The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1) (26 page)

Chloe collated the various audit documents in a haze of fatigue. After Nathan’s call, she’d tossed and turned the rest of the night, regretting her decision to say no to his crazy late-night proposal. She had so little time left with him. She should have thrown caution, good sense, and discretion to the winds and agreed to his insane idea of meeting in the Rolls. Instead she’d given up the bliss of seeing him and had gotten no sleep anyway.

She’d sealed the fate of their relationship this morning by calling Judith and accepting the job with Trainor Electronics. Judith had told her she was doing the right thing, but it didn’t make Chloe feel less miserable. Especially since she would be starting there next week.

She sighed and rechecked the pile of documents before she shoved them into the jaws of the electric stapler. Her cell phone chimed with Grandmillie’s distinctive ringtone. Chloe nearly ripped the pocket of her skirt in her haste to get it out. “Is everything all right?”

“It’s fine.” Grandmillie sounded testy. “I just called to tell you Oskar left a mountain of boxes and shopping bags in our front hall. I figured you should know when you talk with your Nathan. You’re seeing him after work, aren’t you?”

“Oh,” Chloe said, slumping back into the chair in relief. “Yes, he’s picking me up in about twenty minutes. Is it really a mountain? I only wanted one dress and some accessories.”

“You’ve got dress bags, shoe boxes, and a whole variety of assorted other boxes and bags.”

“Oh, dear.” Chloe curled even farther down into the chair. “What do I do with it all?”

“You give it back.”

“I can try.” Chloe had a feeling Nathan wouldn’t accept the return of his purchases no matter which way their relationship went. “I have to wear one outfit to the wedding. If he doesn’t take the rest back, I’ll donate it to Goodwill.” Chloe was talking to herself rather than Grandmillie.

“Let’s not be hasty,” Grandmillie said.

That made Chloe laugh in a slightly broken way. “You’re a pip, Grandmillie. Remember I get the tax deduction for my donation.”

“Hadn’t thought of that.” Grandmillie harrumphed and hung up.

Chloe couldn’t help it. When she walked out the office doors and saw Nathan lounging against the Rolls, every cell in her body nearly exploded with joy. She could feel the stupidly happy smile spread across her face as he straightened and started toward her. When he swept her into his arms and dipped her low for a quick, dramatic kiss, she wanted to giggle like a teenager.

“That’s not exactly being discreet,” she said as he righted her.

He pulled her against his side and hustled her to the car. “I feel too good to worry about discretion.”

“So you truly fixed Prometheus?”

He helped her into the toasty interior and slid onto the seat beside her, pulling the door closed. “I’ve at least gotten it out of a dead end. We’ll see where the new road leads.”

But she could see the exhilaration in his eyes. He saw success at the end of the road. Taking her face in his hands, he brushed his lips against hers with a strangely soft and reverent touch. “Thank you, darling.”

Chloe’s breath caught at his last word. “I, um, you’re welcome.”

He started to deepen the kiss, but she took hold of his lapels and gave him a little shake. He lifted his head. “Is ‘darling’ unacceptable?”

“No, no, not that. I love the word
darling
.” Especially when it came from his lips. “I have to talk to you about all the stuff that got delivered to my house today. I only needed one outfit, but Grandmillie says it’s a small mountain.”

“We were in a hurry, remember? I told her I’d take everything.”

He tried to kiss the side of her neck, but she shook him again. “All the lingerie. Not all the dresses and shoes and bags.”

He shrugged. “She must have misunderstood.”

“No, you misunderstood. I don’t want to be showered with expensive gifts.”

“Really?” He sat back as a look of cynicism flitted across his face.

“You don’t have a high opinion of women, do you?”

He was silent for a long moment before he said, “You’re changing my mind.”

Guilt ripped at her chest. He probably wouldn’t feel that way in a few days when she chose the job over him. She needed to tell him the truth about her feelings for him now, before he wouldn’t believe her. “It’s you I want. Just Nathan. Not the CEO of Trainor Electronics. Not the billionaire who owns an apartment bigger than my block. All that only gets in the way.”

He scanned her face as she spoke. She tried to will the depth of her emotions into her eyes and her words. He brushed back a little piece of hair that had come loose from her bun. “Everything in me says to believe you,” he said.

Chloe reached out to lay her hand against his cheek. “No matter how often I told myself we were too unequal, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting you.”

Nathan’s face tightened as he turned his head and kissed her palm. “There is nothing unequal about us.”

“It didn’t matter anyway. You made me forget about your cars and private doctors and designer clothes. It all evaporated.” Chloe traced her fingertip over his lips. “You’re extraordinary just being you.”

For a moment, he looked younger and less commanding, his gray eyes clear and unshadowed, the lines around his mouth less marked. For a moment, he believed her. And then the CEO was back. “You have stronger principles than I’m accustomed to.”

She sighed inwardly. “They haven’t held up so well against you.”

“That’s good, because I’m about to do something very unprincipled.” With that he stretched her out on the seat and used his mouth and hands to utterly destroy any resistance. Afterward, he lay with his head on her lap while she combed her fingers through his hair, memorizing the fine grain of his skin and the spikes of his lashes against his cheeks. She hated to bring up a touchy subject, but she needed some information about their upcoming trip. “Tell me about the wedding. I don’t even remember where it is.”

“Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,” Nathan said, opening his eyes as he shifted restlessly. “Home of Expeditionary Forces in Readiness. We’ll be flying down on my jet.”

“On your jet. Of course,” Chloe said, stroking his cheek to still his movement.

He gave her a sharp look. “One thing I’ve learned is that time has as much value as money. Possibly more. That’s why I have a jet.” His voice slowed and roughened. “And a private cabin is so much more comfortable than a commercial lavatory for certain activities.”

