The Tycoon's Toddler Surprise (3 page)

He held onto her hand a few seconds longer than was necessary and Kristen tried to pull away, stunned when he wouldn’t release her hand immediately. 

The group started
discussing weather, sports and other trivial conversation topics, all the
while, Kristen tried
desperately hard to step away
from the group
.  She
didn’t
like the rapid beating of her heart and
took
a side step, hoping to put a little space between herself an
d the tall man who somehow kept moving closer to her
although she
didn’t
ever see
him moving.  It was
as if the small group
was
actually rotating around her somehow, shifting the man and all his danger signals right into her personal space. 

“You’re ou
t of a drink,” Jonathan exclaimed
, chuckling at how silly that possibility should be.  “I’ll get that remedied immediately.”  Turning to Mikhail he said, “Can you keep her company while I get her a fresh drink?  Don’t let her get away though.  She tends to slip back
to
her office to work,
”
he laughed as if it were the funniest
quip
in the world. 

As soon as Jonathan stepped away, Kristen felt vulnerable, exposed.  She didn’t have a glass to hold in front of her so she wasn’t sure what to do with her hands. 

“You’re nervous,” the man in front of her said softly, his body turning to block out the rest of the cocktail party.  “Why is that?” he asked and leaned slightly forward. 

“I’m not nervous,” she countered, trying to step back, to look around his broad shoulders and see where Jonathan was with her drink.  “I just wanted to make sure my boss knew where I was.”

“Your boss has thrown you to the wolves,” the man said with his deep voice becoming sexier somehow. 
She told herself it was his slight Russian accent but there was so much more to it. 

Kristen glanced up into his
sharp
eyes, then quickly away.  “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re boss is a very perceptive man.  He knows that I’m interested in you and absented himself to give us privacy.”

That caught her attention and she looked straight at him.  As her eyes watched, she became angry. “I see.  You’re the very important client I’m supposed to entertain for the night.”

The man just shrugged as if he wasn’t
fazed
by being offered extra perks.  “You’re a beautiful woman.  Your boss wants you in his bed as well.”

Kristen bristled at his outspokenness
, his accent becoming malevolent and the eyes that had seemed so piercing and intelligent changed to cold and calculating
. “He’s not getting me,” she said angrily, crossing her arms over her stomach defensively.  “He’s a pompous jerk who thinks he can intimidate me.”

“Do I intimidate you?” the man asked.

Kristen sighed and shook her head. “A few moments ago, yes.  I was very intimidated.  But now that I know you’re just like every other human with testosterone shooting through his blood stream, I can guarantee that I’m not interested in any way.”  She dropped her hands and extended her hand.  “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head home now.”

“Alone?”

She looked directly at him, unflinching from
the intensity of his
incisive blue
eyes.  “Absolutely alone. 
I don’t play those games, Mr. Benovich
.  I’m a very good lawyer and if you need legal advice, which I assume you do since you’ve contracted with my firm for that purpose
, then I am at your service
.  But I guarantee that only my legal advice is for sale.  Everything else is off the table.”

With those final words, she stepped around the man and waved casually to her boss, who looked confused for all of a second before he rallied and approached Mikhail, laughing heartily only moments after Kristen pulled her coat around her and stepped out of the restaurant. 

She was furious with her boss for putting her into that position and even
angrier
for herself for being so attracted to the man before she knew that she’d been offered up as the main
perk
for the night. 

The next morning, she was at her desk bright and early, reading through the contracts that had been delivered the prior evening. Apparently Mikhail’s corporation was buying up one of the major factories in the Pittsburgh suburbs and there were several legal tangles that his own corporate lawyers wanted to contract out because of environmental issues.  Since environmental law was her specialty, Kristen was absorbing as much as she could, determined to be a valuable asset to the team and not just a
girly
face offered up for incentives.

“You’re on for a meeting over at
Benov Corporation
,” Jonathan stuck his head in
to her office
.  “You’re going with me but I have to step out and file some briefs for
Mr. Benovich
before the deadline this afternoon.” 

He was obviously irritated with her for leaving the party so early the previous night but Kristen ignored him. “I’ll get the contracts over.  I’ve already highlighted som
e areas that might be an issue,”
she
explained, piling documents into various piles for his review
.

Jonathan came fully into the room.  “
What’s
up?” he asked. “I
went
over those documents last night and didn’t find anything wrong.”

Kristen pointed out several areas where legislation was coming due on a pending clause that could create havoc with the sale of the factory, adding substantial expense.  When she was finished, Jonathan nodded, taking her seriously for the first time.  “”You’re right.  You should get over to
Benovich’s office
to brief their legal team. 
Ask them if they want to move forward with that potential issue coming due.”

Kristen blinked.  “You want me to do it?   But you’re the lead on the
team
.  Don’t you want to give your
input
?”

He shook his head.  “You found it and realized what could happen.  You deserve to show them what you’ve got.”

Kristen looked at him and realized that this morning had been a turning point.  “I’ll get right over there,” she said and stood up instantly, packing her bag with the relevant documents.

