The Seduction Plan (14 page)

“I’ll make grilled cheese sandwiches, we can watch a movie and you can continue your lessons,” she whispered. She smiled up at him and, astonishingly, she nipped his ear before pulling away.

Victor couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman as badly as he wanted Lana. And the more he had her, the more he wanted her. It was becoming an obsession he couldn’t do without.

And when she looked up at him with those soft, blue eyes, with suggestions of a cozy night, just the two of them and lots of potential, he could barely keep his hands off of her. “I think I can accommodate you easily,” he said.

He took her back to his place and handed her a large shirt for her to wear. “You should leave some clothes here,” he suggested and couldn’t believe he’d just said that. He’d never lived with a woman. He’d never even allowed one to sleep here with him before because he preferred to sleep alone. But the idea of Lana leaving him after making love sincerely bothered him. He wouldn’t even wake her up in the morning except to make love to her again, wanting her to be in his bed when he left for work in the morning.

As he opened a bottle of red wine, he watched her cook and realized that he was even leaving work earlier in order to spend time with her in the evenings, asking Jimmy to pick her up and having her here so he could enter this place and see her smiling greeting. He liked coming home to her and that astonished him.

He hadn’t thought about it, but she’d been here every night to meet him, or he’d picked her up at her place for the past six weeks. And throughout it all, he’d never been so satisfied, although that was a difficult adjective to apply to himself right now. As he watched her turn over the sandwiches, the large shirt he’d given her skimmed over her cute little bottom. He knew she wasn’t wearing any underwear, since he’d torn it off of her at the office. He moved to the side, pouring the wine into two glasses while his eyes watched her incredible legs. Sure enough, he was privileged to see a small glimpse of her smooth, sexy bottom as she twisted, putting the sandwiches onto plates and turning back to turn off the stove.

She smiled over at him and his erection increased. Her smile was so beautiful and alluring. He wouldn’t mind seeing more of it and his mind went into overdrive in an attempt to come up with more ideas on how to make her laugh and smile.

They spent the evening watching movies, sipping wine and making love on his sofa. When the movie finally was over, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to his bed where he tucked her in beside him.

As he watched her lashes flutter down against her smooth cheeks, he wondered what it would be like to see her every day, to know she was here, working on her books in his office or out on the terrace. He couldn’t believe how much he liked the idea, how much he wanted her to agree to his plans. He thought about waking her up and suggesting it, but she was sleeping so peacefully and at that moment, she curled up against him, her arm sweeping across his stomach and her breath coming out in a contented sigh.

Instead of waking her, he pulled her closer and leaned back against the pillows. He wasn’t tired, only needing four or five hours of sleep himself. Instead, he started making plans in his mind, forming arguments and setting up storage places for her furniture. Actually, it might be better for her to sell it, he thought. It would give her extra cash and she wouldn’t have the monthly expense of paying for storage. All around, it was a win-win situation, he knew.
Chapter 12

Lana was hurrying back into her apartment after spending the afternoon together sailing. Victor was waiting downstairs. He was talking on his cell phone to someone discussing numbers but she knew he’d be finished soon and she didn’t want to keep him waiting. He was taking her somewhere for dinner but he wouldn’t say where, only to dress up in something black and mysterious.

As soon as she opened the door to her apartment, she sensed something was wrong. She stood in the doorway, looking around. Nothing was out of place that she could see but everything looked a little more messed than she’d thought she’d left things. Her hand rested on the door knob, the small hairs rising on her neck. When she saw the discarded bottle top laying on the counter, she shivered. She never drank beer. How had the top gotten onto her counter?

Lana was grateful for her instincts and slowly started backing out of the apartment, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to alert anyone if they were still in the apartment. She just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

A movement in her bedroom startled her and she froze. Her mind told her frantically to get out, to run and slam the door in the process. But her feet would not obey the command. Fear had taken over and she was paralyzed. Her eyes widened as the shadow moved and Lana almost screamed. But even her vocal cords were not obeying her command, so desperate was her fear.

