Dark Attraction: The Corde Noire Series (13 page)

“It was clever, Sam.” He could not help but grin. “I still don’t know why you went to all the trouble.”

When she turned to him, the light from the window made her eyes twinkle, her deep brown hair shimmer, and the skin on her face almost translucent. His breath caught in his throat. She was spellbinding.

“I wouldn’t have told you about my past if I hadn’t trusted you, and I don’t trust a lot of people, Mr. Dane. When I discovered who you really were, I learned all I could on the Internet, but none of what I read described the Doug Morgan I knew. I came here because I wanted him back in my life. I told you before I wanted to be yours. Circumstances may have changed a little, along with your name, but I still want to belong to the man I got to know.”

He inched alongside her. “Are you saying you still want to be mine?”

A knock was followed by the sound of the heavy conference room doors swinging open. A round redhead with penetrating green eyes stepped into the room. Wearing a forest-green pantsuit with a bright yellow scarf tied around her neck, she came across as a no-nonsense kind of woman you would not want to cross.

“Mr. Dane, I have Mr. Newly on the phone from the Dock Workers Union. He needs to speak with you.”            

Sebastian glanced over at his secretary. “Lacy Paulson, I would like you to meet Samantha Woods.”

Lacy’s pink mouth spread into a teasing smirk. “Not Emily Anderson?”

Sebastian chuckled. “Not even close.”

Lacy nodded. “I will tell Mr. Newly you will get back to him.”

“Thank you,” Sebastian called to his secretary. “And clear my schedule for the rest of the morning. Ms. Woods and I have business to discuss.”

“Yes, Mr. Dane.”

Lacy exited the room, quietly shutting the conference room doors behind her.

Sam walked over to the table, only tripping once on her high heels. Sebastian smiled as he watched her try to right herself. God, she was irresistible.

“What business do we have to discuss?” she asked when she reached the table.

“The business of being my sub.”

Sam took a few seconds before she faced him, making Sebastian question if she was having second thoughts.

“If I said yes, what would happen? I mean, we obviously couldn’t be like we were before, could we?”

He came up to her. “No. You would have to adapt to my world. I can’t go back to being Doug Morgan, or living that lie with you. If we were to give this a go, you would have to move in with me, terms would have to be agreed on, contracts signed … there is a process.”

“What if we skipped the process? Like that club of yours. I don’t think I like the idea of contracts or rules.”

“Do you know what that would mean?” His heart beat faster at the prospect of her giving herself so fully to him. “I could do anything I wanted to you … anything. Are you willing to trust me that much?”

She dropped her eyes, the blush spreading on her pale cheeks. “Where would I be living with you, exactly?”

He looked up at the ceiling. “My home is two stories up. I have a penthouse on the top floor. But I would want you to give up your job, so we could concentrate on your training.”

“Give up my job?” She snorted, making his insides burn. “I have bills to pay.”

“I will pay your bills. Keep up your rent, and provide you with whatever you need. I want you to only be for me. After we have finished your training, then you can decide if you want to continue as my sub.”

She shook her head. “I thought we had done enough training. Now you tell me I need more?”

He smirked. “A lot more.”

Her eyes found his. Sebastian swore he would give up everything to have her in that instant. Why did this tiny creature with the grace of an awkward giraffe and the audacity of a rhinoceros touch him so?

“If I agree, what will you want from me?”

He set his face right in front of her, so close he could smell the scent of the almond shampoo in her hair. “I will want everything from you. Your submission, your trust, and your honesty. No more secrets. Can you do that?”

There it was, that hesitation he always got from her. It was as if she was still hiding something from him. What could be worse than her sexual inexperience? He couldn’t fathom anything dark or sinister hiding behind her wondrous eyes.

“Why do I get the impression there is something else going on with you, Sam?”

She licked her lips and a bolt of pure fire shot to his groin. It took everything he had not to throw her over the conference room table and fuck her right there.

She went to the wide windows overlooking the river. “I don’t remember our meeting before. Why is that?”

Tempering his desire, he drummed his fingers on the table. “You don’t remember because you pretty much ignored me every time I came to visit my mother in the ICU. When I talked to you, you walked out of the room. It was like you were purposefully avoiding me.” He sat back on the table. “You have no idea how much you frustrated me.”

Sam turned to him. “Sorry. I tend to do that when family members come to visit. I try to stay out of the rooms and let them have time with my patient. Otherwise, I get a lot of difficult questions. Will they die? Will they recover? Questions I don’t want to answer.”

“Because you already know the outcome, right?”

She stiffened, and her eyes darted about the room. “What … what makes you think that?”

“I’m sorry. I never considered your side of it. I just thought it was your nature, and that made me want to desperately teach you a lesson.”

She let the slightest hint of a smile curl her lips. “Still feel that way?”

His cock pulsated. Taking control of his body, he stood from the table. “I want you to go home and take a few days to think about what I’m offering.”

“And if I still want to? Then what?”

He came up to her. “I will be out of town for the next three days. When I get back, we can get together and talk. Write down any questions you may have and I will answer them.” He held out his hand to her. “I would like to show you what I’m offering.”

She took his hand. “Where are we going?”

He led her to the door. “My place.”

Sebastian escorted her outside the smoky glass doors of the Dane Shipping offices. In the corridor, they went to a smaller set of elevators to the right of the main elevator doors. Typing in a code on the keypad to the side, Sebastian watched Sam fidgeting next to him, something he had come to recognize as her nerves getting the better of her.

