ROMANCE: Bear Naked Passion (Billionaire Bear Trio Book 2) (32 page)

“Somehow I feel like this is the whole started from the bottom and now you are at the top cliché story I have heard a little too well.”

“Well, it is true.”

“I know it is but Donald Trump also claims to have started out from the top yet he had a ‘small’ six figure loan to start his empire.”

“If it makes you feel better I never had a six figure lump sum to begin my business or anything of the sort.”

Dalia bit her lower lip and brushed off a strand of her hair as she looked at her menu. She looked at it for a long minute before she frowned.

“This is all too foreign… I mean, Chinese, Thai cuisines. This, I have tried but this?” she shook her head. “I have never even considered Vietnamese food.” 

Kyle smiled.

“Need me to help you out?” he asked and she nodded.

“Please.”

She put her menu down and watched in surprise as he mentioned the foods in the menu in perfect Vietnamese accent. She raised an eyebrow over the other, obviously surprised.

“And you speak the language.” She shook her head. “Have any more rabbits you want to pull out of the hat?”

“Like I said, I started out pretty low in the financial world and in that time, I spent some time in Asia. Bangkok, Hanoi, Japan.”

“Forgive me if I seem extremely clueless but you are in the motoring industry and I know for a fact that countries like Japan make vehicles for…countries that are not us. People who drive on the wrong side of the road.”

Kyle smiled.

“Have you ever considered that maybe we are the ones who drive on the wrong side of the road?” he asked and she rolled her eyes.

“We are America. Everything we do is right. Pun intended.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said nodding. “Including slavery and segregation.”

Dalia smiled. Kyle always knew how to hit her at the exactly right spot.

“Touché,” she said.

The waiter came back with their food. She looked at him and she looked at her plate. It all looked so good and smelled delicious. But the fact remained that she didn’t have the first clue what she was looking at. She took a sip of her red wine and put her glass down.

“This looks great but…” she started as she looked at him, shaking her head.

“You are looking at a noodle dip, a couple of spring rolls and some spicy chicken on a bed of fried rice.” He took a sip of his own wine. “And it all washes down perfectly with a good glass of red wine.”

“Wow,” she said in a soft voice.

“I know, right?” Kyle took his chopsticks out of the covering. “You have not lived until you have had at least one spring roll from every Asian country…well, from the ones you can visit without fear of causing an international incident.”

“You really have been around the world, haven’t you?” Dalia asked as she took a bite of her food.

“Yeah, I guess I have,” Kyle said nodding.

“Oh my god…this is amazing,” Dalia said in a whisper, thought loud enough for Kyle to hear, making him grin widely. “What do you call this anyway?” she asked.

“The name is a little too long and I still have some work to do when it comes to training you in the language and the culture…the whole nine yards.”

She smiled and shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess we do have to work on the language and culture stuff, huh?”

“Yeah…I guess.”

Kyle took a bite of his own food and then looked at her.

“So, I have to ask, Uncle Sam,” he started and she nodded. “Three generations?”

“Actually, four. That I know of,” Dalia started. “I would have wanted to be out there but I guess I was not the right fit. Physically that is.”

“Really?” Kyle was sure he heard something in her voice that made him doubt her reasons. Because he had seen a number of plus size, sometimes even overweight military men and women. All it took was some hardcore drills and wouldn’t you know it, you would be back in tip top shape.

“Fine. I hated the idea of spending all my time wondering whether I would wake up the next morning,” she said. “Plus I hate loud sudden noises and that usually happens in warzones.”

Kyle smiled.

“Yeah it does.”

“So, that is it about me. How about you, Mr. Moody?” she asked.

“I thought we were going to drop the whole formal talk.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t really know how to talk to you in any other way,” Dalia said in a soft voice. “I have always just addressed you as mister…it is just strange to suddenly start calling you Kyle.”

“What if I want you to address me as Kyle? Would that change anything?” he asked and she shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

Dalia was confused. She was not sure what he was on about. The whole day, she had been trying to decipher what his words meant all day but she was still not understanding what was going on. All she knew was that he was being friendly…a little friendlier than he usually was. He was the kind of boss that she actually didn’t mind working for. He was everything everyone hoped to get in a superior when they began their career and that was exactly what she got.

“I mean that I have known you long enough, and I call you Dalia anyway.”

“Yes you do,” she said smiling before taking another bite of her food. “Not that I mind it at all or anything.”

“I’m just trying to make sure that you are comfortable with me,” he said and she looked up at him. Right into his eyes. Those words had caught his attention.

“Comfortable with you?” she asked, unsure of what he had in mind.