And then he appeared, beer in hand, hair disheveled, several day’s growth on his face and she had to gasp in surprise. “Drew!” she almost shouted, the intensity of her relief making her hot and cold at the same time. She put a hand to her forehead as the terror finally drained out of her, leaving her body weak. Sagging against the door, she dropped her hand and glared at him. “What are you doing in my apartment?” she asked angrily.

Drew’s smirk only hinted at bad things to come as he walked toward her. “Ah, my little Lana. What do you think I’m doing here?” His shrill laughter initiated a return of her sense of alarm. The roller coaster of emotions was taking its toll on her mentally, she was confused and not sure what to do in this situation. She’d never seen Drew like this before and she wasn’t sure how to handle him. Although that wasn’t saying much. She’d never really understood how to handle him despite their years of dating and marriage.

Taking a deep breath and trying to appear more calm than she felt, she said, “I’m sure I couldn’t guess your intentions but you need to leave. Immediately.” She hoped the firmness of her voice would convince him of her intentions, but she was destined to be disappointed.

He chuckled in response. “Why should I? My name’s still on the lease. Legally, I’m just as entitled to be here as you are.” He moved closer to her, his eyes dropping from her shining brown hair all the way down to her Prada high heeled shoes, lingering as they passed over her breasts pushing against the soft, woolen coat Victor had insisted on buying her. She hated the way his look made her feel and cringed inwardly all the while trying to appear calm and in control outwardly. She didn’t want to give Drew any more power. He’d had enough during their marriage and she wouldn’t do that again.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Drew. I’m not so silly that I wouldn’t overlook something that significant legally. I changed the lease after you left,” she quickly explained. “It’s all legal and you have no right to be here. You’ve basically broken into my apartment and have entered it illegally and I have every right to call the police and haven you arrested.” She crossed her arms over her chest and her chin jutted out, defiance written all over her face and body language.

His eye brows shot up at that explanation. “Well, wasn’t that smart of you? I wouldn’t have anticipated anything that intelligent coming from you.”

“More flattery, Drew?” Her insides were twisting painfully and she was embarrassed that she had married this shell of a man. He was so pathetic and all she could think about was getting back downstairs to Victor. She would have to hurry, she knew because Victor wouldn’t wait downstairs for long and she wanted this embarrassing scene finished before he came up and found Drew in her apartment.

“I can dish it out, honey!” he laughed and his humor almost toppled him over.

“Drew, you have to leave,” she said firmly, standing her ground and not showing any of her fear on her face. Drew was drunk and there was no telling what he might do in this condition.

His laughter stopped and he glared at her from several feet away although he had to prop himself up on the doorway to keep steady. “Why? Your boyfriend going to come up and kick me out?”

Lana wished that were the case but, despite Victor’s amazing amount of muscles, she couldn’t imagine him resorting to violence. He was much too urbane.

 

“Let’s just say there’s no point to your presence in this apartment and leave it at that?”

Drew laughed harshly. “What you’re saying is that you don’t have a boyfriend, do you?” He turned and walked over to her desk. His hand picked up a stack of papers. He turned to mock her. “Can’t get a man of your own so you’ve resorted to inventing your own? What happened to your receptionist job? Not working out for you?” He dumped the papers back onto her desk and Lana wanted to rush over and save the stack, half of which fell to the floor in his careless replacement. “You won’t get published,” he sneered. “You don’t have it in you to be in that kind of cutthroat business. Besides, no one really reads that kind of drivel,” he slurred out. “Why don’t you try writing a real book? Maybe that would have better success and you can get out of your dreary life?”

“What do you want?” Lana demanded, not bothering to contradict his assessment of her character or her writing skills. It made her proud of her accomplishments now that he was saying she’d never make it anywhere. She’d already been published several times, and was now living off of the income from those stories. She’s never tell him that. Not that she was ashamed, but she just didn’t think he had any need to know her business. He was in her past and she was eternally thankful for that.

“Tell me about your receptionist job?” he asked, leaning against her desk as if he had all the time in the world.

