Her Unexpected Admirer (3 page)

She hadn’t seen the eyes watching her entrance, nor did she see those same eyes watching her bottom wiggle on the chair.  The smoldering intent changed slightly, becoming more intense as Davis thought about his hands on her very round, very sexy bottom. 

The bartender smiled, thrilled to not have to pour another white wine or tedious blend of scotch.  “You got it,” he said with enthusiasm.  “I’ll be right back.”

Kate smiled gratefully to him, then closed her eyes once more, letting the music transform her day. 

“Here you go,” he said a few moments later, and placed a pink martini in front of her.  “If you don’t like it, no charge.” 

She laughed, delighted with the frilly drink.  “What is it?” she asked in almost a whisper. 

He winked at her.  “Try it first.  See if you can figure it out.”

Davis watched in fascination as the enchanting woman lifted the disgusting looking drink to her rose bud lips, his body tightening in response.  Was she doing that on purpose?  Did she have any idea how erotic that looked? 

Ten minutes ago, when she’d first walked in, he would have said no.  She’d looked too innocent, too delighted to be one of the hard core, professional women who frequented this bar.  If it weren’t for her horrible suit that was two sizes too large and those hideous black pumps with the matronly one inch, thick heel, he might even suspect she was a prostitute.  She had that sexy look about her, but the suit and the shoes…no.  A professional would be wearing stilettos and a tight, figure hugging suit.  A professional wouldn’t be caught dead in suit like this woman had donned.  It also looked cheap, wrinkled.  Almost like she’d slept in it. 

But her eyes!  They were astonishing.  And her cheekbones?  He knew fashion models who had pulled their back teeth to make their cheekbones look like that.  But not having back teeth didn’t seem to be this woman’s problem.  A lack of molars made it hard to chew and this woman munched on a pretzel, obviously not having any trouble with the hard treat. 

What the hell was she drinking?  The bartender seemed to be pretty proud of whatever the pink concoction was but Davis wouldn’t be caught dead drinking such a thing. 

Time to explore, he thought, picking up his drink and moving towards the bar.

“What is it?” he asked, sitting down next to her at the bar.

Kate’s eyes snapped open, then she looked up at the enormous man sitting on the stool next to her.  “Excuse me?” she asked, her voice tripping as she examined his height and breadth.  He was shockingly attractive, she thought.  And huge!  And goodness, he was hot!  Everything about him screamed confidence and sex appeal.  The impact on her senses was more powerful than the music and the drink combined. 

“The drink.  What’s in it?”

Kate looked down at the drink, then back up at the man’s intimidating features. They weren’t bad looking.  In fact, most women would probably consider him extremely handsome with his black hair and dark, mysterious eyes that revealed nothing.  Her eyes drifted to his lips and the artist in her desperately wanted to paint him.  Naked.  She caught her breath at the idea, her eyes moving over his large body, noting the taut fabric because of muscles, not because the material was straining against extra weight.  In fact, his stomach looked flat and hard.  Her mind instantly started to wonder how she would pose him and she blushed at the possibilities. 

“Do I pass?” he asked with a half-smile on his hard looking mouth.

Kate’s eyes shot back up to his and she felt her face flame red.  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her fingers moving up to cover her cheeks.  “That was inappropriate of me.”

Davis laughed, delighted with her freshness.  “I’ll forgive you if you’ll tell me your name.”

Kate cringed, feeling horrible.  “I’m Kate Evans,” she told him, extending her hand in what she hoped was an appropriate manner.  “And I should never have objectified you like that.  I would never have done it if I hadn’t been drinking. But this seems to be a very strong drink and I’m not used to drinking.  I almost never drink.  In fact…” she realized that she was rambling and closed her mouth.  “Never mind,” she whispered, taking another long sip of her drink. 

“Why did you stop?” he asked, enjoying her refreshing innocence as well as her erotic image.  The two seemed completely opposite and somehow, she pulled it off.  The combination was heady and he intended to explore other combinations she might have hidden.  He wondered if she practiced the image in the mirror.  She couldn’t be real, he thought. 

