Everything You Are (8 page)

“That sounds nice. To have a lifelong friendship.”

“I'm sure that you have friends you’ve known since forever.”

“I can't claim that I have,” he said. “At least not the kind with whom I share the same deep bond as you and Mark do.”

She stifled a yawn. “You don't have a best friend?”

“No, I'm afraid that I don't.”

“Oh.” Jane lost her fight against the yawn. She leaned deeper into the softness of the seat. The soft hum of the car's engine and the monotonous movement of the vehicle made her even drowsier. She glanced at Ian, then when she found him gazing at her with a small smile on his face, she averted her eyes and closed them. A sudden turn pushed her against Ian's body. “I'm sorry,” she mumbled as her eyelids fluttered open and she straightened.

“That's okay. I don't mind being your pillow.” Ian's arm slid between her back and the seat; he wrapped his arm around her waist and gently drew her against his side.

She should have refused his offer, but she was tired and her body wanted to lean on his shoulder and snuggle against him. And that was what she did, thinking that Mark would have loved to be in her place. This was as close to Ian as she could get, so she might as well enjoy it. “That's nice of you.” She yawned again and shifted and rested her cheek against his collarbone.

“You're drooling on my suit,” Ian said in a soft voice, smiling, as he gazed down at the girl against his side. She was so adorable. He wiggled his shoulder a little.

Jane mumbled something, and the hand she had against his hip slid upwards in his lap.

His eyes widened and he sharply sucked in his breath while his hand shot out and his fingers wrapped around her wrist to pull her hand away from his groin. But it was too late, just a light brush of her fingers and his flesh was already straining against the fabric of his pants. He sighed and shook his head before his eyes were on Jane again.

She shifted closer to him, quietly snoring.

She was lovely in the black dress, which should, in his opinion, have covered her legs completely, but it was much better than the blue dress or the green one. If she had worn either of those two he would have been fighting his erection all night. It had been torture seeing her in the store in those sexy outfits, pretending to be indifferent, while the urge to lift her skirt up, press her against the wall and immerse himself in her was overwhelming. He had never lusted for a woman; not like this. Or had to hold himself back. Self-control was hard and so bloody uncomfortable. But if he pounced on her, the assistant hired by his father, Father would skin him alive. He bent down and leaned his forehead against hers. “The things you do to me.”

“Uhh... Huh?” Her eyelids fluttered open.

He straightened. “We are almost there.”

She sleepily nodded, closed her eyes and slowly started to slip down, face first.

It would have been funny watching her fall onto his groin, if not for the fact that he was already hard and that having her so close against his body was already testing his will power to its limit. With his jaw locked, he grabbed her arm, twisted her around, so that her back was against his side and pulled her into his lap. He preferred having her sitting on his lap than having her face at his groin. His imagination about her and the compromising position in which he would like to see her didn't need any more encouragement.

“What? What?” In the space of a second she appeared to be wide awake and she started to wiggle in his arms. The hem of her dress dangerously glided up her thighs.

“Be still,” he hissed in a low voice, his eyes closed, his arms firmly holding her, and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he tried to will away the hunger for her clawing at his insides. “Don't move.”

She froze. “Oh.” Her voice was soft, and her breathing sped up. She must have noticed the hard bulge under her ass.

His eyes opened and in the weak light coming from the street lights outside, he could distinguish a blush dusting her nose and cheeks. Careful not to make the situation worse, he pushed her off his lap. “Bloody woman,” he murmured under his breath.

“It's not my fault. You pulled me onto your lap.”

“You were about the land face-first in it. I’d rather have you sitting on me than have your nose rubbing my crotch.”

“I would never do that.”

He looked at her, lifting an eyebrow. “Not intentionally.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Now, can we drop this?”

She crossed her arms and pursed her lips as she fixed her gaze straight ahead, giving him a lovely view of her profile.

So cute. A smile twitched in the corners of his mouth before his gaze lowered to the tent in his pants. By avoiding looking at Jane, he managed to lessen the protruding outline of his erection, but the desire was still there, smouldering inside him. He needed to have his hands on her cute, curvy ass, his tongue between her lips and his hardness plunged deep inside her.

