The Tycoon's Tender Triumph (10 page)

She didn’t, but there was no way she was going to admit that to him.  She’d just have to dip into her savings one more time.  Or maybe there was another way, she thought, thinking back to some of her marketing ideas.  “Leave it to me.”

“As long as it’s red.”

As she stood next to him at the doorway, she poked him in the chest.  “It’s not going to be red,” she stated emphatically. 

He didn’t reply instantly, but instead, his eyes roved over her face, stopping at each of her features for a moment b
efore moving to the next.  “You’re loss
,” was all he said in the end.

She cleared her throat and stepped back.  “What time?”

“I’ll pick you up at six o’clock tomorrow evening.  The dinner starts at seven, but it will take about thirty minutes to get into town.”

“And what about the other thirty minutes?”

“That’s for drinks.  It’s going to take me at least that long to get you into a more relaxed state of mind.”

“You mean liquor me up,” she challenged
with a raised eyebrow, imitating his expression from earlier in their conversation
.

He chuckled.  “Whatever you want to call it.”

“I’m not going…”

“Honey,” he stopped her and leaned closer, one arm going up over the door frame as he held his body only an inch from hers, “don’t you dare say you don’t need it because right now, you’re wound tighter than
grandfather clock and if you don’t learn to relax, I believe you’re going to explode.”  He leaned
imperceptivity
closer before saying, “
But
I plan to be around to watch you come undone,
which is a completely different thing.  And much more enjoyable,
” he said softly. 

Chloe couldn’t breathe.  She stared at him, barely able to move or even blink.

Jessy
broke the spell by coming around the corner.  As soon as Chloe heard
Jessy
’s voice, she jumped and quickly moved out of the office doorway while
Jessy
brought a tray of warm cookies down the hallway.  “I have to go,” she said to both
Jessy
and Sam. 

“Take a few cookies with you, dear,”
Jessy
said with a motherly voice.  “You’re probably still hungry, not eating enough out there in that old house.  You need to be here, keeping warm
and visiting with these two ornery pain in the necks
, is what I think,” she grumbled as she put some extra cookies into Chloe’s hands. 

“And be back here tomorrow morning, ready to go over the details.”

Chloe waved behind her, unable to respond but her feet carried her all the way back to the kitchen where she grabbed her
borrowed
coat, then realized that she had no way to get back to her house. 

Sighing, she realized that it was time to exercise the beauties anyway.  Maybe she could ask one of Sam’s ranch hands for a lift back after she was finished. 

She walked out to the
stable
and greeted her five horses.  Each time she was around these guys she was struck once again by how beautiful they were with their soft, brown eyes and
warm muzzles. 

Friday morning dawned sunny and bright with the normal winter cold in the air.  Chloe stuck her nose out of her blanket, wondering why she’d slept in so late.  Usually she was already up by the time the sun was coming over the horizon. 

And then she remembered.  She was supposed to work with Sam today, working out the details of her business plan.  Groaning, she pulled her head back under the blanket, just as she heard the front door to her house open and close. 

“Chloe!” Sam’s voice called out before she had a chance to become nervous about a stranger in the house.

“Chloe, where are you?”

“I’m right here,” she called out, the blanket still wrapped around her despite
her temper rising.  “What are you doing here?”
The air was so cold she could see her breath in the air. 

“Why the hell is it so cold in here?” he demanded as he appeared in the doorway.  “It’s only a few degrees warmer than outside.”  He glared at her from the doorway, his huge presence filling up the small, chintz filled room and looking odd with his maleness amongst the feminine things. 

“It’s warm enough to sleep in,” she countered, immediately feeling defensive.  She didn’t want him to know she’d been trying to save money by keeping the heating low.  She knew it wasn’t much, but every little bit helped.

Hands on his lean hips, he shook his head. “No, it’s not.  It’s freezing and you’
re going to catch
your death of a cold by living like this.”  Without saying anything else, he turned on his heel and Chloe knew exactly where he was heading.   The kitchen. 

She jumped out of bed, unmindful of what she was wearing, too desperate to get to the kitchen before he realized how little food she had stored there.  She reached him just as he was reaching for the refrigerator door and stopped him by inserting her whole body between the appliance and his hand.  Dangerous she knew, but she had pride.  At least a little, she thought.

“Go home.  I know we’re supposed to work together starting this morning but I’ll meet you at your place in thirty minutes.”

He leaned in closer, a small smile playing about his sexy mouth.  “You really think you’re going to stop me from looking inside that fridge?  Especially dressed like that?” he replied, his voice deep and warm as he looked down at her. 

That’s when Chloe remembered that she only had on a pair of pink cotton underwear and a long sleeve cotton shirt. 
Neither of which left much to the imagination when his dark eyes roved over
her.  As soon as his eyes stalled, she knew exactly what he was looking at and she instantly felt her breasts peak with the attention.  Crossing her arms over her chest, she hunched her shoulders to try and hide her body’s reaction to his perusal.  “Go away, Sam.” 

