Dark And Dangerous (3 page)

 
The room suited him, Kayley thought. It
exuded masculinity, and at the same time warmth. And what a view. He could see
the rugged coastline and the enormity of the Pacific Ocean from every angle in
the room.
 

 
It was breathtaking.

 
"I have to paint it." Kayley didn't
realize she had spoken it out loud, until Nathan answered.

 
"Anytime you want. You will have to
paint it from up here though, as the view isn't the same from down there."
And he would get to spend more time with her.

 
"Mm," was all she
said.
She had no intentions of spending too much time around
him. He unnerved her in a way she hadn't experienced before.

 
Nathan heard the reluctance in the word, and
hid a smile. She was going to be work, but he'd never minded putting in an
effort. He had, however, never met a woman he found interesting enough, to
bother working for. And he had to admit, he'd never actually needed to work for
a woman's attention before.

  
When their food had been brought up, they
ate it out on his balcony.
 

 
"So, I've been thinking about this
exhibition." He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs
comfortably. "I would like it if most of the paintings depicted the
Monterey area. But as the artist that is solely up to you."

 
"That's a nice trick. Telling me what
you want, then giving me the supposed freedom to make up my own mind. You must
be a very good negotiator." He grinned at her. "But luckily for you,
I agree," Kayley said cutting into her large steak. ''Mm, this looks so
good. What is it?"

 
"
It's
beef
tenderloin, with a mixed salad and oven baked sweet potato chips."

It looked delicious, she
thought. "I suppose you have a great restaurant, as well?"

 
"As a matter of fact we do. It's five
starred and the food critics named it one of the best restaurants in
Monterey."

 
"Of course they did," she said with
a tinge of sarcasm, and made him laugh.

 
"We hired one of
Americas
best chef's."

 
"Naturally."

 
"Celebrities choose us when they come to
Monterey," he said just to watch her reaction.

 
"Where else."

He laughed again at her
sarcastic tone. "Why do you say that?"

 
"Well, it's just that you're so perfect.
Everything you do is perfect. So naturally you have a perfect resort, a perfect
chef, a perfect family, and celebrities choose your hotel," she stated
ironically and regretted her words the second they left her mouth.
 

 
"You think I'm perfect?"

 
She looked up at him quickly and found him
grinning at her. She really had to start thinking through her sentences before
she said them, she told herself. "About the exhibition, when do you want
it to start?" she evaded, studying her food intently.

 
"I was thinking about a month from now.
Say around the beginning of June. What do you think is so perfect about
me?" He liked seeing the way she blushed. In fact he couldn't remember the
last time he had so thoroughly enjoyed his lunch.

 
"That was soon," Kayley continued,
as if she hadn't heard what he had said. "Were you thinking of any
specific kind of paintings, such as coastline, town or just the resort
grounds?"

 
"That is completely up to you. But
personally I like variety."

 
"So do
I
. How
many paintings are we talking about?"

 
"Since the room is fairly big, I think
that would be about twenty paintings. But here is what I was thinking; What if
we divide the room into two half's, and then make the one half pictures of
Monterey, and the other half pictures of the world," Nathan said.

Kayley considered it. She
certainly had more than enough paintings, for the world half of the room. It
was a good idea, she thought. "That's clever. Show of Monterey and Carmel,
and bring the world to it."

 
"Yeah, it's good publicity."

 
"I've already painted around ten
pictures of Monterey, but I'll paint enough so there's something to choose
from."

 
"That sounds good. I'd like to see the
paintings you've made."

 
"Sure. I just have to get them shipped
here. Somehow," Kayley said.

 
"Where are they?"

 
"I had them stored when I came back to
America."

He considered.
"Stored where?"

 
"In San Francisco. But I'm the only one
who has a key. I'll work it out." She wasn't sure how, though.

 
"What are your plans for tomorrow?"
Nathan asked.

 
"I'm just going to paint."

 
"Can you change them?"

 
"Why?"

 
"I'll fly you to San Francisco."

 
"Fly me?" she said stunned.

 
"Well, not me personally. The helicopter
pilot will do that. I'll just go with you."

 
"In a helicopter?"

He saw the shock on her
face. "Yes."

 
"But you can't do that."

 
"Why not?"

 
"Well, you just can't. You've already
done too much. It's very nice of you and I do appreciate it, but you shouldn't
do any more."

 
"I really think that's up to me to
decide," he said evenly. "So when do you want to leave?"

She stared at him. "I
don't want to leave," she said clearly.

 
"I was thinking around ten. I'll come by
and pick you up at around nine thirty. Does that suit you?"