After they arrived at the hotel, he escorted Jane to the elevator, then went to the hotel bar. He sat at the end of the bar and waited for the bartender, who was serving a patron, to take his order. He turned on the barstool and, with his back against the bar, he glanced around the lounge. In the corner of the room was a group of five women, all of them looking as if they were in their late twenties. A few tables were occupied with couples; he skimmed over them, even over the young blond thing that gave him a flirty smile. He only dealt with single women and had no intention of coming between a couple. He didn't need complications, especially not over a one-nighter. Through the large glass window, he could see more women sitting at the tables set outside. Even though some of them were his type and, by the looks some of them were casting his way, available, none of them sparked an interest. That had never happened before. Never.

“What can I get you?”

“A bottle of water, please,” Ian said before he cast another glance over the patrons in the lounge and the ones occupying the chairs outside. Somehow he knew none of those women would be able to sate the hunger awoken by Jane's wiggling. Only Jane could. A frustrated sigh escaped his throat. There was only one solution for his predicament. He went to the hotel gym.

#

The sound of steel sliding against steel accompanied Ian's movements as he straightened his legs while pulling the handle of the rowing machine downwards toward his abdomen. He leaned slightly back at the hips, bending his elbows before he slowly slid back into the 'catch' position, while the song
Eye of the Tiger
played in his headphones. He had woken at seven o'clock in the morning, restless and with an erection that refused to go down even after he had dunked his head in cold water. So he had gone to the gym hidden in the hotel basement. The receptionist had had to turn on the lights for him and he was alone, which suited him just fine. He liked the repetition of the movement and the way his mind became blank as he concentrated on his body and on the execution of the exercises. It calmed him. Some people meditated; he worked out.

The song was cut off and replaced by ringing.

He took the phone he had clipped on his waistband and checked the caller. It was his father. “Yes,” he answered.

“Ian,” his father said. “How quickly can you get to a computer?”

“In a matter of minutes.”

“Good. I need you to hold a video conference twenty minutes from now. Richardson has already sent you all the data.”

“Why the hurry?”

“Trio just cancelled their order, claiming that their products are not to the standards set in the contract.”

“They haven't even received them yet, how would they know?”

A tired sigh. “I sent them the samples, with added documents that prove we lowered the costs of some of the components by choosing cheaper material.”

“But we didn't.”

“Not for them, but we have done that for Raven, at their request, because they wanted a lower price. Somebody mixed the orders I sent out and, since they refuse to talk to lower management, I need you to clear this mess up, while I deal with the Green project. You have probably already heard about the setback.”

“Yes.” The permit for the solar electricity plant that they wanted to set on the roof of Thornton Tower, which a day ago had been just a matter of time, had been denied, though they had met all the requirements. Ian stood up, hung the towel around his neck, and left the gym. He exchanged a few more words with his father on his way to his suite.

Jane was already up, eating breakfast at the small table by the window. “Since I didn't know when you’d be back, I didn’t order anything for you,” she said.

“That's okay.” He picked up the phone and ordered an English breakfast before he went to take a quick shower. When he returned, Jane was still occupying the spot behind the table. He picked up the laptop from the coffee table and set it on the end table as he joined her. He turned it on, went to his inbox and started to read the documents. Since he was in charge of the Trio negotiation, he knew the terms of the contract, but he had to acquaint himself with Raven's deal. Mistakes happened, there was nothing that could prevent them, but not such a rookie mistake as confusing two companies, and not on deals worth millions.

A rap on the door. “Room service.”

“I'll get it.” Jane stood and went to open the door.

Ian shifted sideways and his eyes slid down her back to the lovely curve of her ass. Desire pooled in the pit of his stomach as a knot of tension, something that had become a frequent occurrence since seeing her in that pink nightshirt. But there was no time for him to get horny; he had business that he needed to take care of. He only had three minutes before the conference call, during which he managed to take a sip of coffee and a bite of eggs. Luckily, with the help of the plant director, he managed to reassure first Trio's general director, and a half-hour later Raven's director, that what had happened was a mistake that wouldn’t be repeated. He also offered them both a five percent discount. After Raven's director disconnected, Ian focused on Mr. Gladwell, the plant director. “This mistake could cost us millions,” he said in a strict voice. “It should have never happened. I expect you to find out why it came to this and make sure it never happens again.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

Ian nodded, closed the window and then the computer before he pushed it aside.

