Arousal washed over her, leaving her wet and horny and a little stunned. Sex wasn’t something she took lightly. Uh uh. Not Lexi. She’d never sleep with someone on a whim. She had to know the man first, know him well before he got to see her naked. Yet, this guy… Hot damn, given half a chance, she’d drag him—kicking and screaming if need be—back to her room and have her way with him. Boy, oh boy, she wouldn’t just have her way with him, she’d make love to him like there was no tomorrow.
For God’s sake, try to look professional. You’re about to walk into a room full of work associates. Think about Riley, get your focus back.
Riley had simply slipped from her mind, like everything else, the second those hands clasped her arms. She was a goner. Lost in the feverish haze of desire.
“So, did you find him?” A voice asked over her shoulder. She answered yes instinctively, her mind occupied by flashes of those eyes.
“You saw AJ Riley?” Her friend and colleague, Leona Ramsey, gasped, walking around to stand next to her. “Did you speak to him?”
“Yes.” Lexi shook her head. “I mean no.” Leona knew she’d been tracking down Riley. “The hotel wouldn’t even give me his room number.”
Her friend gave her a strange look. “So you didn’t meet him?”
“Didn’t even come close.” Lexi frowned and gave Leona a run down of her conversation with the receptionist.
Leona clicked her tongue. “Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it? What do you plan to do now?”
“Try again at tea. Maybe he’ll be back at the hotel by then.”
Leona narrowed her eyes. “Are you okay? You look kind of flushed.”
“I’m fine,” Lexi answered.
I’ve just fallen in complete lust and can’t think of anything other than a night of sinful, sweaty sex. Other than that, I’m fine.
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Although I’d be a lot better after three or four orgasms
.
“You’re shaking,” Leona pointed out.
Yeah, that’s what happens when I get turned on.
“Just hungry. I didn’t eat very much at breakfast.”
Leona lifted a platter of scones with jam from one of the tables and offered it to Lexi. “Looks like you could do with one.”
“I could.” Lexi took the food gratefully and bit into it. It was sweet and buttery and dry, not at all like the salty male flesh she really wanted to sink her teeth into.
Determined to carry on a normal conversation, she asked, “You all prepared for the talk?” Leona was about to address the hundred-odd audience in the auditorium about the latest developments in the treatments of childhood cancers and leukemias. Lexi managed to keep her attention focused on her friend’s answer for at least thirty seconds before her stomach lurched and, unbidden, she heard him whisper in her ear, “Let’s do it”.
Chapter Two
The tea break found Lexi back at the front desk, asking the same receptionist to dial AJ Riley’s room. He gave her a quizzical look. “You haven’t seen him yet?” he asked.
“No…” Lexi replied, thinking the obvious—if she had, she wouldn’t be here right now.
“Oh, I thought…never mind.” He smiled at her as though to hide his confusion. “I can try his room. He returned earlier, but I believe he left again.” After a couple of moments, he shook his head. “There’s no response. Would you like to leave a message this time?”
Lexi shook her head. “No.” She sighed. “I don’t suppose he told you what time he’d be back?”
The receptionist answered with a deadpan face. “Most of our guests don’t leave that kind of information with us.”
Of course they didn’t. It was worth asking—just in case. “Thank you. I’ll try again later.” She left as frustrated as before.
This time she managed to walk through the lobby without making a complete debacle of herself. Although she subtly scanned the area twice, there was no sign of either Riley or the complete stranger she’d so delicately bumped into earlier. She chose to ignore the pangs of disappointment that fluttered through her stomach.
The next three attempts at contacting Riley proved just as successful as the first two. Later, Lexi sat at dinner with Leona, feeling disheartened and disillusioned. The sooner she could meet Riley, the sooner she could convince him to donate the fifty thousand and the sooner she could start up the project.
It was a good program. She’d spent months drawing up the plans, which had approval from both the hospital board and the ward staff. A couple of nurses had even signed up to help. Now she needed the funding to get it off the ground
¾
and she’d yet to make contact with the most probable source of that funding.
All her efforts today had come to nothing. Well, nothing except tripping in the lobby and landing with her nose mashed into the spectacular chest of “Superhunk”.
Not a bad result, all things considered.
“Yoo-hoo. Hello? Earth to Lexi?” Leona waved her hand in front of Lexi’s eyes.
Lexi blinked and grinned. “Sorry, I zoned out on you for a minute there.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“I guess I’m obsessing a little.” She looked sheepishly at Leona. “I’ve just got to find Riley, Lee. He’s right here, so close I can almost touch him.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of trying to raise money for POWS?” Leona asked, referring to the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Ward at Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Hospital, where she worked as a pediatrician and Lexi worked as a social worker. “It’s not even part of your job description.”
“So tired I can hardly limp out of bed some mornings,” Lexi answered. “It’s just something I need to do. It’s like I can’t rest until I’ve done my bit to help.”
“Retribution?”
Lexi shrugged. “In a sense, I suppose. I’ve been there, I know what it’s like. Now I can use that knowledge to make the journey a little less tough for someone else.”
“Your sister found it tougher,” Leona pointed out. “She had leukemia.”
“That is such a doctor comment to make. You only see the patient’s point of view,” Lexi griped good-naturedly, knowing Leona was teasing her. “Never mind the siblings and the rest of the family who go through the trauma of cancer.”