Chloe shook her head at him. “No hanky-panky on the way down. It was bad enough having Grandmillie meet you after we’d been fooling around. I’m not making the same mistake with your father. I want to be able to hold my head high so I’m worthy of you.”

“I have no interest in what my father thinks about you. All that matters is what I think.”

Chloe didn’t believe him. Any mention of his father set Nathan on edge. Whether he admitted it to himself or not, his father’s opinion affected him. “You’re going to the wedding, so you must have some interest in your father’s feelings.”

“I’m going because you talked me into it when I was still weak with the flu.”

“Why don’t you cancel, then? Say you have a business emergency.” Chloe wasn’t sure why she kept pushing him, but she felt this was important.

“Ed and Ben are counting on a ride with us on the jet.” Nathan gave her a half smile as she sputtered at him about letting her believe he planned to make love to her. He shrugged, his shoulders moving against her thighs in a delicious friction. “I’ll admit to being curious about my father’s motives.”

That was his vulnerability speaking. “I am too. You said it would be a full military ceremony.”

“The general is a jarhead through and through, so there will be swords flashing.” A shadow crossed his face and he tipped his head away, tension drawing his jawline taut. “I have something he might want for the wedding.”

“Do you think that’s why he invited you?”

He hesitated before he looked back at her. “No, he would have asked for it.”

“What is it?”

“The family sword. Passed down through generations of military Trainors. He gave it to me in a last-ditch effort to persuade me to apply to the Naval Academy or West Point or anywhere that required a uniform and service to God and country.” His eyes filled with regret, anger, and pain. “I took it to MIT and used it to slice bananas onto my cereal.”

Chloe couldn’t help it. A gurgle of laughter rose in her throat at the vision of a young Nathan using a long, gleaming saber to carve fruit. “That sounds like a difficult way to cut up bananas. I mean, you’d need really long arms . . .”

For a moment his eyebrows drew down and she thought she’d gone too far, but then the tightness in his jaw eased and he started to chuckle. “My roommate sometimes helped.”

“So he held the banana over your bowl and you whacked at it with the sword.” She chortled again. “You have to love teenage rebellion.” Quelling her amusement, she held his gaze. “Take the sword with you to the wedding. Loan it to him for the ceremony. It will be symbolic.”

“Of what?” The frown was back.

“Your relationship.” She wanted to give him something before they parted ways. Maybe she could reopen the line of communication with his father. “Or rather, your wish to have one.”

“I don’t want a relationship with my father.”

Chloe shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”

He levered himself off her lap and sat up. She got the message that he was not happy, but she wasn’t going to quit. “He invited you for a reason. And you accepted for a reason. Don’t blame it on the flu.”

Chloe waited as he stared out the window. She’d counted to fourteen when he turned back to her. “I’ll take the damned sword.” The clenched muscles of his jaw eased into a wicked smile. “I can use it when we get back to remove your clothes more quickly.”

She concealed her sense of triumph with an answering smile. “If you come near my Carolina Herrera dress with that sword, I’ll break it in half.”

He threw back his head and laughed. She sensed it was more to release his tension about the wedding than about her wit.

The car glided to a halt in front of Chloe’s house. Nathan muttered a curse under his breath. “Come to dinner with me tomorrow,” he said. “I want more than just an hour in the back of my car.”

She wanted it too, more desperately than he knew. “I’d love to.”

Surprise showed in the sudden lift of his brows. “That was easy. Why didn’t I ask you before this?”

“You were terrified of rejection?”

He pivoted and pinned her against the seat, bringing his mouth beside her ear as his hand slid between her legs to touch the most sensitive spot on her body. “If Grandmillie wasn’t timing how long it takes for the car door to open, I’d show you how I would overcome your rejection.”

As his finger sent spirals of heat through her, Chloe murmured, “I already said yes.”

“Damn,” he said, withdrawing his hand. “So you did. Have dinner with me Friday as well. There’s a Broadway premiere I want to take you to.”

“I can’t. I need to spend time with Grandmillie since I’ll be gone all day Saturday.”

He nodded but said nothing, watching her as though he were waiting for something more.

“What?” she asked, baffled.

“Invite me to spend the evening with Grandmillie too.”

Shock made her blurt out, “Seriously?”

“I can bring dinner so you don’t have to cook.” His expression turned intense. “Grandmillie doesn’t approve of me, so I need another chance to win her over.”

“Grandmillie likes you just fine. She calls you my ‘young man,’ which is hilarious.”

He looked offended. “Why?”

How did she explain that he was too brilliant, too rich, too sexy, and too powerful to be anyone’s young man? And after this weekend, he would never again be
her
young man. “It makes you sound like a prom date, and you are so far beyond that.”

That seemed to mollify him, because he smiled. “I have one thing in common with a prom date.”

“You do?”

“I think about nothing except getting you out of your clothes.”

Chloe gave him a light punch in the shoulder, grabbed her handbag, and hurtled out of the privacy of the Rolls.

Nathan exited the car behind her, lacing his fingers with hers as he accompanied her to the front door. “You didn’t invite me for dinner, but I’ll work on that tomorrow.” He leaned down to kiss her. “I’ll pick you up after work and you can change at my place. Would you wear the blue lace dress for me? As a favor.”

So she would have two incredibly expensive dresses hanging unused in her closet after this weekend. Chloe knew when she was being manipulated, but she couldn’t resist his request. “You are a devious and ruthless man, which is why I will wear the dress. Without any panties.”

Nathan’s look nearly set her on fire. “And you call
me
ruthless.”