“You know when HR calls you into the office and breaks news to you…the not so pleasant news. There is a way they do it,” he started.

“Yeah the sandwich news,” Dalia said smiling and Kyle frowned.

“Sandwich…what now?” he asked.

“It is when you give bad news but before you do it you give good news first and then finish with more good news. So that way, you get to…break the devastating news without actually hurting someone’s feelings,” she explained.

“Wait, that actually works?” he asked, smiling.

“Yeah. It was part of the sensitivity training that
you
ordered the entire office to take.”

A smile played on his lips

“I like to ensure that the employees are happy. But I also seem to remember that this was your suggestion.”

Dalia shrugged.

“You asked me to find out what the best way to get people to get along at the office so….there’s that.”

“Yeah, the wealth of a company is in its employees,” he said as he looked into her eyes.

There was a long silence before she finally found the courage to speak again.

“What’s going on today, Kyle?” she asked. “You have been asking these deeply personal questions and I have to wonder what is going on?”

“So you saw it right through me, huh?” Kyle asked.

“Well, it was kind of impossible not to.”

“And here I was, thinking I was being so discreet and everything.”

“I hate that I am actually uneasy but hey, I can’t help what I feel.”

Kyle put his chopsticks down and looked at her.

“What are you feeling, exactly?” he asked as he looked at her. His eyes were looking right into hers. She wanted to say that she felt like there was more to the story than met the eye. She wanted to tell him that she felt like he was trying to pick at her past for what reason, she didn’t know.

“I don’t know…I’m not very sure…” her words trailed off when he reached for her hand and gently placed it on hers. Her heart began racing as she felt the warmth of his hand. She looked at the contrasting colors of their skin and bit her lower lip. She didn’t know it at the moment but she looked extremely sexy. The noise in the restaurant was drowned by the own thumping sound of her beating heart.

“I think you already know what you want to say because it is not just today, Dalia. I have been trying to get through to you for the last few months,” Kyle started. “I just didn’t want you to be caught off guard or even…”

Dalia shook her head. She could see where this conversation was going and for some reason, she was freaked out. She looked at him her lower lip quivered.

“Mr. Moody…” she started before he shook his head.

“Dalia, I have asked you for coffee for at least four times and you have turned me down every single time and I don’t know what more you need me to do before I actually admit that I have feelings for you.”

“Mr. Moody,” she said again.

He gently tightened his grip around her hand, almost as if he didn’t want her to get away. Her gaze dropped to the food on the table and then back to his eyes.

“Say something,” he said.

“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

“I have just poured my heart out to you, Dalia. I have just admitted that I have feelings for you…heck, I think I am in love with you,” he whispered. “And you have
nothing
to say?”

She pulled her hand from him and pushed her chair back.

“I’ll let you know if there is a change in the schedule,” she said as she put on her coat and grabbed her iPad. “I think I’d better just find my way back to the hotel on my own.”

“Dalia…you don’t know your way around London and it’s about to start pouring soon.”

She took a long deep breath.

“I think I can find a cab even in a world where they think driving on the left side is fine,” she said before she walked away, all the while feeling him staring after her.

Chapter 2

Kyle had been right. Dalia was not really familiar around London streets but eventually, she did manage to get back to the hotel. And when she did, all she wanted to do was jump into the shower. She could not get out of her clothes fast enough. At that moment, nothing else was more important than drowning the reality of what had just happened. She was still processing the news she had received albeit a little slowly. Her boss was into her. And not as if it was some kind of joke or anything. It was clear that the feelings she had been harboring for him were not a one way traffic. There was more to the story than met the eye and she had missed every single sign.

She closed her eyes as she felt the water running down her scalp and her face, going right down to her spine. Her heart was still racing. It had been for the last one hour. She had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a knock on her door. Almost immediately, she knew who was at the door. She put on a bathrobe and slowly walked to the door but when she got there, she just couldn’t bring herself to open it. She touched the door handle and took a long deep breath but somehow she was still not sure that she should.

“Dalia,” she heard Kyle’s voice from the other side of the door. “I need to talk to you.”

She opened her mouth to talk but for some reason, she just couldn’t. Her throat was dry and her words had failed her. Her mind was totally and absolutely blank.

“Dalia, I know you are in there. Reception confirmed that you checked in,” he said. “I just want to make sure you are okay.”

“I am,” Dalia finally said when she finally found her voice.

“Let me in,” Kyle said.

Dalia leaned against the door and sighed. She wanted to let him in. She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to give herself to him over and over. All night if possible but she had her reservations. She had a million and one reservations.

“Dalia,” Kyle called again. “Let me in or I will come in anyway.”