Her head was spinning
again. "You just don't take no for an answer, do you?"

 
"Only in the important matters." He
reached out and laid his hand over hers. She stiffened, but didn't pull away.
"Then maybe you could show me around on fisherman's wharf."

 
"Don't you have to work?" she
asked.

 
"I'll clear my day." He squeezed
her hand gently, then released it. "Come on. I'll drive you home."

When they were back in his
Porsche, she looked over at him.

 
"This is a great car."

 
"Yeah, it is." He grinned and drove
smoothly out of the parking lot.

 
"Are you sure you have time to take me
to San Francisco tomorrow?" she asked uncomfortably.

 
"Yes, I am."

 
She gave up and instead looked out the
window. Nathan cast a glance at her. He could see she was troubled. Clearly she
wasn't used to being helped, and certainly not to accepting it.

 
Well, that was going to change, he decided.
They drove the rest of the way back, in a relaxed silence. When he parked in
front of her cottage, he walked her to her door and waited patiently as she
unlocked it.

 
She stepped inside and barely had time to
register what happened, before he grabbed her and pressed her back against the
wall. She saw the deep blue flash of his eyes, then his lips was on hers and
she forgot everything else. His mouth was hot and skilled as it ravaged hers.
She felt the world slide away beneath her feet as her head spun wildly.

 
He felt her melt against him and pulled her
closer, plundering her mouth as she opened for him. Her taste whipped through
him, all the way to his soul. He ran his hands over her and into her hair.

 
Feeling her tremble, he pulled back before he
lost the last bit of his
self control
. But he
couldn't make himself release her. Instead he leaned his brow against hers, and
tried to even his breathing.

 
Kayley could barely hear anything above her
racing heart. She was glad he didn't let her go, because she doubted her legs
could hold her right now.

 
"I have to get back to the resort,"
Nathan said.

 
"Okay."

But he stayed as he was a
little longer.

 
Feeling him straighten she looked up at him.
He was watching her intently, with deep unreadable eyes. Then he slowly lowered
his mouth to hers, and kissed her gently this time. Releasing her, he stepped
back quickly.

 
"See you tomorrow." He hurried out,
before he could reach for her again.

Kayley stayed where she
was, leaning her back against the wall. Her heart was still racing and her
breathing was labored, but at least her legs were holding. She heard his car
drive off, and closed her eyes. The man was a loaded gun, she decided. She'd
never been so churned up in her life. Opening her eyes again, she looked around
the room. Apparently the world was still standing.

 
And then she spotted the package. Who would
send her anything, and what could it possibly be. Curious, she pushed away from
the wall, and remembered to close the door, before picking it up. It was quite
small, she thought, and barely prevented herself from shaking it to hear what
was inside. She opened it quickly and removed the isolation wrapping. Inside it
was a small black compact rectangular
thing, that
Kayley had no idea what was. Then she saw the paper still in the box. Picking
it up, she read the scribbled lines.

 
Sorry sis.

 
I hoped it wouldn't get to this.

 
Joe

 
Her
stomach clenched as she read it again and again. Her brother. She hadn't heard
from him in nearly a year. What was he sorry about? It didn't sound like it was
the lack of communication. Wouldn't get to what?
she
thought. She checked the box to see if she had missed anything. She hadn't.

 
Picking up the black thing, she studied it
again. It looked like a computer thing. Which she knew nothing about, since she
didn't own one, and had only tried using one a couple of times. Laying the
paper and the thing on the kitchen counter, she cleared away the box.

 
This was a truly odd day, she thought. First
she'd been kissed brainless by an outrageously attractive male. Then she'd
received a mystery package from her brother.

 
And as if that wasn't enough, tomorrow she
was going to San Francisco with the outrageously attractive male in a
helicopter. A helicopter! What was going
on.
Feeling
overwhelmed she decided to do the one thing that had always helped her. She
painted.
 

Chapter Four
   

 
She was
nervous. And she hated being nervous. There was about ten minutes until Nathan
was supposed to arrive, and she had run out of things to do thirty minutes ago.
And that was even though she'd had a huge wardrobe crisis. What did you wear
when you were flying in a helicopter to San Francisco, with what had to be one
of the hottest men on the plane? And not the sleek Hollywood hot, but the rough
unpolished hot of a predator. In the end Kayley had decided to go for casual
black slacks, a green top and a matching cardigan.

 
She heard a car pull up in front of her
house, and felt her stomach clench. Okay, she told herself, just relax and
breathe deeply. Then she forgot everything about breathing as a knock sounded
on the door. She hurried over to open it. And there he stood dressed in casual
black pants and a white T-shirt. He looked so handsome, she thought, tall and
well built
with his dark hair curling lightly around his
face, and those deep blue eyes.