Did he care?  Not at all. 

“Two more drinks,” he said to the bartender. 

The man snapped to attention, quickly pouring another bourbon and mixing another martini.

“I probably shouldn’t have a second,” she said, but licked her lips as she drained the first glass.  “But I don’t care.  Tonight, I’m not worrying about anything!”

She thanked the bartender sweetly as he took her first drink and placed the second on a fresh napkin.

“You never told me what is in that,” he said, staring down at the martini glass with the pink liquid and twist of lime.  “It looks awful.”

Kate laughed, feeling relaxed with the music flowing around her and the alcohol in her system, not to mention the attention of a gorgeous, sexy man.  It was almost like she was a different person. 

“It is a watermelon martini,” she explained with a grin and an unconscious twinkle in her crystal blue eyes.  “It has crushed watermelon, whipped cream vodka and watermelon liqueur.”  She took a sip, smiling at him over the rim of her glass.  “Oh, and a squeeze of lime as well.”

Davis stared at her, trying to hide his revulsion.  “I was right.  That is disgusting.”

Kate didn’t take offense.  She liked it.  “It’s pretty sweet, but also just what I needed.”

“Bad day?” he asked, thinking back to the information Jeff had conveyed.  Davis had added up the numbers.  Someone had stolen between five and nine million dollars over the past year.  And that someone was going to pay dearly for such abuse. 

Kate sighed.  “It’s over,” she said, leaning her chin on the upright palm of her hand.  “You looked very angry a moment ago, but that’s all gone now.  What just went through your mind?”

Davis was astonished that she’d noticed.  Most people said he was a man without emotions.  He chuckled every time he read such a thing in a news article or magazine.  It wasn’t that he was emotionless.  He just didn’t put his feelings out there for others to see. But this slender beauty caught a flash of something he’d thought was well hidden. 

He pushed that issue aside and focused on getting to know this mysterious woman in the bad suit and grandmother shoes.  “Doesn’t matter.  Tell me about yourself.”

She smiled and Davis felt a punch of something, his eyes sharpening on her delicate structure.  He wasn’t sure what had just happened, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.  He didn’t like surprises and this woman had delivered one just by smiling!

Kate sighed and twirled her drink slightly, needing to look at something other than this man’s eyes.  They were distracting and fascinating.  “My day was fine until the last hour.  Then it all came tumbling down.”  She took another long sip of her drink, enjoying the way her shoulders no longer felt like they had a granite weight on them. 

“What happened?” he asked, truly interested.  Another surprise.  She didn’t look like the kind of woman who would allow stress to get to her.  He’d known many flighty women but somehow, she didn’t fit the stereotype.  But he couldn’t place her in a category.  Not yet, anyway. 

Kate turned to stare at her drink.  “I’m an accountant,” she explained, almost embarrassed to admit it.  “But not a very good one, apparently.”  She cringed as she thought back to her closet sized office and her father’s fury at her latest mistake. 

“Why would you say that?”  She dressed like an accountant, he supposed.  Well, at least like the accountants he’d run into.  He supposed that some accountants could be well dressed fashionistas but in his experience, they tended to lose themselves in the numbers and not worry so much about what they looked like. 

Kate took another sip, needing the alcohol to continue with her admission.  “Because I’m horrible with numbers.  They just aren’t what my brain looks at,” she said.  Her eyes flashed up to his, then down his magnificent body. 

“What does your brain look at?” he asked, having caught the flash of her eyes. 

She looked back down at her drink, fiddling with the stem of the glass.  “Oh, I don’t know really,” she lied.  “I guess I’m just wired incorrectly for the accounting field.”  She wondered what her father would do if she told him she was quitting and would be painting full time from now on.  She suspected he would be furious, but the idea suddenly had a lot of merit.  Should she find another accounting job or just risk it all on art? 

“Why do you stay in the job then?”

