The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (4 page)

Drake
looked up at his friend, fury raging through his mind now that he was going home.  “Absolutely.  We have a lot of work to do.  Namely, take down one mafia boss,” he replied.  “And I’m going to enjoy every moment of this.”

Tony shook his head.  “Why d
on’t we just leave things as is?” he suggested nervously.  They had been in the middle of a huge construction job when he’d received word that Drake had been badly beaten and was in the hospital.  They all knew who had done it, but Joe Berutelli had come up with a perfect alibi, claiming he had been hosting a party at the time of the attack with numerous witnesses who said that Joe had never left, and also that Drake had left on his own two feet.  So the police couldn’t do anything about it. 

Drake shook his head, rolling himself out of the room simply because he could now.  He had just finished a period in his life when he’d been almost completely incapacitated.  He wouldn’t let that happen again. 
“I can’t let this go, Tony.  And don’t worry about anything.  I have this all figured out,” he assured the older man. 

Six
years later…

Drake watched with fascination as the woman in the pencil skirt shifted to a different angel, her body bent over the architect’s drafting board and providing him with a very enticing view.  It wasn’t so much the woman’s concentration or the fact that she was humming softly to herself.  It was the way she was almost dancing with her sexy skirt pulled against her very cute, very round derriere, her long legs ending with pretty shoes that made her legs look even longer, showing off her slender, muscular calves.  Every few moments, her bottom would wiggle as she hit a high note on whatever song was going through her headphones. 

He tried to listen to the notes in order to decipher the song, but she only sang a few lines, then danced or wiggled again while the song continued in her head. 

He could tell that she had dark brown
, shiny hair that curled softly at the ends but, besides her great legs and adorable butt, there wasn’t anything else he could see of the woman.  Even her hair was pulled back into an elaborate twist on the back of her head.  It looked feminine and professional, but gave nothing away. 

He watched her, enjoying the view for several moments, only cringing a few times during her song when she really missed a note.  Her lack of ability to sing well didn’t diminish his capacity to enjoy the view.  It was just too interesting to tear his eyes away.

“Sorry about that,” Todd said, coming around the corner of the hallway, slightly out of breath as he hurried to catch up.  Zeke pushed away from the door frame, acting as if he hadn’t just been ogling one of his newest employees. 

Drake almost laughed when the woman in question jumped and spun around so she was now facing her visitors.  She was so startled, her hand jerked in the air, causing her pen to flip from her
hand, flying through the air while her arms suddenly flailed out in surprise in a vain attempt to intersect the tiny missile.  She quickly grabbed the edge of her work table to steady herself, but not in time.  Her feet tripped over each other and she had to reach out and grab the back of her office chair to steady herself. 

Drake stared, amazed that a woman as stunning and sexy as this actually existed.  And that she wa
s so amazingly clumsy.  She was, in a word, perfect.  Her blue eyes shimmered with embarrassment coloring her high cheekbones that quickly changed from creamy porcelain to a soft, becoming peach color. 

He almost groaned as he looked at her fully.  Her figure wasn’t just enticing from behind.  She had luscious breasts that pushed against the crisp, navy suit that tried valiantly to contain them as well as slender hips that continued down to long, slender legs.  The entire package was impressive and immediately caused his mind to wander to completely inappropriate ideas. 

Todd went on as if nothing were happening, entirely unaware of the electricity sparking between the two other people in the room.  “Have you had a chance to meet Sierra?  She’s one of the best architects I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.  She’s creative, innovative and has great ideas on how to incorporate green concepts into structures without degrading quality or increasing price.”

Drake already knew all this, but he’d been expecting someone much older.  Sierra Colbert was one of those architects that was becoming well known for her work but there weren’t any pictures of her since she didn’t use the conference or speaking circuit as so many others did to get their name into peoples’ minds. 

Who knew she was a knockout on top of being a brilliant architect? 

Drake nodded, indicating that he’d done his homework and was familiar with her ideas. 

Todd continued on, extolling Sierra’s previous designs and embarrassing her further.  “She’s done some great work lately.”  Turning to Sierra he said, “Can you show him the designs you did for that project over in Seattle for the Hutton Foundation?” Todd asked.

When she finally got her heart rate back down from the surprise, she looked at the man that had been on her mind almost every day for the past six years.  She couldn’t believe he was actually here, actually in her office and his presence literally knocked the breath out of her lungs, she was so excited. 

Sierra’s initial reaction had been surprise, immediately followed by recognition and then excitement.  Drake Hamilton was here?  He was okay and he looked fabulously vibrant!  The years had been good to him and he looked healthier now than he had that first day at her father’s pool party.  She couldn’t believe that she’d actually run into him again.

She’d followed his career over the past six years, impressed with his ability to grow his construction and real estate company into a global enterprise.  His services were asked for above all other construction firms because he was ethical, creative and almost always came in under budget. 

His company didn’t simply build corporate headquarters around the globe.  This man created cities!  When he took on a project, there wasn’t just the main building.  He would design the whole area around the building, generating a community that would thrive even if the company went out of business.  It was a new concept in construction and real estate, one that had been impossible to conceive of ten years ago.  Drake’s business had pioneered the concept and she thought he was brilliant because of it. 

Then it occurred to her what was actually happening.  Drake
Harrison was here?  He was here!  No!  He couldn’t be here!  The two of them were never supposed to meet.  Her excitement quickly diminished, swallowed up by the fear that he might recognize her.  And if he connected her with her father, what might he do?  How would he react?

She’d thought about this man for so long, she hadn’t ever imagined actually meeting him.  And she couldn’t imagine what he would do if he realized who she was, who her father was. 

