Love me if you dare (6 page)

They
were having dessert when Charles’s phone rang.  He frowned, asked a few
pertinent questions that made Samantha sat up and listen.  One of their largest
customers had a potential take-over threat and needed their immediate
assistance to come up with a counter action to protect them against a hostile
action.  Charles paid the bill and they hastened to the office. They were about
to pull an all-nighter!

Nicolas
was livid when he slammed into her office early the next morning, startling her
awake from where she was taking a nap on her arms in front of her computer.

For
a moment she was disorientated and was still trying to rid her mind of the
fogginess, when her chair was swung around, and then he was there.  His hands
gripped the arms of the chair and his face was so close his nose nearly touched
hers.  His eyes bore into hers, the anger in him clear to see in his tense muscles,
his glaring gaze.

“Where
the hell have you been all night? And don’t lie to me, Samantha!”

“Nicolas,
what … for goodness sake … why do you always have to shout at me?  It is too
early in the morning for that!  How about, morning Samantha, how are you
Samantha!”

His
anger did not diminish, if anything it burned even higher.  He snarled the
words at her. “Answer me!”  When she still just sat staring at him, amazed at
his anger, he leaned even closer, his voice hoarse. “Did you spend the night
with him?”

She
frowned.  “With who?”

He
growled at her and clasped her chin in his hand, his voice deadly quiet. 
“Don’t Samantha.  I am very close to losing it!  Jones!  Did you spend the
night with him?”

“No! 
He is my partner!  We’ve never … how could you even think that?”

“Then
where were you?  I went to your apartment and wai …”

“My
apartment?  How did you know where I lived?”  His frustration at her
interrupting him and not giving him an answer was feeding his anger again and
he lifted her chin higher, ignoring her wince when he gripped her chin tighter.

“Now
that I know what continent you disappeared to, it was easy enough to find out
everything about you.  Now stop avoiding my question!”

She
looked in his eyes and saw the anger flash in their depths.  Why did it matter
so much to him?

“I
was here.  We had to work around the clock. A client of ours needed our help to
get them out of a hostile take-over.”  He visibly relaxed and let go of her
chin. 

“You
… you were jealous!”

He
let go of the chair and rose to look sardonically down at her.  “Jealous?  No,
Samantha.  What I am is possessive.  I do not share what is mine!”

Nicolas
paced back and forth behind the chair where Samantha was sitting.  James shook
his head, watching the man pacing like a caged tiger, ready to pounce. 

He
stopped pacing and glared at the back of Samantha’s head.  Did she really think
he would agree to this?  His hands fisted in his pockets and he continued
pacing. 

“Nicolas,
please tell me what you are thinking.”  Her voice was soft and pleading and he
cursed softly.  He went to stand beside James’ desk where he could face both of
them.

“No,
I don’t think so.”  Samantha hung her head in defeat, but only for a second,
then her violet eyes melted into his.

“Why
not?”

“Because
you will not be able to cope with both.  Being a Director of two growing and
International groups is not going to be easy!”

“How
do you know?  You have no idea what I am capable off! And you are the CEO of
four different companies, albeit not operational in all. How can you do it and
not me?”

“No,
I will not allow you to continue working with that man!” She gasped when he
gritted the words out.  Warmth settled low in her stomach at his
possessiveness, but now was not the time.

“Nicolas,
you are being unreasonable.  Charles will run the Northern hemisphere from New
York, and I the Southern from here.  I will hardly see him, and when I do need
to go for meetings, you can … you can always go with. I will put a strong team
in place here, so that I will not be needed on a daily basis.”  His expression
did not change, but he seemed to relax somewhat.  Seeing a small sign of
victory, she pressed on.

“Please,
at least think about it.  You know how much this mean to me!  Please, please
don’t make me choose … I beg of you!”

He
cursed again when he looked into the violet pools, so full of passion.  She
looked at him pleadingly, and he knew he could deny her nothing.

“Very
well, I agree to a trial period of six months.  If it doesn’t work, or if
anything goes wrong before then, it’s over!”  She flew off the chair into his
arms, locking her hands behind his neck and kissed him excitedly on his lips.
Cognizant of James sitting watching her shenanigans smilingly, Nicolas only
pressed her tightly against him, grumbling at the immediate reaction of his
body to her soft heat pressed against him.

“Thank
you … kiss … thank you … kiss … thank you … kiss …”  He was struggling more and
more to contain himself and not crush her against him and kiss her properly.

James
felt sorry for Nicolas, and gently pulled Samantha from his arms.  “That’ll be
quite enough, dear girl.  You are making the poor man blush.”