She shrugged.  “It pays the rent.”

“Is that really what you want to do with your life?” he asked softly, his hand taking hers, the strong thumb rubbing against her fingers.  “Do you really want to live a life doing what you hate?”

His hand was sending shivers along her entire body.  She couldn’t believe how much just a simple touch was making her mind spin out of control.  “Not really,” she whispered back up to him. 

“Then why not follow your passions?” he asked.

She smiled nervously.  “Passions don’t pay the rent.” 

“They do if you are good at it.”  He twisted her hand around, his thumb tracing patterns over the palm of her hand, causing her to shiver and some strange sensation pooled in her stomach, moving lower.  It was almost embarrassing, that feeling. 

“I’m good at something,” she replied, thinking of her art work and the check she’d just received. 

Davis smiled slightly. “I bet you are.”  His thumb moved higher, resting on the pulse beating at her wrist.  “Tell me what your passions are.” 

Her breath quickened and she blinked, trying to think of what his question was.  It was hard to focus with his thumb doing that to her palm.  Goodness, what was this man doing to her? 

“Um….I’m very good at…” his thumb reached her wrist again and she stopped, staring down at his dark hand holding her pale one.  It was so much larger than hers, so much stronger.  The difference was fascinating.  She was pretty sure that she wanted to paint just this, their two hands gently holding the other, but her mind wasn’t sharp enough at the moment to form that thought completely. 

“Have dinner with me and tell me about the things you’re good at,” he commanded.

Kate looked up at his handsome face and nodded.  She wasn’t even aware of her nod until the flare of victory in his eyes flashed and she smiled up at him.  “I’d like that,” she whispered.

A moment later, he tossed several bills down on the bar and took her hand, leading her out of the bar and into the elevator.  “Where are we going?” she asked, not sure this was a good idea any longer.  Why weren’t they heading to the hotel dining room?  Or one of the restaurants that lined the street? 

They were the only two people in the elevator at the moment and it whisked them up higher.  She was captured by his eyes, her neck craned backwards to see his face.  She loved looking at his eyes, amazed at their color.  “Your eyes are blue,” she said, sounding silly but she’d thought they were a dark brown initially. 

He moved closer to her, saw her mouth fall open slightly and was entranced by that silent invitation.  Normally, he would act on that but he suspected that Kate didn’t realize what she was offering. 

“Yes.  They’re dark blue,” he replied, chuckling at the blush that stole up her cheeks again.  “And yours are a light blue.  A fascinating, light blue that changes to a slightly darker blue when you are thinking about something.”  He reached up and slid his finger down her cheek. “What are you thinking about right now?” he asked.

She inhaled, loving the way he smelled.  “I’m thinking that you smell incredibly nice,” she admitted. 

He smiled again.  “So do you.  Like watermelon,” he told her.

She cringed but there was humor in her eyes.  “It was a silly drink, I know.  But it was perfect.”

The elevator opened up and he stepped through the doors, right into the penthouse suite of the hotel.  “What would you like for dinner?” he asked, lifting the phone to call the kitchen. 

Kate looked around, intimidated by the wealth she was seeing. “Um…anything is fine.”

Davis called down an order for something with chicken, telling the chef to surprise them.  He also had the butler service bring up a bottle of wine as well as some appetizers.  He wanted Kate relaxed, but not drunk tonight.

“Why don’t you take off your jacket?” he suggested, doing the same.  He whipped off his tie as well, tossing both onto the soft-looking sofa. 

“What do you do?” she asked, following his lead but holding the jacket over her arms, not sure she wanted that barrier gone. 

“You mean, besides seduce innocent women who show up in bars?” he asked, teasing her.  He moved closer to her, taking her jacket.  “I fully intend to try and make love to you tonight, Kate.  But I didn’t bring you up here to do that.”  His hand cupped her check, then moved to touch the strands of her hair that had come loose from the intricate swirl on the back of her head.  “I can’t eat in the dining room without being disturbed.  I thought this would be a bit more private.”