Leona grinned. “Yeah, doctors. Go figure. Why would we want to focus all our attention on a sick child when there’s a whole family out there who needs some loving care?”
Lexi smiled back. Leona always included the whole family in her treatment plan. As a general rule, doctors weren’t trained to look after the emotional needs of the patient’s family. As a social worker, Lexi was
¾
but she knew she hadn’t done a good enough job. Not yet. When she finished raising money for the sibling program, when she could provide better support for the brothers and sisters of children with cancer, then she’d put a little less pressure on herself.
“Lex,” Leona said, her tone more serious. “I think you’re moving too fast on this one. You’ve got too much riding on the program to screw it up. Wait for Wednesday to see Riley. Meet him when you’re more prepared, when you have all your files and information with you.”
“You’re right, Lee. I know you are.” Lexi squirmed in her seat. “It’s just that he’s here, in the same hotel… I can’t wait. I have to see him.”
“I think you’re being impulsive,” her friend warned. “You know how you tend to say the wrong thing when emotion takes over. Your mouth just runs off without you.”
Darn. She did tend to shoot off her mouth when she got excited, and meeting Riley was definitely something worth getting excited about. He was, after all, the person voted most likely to sponsor her program. So the chances were high she could say something she’d regret. But, c’mon. How could she not seize the moment? How could she let the opportunity of a lifetime blow right past her?
“I’ve got to do it, Lee. I’ve got to make the most of this time. Destiny’s given me this chance. I’m going to jump at it. Of course, I’ll go to the appointment as well. I’d never cancel that.” Excitement churned in her belly. “Look, I promise I’ll check every word that comes out of my mouth. I will be the paragon of tact and diplomacy, but mark my words. On Wednesday, when I walk into his office, it will not be the first time I meet Mr. Riley.
That
I promise you.”
* * *
AJ’s day had been a bitch. What started out as a friendly merger had almost turned into a hostile takeover. So much for talking numbers. The owner of the small company Riley Corporation planned to purchase had suddenly gotten cold feet and flat-out refused their more than generous offer.
Damn fool didn’t have the sense to realize Riley Corporation was the best thing that could have happened to him. In six months, AJ expected to see a one hundred percent growth in profit, then double that in double the time. Good thing Matt had been there to talk a bit of sense into the bloke, because his own input today had been somewhat less than impressive. He could barely string an intelligible sentence together, let alone argue with the dumbass kid.
He’d been all screwed up since he’d caught her in the lobby this morning. Christ, the effect Lexi Tanner had on him. Only a miracle had prevented him from jumping her right there at the reception desk.
Four months earlier, he’d had a similar reaction to her. He’d attended a fundraising exhibition for POWS, organized by Lexi. Her brother, Daniel Tanner, had been the featured photographer. The minute AJ walked into the gallery he’d noticed her. She was hard to miss. She’d pulled his attention toward her with gravitational force, and for the next hour he’d been aware of her every movement.
During the process of purchasing several of Tanner’s outstanding photographs—a charitable obligation to which he felt committed—he’d gathered as much information as he could about the social worker. Then he’d left, knowing one thing: Lexi symbolized big trouble. She embodied everything he had to stay far away from.
Unless, of course, he was willing to send himself to hell and back—for a second time.
AJ beeped the remote alarm of the rental car and caught the hotel lift up from the parking garage, almost tasting the double scotch waiting for him in his room. Fate had different ideas. The lift stopped at the ground floor and several people climbed in—including Lexi Tanner and her friend, Dr. someone or other. For the second time that day, his body heated to a dangerous level.
Christ, she was gorgeous. Her hair tumbled down her back in a shower of golden curls. Full lips, a slightly tilted nose and thick black lashes made up a beautiful face. She probably reached around five-eight in heels and had curves in all the right places. Real, womanly curves.
He stared, unable to look away.
As she caught sight of him, she froze. The air between them sizzled and ignited. She consumed his senses. She stood close, so close he caught the scent of her perfume again. It was spicy and sexy and he’d smelled it the whole day. Some of it must have rubbed off on his jacket earlier when she’d tumbled into his arms.
Words were spoken. He didn’t hear them. All his senses focused on her. Lexi apparently experienced the same phenomenon. Only when the doctor nudged her and said aloud, “Nineteen, please, and I’m on five,” did he realized someone had asked her floor number.
A startled-looking Lexi turned to the man in question. She flashed him a smile. “I’m sorry. Nineteen, please.”
If she smiled at him like that, even once, he’d have her backed up against the wall, her hands pinned at her sides and her chest squashed into his, before she had a chance to take another breath.
“What is with you today?” The doctor asked her. “That is about the fourth time you’ve zoned out on me.”
Lexi turned back to AJ. The temperature climbed five degrees. He reached for his tie, loosening the knot at the base of his throat. Surely it would help him breathe? Her very presence penetrated deep in his body.
“Sorry, I’m a little sidetracked,” she answered, still staring at him.
A bell rung. “That’s my floor,” her friend said. “Look, I’ll see you at breakfast. Good luck, I hope you find him.”
Find him? Who the fuck was she looking for? Last he’d heard, she wasn’t involved with anyone. Ah, shit. Jealousy didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t want to show interest in Lexi. So why did the thought of her looking for another man have sparks of rage exploding in his gut?