Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties) (4 page)

Nia fingered the yarn of a half-finished sweater, still on its needles.

“Your grandmother’s?” Kyle inclined his head toward the knitting.

Nia continued to stroke the soft wool. “I keep telling myself the only reason I haven’t put away her things is I’m still looking for a file she wanted me to find, but the real reason is I can’t bear to part with it just yet.”

Kyle nodded. “I understand,” he said. “My father died last year, too, and my brother and I still haven’t gone through his personal effects.”

“I’m sorry. You must miss him a lot.”

“My dad was all business and not an easy person to get close to. Still, it was hard coming to grips with the fact he’s no longer here.”

Kyle cleared his throat, and his gaze flicked to the faded pink-and-yellow flower-power wallpaper. “So the decor reflects your grandmother’s tastes, not yours?”

“God, no.” Nia laughed, his question instantly lightening the mood. “Grandma was very practical. The few times I managed to drag her to look at new furniture or appliances, she’d insist she didn’t see anything better than what she already had here.”

She rolled her eyes skyward. “I finally gave up.”

Nia opened the closet door revealing shelves lined with her grandmother’s collection of books. “Here you go,” she said. “This should be enough to get you through the storm and then some.”

“Is this you?”

Nia turned around to see Kyle holding a framed photograph that was on the windowsill. It was a picture of her taken last summer. She was sitting on the front porch railing, her relaxed mane tumbling down around her shoulders.

She nodded and braced herself for the inevitable flak or question about cutting her hair and going natural.

Nia watched as he returned the photo to the windowsill without a word. She redirected her attention back to the closet bookshelf.

“Take your pick,” she said.

“I like the way you wear your hair now,” Kyle said.

Surprised, Nia turned to look at him again. Until now she’d only gotten negative comments, even from Amy.

“Don’t get me wrong, you looked fine in the photo, and I usually like long hair on a woman,” he said. “But the short cut fits you. It flatters your face.”

Nia fought the sliver of delight she felt at the compliment. Regardless of her hairdo, she was and would always be plain. Kyle was just being nice to the woman who’d brought him in from the cold.

Kyle scanned the book spines and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Nia asked. “They’re a bit dated so the pages have yellowed with age, but they’re still readable.”

He pulled a few of them from the shelf.
“Bought by the Billionaire, The Doctor’s Secret Baby, The Cowboy’s Bride.”
He read the titles aloud. “They’re all romance novels.”

“It won’t kill you to read one,” she teased. “Maybe you can pick up a tip or two.” The flippant comment popped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

The air in the room thickened with unspoken tension as Nia watched his gaze slide from her eyes to her lips.

“I can handle myself in the romance department.” His eyes lingered on her mouth.

If she didn’t know better, Nia would swear he was about to kiss her. She swallowed. Hard. Good thing she did know better, and no way Kyle wanted anything more from her than a warm place to stay.

“If these titles don’t appeal to you.” Her voice came out like a squeak, and she cleared her throat. “I have a copy of yesterday’s newspaper in my bag.”

“Does it have a sports section?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“Then it’s perfect.”

With Kyle in the living room studying the sports section as if he were prepping for an exam, Nia retreated to the dining room to resume work on the proposal for Peppermint Village.

This is where her focus should be—not on a man she’d just met.

A few hours later, Nia frowned at the numbers on her computer screen. The mayor and council members’ ever-growing wish list had upped the ante on her original idea for a sixty-million-dollar family entertainment venue to a hundred-and-twenty-five million-dollar project. Each time she tried to get them to scale back, they added more.

Nia bit down on her bottom lip. This plan had to succeed if her friends and neighbors were going to keep their jobs and Amy and Matt remain in the community they loved.

Nia also had her own, more personal reasons for wanting Peppermint Village to come to fruition. Pulling this off would show her boss back in Chicago she was more than ready for the promotion he’d been promising.

She was so deep in thought she didn’t hear Kyle walk into the room.

“Just wondering if you were ready to take a break?” he asked.

“Not yet. I still have a lot of work to do.”

“What do you do for a living, again?”

“I’m a secretary in the economic and community development office in a suburb west of Chicago.” For now, she silently added.

“You must have a very understanding boss to allow you to do your job long-distance from here.”

