The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (6 page)

A split second after she pressed enter
on her computer, she saw a long list of articles about the man.  Irritated that she was distracted, she read through the first few articles.  And then one more, and one more.  He actually had created one of the largest construction companies in the country with his headquarters based out of Chicago.  So what was he doing here in Denver?  And why would his holding company, which had huge assets globally, be interested in a mid-sized architectural firm?  She’d always assumed that Harrison Holdings would have a team of architects on staff.  They didn’t just build houses or even large buildings.  Harrison Holdings was known for building cities! 

With a sigh, she clicked out of her web search, refusing to read anything more about the man’s career or his astounding wealth.  So what if he lived in a
fabulous house that was perched on the top of a mountain in what looked like a visually precarious design?  She’d glanced at the designs and she’d done similar work on her own dream house.  She absolutely loved designing homes, creating either small or large living environments for the way each family lived.  Designing buildings and sports complexes was interesting also, but her favorite projects were those where she got to sit down and talk with a family, find out what they did each day or during the year so she could create the perfect area for each member of the family. 

Shaking her head, she focused all of her attention on the building she was currently working on, pushing aside the possible motives of a mega-billionaire with dark, piercing eyes and shoulders that were….she closed her eyes and pursed her lips, irritated with herself for even picturing the man’s shoulders. 
At least it was just his shoulders, she told herself.  She hadn’t gone down the road of picturing the man…Ugh! 

Okay, so he probably looked amazing without that dark, tailored suit covering his tall, muscular body.  That was no reason to break her concentration and picture the man naked.  She had an important meeting in
only a few minutes and she needed to get some last minute details into the design. 

Unfortunately, her meeting time arrived and she was still unable to focus on the issues so she had to speak to her ideas instead of having them incorporated into the design.  Another mark against
Drake Harrison since he was the reason why she hadn’t been able to focus on her work.  She could blame herself, especially after her gluttonous reading on the man’s career and the tidbits of personal life the media had been able to dig up, but she’d never had this issue before. 

After the meeting, s
he stomped into her office, slapping down her papers and still irritated with Drake for his interruption this morning. 

She never had this problem!  In fact, most people teased her that she focused too much! 

“Are you coming to the luncheon?” Dave Anderson asked, poking his head into Sierra’s office.

Dave was a very sweet guy who had been
consistently inviting her to the weekly happy hours at the bar around the corner from their office.  Sierra hadn’t wanted to encourage his interest, so she’d declined all of the invitations so far although she went out to lunches with some of her co-workers.  She didn’t want to be antisocial but she didn’t want to encourage Dave when she felt nothing more than friendship for the man. 

“I just had a difficult meeting,” she said, rubbing her
forehead.  “I’m going to pass on the lunch.  Can you cover for me?” she asked, feeling slightly guilty for asking him to do something like that. 

“Sure can,” he replied, eager to finally have
a task from her. 

Sierra almost groaned at his enthusiasm.  It wasn’t like she was asking him to kill a dragon or anything, but Dave hadn’t been subtle about his interest in her.  Had she just given him unintended encouragement?

She slumped down into her desk chair, feeling like a horrible person.  How could she kill off the man’s interest?  He was a sweet guy, but she just wasn’t interested. 

She almost groaned as she squeezed her frustration ball with her left hand while her pencil sketched out the details of her next idea with her right.  She wasn’t aware of the ball’s
eyes bugging out.  All of her attention was on trying to figure out her next move.  How could she keep Drake Harrison away from her, keep him from discovering who she was?  She simply couldn’t let him connect her to her father! 

Biting her pencil, she stood back and surveyed the work she’d done on her
drawing board.  She bit her lip slightly and surveyed the changes she’d incorporated so far and smiled with satisfaction.  She bent over the table, grateful for her ability to focus only on work, kick out all the other details that made her uncomfortable.  Life was suddenly too complicated, she thought as the words to Miranda Lambert’s “Mamma’s Broken Heart” spinning through her mind.

Hours later,
Drake looked around at the empty offices, his eyes alert to anyone who might still be working at this hour.  It was Thursday night and he knew that most of the staff had left to head to the local bar for drinks and to gossip about the news of his takeover.  He understood their anxiety and had tried to limit their worries over lunch today, but he knew that there would always be some people in an office environment that would perceive the worst in any kind of change.  They were usually the less talented workers, trying to find justification for their lack of accomplishments by gossiping about the others who were more dedicated.

He
wasn’t overly concerned about those people, thinking that he and his transition team had done a good job of minimizing the anxiety over lunch today. 

But now it was after hours and he was intent on trapping his fly-away butterfly. 
Sierra Colbert had avoided him all afternoon but now, he was going to get to know her a bit better. 

“You’re here late,” a deep voice said from behind her.

Sierra jumped out of her chair and spun around.  When she saw the tall, awe inspiring man leaning against her doorway, she gasped and almost fell sideways. 

Trying to regain her composure as quickly as possible, she stepped to the side while at the same time, hide the papers she’d been working on. 

Unfortunately, her composure wasn’t having such a good day and she started to slide over, her feet not properly braced far enough apart.

With a swift move,
Drake moved forward, catching Sierra before she could fall on her face to the floor. 

With his hands wrapped around her, she couldn’t help but grab his arms, her hands wrapping around surprisingly large biceps hidden by the relatively tame-looking dark suit. 