Samantha
laughed as her eyes met Nicolas’s, and sure enough there was a slight flush on
his cheeks, but she had felt his hardening body against hers, and knew it was
not her kisses that bothered him, rather than the fact they were not alone. 
She grinned seductively at him behind her uncle’s back as he turned to take his
seat behind his desk again.

“Minx!”

Uncle
Jamie cleared his throat to gain their attention.  “Now that we have sorted the
shares and working relationship out, there is still another condition in the
will neither of you have mentioned.  Or have you forgotten about it?”

Samantha
frowned, trying to recall what it was, but Nicolas’s traitorous body
immediately tightened in anticipation.

“I’m
sorry, Uncle Jamie, it was quite an emotional day…”

He
sighed, expecting an explosion. Clearly she had not even heard it in between
the other issues the day the testament was read.  He cleared his throat again
and glanced at Nicolas.

“I
can see that you remembered, so why have you not brought it up before now?  It
has been nearly a month since the testament was read.”

“And
Samantha only just returned from New York.  Still don’t know what took so long
to finalize everything.”  He grumbled.

“Very
well, then I suppose I have to be the bad guy once again.  The other issue,
Sammy, is that you and Nicolas are now co-owners of the Country Stud Estate
outside of Pretoria.  The condition attached to that was that the two of you
must live there together for at least one full year, before either one may sell
their share or get married to an outside party.”  And sure enough, she erupted.

“No!
No, no, no, no!”  She jumped up from her chair, and this time she was the one
pacing.  She slammed her fists on either side of her waist and glared at Jamie.

“No! 
This is totally ridiculous and unacceptable!  He cannot rule my life from the
grave!  I will not, Uncle Jamie!  And you!”  She shot forward and nearly poked
her pointed finger in Nicolas’s eye.

“You
can forget it too! It. Will. Not. Happen.”

“Be
reasonable, Samantha, darling.  You have to live somewhere, and we both know
you will not live with your mother and sister at the main estate.”

“I
am not your darling!  And I suppose living with you is a better option!  Forget
it!  It’s worse than … than … than Daniel in the Lions’ Den!”

She
grabbed her bag from behind the chair she had sat on, and stalked to the door,
where she swung around to glare at the two of them again.

“I
cannot believe you allowed him to put such a condition in his testament, Uncle
Jamie!  What kind of a lawyer are you!  And you … you can wipe that grin from
you face!  I am not sharing a house with you, not even one as big as the Country
ranch!”  She stomped through the door, still grumbling angrily.

Nicolas
could not wipe the grin from his face. He caught Jamie’s eye, his expression
one of amazement and wonder.  Nicolas burst out laughing. 

“I
think the lady doth protest too much, hey Jamie?”

Samantha
deliberately stayed away from Global Consulting for another week. She ignored
Nicolas’s constant phone calls, and even moved to a different hotel.  She was
sure he had a hand in this new ‘condition’ in the testament.  She would not stay
with him!  Not until pigs could fly!

She
spent the week setting up the South Hemisphere offices at Crayon.  Arranged for
the new branding and finalized the job profiles for all the positions she
needed to fill as her support to run the partnership from there. She conducted
Executive, management and departmental meetings, even met with all the staff in
an open meeting to set everyone’s mind at rest that nothing was about to change
- except for the better. 

At
the end of the week she was exhausted and fell into bed tired to the bone, but
very happy.  Happy, that she was well liked at Crayon, and that she had set the
ball rolling, to an exciting and challenging future.  Now, the next step Global
Consulting … and Nicolas …

Early
Monday morning she walked into the lobby of Global Consulting with a spring in
her step.  She had caught up with some much needed sleep over the weekend and
felt fresh and energetic this morning. She was unsure what welcome she was
about to receive by the Executives, as she was still young, and some of them
were relatively conservative and did not believe women belonged in the
boardroom. She refused to allow that to damper her excitement.  This was the
second step in her new life, even if it was forced on her by her father … from
his grave.

She
walked into the elevator, turned and saw Nicolas walking hurriedly towards
her.  “Hold the elevator!”  She smiled as the doors slid close and waved at him
with a cheeky grin when the doors closed before he could reach it.  She laughed
gaily in the empty elevator and quickly glanced at her reflection in the
mirrors around her.

She
wore a professional dark charcoal pant suit with a soft, silky cream shirt that
hugged her plump, but firm breasts, high heels and her hair pulled up and back
in a loose knot at the back of her head.  She looked sheik and the picture of a
professional executive.  She gave herself a thumbs up when the elevator came to
a stop on her floor and she swiftly walked out, noticing that the second
elevator was rapidly rising to this floor, with none other than Nicolas as its
occupant of course!