The tone in his voice made her realize that he was actually for real. He was not making empty threats. He was the kind of man that always got what he wanted and at that moment, he wanted to get into Dalia’s room. She opened it and looked at Kyle who seemed to have been rained on or something of the sort. His hair was damp and she could see that his hands were wet.

“Are you okay?” she asked and he nodded.

“What about you? Are you okay?”

She shrugged and sighed.

“I’ll get you a towel…or something,” she said as she walked into the bathroom. When she walked back out, she looked at him seated at the edge of the bed. “What happened? Did you get rained on or something?”

“I took a walk from the restaurant just to clear my head. To figure out how I should talk to you and by the time it started pouring I was a couple of blocks away from the taxi rank.” She handed him the towel and patted his hair dry. “Would you mind if I just rushed down the hall and grabbed a change of clothes or something?”

She took a moment before she nodded.

“You know what? Just come with me.”

“To your room?” she asked and he nodded.

“Is that a problem?” he asked. “No…not really but we need to talk and I need to get out of these wet clothes…and honestly, I am scared that you will want not open that door once I am out of that door.”

“It is not that I don’t want to talk…” Dalia started before he shook his head.

“Just come with me, please,” he begged and she nodded.

He took her hand in his and began leading her towards the door.

“But I am wearing a bathrobe,” she said in a whisper.

“I know and you look beautiful in it,” Kyle said, smiling.

                                                                      *****

After changing into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, Kyle walked back into the living room area of his suite and looked at a nervous looking Dalia.

“Can I get you anything? Some water? Wine?” he asked and she shook her head. She was not really there for a social call. She had only come over to his room as an extension of courtesy. She suddenly stood up and looked at him.

“Listen, while you were in there I had a chance to think about what you said earlier and …” she put a hand up when she noticed his lips parted, almost as if he wanted to say something. “No. let me finish. I really need to say this.”

Kyle nodded and looked at her as she went on pacing up and down.

“Would you at least sit down? You are wearing yourself down with all this pacing,” he said.

“No, I feel okay being on my feet.”

“Okay, your choice,” Kyle said as she turned to look at him.

“Listen, I know that being your secretary is probably not the ideal career but I love my job and being
with
you is not exactly…” she took a long deep breath. “I don’t want this to be a Fitz and Pope situation.”

“Fitz and Pope?” he asked a little surprised.

“Fitzgerald Grant and Olivia Pope from that TV show
Scandal
?” she said.

“I don’t understand. So in this analogy I am President Grant?” he asked and she nodded.

“Yes, and I am the home wrecking black girl who works closely with you and I am not ready to be that girl. I am not that girl, Kyle.”

He stood up and walked up to where she was. He put his hands on her waist and she tried pushing him off.

“Stop,” she said in a whisper.

“Listen to me, Dalia,” he started. “If I am Fitzgerald Grant then you are the perfect woman for me because I would happily go to war for you, Dalia Hayes. That is how important you are to me.”

At that moment, Dalia was more impressed with the fact that he was familiar with the
Scandal’s
storyline than what he had just said.

“I am not just one of those men who get off on having affairs with their secretaries or anything.” He gently pulled her closer to him and she let out a small gasp. “I don’t want an affair with you, Dalia. I want you in my life. I want to wake up one morning ten years into the future and say to myself that I made a good choice not just in hiring you but also in choosing to have you in my life.”

Dalia was speechless as she looked into his eyes. The million questions she’d had earlier had all been answered in the short one minute speech he had just given her. But at the same time, she still had her reservations. She wanted to say no but at the same time, she wanted to give in to her heart’s desires. Give in to the most primal need at that moment, which was just to allow herself to be totally and completely powerless in his arms.

“Dalia, please say something,” Kyle said in a soft voice.

“I want to believe that this will work but I can’t for the life of me ignore the fact that I am scared…scared that this might not work out.”

“There is no rule book for this kind of thing, Hayes. The best we can do is just make it up as we go along.” He took a step closer so that he was standing so close she could feel his warm breath on her skin. “The only promise I can make to you is that I will work my ass off to make sure that this works.”