Slowly, and with great reluctance, she looked up at him, her entire body tingling with awareness of this moment.  Her body was plastered against his, even his right leg was pressed between her legs, pushing her skirt up higher on her thighs.  A part of her wanted to die of humiliation but a larger part of her wanted to press her hands against his arms, to slide them higher, testing for other muscles.  Perhaps if she could slide her fingers over, feel his chest…

“I’m sorry,” she gasped
, suddenly realizing what she was doing and pulled herself out of his embrace, her face flaming with color at both her thoughts as well as her clumsiness.  She wasn’t usually like that but he’d surprised her and she really didn’t like surprises.  “Thank you for your assistance.”  Her voice had dropped to a whisper now and she tried to step backwards, but the table was behind her and his huge body was blocking everything in front of her. 

“My pleasure,” he commented
, his voice deep and husky.

They stood like that for a long, pregnant moment, both of them staring, neither moving.  Sierra tried to breathe, but his touch was making that impossible.  She wanted so desperately to feel him,
to examine those muscles underneath the deceptive suit, to find out what it would be like if he were to kiss her…

Drake’s
mind was reeling with how incredibly soft she was.  His hands were still holding her waist and his leg could feel the muscles in her own.  He wanted to lean forward, to feel her breasts against his chest again and taste those pink lips, to find out what she tasted like. 

And she smelled
terrific.  Something in his brain caught her perfume and he knew he’d smelled that scent before, but he couldn’t place it.  Rose?  No, not that.  But something flowery.  Something fresh and alive.  Something that made him think of….

He couldn’t place it, but it
there was something so familiar about that scent.  “Where are you from?” he asked his voice husky and deeper than normal.  He watched her face but wouldn’t give her enough room to feel comfortable.  He knew he should step backwards, but there was just something about the way that she smelled that kept him close, made him want to move closer and eliminate all barriers between them, both physical and psychological. 

Damn, he loved a mystery! 

Sierra was instantly wary, not wanting to let him connect her past with his.  She couldn’t tell him that she’d grown up in Chicago, knowing that his company was headquartered there.  He would ask too many questions and she most likely couldn’t answer any of them without giving him more clues to her past.  And more specifically, clues to the connection they shared.  “I live over off of Golden Road.”

He
immediately was aware that she’d told him where she currently lived and not where she used to live.  So she didn’t want him to know about her past?  Interesting.  It only added to the puzzle that was quickly growing around this lovely woman. 

He could tell by the stubborn jut of her chin that she wouldn’t reveal anything else at the moment.  He almost smiled with anticipation.  This woman would be his, he thought with a determination he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. 
In fact, he hadn’t felt this strongly about a woman since he’d left the hospital six years ago, determined to find the mystery woman who had sat beside him almost constantly.  She’d disappeared when he’d regained consciousness and he hadn’t been able to find a trace of her. 

Interesting that they were both brunettes, he thought.  Regardless, he wanted this woman with an intense desire
and he was confident that feeling was reciprocated.  He just had to understand why she was resisting the attraction. 

“Are you ready to go?” he asked, shi
fting slightly so that she was standing on her own.  Not by choice.  If it were up to him, he would have pushed her back, pressing her up onto her desk and then he could bend down and kiss her neck, smell that perfume again. 

Instead, he stepped backwards and gave her space
.  She quickly stepped away from him, putting a chair between the two of them. 

“Go?” she asked, her eyes wide with confusion
while she gripped the back of the chair.  “I wasn’t planning to go anywhere.”

“We’re going out to dinner,” he said firmly.  He chuckled when she pulled her head back as if she thought he was crazy.  “You don’t read your e-mail messages very often, do you?”

She ignored his question that seemed irrelevant.  “Why would I be going out to dinner with you?”

One side of his mouth went up but he once again suppressed his amusement.  “The message stated that
anyone who had missed the lunch because they were too busy would have an opportunity to talk with me during dinner and get out any questions they might have.”

She reared back in horror. “What?  No!  I don’t…that is, I didn’t mean…”
   Boy had her plan to avoid him backfired! 

He reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.  “You didn’t mean to have any sort of association with me.  Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Yes!” she almost sighed with relief that he completely understood and didn’t seem to be offended.  And then she realized what she’d just admitted to and shook her head.  “No.  I’m sorry, that came out wrong.  I didn’t mean to say that…”

He moved closer, his eyes gentle as he looked down into her anxious, blue eyes. 
“You didn’t mean to admit that the attraction between the two of us is so strong that you’re having trouble focusing?”

She blinked and started to shake her head. 
How could he know that?  “No.  That isn’t what I was going to say.”  And it wasn’t.  She’d never admit that to him.  Good grief, she wouldn’t even admit it to herself!

“You were going to tell me that you’re sorry that you missed the lunch today?  And that you have many questions about how the firm is going to move forward with new management, right?”
  He took her hand in his, causing her body to begin that embarrassing trembling once again. 

He was already leading her out the door, handing her the purse that she’d just dumped beside her desk
earlier that day.  With his hand on the small of her back and his towering height, she was too flustered to rally her senses and stop their forward momentum. 

She took her purse, holding it in front of her as if it were some sort of shield that could ward off the impact his closeness had on her.  She shook her head, denying what was actually happening. 
“But I don’t want to go to dinner with you.”

He didn’t laugh at her outburst but continued to walk her out of her office and down the hallway. 
“Of course you don’t.”