Jane stared at him from the other side of the table.

Ian's eyebrows lifted. “Yes?” He dragged the plate of now cold food closer and started to eat.

“Sometimes you can be quite scary. It's like you have two faces, one for business and one for everything else.”

She had said ‘scary,’ but she was not afraid of him, was she? He didn't want her to be afraid of him. “I can be quite a badass, right?” He waggled his eyebrows at her while a crooked smile stretched his mouth.

She shook her head, the corners of her mouth turned up, while her gaze lowered to the table.

He couldn't tear his eyes off her. She was beautiful with her head slightly bent and a ghost of a smile on her pink lips. The lips he wanted to kiss so badly. “Jane, how long have you been working for me now?”

“A month or so. Why?”

“I was just wondering.” A month and this slip of a girl who wasn’t even his type had turned him into a lusting beast. How had that happened? “When is our flight?”

“At eight o'clock,” she said.

Which meant that after he got the meeting at ten with Antonio out of the way, they had a whole day ahead of them. Though he and Antonio had already negotiated all the terms, Antonio had insisted that he needed to think things over and before he signed the contract, they would go over it again, in the morning, in the Gambini office. The old man was a haggler and he was stalling, thinking that Ian would give him additional perks, like free shipping. Not that Ian would yield to him. If need be, he'd just walk away. But after that... “My meeting should end at eleven. Wait for me in front of the hotel at 11:15. First we'll go to the Trevi Fountain -- you can't leave Italy without seeing it -- and then we'll have an early lunch.” After lunch he planned to take her to Aventine Hill. They would look at the churches there and then, with her under his arm, they would stroll up across the Giardino degli Aranci. Maybe take a peek through the keyhole at the headquarters of the Priory of the Knights of Malta.

“Umm...” Jane pinched her eyebrows together as she lifted her gaze to his. “Yesterday, Giuseppe offered to show me around the city. He said that your meeting would take at least two hours and then later, you and his father are going to lunch.”

Jane alone with Giuseppe! There was no way he was going to allow that. “You'll call Giuseppe and tell him that your little rendezvous is cancelled.”

“But we already made --”

“I don't care!” He frowned. “I don't care,” he repeated in a much softer voice. “That guy is a womaniser.” A label that many people associated with him too, something that Jane had to be aware of. “He's very charming and he can be very flirty, I would hate for you to get the wrong impression.”

“I'm not going to get the wrong impression about your friend.”

Giuseppe was his acquaintance, not a friend. And he had noticed how the boy looked at Jane yesterday. It was the dress. It was much too short. He should have bought her something less revealing, something that covered her from head to toe. “I expect you to be in front of the hotel at eleven. Or better yet, you are coming with me.”

“But...”

“I'll call Giuseppe and explain,” he told her in his strict voice that didn't tolerate any objections. There was no way he was going to allow Giuseppe to lay a finger on Jane, even if it was just holding her hand.

“Fine.” She reclined back in the chair and crossed her arms.

“I'm not going to deprive you of any sightseeing,” and he meant it.

But when he left Antonio's office at eleven o’clock sharp, Jane, who waited for him at reception, told him that Richardson needed him urgently.

“What now?” He sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket and called him. When Richardson answered, he repeated the question.

“We have another problem,” Richardson told him.

“How wonderful.”

“This time with our Norway production. There's a problem with our head manager. Your father requested you go there.”

“The Norway production, the one we are using for that government contract?” The one he had spent months on setting up.

“Yes. I have already made the arrangements for the trip; I rescheduled the plane to leave for Oslo now, it will be waiting for you at four at da Vinci Airport. Jane is going to use a commercial flight, I have already sent her all the documentation, she only has to print out her ticket.”