“Relax. I’m not taking you to my apartment for sex. I just want to show you where you will be living … if you accept my proposal.”

She bit her lower lip. “I wasn’t worried about that.”

“I thought you were nervous about our being together.”

The elevator doors opened and Sam stepped inside. “I’m not nervous. If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t be here.”

Entering into the elevator, Sebastian clenched his fists. The idea that she could want him as much as he wanted her had never occurred to him. Now that he was faced with it, his need for her skyrocketed out of control.

The doors closed and the elevator rose upward.

“How long have you lived here?” she inquired, watching the panel above the doors light up the large P.

“Ten years. Since I took over the business.” The elevator doors opened.

“And you’re thirty-seven, have never been married, and are an only child,” she stated, walking through the open silver doors. “Your mother was a schoolteacher before she married your father, Jack Dane. You like yachting, running, tennis, and are known to play a mean round of golf.” Sam gaped about the small entryway that led to an oak door.

“I don’t like yachting and my golf game sucks,” he affirmed, strutting past the rectangular pond with a waterfall in the wall.        

Sam stopped and admired the goldfish in the water. She then touched the green leaves of the few potted plants set around the entryway. “A few gossip sites I visited said you’re a playboy.”

“So you did your research on me. I’m impressed.” He went to the solid wood door and punched in a code on the keypad to his right.

“I’m a nurse. We always do our research on things we want to learn more about.”       

His front door popped open and he turned to her. “Next time I’ll remind myself to become infatuated with a shopkeeper, instead of someone so capable of checking up on me.”

“You were infatuated with me?”

He motioned inside the apartment. “I spent an exorbitant amount of money to get closer to you, Sam. Would a man with a mild interest go to such trouble?”

She stood right in front of him, gazing up into his eyes. “I don’t know, would he?”

She was so temptingly close, he yearned to kiss her, but she wasn’t his, not yet anyway. When she was in his home and at his mercy, then he would kiss her. He would take everything from her and more.

“A man wanting to possess you would climb to the top of Everest.”

Her smile was dazzling. “Everest, eh?” She stepped inside his front door and tripped over the threshold. Classic Sam.

He held out his arm and caught her before she fell headfirst into his entryway. When she wrapped her arms around him, Sebastian’s insides melted. He promptly lifted her to her feet. This was the most disciplined he had ever been with a woman, but he knew his anticipation would pay off.

Just hold out a little while longer
, he told himself.
Then she will be all yours
. 

After he let her go, Sam smoothed out her blouse and stepped into his home. Lights set into the wood-beamed ceiling came to life.

“The apartment is set with sensors,” he informed her. “They sense motion in a room and turn on the lights. After a minute or so without any motion, they turn off.”

She raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Neat.”

Neat?
He grinned. Who said that anymore?

Sam hesitated for a moment, as if listening to something. She frowned and searched the room.

His belly tightened.
Can she sense it?

“Is something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, I could have … never mind.”

“Sam, do you need to tell me something? No matter how outlandish it may seem, I will understand.”

Her eyes became two small pinpoints, as if she were debating his sincerity. “It’s just … chilly in here. That’s all.”

He felt it again, that urgent sense that there was more to the woman than she let on. What was she hiding? The mystery of her only heightened his desire.  

They walked through the entrance hall and entered his living room. The left wall was covered in white stone, where a massive modern sculpture done in metal was set into the wall. As they went down three steps, the living room opened up. A white tray ceiling had inlaid spotlights that shone down on dark wood floors. Three white leather couches faced a wall of tempered windows glistening with sunlight. On a far white wall were two full-length portraits of the same beautiful brunette. With cherry-red lips—wearing handcuffs and little else—she was captured in provocative poses. The eye-popping pieces always made Sebastian grin. He remembered how he had insisted on the racy art being added to his décor, despite the protests of his very prim interior designer.

“Those are … interesting paintings,” Sam commented, sounding facetious.

“They’re by a local artist, Ren Plancharde.”

She inspected the portraits. “You must like his work.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Not particularly.”

“Then why hang his art in your living room?”

“To remind me of who I am.” 

With a caustic look, she scurried to the right and disappeared into his sleek modern kitchen. Painted white, with dark wood cabinets, the appliances were stainless—all Viking—and the floor was the same dark hardwood as the living room.

Sam scrutinized the kitchen, and then went to the wall of windows to take in the view of the Mississippi River.

“You live very well.”

He ambled past the kitchen to a glass and dark wood dining table surrounded by white chairs. Next to the dining room were tinted patio doors. Opening the doors, he glanced back at her.

“It gets better.”

Stepping outside, he sucked in the humid air and listened for her footsteps on the patio tiles. When he heard her join him, he moved further into the oasis created for him by his gardener.

The center of the patio was filled with pebbles and contained two Japanese maple trees that provided ample shade during the hot summer days in the city. Around the perimeter of the pebbled box was a walkway made of gray slate with stone benches set at each end. In the corner of the patio was a hot tub resting beneath a cypress pergola.

“Must be a nice place to get away from it all.”

He moved to the railing that hugged the edge of the patio. “So my subs tell me. I never come out here much.”

She came alongside him. “Why not?”

His fingers skipped along the top of the railing. “Too busy. Running the company takes up most of my time.”