She was getting in way
over her head.

 
"Good morning, Kayley."
 

 
"Good morning."

 
"Are you ready to go?" Nathan
asked.

 
"Yes. I just have to get my purse."
She hurried in to get it and saw the note and the computer thing still lying on
her kitchen counter. Grabbing the thing she stuffed it in her purse and headed
back outside.

 
"You have the key to the storage?"
he asked as she locked the door.

 
"Yes, it's in my purse."

 
"Good." He cast a glance at her as
they drove away from the cottage. "Tired?"

 
"No, I'm fine."

 
He didn't believe her for a moment. There
were shadows in her eyes that hadn't been there the day before. Determined to
make them go away he said, "So, did you dream about me?"

She laughed, even as she
blushed. "No."

 
"I bet you've thought obsessively about
me."

 
"I have not." Okay, maybe just a
little bit, but he didn't have to know.

 
"I've thought about you."

 
"Oh." She didn't know what to say
to that.

 
"You're a fascinating woman. I forgot to
ask yesterday, are you afraid of flying?"

Kayley quickly readjusted
to his sudden change of subject. "No, I'm not. Although I don't know about
helicopters, of course."

 
"It's not that much different."

 
"Where is this helicopter?" she
asked.

 
"It's at the resort."

 
"Do you use it often?"

 
"If there's a meeting in San Francisco,
or some such thing. Otherwise clients appreciate the service." Nathan
drove up the resort road, and turned onto a side road. It twisted along at the
edge of the resort grounds, then opened up to a big cemented area. In the
middle stood the helicopter sleek and black, like a dark bird of prey. Nathan
drove the car over to the right, well away from the helicopter. Kayley felt her
stomach clench uneasily as they walked towards it.

 
"Nervous?" he asked.

 
"A bit." Although she didn't add
that her nerves had much more to do with the man that was with her, than it had
anything to do with flying.

 
"You'll do fine."

The pilot was waiting, and
opened the door for them.

 
"Everything set, Troy?" Nathan
asked him.

 
"Yes, sir."

 
Climbing in first, she saw there were two
rows of seats, facing each other. She sat, and was surprised as he took the
seat beside her. She had been sure he would sit across from her. The engine
started and she saw, through the windows, the propeller slice through the air.

 
"It won't take long before we're
airborne," Nathan said. The blades began rotating faster and faster, until
they were whipping through the air. He took her hand, squeezing gently, and
then suddenly they were off the ground, rising into the air.

 
It was magnificent. She could see the resort
spread beneath them, and the incredible coastline as they continued to rise
over the land.

 
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He
leaned towards her, looking down as the ground slid farther and farther
away.
 

 
"It's incredible. I've never seen
anything like it," Kayley said.

 
He heard the excitement in her voice and
smiled. There were no shadows in her eyes now. She took in everything as they
flew along the coast. Not wanting to disturb her, he leaned back in the seat
and relaxed. She was a joy to watch, he thought, completely engulfed in what
she saw. They flew that way in silence, until San Francisco's skyline came into
view. He heard her gasp for breath when the pilot flew them closer to the
rising buildings.

 
Nathan leaned closer. "I never quite get
used to the sight."

She'd forgotten he was
there, Kayley realized. But she was suddenly aware again. Very aware.
"Where are we going to land?"

 
"We're landing at the airport."

 
"Oh." Yes, she could see it now as
they flew closer. It spread out beneath them, and reminded her of a small
modern city. Troy landed the helicopter with careful precision that spoke of
years of practice.

 
"Your first helicopter flight is over.
How do you feel?" Nathan asked.

 
"Wonderful."

They jumped out as the
door was opened. "Thank you, Troy. We'll see you at five o'clock."

 
Before Kayley even had time to register what
Nathan had said, he was leading her towards a limousine. A driver held the door
open for them.

 
"What's the address?" Nathan asked
sliding into the seat beside her.

 
Fumbling a bit, she pulled out the piece of
paper she had written it on, and handed it to him. Nathan rattled of the
address to their driver, and to Kayley
´
s surprise, rolled up a screen between them and the driver with a
push of a button.

She looked a little
overwhelmed, Nathan thought. But that was only going to get worse, as he
intended to whisk her off her feet. "Do you want something to drink? Water
maybe?"

 
"No, thank you." She was too busy
trying to comprehend how much her life had changed.

