Neither did he. He took a sharp turn, catching a glimpse of Sierra out of the corner of his eye. They were tied one race each.
Speeding for the finish line, he tried to tell himself it wasn’t just a macho thing, either, but he wasn’t quite able to make himself believe. So he wanted her to think he could move mountains. So he wanted to kiss her until she trembled in his arms. He was human and greedy where she was concerned.
Her cart edged closer to him. His hands clamped around the wheel as he took the final curve with only a minimal decrease in speed. His eyes flickered to the left to make sure she was still with him. Taking his eyes completely off the track to ensure she was all right cost him the last race.
He’d clipped a bumper and lost precious seconds. His only consolation was that she had glanced around to check on him. He’d waved her on. Another driver had been closing fast on her, but she’d won.
This time it was just the two of them in the lead, going all out and hell-bent for victory. Ten feet. Nine. Eight. They crossed the finish line in a dead heat and coasted to a stop.
Out of the cart, Sierra jerked her helmet off, shaking her hair so that the thick black strands cascaded wantonly down her slim back. She’d tried to plait her hair, but it had worked itself loose. She looked like a beautiful wicked angel. “Want to go for a tiebreaker?” She hooked her arm around her helmet.
He knew exactly what he wanted and he always took what he wanted. She was in his arms, his mouth on hers before she took her next breath. He reveled in the taste of her, her slender body aligned with him, her softness to his hardness.
Everything about her pleased him.
When he felt his tenuous control slipping he lifted his head. Her lips were moist and trembling, her eyes dazed with passion. Whistles bombarded them. Most of the other drivers were young men.
Sierra’s breath fluttered over her lips. “You took your prize before you won.”
“That was just a warm-up.” He picked up the helmets they’d dropped on the ground. “It’s almost six. Are you hungry?”
She smiled as they went to turn in the helmets. “Is that a rhetorical question?”
“There’s a restaurant next to the ice-cream store. How about ordering to go while you’re eating your ice cream? Unless eating sweets spoils your appetite.”
“Nothing spoils my appetite.”
“Mine, either,” he said with a wealth of meaning and full of promise.
T
hey took Mexican food to the great room and sat in front of the fifty-inch plasma TV, which they paid little attention to. Instead she told him about the interviews with the newspapers, her new marketing idea, while all the time thinking about the long, hot kiss. If the one at the racetrack had been a warm-up, she could hardly wait.
“You aren’t eating.” He looked down at her plate of fajitas.
“Not as good as I’m used to,” she said by way of explanation.
“Possibly.” He took her tray and set it beside his on the antique coffee table in front of them. “Or you could have something else on your mind.”
“Possibly.” Her gaze went to his mouth.
He scooted closer. “The same thing that’s on my mind.” One arm went around her waist, the other around her neck. “Why don’t we put each other out of our misery?”
She sighed as his lips, fleeting and soft, brushed over hers, warming, teasing. His tongue stroked the seam of her mouth. She sighed in satisfaction and opened to him, felt herself being leaned backward.
His hard body came down on hers. His weight felt so right, so incredibly good. Protest was the furthest thing from her mind. She freed his hair from the clip, ran her fingers through the thickness, pressed closer to him.
She ached and shivered in his arms. She finally understood what her brothers had been concerned about, mindless passion that clamors to be fed, satisfied.
Lifting his head, he stared down at her, his eyes burning with desire. “I’d better go,” he said, his voice strained. Standing, he pulled her to her feet.
She didn’t want him to, but she realized what would happen if he didn’t. “Thank you for today.”
“Thank you. I have to fly to Tucson in the morning for a few days.”
“I see.” He wasn’t known to stay in one place long. She knew that, but she was just getting used to him being back and now he was leaving again.
His hand circled her neck. “I’ll call.”
Her fingers touched his cheek. “Have a safe trip.”
“Martin and Shane will be here if you need anything.”
She made a face. “Blade, I can take care of myself. I don’t
need
your staff.”
“I know. I’m being selfish in having them stay. I’ll know you’re being well cared for, and your family won’t accuse me of neglect.”
“You shaded that to your advantage very well,” she teased.
“That I did, but it’s still true.” He went to the door. “I have an early board meeting, so we’re leaving early.”
“I have an early appointment as well,” she said aloud, instead of asking him to stay.
“Good night.” He kissed her gently on the lips; then he was gone.
“Good night.” She closed the door, missing him already.
S
ierra met Jess the next morning at the entrance for the construction workers and showed him the orchid. He was as fascinated and as pleased as she had been. “For me? Really?”
“Really.” Blade giving the flower to Jess had been one of the most thoughtful gestures she’d ever known. “Blade thought we could share how they’re doing with each other.”
“The boss man?” Jess asked, some of the happiness disappearing from his face.
Jess always referred to Blade as “the boss man.” “Yes. I’ll keep this in my office. You can pick it up after work and see mine.”
Wariness entered his eyes. “Will he be there?”
“No.” She was unable to keep the sadness out of her voice. She’d half-expected Blade to come down and say good-bye and gotten up early to shower and dress. She’d been disappointed that he hadn’t.
