forward?
Why did this have to happen now? When she might possibly have to fight to keep her company? If Kelsey did indeed want to dissolve their partnership and sell her shares, it would leave Naomi vulnerable to an attack from Knight International. And not just on the business front. Lucius was coming for her personally.
She’d seen the determined look in his eye last night as the elevators doors shut. A look that told Naomi he meant to have her.
Would she be strong enough to fight him off when her own traitorous body found him irresistible?
* * *
Lucius woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed given there was no valet or butler to assist him for the day. He was on his own. And perhaps that was just as well. He suspected that to get through to Naomi he would have to be himself.
There were no airs to Miss Brooks. Instead, she was a woman who appreciated the simple, basic things in life. So he was sure it came as a shock to her that she too could be led astray by the desires of the flesh. She’d probably been bedding nice guys who had no idea how to bring out the vivacious woman he’d seen last night.
But she was there. He’d seen it in her eyes and body language.
And he was just the man to bring out the sensual side of her nature. Once he got her alone, he would seduce her. Last night, when his hands had roamed over her body, he’d had just a sample of what it would be like to touch that beautiful body of hers, and he craved more.
An added bonus was that while he was rattling Naomi’s cage, Adam would be working on Kelsey. The soon-to-be second-time mother might be his way to get enough shares of Brooks and Johnson for a takeover.
But first things first—he had a certain woman to woo.
Downstairs in the convention center, Lucius discovered that finding Naomi wasn’t all that easy. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think she was avoiding him. After reading the itinerary for the second day of the expo, he attended a lecture he’d thought would surely interest her, but when he’d arrived he’d found the lady wasn’t in attendance. Nor was she in the second lecture later that morning.
Lucius was quickly becoming annoyed that he’d yet to spot her—until he arrived at the trade show. Naomi was standing in front of her display talking to several customers. And she was doing a heck of a job. She’d convinced him, and he was only standing a few feet away.
She looked feminine in a sleeveless pink wraparound top and gray slacks and pink peep-toe pumps. Glittering silver earrings adorned her ears and only emphasized her beautiful face, on which she wore very little makeup other than a touch of blush, mascara and pink lipstick.
When she was done and had handed her business card to one of the customers, he applauded her.
She turned, and when she saw him, her smile faded. “Lucius.”
“Good morning,” he responded, not allowing her lackluster response to faze him. “I missed you this morning.”
“Duty calls.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“One of my salespeople came down with a bad case of food poisoning and is currently in their room praying to the porcelain god, so I’m here in their stead.”
“So it wasn’t my charming personality that kept you away?”
“You wish.” Naomi bent down and retrieved several cellophane-wrapped Brooks and Johnson products from underneath her display table.
“I was actually hoping I could steal you away and talk about how Brooks and Johnson might benefit from being part of Knight International.”
“Changing tactics, I see,” Naomi stated. She began stacking the promotional items on the table. “I have executives that handle that kind of stuff for me. Besides I’m needed here.”
“Don’t hide behind your work,” Lucius responded, glancing around him. “The trade show is going to slow down for lunch anyway, and you have to eat.”
Naomi let out a long, beleaguered sigh. “Fine. If it’ll get you off my back.” She turned and whispered something to her staff.
Lunch at a nearby bistro was not only delicious, but the conversation was less charged than their previous encounters. The change of flow seemed to please Naomi immensely, and she became more at ease during the course of the meal. They talked about politics. The Lakers. Even some charity work she’d started doing. Until eventually the conversation turned to business and the purpose for the lunch.
Lucius explained the reach of Knight International and how having a distribution arm like his would allow Brooks and Johnson to not only be a national phenomenon but an international success. “We could sell B and J products in stores abroad.”
“That’s all fine and good, Lucius,” Naomi responded, “but I’m happy with where the company is right now.”
“C’mon, don’t tell me you don’t have big dreams.”
“I do, but I also want to be approachable. I can’t do that overseas. I do want a family someday.”
Lucius frowned. Family. There was a dirty word in his vocabulary, and one he wasn’t altogether fond of. If it wasn’t for his grandma Ruby, he wouldn’t have any to speak of.
Naomi caught his frown, because she asked, “Are you not close with your family?”
His sat upright in his chair, his shoulders stiff. “No, I’m not.”
She must have detected his body language and the note of finality in his tone, which said he didn’t wish to continue on the subject, because she dropped it. “I have to get back.” Naomi used the napkin in her lap to wipe her mouth.
“So that’s it?” Lucius asked. “You’re not going to give my proposal any more thought?”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed. “I did. I gave you the benefit of lunch and you didn’t convince me that the company I started, I nurtured since infancy, belongs with someone who doesn’t even believe in the word family. Good day, Lucius.”
