Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (20 page)

           
“Let’s get something straight right now. I will never be a forceful, sexual go
getter. And even if I were, I’m not attracted to anyone like I am to Drake.”
Nadia brought up a finger to make a point. “And, I’m repeating myself here, but
like I said, he would never want me like that.”

           
Renee’s face was priceless.

           
“Honey, he is a red blooded man. Scratch that, he is a red blooded
Texas
man. You blink at him the right way, and I guarantee that he would crawl over
cut glass for you.”

           
“Yeah, right, not when he has every woman in five states
clamoring after him.
It is sickening.”

           
Renee slapped her on the shoulder. “Wake the hell up girl! You are a
successful, beautiful, and caring woman. Drake knows this. All you have to do
is make him realize that you are up for anything he throws at you.”

           
Nadia rubbed her aching bicep and sent Renee a glare. “Those are nice words,
but I know for a fact he doesn’t want me like that because it came straight
from his mouth.”

           
Now Renee looked really confused. “But I don’t see why he wouldn’t want you.
There is nothing about you that is repulsive. Any guy would be lucky to have
you.” Renee shook her head. “I just don’t get it.”

           
Neither did Nadia. And she had learned it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
She hadn’t wanted to believe him, but her young heart had shattered with his
words and after that she had never tried to push her feelings or desires onto
him. It had taken her months to even think about the conversation without
breaking down in tears.

           
“He picked me up for a dinner date on my seventeenth birthday.” Nadia blinked
back stupid teenage emotions. “Of course being the naïve and idealistic young
girl that I was, I expected something that I never would get. What I got was
Drake with a supermodel of his and my night turned crappy from there on. At the
end of the dinner date I listened with half an ear to Drake telling Ms. Skinny
that her notions of my adolescent crush were unfounded. He managed in mere
words to tear down any illusions that I had right then and there.”

           
Blue eyes gave her a long look. “
Nadia, that
was when
you were seventeen. It has nothing to do with now. Surely you realize that.”

           
She just shook her head and remembered the pain from that night. She had
primped and planned, strategized to get her look just right, and inside she
knew that it was all for nothing. He was an older man and she was a teenager.
What would she have done for him? But it hadn’t stopped her and by the end of
the night she had learned her lesson the hard way. She could still hear his
deep voice in her head.

           
“Chantal, she is just a teenager.”

           
“But Drake I can practically feel her stripping you down in her mind whenever
you aren’t looking.”

           
“Don’t be absurd. She is a child who is lost and looking for someone’s help.
Besides, if there is anyone that I would be attracted to it would be a certain
beautiful blonde, not some skinny, small little woman child. She is like family
to me, Chantal. I could never want her like that.”

           
The
remembered words tore a fresh wound into Nadia. She could never make Renee
understand just how hurt she had been by those offhand words. This was her
burden to bear. She would keep those spiteful words and their meaning locked up
tight inside her where they would never harm her again. She would move past
this, just like she had moved past everything else in life that hurt her.

***

           
“Tell me that you are joking,” Renee said Thursday afternoon as they sat in
Nadia’s office going over the guest list for the gala event in Dallas that
would take place one week from Saturday. The month of June was always busy.

           
“I’m telling you exactly what I heard from Donavan’s secretary.” Thank God
Natalie was a soft hearted woman; otherwise, Nadia would have found out herself
that Donavan planned on going to the gala event even as he knew she would be
there. Nadia drew comfort knowing that he couldn’t come within 100 feet of her.
But still, something inside of her rankled; she didn’t trust him one bit.

           
“That son of a bitch is doing this just to scare you. That’s all,” Renee said
with assurance.

“Well,
he is doing a bang up job about it,” Nadia muttered, being honest.

           
“Ah honey, don’t worry, you always have security at events like these and this
gala has been one of your babies from the get go. Don’t you dare let scum like
Donavan ruin that, and,” Renee’s eyebrows rose with implication, “you still
have that restraining order.”

           
“I won’t, believe me, but I’ll just have to put on a brave front and not let
his attendance bother me,” She said as she moved some paperwork around her
desk. “And like you said, there still is the restraining order.”  Finding
what she was looking for, she waved the paper around like the winner of a
contest. Then she caught the mischievous look on Renee’s face.

           
“Whatever you are thinking of, stop it right now. I know that look and it is
nothing but trouble.”

           
Renee’s blue eyes turned positively radiant. “Honey, I have figured out your
solution.”

           
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it is bad for me.”

           
Renee’s pretty mouth turned down in a pout. “Now, why would you say that?

           
“Only because your mind is devious and I don’t want it to land me in hot
water.” Nadia spoke truthfully and waited with baited breath to see what her
secretary had to say.

           
“The answer to your problems is right under your nose, literally.” Renee
pointed down.

           
Nadia glanced down, looking at the papers on her desk, seeing nothing that
stood out. Until her gaze snagged on the card that had come with the flowers
Drake had delivered weeks ago. She felt a very feminine, very wicked thrill
move through her body.

           
“No.”

           
“How did I know you were going to say that?” Renee muttered, not to happily.

           
“Because you know it won’t work. Why would I put myself through that just for
some form of protection?”

           
“Because he is like a bull in full rut whenever you are
around.
He cares about your wellbeing enough to spend the night in your
home to make sure you are okay. He rescued your ass from the specific guy that
will be in attendance that same night.” Renee’s blue eyes sparkled deviously
and Nadia wanted to smack her. “There are many other reasons. One of them is
that you have loved him for forever, he will be within touching distance at all
times, you could just reach out…”

           
“Stop, this is insane. I can’t just make Drake tag along to something like this
for my protection.”