Nia wouldn’t necessarily characterize her boss as understanding. She was the only member of the small office’s administrative staff not related to her boss, Gerald Randall, and she was often stuck doing both her job and those of his lazy relations.

However, it paid well, which she couldn’t thumb her nose at in the current economy.

“Actually, I took a temporary leave of absence from my job,” she said.

“So what are you working on now?” he asked.

Nia shrugged. “I’m just lending my expertise to some friends,” she said, not wanting to bore him with talk about the proposed development or her worries that it may never get off the ground.

He braced his hands on the dining room table and leaned across it toward her.

“Do you have the letters
M.D.
behind your name?”

“No.” Nia couldn’t stop the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Kyle used his fingertip to push the lid of her laptop closed.

“Then it can wait,” he said. “You have a bored houseguest to entertain.”

Chapter 6

K
yle stood openmouthed waiting for Nia to deliver the punch line because she had to be joking.

“You are kidding, right?” he asked, incredulous. “You can’t honestly expect me to go romping around in the snow I nearly froze to death in last night.”

He walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. Hell, it hadn’t even stopped yet.

“Think of it like treating a hangover.” Nia rose from her chair. “You know, the hair of the dog...”

“Never mind, I think I’ll take a nap instead,” Kyle said, heading back toward the living room. Stretching out on the age-hardened sofa sounded like heaven compared to a trip outside.

A small, but firm hand gripped his arm.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Nia tried to spin him around. When he didn’t budge, she marched around to face him. “Wasn’t it you just a moment ago going on about cabin fever and boredom?” she asked. “Didn’t you say it was my responsibility to keep you entertained?”

“I was thinking along the lines of toasting marshmallows in the fireplace and watching a movie. You know, things people normally do to ride out snowstorms.”

“I don’t like marshmallows. Besides, some fresh air won’t kill either of us.”

“It might when the air is barely twenty degrees.”

“Oh, come on. Where’s your spirit of adventure?”

“I left it in my abandoned car,” he said. “Speaking of which, my coat is ruined, and I don’t have snow boots.”

The hand on his arm slid to his hand. His pulse kicked up unexpectedly as her fingertips made contact with his skin. So did his temperature.

He’d nearly kissed her earlier. Now the thought crossed his mind again. Kyle couldn’t explain it. He’d already established Nia wasn’t his type. So why the sudden curiosity about the taste of those full lips?

He’d been working too hard. That had to be it. There was no other explanation.

Meanwhile, he’d just have to continue to exercise some self-restraint.

Nia tugged his hand, unaware of how close she’d come to being pulled into his arms and kissed thoroughly.

“No problem,” she said. “This place used to be a working farm complete with farmhands. I’m sure there’s something in the mudroom that will fit you.”

She led him to a closet off the kitchen filled with old work clothes. Dropping his hand, she stepped inside the small closet and began rummaging through the clothes on hangers.

Kyle was giving himself a mental pat on the back for fighting off the urge to kiss her—twice, when she bent over to pick through a stack of old sweaters, offering up a perfect view of her denim-clad rear end.

“Sweet, Jesus,” Kyle murmured. He caressed her rounded bottom with his gaze before finally tearing it away.

“Did you say something?” she asked.

Nia heaped winter gear into his arms, again oblivious to the direction his thoughts had taken. He didn’t want to put on old clothes and trek through the snow—he wanted to peel off those jeans and take her to bed.

“Um...I guess I was thinking aloud about what a bad idea it is for us to go outside in this storm,” he said.

And despite the message the front of his pants was sending him, sleeping with her wasn’t a good idea, either. Not that she was offering. He’d been around enough women to know when one was attracted to him, and Nia hadn’t sent out any signals.

Just as well, Kyle thought. He’d come to Ohio for business, not to get laid. There would be plenty of time for the latter, once the new division of Ellison Industries was up and running, and he was sitting at his father’s desk. Permanently.

“They’re not fashionable, but they’ll do.” Nia held a battered coat with a Dickies label in front of him for size. “Try these on while I hunt for a pair of boots.”

Boots? This had gone on long enough, Kyle thought. He needed to make it clear to this woman there was nothing she could say or do to convince him to go outside. Not until the snow stopped and the real cavalry showed up with plows to push it out of his way.

Finally noticing he hadn’t made a move to put the clothes on, Nia turned and looked up at him. Her kissable lips spread into a grin. The one she’d flashed him in the kitchen earlier. The dimple-revealing smile that reached her big brown eyes and made them sparkle.