Lana took a deep breath, disgusted with him and refusing to be intimidated. “Drew, you ask that question as if there was something wrong with being a receptionist. But I’ll have you know that there are a lot of people out there who enjoy the interaction with new people and are very good at being a receptionist. They enjoy it and take a great deal of pride in their work.”

“How would you know?”

She straightened her shoulders to confront him. “Because I was one of them. I genuinely enjoyed meeting new people each day as well as the people who worked in the office. Their requests weren’t demeaning. In fact, helping them with small tasks made me feel good and needed. I was useful. I can’t say the same about being married to you. So in fact, you walking out on me for another woman was the best thing you ever did for me. I’m different now and I’d appreciate it if you would leave this apartment immediately before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”

Drew chuckled. “You’re bluffing but you’re pretty good at it.” He walked across the small den toward her. “Now be a good girl and cook me some dinner and we’ll talk about getting back together. Okay?”

Lana couldn’t contain the revulsion from showing on her face at his suggestion. “Get out, Drew!” she stated emphatically and held the door open for him.

He sneered at her. “Going to play hard to get? I won’t apologize for leaving you. You were a pathetic creature before.” His eyes slid down her figure once again, just as nauseating as the last time. “You’re looking pretty good now though. You’d look great if you’d just put on a little more weight though.”

Her hands were fisted by her sides and she forced her mind not to listen to his insults. He was just insecure about himself and was trying to make himself feel better by putting her down. “I’m the same person I was two years ago.”

His eyes traveled over her figure once again, his head shaking back and forth. “No way, darlin’. I don’t know what it is, but you’re definitely different. And I like it.”

He moved closer to her and Lana realized her mistake in standing firmly by the door. She was now trapped as an arm came out to snatch her around the waist. “How about we adjourn to the bedroom and see how much of a change has occurred. Are you still boring in bed?” he asked a moment before his mouth covered hers.

Initially Lana was too shocked to move but when his lips started to move and she felt his tongue demanding entry to her mouth, the revulsion increased, snapping her out of her frozen state. “Ugh!” she pushed at his shoulders but he wouldn’t let her go, his arms wrapped around her waist and pulling her close. “Get away from me!” she shouted, trying to get out of his grasp but he was still stronger than she was and he only laughed maliciously as she wiggled against him ineffectually. “Drew, let go!”

The panic increased when she felt his body harden against her thigh and she felt the bile rise up in her throat. Praying for strength, she pushed with all her might against his shoulders, her face turned away, her nails clawing at his skin wherever she could get him. “Get away!”

Suddenly, she was free and almost fell to the floor when Drew’s weight was gone. She looked around, confused but saw with delight when Victor tossed Drew out of her apartment against the wall of the hallway. He landed with a thud, then fell to the floor.

“I believe the lady asked you to get off of her,” he said, his fists clenching at his sides.

He swung the door shut and turned quickly, pulling his cell phone out of his coat pocket. “Jimmy, there’s a man on the floor outside Lana’s apartment. Make sure he’s not there when we leave in a few moments.”

He snapped the cell phone shut and looked at Lana. Instantly recognizing her terrified expression, he muttered under his breath, then took her gently into his arms, holding her close but not threatening her with his strength.

“I’m sorry, Lana. I didn’t get here sooner or he never would have touched you.”

Lana held him with her arms, wrapping herself up around his warmth and letting her body absorb his strength. “Thank you for that,” she whispered, ashamed that she was so thrilled that he’d protected her. Wasn’t she supposed to be a strong female and be able to take care of herself? She thought about it for less than a fraction of a second before reliving the thrill of seeing him toss her ex-husband out. It had to rank on up as one of the best moments of her life.

“How did he get in here?” he demanded, still holding her in his arms, his hands feeling her body to make sure she was truly okay. Victor tried to get the image of her horrified expression out of his mind but he kept seeing her features, eyes closed, revulsion on her face and her hands trying desperately to push the guy away from her. He hadn’t protected her and he blamed himself.