Jess’s face spread into a wide grin. “I remember how to get there. Mr. Crane don’t have to bring me.”
“Of course you do. I’ll see you when you get off work.” Gingerly holding the flower, she returned to her office, stopping briefly to speak with the men at the security checkpoint to let them know it was all right to let Jess up. The man who had let Luke pass without notification was now assigned to walking the grounds. He probably considered himself lucky.
Shane didn’t appear to be the type of man to give second chances. He had the hard-eyed stare of a man who had seen the horrors of the world and dispensed his own. Blade’s trust in him was implicit, just as it appeared to be in the man waiting outside her door.
He was as tall as Blade and smiled even less. But where she sensed Blade’s torment, with this man there was nothing. With his olive skin and sharp cheekbones, she guessed he had Mexican, Native American, and African-American blood flowing through his veins. He had the leanness of a wolf and moved as quietly. She’d nicknamed him Smoke because he slipped in and out of rooms effortlessly. Jet-black hair framed his sculpted face and brushed the collar of his white shirt.
“Good morning, Rio.”
“Sierra. Can I take that for you?”
“Got it. Thanks.” She entered her office through the door he held open and placed Jess’s plant on the wide window ledge beside hers. “Please don’t tell me Blade left you and Shane to watch over me.”
He didn’t come inside, but his sharp gaze, like Shane’s, swept the room. “I’m just taking over floor security.”
Nothing about the man leaning negligently against the door indicated he did menial duties. “Doesn’t appear your style.”
“You know what they say about looks.”
Yes, she did. Six-feet-plus, even in expensive dress slacks and silk shirt, he emanated danger. “Do you work on computers like Shane?”
“No.”
She sat behind her desk and opened her date book. “Then what is it specifically that you do?”
“Whatever needs to be done.” He reached for the doorknob. “I’ll be nearby if you need me.”
She blew out an irritated breath. This was getting ridiculous. “It’s broad daylight. There are two security checkpoints downstairs. I really don’t need anyone watching over me.”
His expression didn’t change. “Like I said, if you need me I’ll be nearby.” The door closed.
Sierra made a face. No wonder Blade, Shane, and Rio got along so well. All of them were pigheaded. She smiled. So was she.
L
ate Monday evening after everyone in the office had gone home, Blade decided he had put off calling Sierra long enough. Just as he reached for the phone, a call came through on his private line.
He tensed before picking the receiver up. Fewer than ten people had the number. “Navarone.”
“We’re the ones needing protection. From Sierra.”
“Shane.”
“Your woman is sneaky and devious.”
“Rio.”
“You owe us, Blade,” Shane said.
Blade’s brow knitted. Obviously they were handing the phone back and forth. Both sounded pissed about something. They had ice in their veins. They’d faced cold-blooded killers and hadn’t flinched. “Will one of you please tell me what is going on?”
“Ask your woman.” The line went dead.
Blade couldn’t punch in Sierra’s number fast enough. He paced as it rang for the third, then fourth time. “Sierra, pick—”
“Sierra Grayson.”
“Is everything all right?” There was music and laughter in the background.
“It couldn’t be better,” she said.
She sounded happy and for some odd reason that irritated Blade. He wanted her to miss him as much as he missed her. “Having a party?”
“Yes. Thank you, Martin.”
“Martin is there?”
“So is Jenkins. We needed more men after Shane and Rio practically ran out the door.”
Blade rubbed his forehead. “Sierra, could you please explain? There’s not a man alive that could scare Shane or Rio.”
“Who said anything about men? Jenkins, you rock.”
“Sierra, please. If you’re trying to drive me crazy, you’re doing a good job. Shane and Rio just called.”
She chuckled. “I knew they would.”
“What did you do to them?”
“A lot of men would give anything to have been in their positions.”
Since she didn’t drink he knew she wasn’t tipsy, so that meant she was deliberately evading his questions to annoy him. “You’re getting back at all three of us, is that it?”
“Always knew you weren’t just a pretty face.”
He sat in the chair behind his desk. “Let me have it.”
“Since Rio wanted to stick so close to me, I had him come up. He didn’t know he was walking into a room with forty-plus women. One of your buyers asked if she could have a bridal shower for her daughter in my place. Besides liking her, I thought it would be good PR, and agreed. The single women and some of the married ones swarmed Rio when he came in. Seeing that he needed help, I called Shane and asked him to come up.”
“They swarmed him, too.”
“See. Smart. Nothing makes a single woman more anxious than a wedding shower that’s not her own,” she told him. “By the way, you have two party poopers. They wouldn’t even dance. Now Jenkins had two women on the floor bumping hips.”
The laughter started low and bubbled its way up. “Sierra. Only you.”
“I made you laugh.” There was quiet pleasure in her voice.
“You do things to me that I never thought possible,” he said quietly.
“I wish you were telling me that in person.”
“So do I.” There was no sense dancing around it. “I’m flying back to Playa del Carmen Friday evening. I could pick you up on the way and have you back late Sunday afternoon.”