“It’ll be fun,” she said.

Damn that smile, Kyle thought, snatching a plaid flannel shirt from the clothes in his arms and shrugging it on. Next came a sweater, and then a pair of quilted coveralls.

Nia resumed digging through the closet. “Do those fit?” She called out.

Kyle looked down at the coveralls, the hem of the pants ending abruptly at the shins of his six-foot-four frame. He didn’t need a mirror to know he looked like a refugee circus clown.

Nia came out of the closet holding a pair of boots. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and he could see she was struggling not to laugh.

“Any tall sizes in there?” he asked, before finally giving in to his own laughter.

Giggling, she extended the boots to him. “They’re the largest pair I could find.”

The boots fit. They also came up to his knees, compensating for the six-inch gap between the hem of the pants and his ankles.

“I don’t supposed you want me to grab my phone and snap a photo of your fashion statement as a keepsake,” she said.

“Let’s just get this over with before I come to my senses.”

A half hour later, Kyle found himself on the business end of a shovel. He scooped up another load of the heavy, wet snow and dumped it on the growing heap.

“When you mentioned fun, I assumed we’d build the requisite snowman and then go back indoors,” he said.

Nia stopped and leaned on her shovel. “I might have exaggerated the fun part, so consider it earning your keep.”

Kyle laughed as he heaved another scoopful of snow atop the pile. Actually, it wasn’t so bad. He looked back at the snow they’d cleared away from the path leading to the wide covered porch and felt a sense of satisfaction he didn’t get from running in place on the treadmill or beating Adam at their weekly game of one-on-one basketball.

“I appreciate your help,” Nia said. “The county plows will take care of the roads, but it won’t matter if we can’t get out of the door.”

While the snow was still falling, the wind had stopped whipping it about. Kyle looked up at the gray sky. “Will it ever stop snowing? The knee-deep path we shoveled is already up to my ankles.”

Nia followed his gaze heavenward. “If it keeps up, we’ll probably be out here in a few hours shoveling again.”

Digging his shovel into the packed snow, Kyle resumed shoveling. The thought of having to do it all again didn’t bother him, but he couldn’t help but worry about how long the weather would keep him cut off from the office, and wonder what Logan was up to in his absence. For all he knew, his cousin was already moving into the CEO’s office. Uncle Jon had been just that ecstatic to see his son again.

“You okay?” Nia asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re practically attacking that snow.”

Kyle shrugged. “I was thinking about work. There’s a lot going on at my office right now.”

She shivered. “Well, I’ve had enough manual labor for today,” she said. “I’m going back inside.”

Kyle looked out at the remaining stretch of driveway leading to the road. “You go ahead. I want to finish up.”

He watched her trudge up the path they’d cleared to the house and resumed shoveling. Logan wasn’t his only problem. There was also his uncle’s latest assignment.

It wouldn’t be easy. Not to anyone with an ounce of compassion.

He cut into the snow with the edge of the shovel. But he was David Ellison’s son, and like his father he would put the company first. Even if it meant passing out two thousand pink slips.

By the time he got to the end of the drive, Kyle heard his name and looked up through the falling snow to see Nia standing on the covered porch of the yellow clapboard house beckoning him toward her.

She met him at the bottom porch step and removed the shovel from his hands.

“You’ve done enough shoveling. Let’s enjoy your handiwork.”

Kyle watched her brush the snow off a wrought-iron bench with the sweep of her arm. Sitting down, she patted the space next to her. “Have a seat.”

She produced a thermos from the inside of her parka and cups from her coat pockets. She unscrewed the thermos lid, and the smell of hot chocolate tickled his nose.

“That can’t possibly taste as good as it smells,” he said.

“Better.” She handed him a cup.

Sweet, hot and chocolaty, Kyle gulped down the contents of the small cup in a single swallow and stuck it out for a refill.

“You wouldn’t happen to have more of your grandmother’s toffee in your pockets, would you?” he asked, as she poured him a second cup. The candy was addictive, and he’d been wondering since breakfast when she’d ration out more. “I worked up an appetite with all the shoveling.”

Nia smiled, a subtle hot chocolate mustache clinging to her upper lip. Kyle couldn’t remember the last time he’d had hot chocolate or found something as simple as a woman’s smile so endearing.