Three hours later, she was feeling much more in control and breezing through the issues, answering all the
questions posed to her by the Benov corporate
legal team.  They were impressed
with
her knowledge and took her seriously.

It wasn’t until an hour later when she was escorted into Mikhail’s office that she stared to feel worried once again.  It was one thing to stand up to a man after a few drinks.  It was quite another to tell him that his
multimillion
dollar acquisition might be down the tubes because of a rule that may or may not be voted into effect in the next month.

And when he walked into his office and sat down behind his desk, Kristen’s whole body quivered with awareness.  Not of the impact her discovery could have on the financial future of this company, but
because of
the man sitting at the massive steel and glass desk in front of her. 

“You have some i
nformation?” he asked, his blue
eyes staring at her with polite curiosity. 

“Yes,” she started off, then cleared her throat when the word didn’t come out as strongly as she’d hoped.  “I was reviewing the documents
that your team sent over
this morning.  I found this,” she said and stood up, handing him the contract with the highlighted words.  She explained the legislation pending and what impact it could have on the outcome of the sale, what he could do to circumvent the issue and other issues that might crop up if he took one path or another regarding the environmental issue. 

As he watched her, he pressed a button on his desk. “Louise, order some dinner for tonight.  We’ll be working late.” 

Kristen started but didn’t say anything.  He led her over to a long conference table and for the next four hours, they brainstormed on the various ways to handle the situation.  Dinner came a
nd they ate, but Kristen didn’t
remember anything of it, too fascinated by the way this man’s mind worked, the questions he asked were
concise
and perceptive and his financial knowledge was nothing short of brilliant.  She’d been expecting him to try and game the system, to buy his way out of the environmental tangle but instead, he took on the challenge of fixing the issue, going on with the sale but coming up with a financial solution that would eliminate the risk and make the whole deal that much better for everyone, especially the community that lived around the factory. 

As
they put the finishing touches on the revised contract
late that night
, she was
mentally and physically
exhausted, but somehow exhilarated as well. 

She was gathering her papers together, her mind whirling in so many directions she wasn’t sure where to go first.  But he solved that issue for her as well.  When she turned around, he was standing behind her and she stopped short, her hands braced behind her as he leaned in. 

“You’re very beautiful,” he said softly, his eyes looking at hear features but not stopping at any one place. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, her body already on fire for him.  Not because she was on offer this time.  But because he was looking at her with respect and desire, not ownership. 

“I want to make love to you,” he said bluntly.

She blinked and looked up at him, smiling broadly.  “You don’t need to hide your intentions, Mikhail.  Just speak your mind.”

He smiled a bit at her joke but shook his head.  “I want you, Kristen.  Come back to my place.”

“Tonight?’

“Yes.  Right now.”

She couldn’t believe she was actually considering it.  But she shook her head after a delicious moment and took a deep, shuddering breath.  “I can’t.”

“Can’t?  Or won’t?”

“It’s the same thing.”

“Not at all.  Can’t implies there is someone else that would object to you being with me.  Won’t means that you’re digging your heels in for some silly stubborn purpose.”

“Silly doesn’t really apply here since I don’t even know you.”

“
We’ve spent the whole afternoon and evening together.  What more do you need?”

She actually laughed at that.  “
Do y
ou always jump into bed with
women
you barely know?”

“Only if I’m attracted to her.”

She stepped around him, relieved when he let her.  “I’m afraid I’m a bit more old fashioned than that.”

“How many times?” he demanded when she turned to pick up her briefcase now filled with notes and revised contract documents.

“How
many
times what?”

“How many times must we meet before you will allow me to make love to you?”

His directness flustered her and she shook her head. “I can’t put an exact number on it.  I don’t really know.  I have to feel comfortable with you.”

“I don’t
want you to feel comfortable.  I like the way you are around me.”

She glanced down and shook her head. “I
don’t
know
what
you mean.”

“I like how you’re embarrassed that you’re so attracted to me.  I like that you’re trying to hide it.  And I like that you’re smart and beautiful and that you’re wearing a black, lace bra underneath that boring suit.”  He leaned in closer.  “Do you match your underwear?”

She leaned back and shook her head.  “That’s none of your business,” she said, but she laughed at his slight grin and mischievous eyes.  “Are you always this forward?”

“When I want something, yes.”

“And if you don’t get me?”

“It’s not a question of if, just when.”

She looked up at him, assessing his words.  “How did you get to be so confident?”

“I had a hard childhood,” he said but the look in his eyes told her he was lying.

“You were one of those spoiled, rich kids, weren’t you?  The ones that partied all night and paid someone in the morning to write your essays for school?”

He took her leather briefcase out of her fingers and placed it on the table behind her.  “I’m going to kiss you now,
”
he said instead of answering her. 

“I’d rather you didn’t,” she said, inhaling sharply but unable to step out of his way to avoid it. 

“You’re lying to both of us.  You’ve been wondering what it would be like to be kissed by me since we met last night.”