“No way, darlin’,” he replied, moving a little closer.  “But maybe you would like to go get some clothes on?  Or shower or whatever it is you do that makes you so…” his eyes looked down once again, “enticing,” he finally finished. 

Chloe cleared her throat and shook her head, feeling extremely warm despite the cold of the room.  “Move back.”

He didn’t.  “Why?  What do you feel when I’m this close?”

She pushed against his chest, grateful that he moved away.  “Nothing.”  When there was room, she slipped around him and ran into her room, ignoring his husky chuckle behind her.  Slamming her door, she rushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower, desperate for the warm water so she could hurry up.  She didn’t trust that he’d leave her alone while she was showering so she took the fastest shower she’d ever had in her life, even ignoring the cold water so she could
finish quickly
. 

In less than fifteen minutes, she was showered, teeth brushed, jeans and a warm turtleneck pulled on and she even had a moment to put a little makeup on, feeling better for that little bit of vanity.  She wasn’t trying to impress him, she told herself as she added another layer of mascara.  She just hadn’t been eating well and looked a little too pale.  Adding color to her face made her look a little less pathetic.

After blow drying her hair, she felt almost human, albeit a cold one, she thought as she pulled on warm socks and the tennis shoes she’d been wearing lately.  She really needed to get some boots, just to fit in a little more.  Sam wore boots.  And damn if he didn’t look sexy as all get out in them.  And probably out of them.

Where had that thought come from?  S
he reprimanded herself, forcing
her mind to stay focused.  Sam was not the man for her and never had been. 
She knew the kind of woman he was attracted to and it wasn’t her
. 
A relationship, other than professional
with that man was forbidden if she wanted to have any kind of
romantic
relationship in her life. 

Sam was taboo.

Feeling marginally better, and armed as well as possible, Chloe stepped out of the bedroom once again, heat blasting her in the face.  Stunned, she looked around, immediately finding the culprit in the form of the evildoer with broad shoulders and too many muscles standing at the stove cooking eggs and something t
hat smelled absolutely heavenly
.  “What did you do?”

Sam looked up, pan and spatula in his hands.  He didn’t answer immediately but instead, took a long moment to let his eyes roam up and down her figure clad in jeans and
the
soft turtle neck, her brown hair in a fluffy cloud drifting down
around
her shoulders.  “I like the pink underwear better,” he said, then looked down at his pan.  “As for what I’ve done, I’ve made you breakfast, something I’m guessing you don’t often do for yourself if the contents of your refrigerator is anything to go by.”

Chloe ignored the food and rushed over to the thermostat.  “You turned up the heat.”

“Of course I turned it up.  And I’ll put a lock on it if you put it down again.  If you can’t pay for your heat, then you should have told me a long time ago, woman.”

Chloe turned the temperature down another ten degrees, then turned back to him, angry and feeling frustrated that he’d seen right through her weakness; her fear of running out of money. 

“Sam, please don’t come in here and assume you know what’s going on.”

Sam put the eggs onto a plate, then grabbed the toast just as it was popping out of the toaster.  “You think I don’t understand what you’re going through?”

“I think you’re so tied up in your nice little wealthy world that you couldn’t possibly understand what goes through a person’s mind when they’re trying t pay the rent and utilities on a very small savings, while at the same time, trying to start up a business.  It’s all risky and I’m…”  She was about to say something that would be too revealing but stopped just in time. 

Sam placed one of the plates full of food on the small table in kitchen, then walked over to stand beside her.  With a soft voice he shook his head.  “Chloe, I know you’re terrified of what might be
lurking
right around the corner.  You’ve been given
a great deal of responsibility with your father being hurt and feeling like you need to do it all.  And the idea of starting a business, even one that you won’t talk to me about except for connections, it’s more than a little scary
.  But I’m guessing you’re still trying to pay your rent on that apartment back in New York along with all the utilities there, using that as an escape route just in case you can’t make it here
doing something that will make you happier
.  You’ve calculated the e
xpenses right down to the last d
ime and, if you’re really lucky, you might just make it work
.  T
hen some obnoxious brute comes along and shows you additional expenses that you didn’t know about and you’re scared, wondering if you should high tail it right back to your old life and give up on something you’d love doing for the rest of your life.”  He paused for a moment, running a gentle finger down her cool cheek.  “How close am I?”

Chloe swallowed, wishing he wasn’t so on target.  “Pretty close.”

He laughed softly.  “You mean dead on, don’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“What you need to accept is that there are a lot of people out there who are willing to help you out, if you’d just let them.  Myself at the front of the line.  And if you’d let us in, we’d make sure you don’t fail. 
If
you could give up that apartment, you’d have a lot more money to cushion the issues you’re bound to encounter.” 

A lump formed in her throat and she had trouble speaking.  His words were wonderful and she desperately wanted to believe him. 
Unfortunately, s
he just didn’t know how.
  She
simply
didn’t have the same sense of power and control that Sam seemed to contain in spades.
  “Thank yo
u,
”
was all she could say at the moment.