“I have appointments,” she said, her disappointment obvious.
“Cancel them. Work around them. I want you with me,” he said, pushing harder than he knew he should. “Look at it as a business trip. You can look over the operations and give me your take.”
“Blade—”
“If you have prospective clients coming in from out of town, I’ll have Jacques show them around.”
“Have you asked Jacques?”
His answer was slow: “No.”
“Good; then I accept.”
Blade was floored, happy, and a bit puzzled. “I’m happy and I should probably let it go, but I have to ask, why shouldn’t I have asked Jacques first?”
“You can flex your muscles as my employer, but when it comes to things between the two of us, ask first, plan later. I don’t like decisions being made for me.”
“Noted. I’ll see you Friday evening around six. The helicopter will take us to Addison Airport, and we’ll take the jet from there. The flight is less than three hours. You’ll love the beach.”
“I’ll need to pick up some beachwear.”
He laughed. “There’s a mall near Cancún, Luxury Avenue, that will have everything you need.”
“I’ve heard of that mall. Shopping at its finest.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me? I’ll let you get back to your guests. Good night.”
“Good night, Blade.” Sierra hung up the phone, a smile on her lips. She’d see Blade in a few days. She’d worry about what would happen then. Now she was too happy.
Sierra crossed the room to the mother of the prospective bride. “Mrs. Street, do you mind if I take some food to Rio and Shane?”
The well-dressed matronly woman’s eyes lit up with interest. “I don’t suppose they’d come back for it, would they?”
“I think I can assure you they won’t.”
She sighed. “Pity, but you can’t have everything. The main thing is that Eloise is having a wonderful time and so are her guests. I can’t thank you enough for letting us have the bridal shower here.”
“My pleasure, I assure you. Besides having fun and being treated to some delicious food, I’ve gotten three solid appointments and several leads from the guests,” Sierra told the socialite.
“After I was invited to the tea, and my husband and I purchased, I knew it would be perfect for my baby’s shower.” Mrs. Street leaned closer. “And it might help my future son-in-law, who dropped her off, to decide to buy here, where he’ll be closer to their downtown law firm and us.”
“He and Eloise are one of my appointments,’ Sierra said.
Jubilation spread across the woman’s face. For a wild moment Sierra thought she might hug her. “Tell the caterer to give you a fresh platter of everything.”
“Thank you.” Sierra asked Martin and Jenkins to make sure things ran smoothly until she returned, then went to the kitchen. In no time flat she had a tray of food and was out the door. In the basement she entered the door marked Security.
Shane was sitting at a desk in front of a bank of computers that showed different areas of Navarone Place. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. So did Rio’s as he leaned against the doorjamb leading into another office.
“I’ve come with a peace offering.” She set the tray on top of several folders.
Shane peered at the cellophane-wrapped offering. Rio walked over to do the same.
“It won’t bite. It came straight from the caterer.” Since neither moved, Sierra took off the cellophane. “If you’ll tell me what you’d like to drink, I’ll bring it back.”
They traded glances; then each reached for a tiny pinwheel sandwich.
“Come on, fellows, it was just a little joke.”
“One of the women squeezed my—”
“Rio,” Shane cut him off, then looked at Sierra. “What if someone had put you in that position?”
She answered truthfully. “I wouldn’t have liked it.”
Shane ate the sandwich and picked up a miniature strawberry tart. “Remember that, or we might decide to return the favor.”
“I’ll remember.”
“Now, about that drink,” Shane said.
S
ierra tried not to think of Friday night, but it was difficult. During the day she was busy, but at night, in bed, she thought of the trip ahead, the irrevocable step she was taking.
There was no way either of them could pretend this was business. If she had any doubts, the searing kiss Blade gave her when she opened her door Friday evening erased them.
“Ready?”
“Yes.” She’d debated with herself over what might happen and accepted it. She wanted to be with Blade. “My suitcases.”
Blade bent to pick up the train case and medium suitcase. “Is this all?”
Playfully she swatted his arm. “I wanted room if I bought anything.”
“Somehow I think that’s a given.” Putting the train case under his arm, he took the suitcase in one hand and ushered her through the door with the other.
“I’ve never ridden in a helicopter before. I hope I don’t get sick. I don’t want to embarrass myself.” Aware that she was nervously chattering and talking fast, she clamped her teeth together.
Blade set both pieces of luggage down in front of the elevator, grasped her arms, and stared down into her upturned face. “I want you. I won’t lie to you, I hope that this weekend we make love, but I won’t pressure you.”
“You might not have to,” she answered honestly, her voice barely above a hushed whisper.
He pulled her into his arms. “We’ll take it one hour at a time. Let’s just enjoy the beach and each other. You’re in a guesthouse behind my house. Martin and Jenkins are coming. So are Rio and Shane.”
“This should be an interesting trip and weekend.”
“Count on it,” Blade said as they entered the elevator.
N
ight had fallen when the Learjet landed at the airport in Mexico. With brisk efficiency, they were whisked through security. Outside, the luggage was loaded in a Range Rover and they were on their way to Navarone Riviera Maya.