She had just flown to San
Francisco in a helicopter, and was now driving through it in a limousine. It
was a world away from how she had grown up, always wondering where her next
meal was coming from.

 
"What are you thinking?"

Surprised out of her own
thoughts, she looked at him. "I was thinking about how life changes. I've
never flown in a helicopter before, and I've never ridden in a limousine
before, either."

 
"And now you've done both in one
day," Nathan said.

 
"Yes, I have." She smiled at him,
glad that he understood. Then she remembered something. "You said to Troy,
we'd see him at five o'clock."

 
"Yes, that's right."

 
"What are we going to do until
then?"

 
"You were going to show me Fisherman's
wharf."

 
"That is hardly going to take that
long."

 
"We'll think of something."

Her eyes narrowed as she
watched him. There was something he wasn't telling her, she was sure of it. And
that charming smile he sent her wasn't fooling anyone, she thought.

 
The limousine pulled up in front of the
storage units, and moments later the chauffeur opened the door. The air smelled
of warm metal and something undefinable, she thought stepping out. A ways down,
someone else were offloading boxes from the back of his truck.

 
"You had number twenty-one, right?"
Nathan asked.

 
"Yes, it's that one." She gestured
and pulling out the key, she quickly unlocked the door.

Nathan frowned. "You
stored your paintings here? A child could pick these locks. What would you have
done if they were stolen?"
 

 
"They weren't stolen. And besides, I
hardly think my paintings are the target of the
worlds
criminals." His tone had her back up
instantly.

 
"No, they wouldn't have planned to steal
your paintings, but I'm sure it would have made their day. These paintings
would have been worth much more than the small time thieves that steal from
this kind of place is used to."

 
She could see he was angry. And that only put
her back up even more. She stalked into the back of the unit and grabbed a
large box. "They weren't stolen, so this discussion is ridiculous. And if
they had been it wouldn't have anything to do with you."

 
He moved so quickly, her mind barely had time
to register the blur of movement. Then the box was ripped out of her hands, and
she was lifted off her feet, pressed back against the cold metal wall. His
mouth was on hers, hard and demanding, spinning her world out of control.
Unable to stop herself, she yielded to him. He ravaged her so completely, so
skillfully, that she felt her insides simply turn to liquid. She lost sense of
everything but him. Sensing it as she melted against him, he gentled the kiss.
And ran his hands caressing over her, before he remembered where they were. He
pulled back a little and just looked at her. She was watching him with
depthless stunned eyes. Gently he stroked his thumb over her cheekbone.

 
"We'd better get those boxes," he
murmured.

She could barely catch her
breath, but she managed a weak, "Yes." Unable to move, Kayley just
remained where she was, as he lifted the box she had taken, and carried it out.

The man was dangerous.
Sweet and charming one minute, then furious and passionate the next. She had no
clue what to do about him.

 
Pushing away from the wall as he came back
in, she tried to pretend that she wasn't the least bit unsettled. She lifted
one of the last two boxes as Nathan took the other.

 
"These the last?" he asked.

 
"Yes." Following him out, she
cursed him in the silence of her mind. Her insides were still a quivering mass,
and he didn't seem the least bit affected. The idiot.

 
He lifted the box out of her hands and set it
inside the limousine. Kayley slid into the car and turned towards the window,
away from him. She felt him getting in beside her, but kept staring out the
window as they drove. And startled as he gently took her hand and lifted it to
his mouth. Feeling the warm brush of his lips on her skin, she couldn't resist
looking at him. His eyes were so warm and deep as he watched her. When he
turned her hand and kissed the palm, her heart simply melted.

 
"Still angry at me?" Nathan asked
deeply.

How could she
be.
"No."

He lowered her hand, but
didn't release it. "Good. Otherwise I would have had to grovel."

Kayley couldn't help but
laugh at the thought. "I just can't imagine that."

 
"No. Well, stick around, and you might
see it yet." They slid smoothly through traffic, on the steep rising and
falling San Francisco streets.

 
When the driver dropped them off at
Fisherman's wharf, they set out to explore on foot.

Nathan took her hand and
laced their fingers as they strolled along, enjoying the quaint little shops
and the atmosphere. Hearing a boat come in, Kayley pulled him quickly over to
the dock where the sea lions lazily basked in the Sun.

 
"You have to see this." As she said
it, the big animals suddenly sprang into activity, jumping into the water and
swam in circles around the boat, while putting up a noisy ruckus. The fishermen
didn't seem to take much notice of all the commotion, but just continued the
business of securing their boat. People gathered around waiting almost as
impatiently as the sea lions, for what they knew would come. "Have you
seen it before?" she asked, looking up at him.