He gently held the back of her neck and pulled her close. She bit her lower lip in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that she was blushing but it didn’t last long. When Kyle lowered his head, she closed her eyes and allowed him to meet her lips in a soft kiss. It was warm and it struck like a bolt of electricity when his lips brushed against his. She pulled away briefly before she gave into his kiss again, this time allowing him to force his tongue into her mouth. She could feel her tongue rubbing against his own and she loved the feeling. He gently slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to himself. She instinctively brought a hand up and held the back of his neck as he kissed her. He pressed into her and she pressed back. But he was not getting nearly enough. He began backing her up against one wall and she slowly took one step after the other back until he got them against the wall. He had her weight on her, pinning her against the wall. When he finally pulled away, she was panting and so was he. She was entirely at his mercy and he knew it a little too well. Her hand slowly found its way to his t-shirt. He pulled away when she began pulling his t-shirt up and raised his arms over his head allowing him to pull the shirt off his arms. She gasped silently when she saw his naked body underneath. She had long had fantasies of that moment but nothing really compared to what she was looking at that moment. He was every bit as perfect as she had envisioned him to be. His chest and biceps were well buffed, a true sign that he had been doing a lot of weights at the gym and he was spotting the perfect six pack. She was still looking at his perfect naked body when he tugged at the chords of her bathrobe. She let out a small sigh when her bathrobe gave way exposing herself to him.

His eyes ran down her body as he gently pushed the robe off her shoulders. He took his time taking in her naked body. He was like an artist looking at a piece of art, carefully picking at its details. He then kissed her shoulder and then her neck. He was slowly working his way up to her chin before he kissed her lips softly. The feeling of his warm skin against her bare nipples was enough to make her feel a rush of wetness between her legs. His hands were slowly roaming all over her body. He was caressing her ass, digging his fingers into her folds. He suddenly swept her into his arms and walked her over to the bed. She was actually surprised that he was able to lift her up with such ease. She looked up at him as he climbed onto the bed, settling himself in between her legs. He filled his hand with her breast as he claimed her lips once more. The way he was kissing her, caressing her, worshipping every inch of her body…there was no doubt that she was his. And she had been for a very long time, she just hadn’t come to terms to it until now. She held on to the headboard as he fondled and kissed her. Soon enough, there was not a part of her body he hadn’t licked and kissed. She moaned her disappointment when he pulled away from her to take off his sweatpants. Her heart skipped a beat when she caught a glimpse of his fully erect cock. He was definitely a little more hung than she pictured him.

“Are you ready for me, Hayes?” he whispered as he climbed on top of her. His cock was rubbing against her wet opening and she was moaning softly. She was not sure what excited her more: the fact that’s he hadn’t gotten laid in a while or that she was about to get his entire cock inside her. She was scared that she would not be able to get his entire girth inside her. It was almost he could read her discomfort. “Just relax, Dalia,” he said in a soft voice as he kissed her. “I wouldn’t ever dream of hurting you.”

He kissed her again as he began pushing his cock into her wetness. She exhaled into his mouth and felt him stretching her out. He pulled out briefly and then pushed back in, deeper this time. When he pushed in one last time, she let out a loud moan as he buried himself inside her wetness. He began moving himself in and out of her, stretching her out even further and without even realizing it, she brought a leg up and wrapped it around his waist, pulling him deeper into her. She was moaning softly into his ear, exciting him with every sound she made and he was breathing heavily as he claimed her with every deep thrust. As they pushed into each other, he was digging his fingers into her folds once more and she was clawing at his back. She could feel herself getting closer and closer to the edge and he knew it too because she was writhing under him. She instinctively wrapped her other leg around him and he began pumping harder. He was slamming against her so hard and so fast that the only sounds in the suite were of his balls slamming against her wetness. She was trying to keep everything in but it soon proved to be too much. She suddenly let out a loud cry as he gave her a hard thrust making her come apart under him. The feeling of her heat engulfing him was the final push he needed to explode inside her. He gave one final deep thrust that made her give out another loud cry. She buried her head in his shoulder as they shivered in the wake of their orgasm.

“Wow,” he whispered and she nodded. He had read her mind.

“Wow,” she echoed.

                                                        *****

Dalia was not very sure what it was that she was feeling after hooking up with Kyle. But one thing was for sure. She did not regret it or anything that had transpired in London. If anything, it had been most fun she’d had in days. Well, she did miss out on the Finch and Lindgren presentation but at least she had spent the entire time cradled in Kyle’s arms. Surprisingly, the two had only made love twice in the six day period the convention lasted despite the fact that they spent most of the time together. By the time they got back to Seattle, she was still trying to figure out how life at the office was going to be now that she had literally crossed the line. But then again, they both had. She and Kyle had taken different cars back home mostly because she knew that if she rode with him, she would have ended up back at his place. Probably indefinitely.

It was a little after eight in the evening when she finally walked into her apartment. She immediately smelled the familiar aroma of her best friend’s Kris’ beef stew.

“Dalia, is that you?” Kris called from the kitchen as Dalia kicked off her shoes.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

She made her way barefoot to the kitchen and looked at Kris who was at that moment removing the apron she had on.