           
“Why not?
He is on the attendance list, isn’t he?”

           
Nadia shut up at that. He was in fact on the list. Matter of fact, he had
already
RSVP’d
her to let her know he was going.

           
“He already
RSVP’d
. That means he probably has a date
already,” She told Renee with a sulky voice. God, was that her speaking like
that? Sounding like a two year old whose toy had been taken away?

           
“Honey, you won’t know until you call, will you?”

           
Damn her for being right. “But I still have the order.”

           
“Girl, you think after what Donavan already had the balls to do to you, that he
would stop with some little order? I know we both hope that, but be realistic.
The man is nuts. And, if Drake tags along as your date, you know you would be
protected from anything that might happen.”

           
Nadia sat there and contemplated what Renee was saying. The bad thing was every
word from her friend’s mouth made complete sense.

           
You are ten times a fool.

           
Well, of course she was, which was why she was here, walking up Drake’s front
walk at eight thirty at night, on a Friday night of all things. But his truck
was parked in the drive.

           
She had called repeatedly, both his office and his cell, and
he
hadn’t answered neither
. He had told her weeks ago that he had his calls
rolled over so that he could pick them up anywhere, but he hadn’t answered at
any of those locations. And Nadia knew if she didn’t get an answer for her
specific question tonight, then she just might go crazy.

           
I can’t believe that I’m actually doing this.

           
Things could always be worse, but for Nadia this ranked pretty low on the list.
She never imagined she would be basically reduced to begging Drake for his
help. Hell, there were plenty of other guys out there that would bring her,
keep her company and such, but Nadia knew Drake could handle Donavan if he got
out of line. Right now that was all that mattered-keeping Donavan and his slimy
hands off of her.

           
His front door was unlocked, and Nadia knocked three times before going in. The
looming entrance was massive with open beamed ceilings and rustic ambiance. The
quiet of the large house closed in on her and immediately Nadia had a horrible
thought.

           
What if he has a woman here?

           
Shit. There was no way she was going to barge in on that. Standing there Nadia
had a wavering moment. Should she turn around and leave immediately or should
she take fate in her hands and look for Drake, ask him what she needed to ask,
and get things over with? The option was taken from her when she heard a low,
barely audible click-clack on the hardwood floors.

Ah
damn, he does have a woman here.

Feeling
about as low as she could feel, Nadia turned towards the sound that was coming
from a hallway off to the side of the kitchen. What she saw crystallized the
breath in her lungs. There was no woman in high heels standing there, shooting
daggers at her. Instead there was a very large, very menacing looking, pure
black German shepherd. Liquid black eyes categorized every muscle on Nadia’s
frame. And she made damn sure that she didn’t move too fast as she slowly
started to inch towards the front door behind her.

“Pretty
doggy, you stay right where you are and I’ll leave and we can just act like I
was never here, okay?”

The
massive animal just stared at her with intelligent, all knowing eyes, and Nadia
felt stupid for talking to it in such a sing song voice. It was apparent the
animal was extremely smart.

“Nadia?”

The
questioning voice snapped her out of the trance she was under with the dog and
she turned.

           
Drake stood under an arch that lead to what Nadia assumed were bedrooms. His
massive body was nude except for one lone towel, dark blue in color, draped
seductively low around those hard hips of his. Nadia’s mouth dried to dust. She
couldn’t even form coherent words. Her eyes were glued to his body. She
realized this was as close to heaven as she would ever get. Her fingertips
started to tingle.

           
Large slabs of muscle delineated his chest area where a smattering of dark hair
formed a triangle, then moved down in one tiny little line towards the towel,
disappearing there. His arms were at his sides but even in rest, Nadia could
see tendons roping under hard skin and the beautiful liquid movement of muscle
when he propped one arm on his hip. When that arm moved she caught the dark
edge of something hiding beneath his towel. Her eyes narrowed and she realized
it was the beginning of a tattoo. Her shocked eyes slammed back to his.

           
He wasn’t smiling. Matter of fact, he looked pissed off. Nadia immediately
started talking.

           
“Um…sorry, I wasn’t trying to interfere with whatever…um…I need a favor
from…no…I need to ask a favor of you. That is if you aren’t busy being naked…Oh
God, I mean busy making other plans with another woman…Just let me stop
talking.” Nadia took a deep breath before letting her eyes come back to Drake’s
face. Now he was smiling. Of course, she had just made an ass of herself. She
watched as he sauntered closer and tucked the towel a bit more while he did so,
his crooked smile on his face the whole time, the wretch. The massive dog
trailed behind him.

           
One hand gestured towards the huge dog by his side, “This is Lila, sorry if she
startled you. She is nothing but a big puppy.” Then he looked directly at her
again. “Why don’t you take a deep breath, start from the beginning, and then
try again.” His eyes sparkled at her in humor. She didn’t find any of this the
least bit humorous.

           
“I need a date for the Dallas Black Tie gala.” Her eyes landed on his face only
this time, while she licked her lips. “And I need it to be you.” There, it was
out. Nadia pressed her hand against her abdomen and she could feel her heart
fluttering in nervousness. She looked down to where her creased trousers met
her peep toe shoes. The bright red shoes were her one concession to shocking
footwear. Her wild side rarely came out. Standing in Drake Thompson’s house,
asking him, basically, on a date, was something she never thought she would do
in a million years. Apparently her wild side was calling the shots now.