“I’m saving the toffee, but I have something else.” She pulled two sandwiches from her coat pocket and handed him one. “Hope you like peanut butter and jelly.”

A day ago, Kyle would have called the idea of him eating a peanut butter sandwich ridiculous. However, the storm and a couple hours of working outdoors had made his upscale palate less discriminating, and the wax-paper-wrapped sandwiches currently held the appeal of a Maine lobster with drawn butter.

“Who doesn’t like PB and J?” he asked, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a huge bite.

They ate in companionable silence enjoying the picture-postcard view of the snow from the covered porch as if they were sipping ice-cold lemonade in the sunshine instead of hot chocolate in the middle of a snowstorm.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” Nia broke the silence.

Kyle didn’t want to talk about work or his cousin. Speculating about what was going on back at Ellison was driving him nuts.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ve rehashed it enough in my head,” he said. “I’d rather hear all about you.”

Usually, when he told a woman he wanted to know more about her, he was feeding her a line. However this time it was true. Kyle really did want to know more about the woman behind those big brown eyes and beguiling smile.

“Nothing much to tell.” Nia shrugged.

He looked out at the vast blanket of whiteness. No visible houses or neighbors, just snow as far as the eye could see.

“Staying out here in the boonies must have been quite an adjustment from the Chicago area,” he said, to draw her out.

Nia nodded. “Initially, I just wanted to settle Grandma’s affairs as quickly as possible and get the heck out of here.”

She shivered, and he draped his free arm around her shoulders. The move had been instinctive. He hadn’t planned it, but now that his arm was around her he didn’t want to move it.

“And now?” he asked

“First of all, Grandma left me with a big chunk of unfinished business. It’s taking longer to handle than I expected...” Her voice trailed off.

“And secondly?”

“What started off as obligation has become a personal commitment,” she said.

The wind started to pick up again. She leaned back into the crook of his arm and continued. “Growing up, I longed to leave here and live in a big city. The towering buildings and people seemed to have an energy, an exciting vibe. I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “Now being back after all these years, I can appreciate the things I used to dislike about living here.”

“Like what?” Kyle asked, enjoying the feel of her soft weight against him.

“The quiet for one. My neighbors at home can be noisy,” she said. “Also, growing up I thought our tight-knit town was a bit too friendly. Everyone has a tendency to stick their noses in everyone else’s business.”

Kyle appreciated the fact Nashville was friendly enough where strangers still greeted each other with a good morning or bob of the head, yet large enough they wouldn’t think of putting their noses where they didn’t belong.

“Sounds annoying.”

While his photograph occasionally appeared in the newspaper’s society pages after a night at a ball or gala, the photographers weren’t intrusive.

“It can be. But just when you’re fed up with the nosiness and well-meaning advice, one of your neighbors goes out of their way to help you with a problem folks in the city probably wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Like you did for me last night,” Kyle said. “A lot of people wouldn’t have stopped, let alone take me in.”

Nia shrugged. “My best friend says I’m a goody two-shoes, but I had to stop. I couldn’t take a chance on leaving someone out in this weather.”

The events of the previous evening flashed through Kyle’s mind, but one important item remained elusive.

“Did I ever thank you?” he asked.

“You were too cold to put it into words, but the sentiment was there.” She stared out into the snowy horizon.

Kyle touched his gloved fingertip to her chin. He turned her face toward his and tilted it upward until their eyes connected. “Well, I’m saying the words now,” he said. “Thank you, Nia.”

Two things hit him at once as he studied the gold flecks in her huge, brown eyes—an inexplicable urge to taste her sexy mouth and astonishment he’d ever thought this woman was plain.

Once again, he mobilized enough restraint to suppress his primal instincts. But it was hard. Damn hard. Slowly, he dropped his finger from her chin and directed his attention to the snowy landscape. He hoped it stopped snowing soon, because he didn’t know if he had it in him to stop short of kissing her the next time.

“No need to thank me,” Nia said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. Anyone around here would have done the same thing. It’s who the people of Candy are, what we do.”

“Candy?” Kyle’s even tone belied the sinking feeling in his gut. “I thought it was thirty miles away from here in another county.”

Nia shook her head. “Candy’s in this county. We’re nineteen miles from town,” she said. “Once this storm blows over and the roads are cleared, maybe you can stop there.”