She
smiled at the executive assistants already busy at work behind their desks and
walked quickly with confident strides to the office in the corner, smiling
broadly when she noticed Getrude behind her desk in the reception area in front
of it.  She looked up as she came closer, smiled professionally and enquired
friendly.  “Morning, how may I assist you?”

“You
can get up from behind that desk your old hoot, and come over here and greet me
properly!”

Gertrude’s
mouth fell open hearing the ‘old hoot’ as only Samantha lovingly called her. 
Tears filled her eyes and she jumped up with a shriek.

“Sam! 
Sammy!  Is it really you?”  She embraced her and hugged her fiercely against
her.  She pushed her away and shook her head, tears slowly running down her
cheeks.

“You
have really grown up … and so beautiful at that! Oh, how I’ve missed you!”  She
pulled her close and hugged her again.

She
knew the moment Nicolas arrived behind her when his electric presence engulfed
her entire body and responded immediately to his closeness and she had to take
deep breaths to take control of her emotions.  She just knew that he would not
let her get away with her actions of the past week.  He was not happy if he did
not have the upper hand!

“Morning,
Nicolas. Did you have a nice weekend?”  Gertrude asked Nicolas as soon as she
noticed him.

“Not
particularly.” He growled, waiting for Samantha to face him.  He deliberately
did not elaborate and his eyes locked with hers when she eventually turned
around.  She smiled brightly at him.

“Morning,
Nicolas.  It is a beautiful morning, isn’t it?”  His expression did not change;
his lips remained compressed in a tight line.  She ignored him for a whole
week, and now she dare stand there and pretend as if she was not aware of his
constant phone calls!

Gertrude
looked from the one to the other with interest, aware of the undercurrents
flowing between them.

“You
lost your cell phone, then Samantha?”  She flushed and sighed.  He was not even
going to wait until they were alone before he started shouting at her.

“No,
why?  Were you looking for me?”  This, in a sweet, innocent tone, with a wide
smile to add insult to the injury.  He fumed, nearly crushed her with the anger
in his eyes.

“Ehm
… can I bring you two some coffee?”  Gertrude subtly tried to break the
tension, throwing a warning glance in Samantha’s direction.

“Yes,
please Gertrude, in my office.”  He reached out to grip Samantha’s elbow and
steered her into the office.  The moment the door closed behind him, he threw
his laptop bag down, and pulled her around against him and closed his mouth
over hers, all in one movement. 

He
groaned as her soft body leaned into his, and he pulled her closer.  His hands
stroked down her back, over her rounded bottom, as if reminding him of her
shape.  His mouth was pure heat on hers, and when his tongue pried her mouth
open, she allowed him in and the passion immediately flowed from the one into
the other.

Her
hands were not idle either and she caressed his strong arms, his muscled chest
and back, her nails dug into his back when he pulled her even harder against
him, grinding his aroused shaft into her soft body. Suddenly he pushed her away
from him and glared at her.

“No! 
You will not get away with it so easily! Where have you been the whole week,
and why did you ignore all my phone calls!”

Her
eyes were still hazed over with their just shared passion, but she looked at
him with a wry smile on her lips.  Slowly shaking her head, she bent to pick up
her own laptop bag that fell out of her hand when he pulled her against him,
then walked towards the couch.

“Tsk,
tsk, tsk … you are shouting again so early in the morning, Nicolas.  How about,
hi Samantha, how are you today, Samantha?”

She
dared a quick glance in his direction and realized that he really was still
angry with her.

“You
really don’t want to antagonize me just know, Samantha.”  He sighed and his
eyes singed her from top to bottom and back up again.  “Why is your hair up?  I
don’t like it.  Take it down.”

Her
hand rose to the loose knot at the nape of her neck and she gaped at him.  “You
don’t like it?  Take it down?  Since when do you have the right to tell me how
to wear my hair!

Before
he could answer Gertrude knocked briefly on the door and entered with the tray
of coffee and biscuits.

“Mmmm
… Gertrude, that smells wonderful.  Thank you.”

“Gertrude,
please arrange for an early meeting with all the Executives, no excuses please,
then senior managers, them Departments, and so on.  I’d like to introduce
Samantha properly into the business before the end of day.”

“Oh,
this is going to be a very interesting day!  I can just imagine some of those
old coots’ reaction when you introduce her to them.”

“Yes,
I can’t wait.  It will be interesting to see how she handles them.  It will
make for some interesting and fun days.”