And then something completely different hit her.  She looked at the man she’d known six years ago for less than a month, a month in which he had been completely incapacitated.  There was something about the way he was looking at her, something that made her feel…vulnerable?   Why was he looking at her like that?  It was almost as if he considered her to be his next meal. 

An instant tug of awareness struck her but she brutally suppressed the sensation. 
She couldn’t permit herself to think like that, to have feelings for the man.  At least not…those…feelings.  No, Drake Harrison was definitely off limits in all ways – and being drawn to him was an absolute no no.

Todd had stopped speaking and the stranger was waiting to shake her hand. 

Realizing that the man was waiting for a response, she sputtered out a greeting as quickly as possible.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she lied, extending her hand.  Well, it wasn’t a complete lie.  She was thrilled that he was so healthy and vital, so…okay, so no other word for it, the man was hot! 

But he wasn’t supposed to be here!  Why was he here?  He’s supposed to be in Chicago!

Drake looked at her soft, elegant hand and took it in his larger one, swallowing up her pale hand and feeling the shock as he looked into her pretty, blue eyes.  He felt her start to tremble and every instinct inside of him wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her, tell her that everything was going to be okay and she didn’t need to be frightened of him. 

There was something about this woman that struck him deeply.  Something that told him that she was going to be his, no matter what it took to convince her.  Even the possibility that he would need to convince any woman was a foreign concept to him.  Women tended to be embarrassingly obvious
, sometimes obnoxiously aggressive, in their interest. 

So why was this woman trying to pull her hand away from his?  He could see that she was interested, felt her pulse with his fingertips as he shook her hand.  He wanted to pull her close, ask her questions, find out what made her tick.  But it seemed that all she wanted to do was run away and hide.

No, he almost chuckled out loud.  That wasn’t the way this was going to go down.  He looked at her stunning features, keeping his eyes on hers as he planned out his seduction.  He instantly knew that he wanted this woman.  He wanted her badly.  Why she was pulling away, he didn’t understand, but very soon, he would know all her secrets.  In fact, he planned to be one of them!

Sierra glared at the man, her excitement at seeing him so healthy fading as her awareness of him as a man, a very large, very muscular and, apparently, very arrogant man increased and scared her.  Why wouldn’t he release her hand?  Why was he drawing this out?  Couldn’t he understand that she wanted space?  She hated arrogant men. 

Didn’t she? 

So why was her stomach fluttering?  Why was she having a hard time catching her breath?  It definitely wasn’t because this man’s touch was firing her blood. 

Actually, she’d never been around arrogant men.  Most of the men she ran into were soft and flabby.  They would never impose on her personal space if she sent the right signals.  And she was definitely sending the “stay away” signals to Mr. Harrison, so why wasn’t he backing up?  Why wasn’t he giving her the breathing room she needed?  She felt flustered, irritated and…yep, there was that word again: vulnerable. 

No, she was just nervous about meeting strangers.  She wasn’t a good people pleaser, not
able to play the political office games well.  She preferred to stay in the background, do her work and enjoy the thrill of watching her buildings come to life.  She enjoyed speaking with her clients, but generally left the glad-handing to Todd and the others. 

She tried once again to get her hand free, but he only held onto her hand more tightly, his other hand actually coming up to cover hers, trapping her
fingers in his large palm with the roughened calluses that had always seemed so sexy when she’d held his hand before. 

Why wouldn’t he release her hand?  U
nless she wanted to have an embarrassing tug of war, she had to just stand here and endure his irritating touch while Todd droned on about her accomplishments, going into awkward details about her ideas and how they’d been implemented on various projects.

When her hand was finally free, she took a deep, calming breath and looked down.  She suddenly remembered the designs Todd had mentioned she should show to Drake Harrison and jumped on that as an easy excuse to step back slightly.
  She bent low over a cabinet to find the file.  “Here’s the file Todd mentioned.  I’ll just leave this with you and if you have any questions, feel free to give me a call.  I’m sure you’ve seen much more impressive designs from your more experienced architects and designers.  This might be a bit of a letdown from what you’re used to,” she replied, desperately wishing Todd would stop talking and this man would just walk away.  She felt like she needed an ice pack to recover from the heat stealing up her arm after his touch. The whole episode had probably lasted seconds but to her befuddled mind, it seemed like hours, hours upon which she didn’t understand why Todd couldn’t see the tension, couldn’t sense her nervousness. 

“On the contrary,” his deep voice countered.  “I’ve heard about you and thought your work was excellent.  I’m eager to work with you.”

“Work” with her?  Why would he be working with her, or any of the architects in this firm?  He was one of the big guys.  He was the one that set the standard in the industry.  Todd’s firm took on national projects, but most of their efforts were very small, very niche oriented. 

Sierra
’s startled glance pulled away from his dark eyes and glanced over at her boss.  “I don’t think I can take on another client right now,” she said to Todd, nerves coming out as she frantically tried to think of a way to avoid working too closely with this man.  She needed to be as far away from him as possible.  For so many reasons!  “I have four houses in various stages of completion at the moment.”

It was no longer
just about him discovering who she was, but that was definitely a part of it.  With Todd’s words, her new worry was more about working closely, spending long hours with this man to discuss his project needs.  She spent hours discussing a project with her clients, ensuring that she captured exactly what they wanted in their home or office space.  She didn’t want to do that with this man. 

There was something about this man that, in Sierra’s mind, made him dangerous on a more personal level
.  She had no idea how she knew that, but something inside of her told her that he wasn’t the kind of man who would be satisfied with a chaste kiss at the end of the night.