Lila liked the fact that she had good friends here. It was as if she’d found the surrogate family she’d always been searching for. She really loved her life in Youngsville.
Not wanting to be late on Nick’s first day back, she hurried. In her purse was the banana bread she’d baked last night. In fact, she’d spent every night for the last week baking.
Lila always felt in control in her kitchen. She was the executive there and she knew her way around. It was easy for her to fool herself into believing that Nick Camden hadn’t almost kissed her while she was kneading dough and making sheets of sweet rolls.
A car slowed behind her. The low purr of an expensive machine told her it wasn’t one of the other Colette, Inc. secretaries offering her a ride. She kept her head down and walked. She wasn’t prepared to face Nick outside the office. In fact, he’d passed her a hundred times this summer and never once stopped to offer her a ride.
Men want only one thing from women like us, Lila. Her mother’s warning echoed in her mind. Her ex-boyfriend, Paul, had proved her mother right. She didn’t glance toward the car despite the warmth emanating from the open window.
“Want a lift, Lila?”
“No, thanks, I’m enjoying the crisp morning.” If only she could stop shivering.
“Liar,” he said, not unkindly.
He was right, she was lying. But that didn’t mean she was going to admit it. A car honked, and Nick waved the driver by. Lila wasn’t getting in the car with him, because after last week she didn’t trust herself. She’d spent all of her time in Indiana adjusting to the new community and her home, learning to be proficient at her job and making some casual friends. But she hadn’t been prepared for Nick Camden’s sexy gaze when he had turned it her way.
She’d dreamed of him kissing her and touching her, but when he’d leaned closer to her last week in the office, she’d frozen. Paralyzed with the fear that she would disappoint him, she’d backed away. But he had a gleam in his eyes that said retreat wasn’t possible.
Damn him. She tried to give him a reassuring smile and walked on. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Suit yourself, Florida girl, but it’s a cold morning and my car is warm and comfortable.”
He was temptation. He hadn’t been when she’d first started at Colette. But lately she’d been looking for a man who’d be serious with her. A man who wanted kids and a nice house. A husband who understood the importance of family.
Nick didn’t even register on her scope because he changed women every week. He wasn’t a playboy, but he never seemed content to stay with one woman. He was like a hungry wolf eating his fill and moving on. Lila wasn’t interested in being his next meal. If she thought there was even a remote possibility that Nick would stay with her, she’d give in to him.
But there wasn’t.
Almost two years ago she’d decided that Indiana was a place for fresh starts. She wasn’t going to get involved with any man unless she knew for certain it was right. Which meant no Nick Camden. No matter how heavy he made her blood run.
“Lila, I’ve been out of the office for a week. I need you to brief me on what’s been going on.”
Maybe she’d misinterpreted his intentions. She shrugged, and finally gave in. “Okay.”
She prided herself on being a good secretary and before the episode last week she’d never have hesitated to get in his car. He didn’t scare her on a conscious level, but her mind warned her to be wary of him. There was something about this very sophisticated man that wasn’t very civilized.
She slid into the plush leather seat and hurriedly fastened her seatbelt. She closed her eyes, letting the heat seep into her bones. A warm masculine scent surrounded her and she imagined Nick leaning over her. His breath brushing her lips.
Wait a minute!
Her eyes flew open and Nick’s face was a scant inch from hers. There was something electric in his eyes. Something that made her pulse race and her breasts tingle. Something masculine that called to every female instinct buried deep inside her. Made her want to indulge senses she kept firmly under lock and key, let them out and experiment with this very experienced man.
“Nick, what are you doing?” God, she could barely speak. She wanted to lean forward and taste him. To see if the sin his wicked mouth promised was as delicious as her fantasy assured her it would be.
“Fixing your seatbelt. It’s twisted.”
She couldn’t breathe as his fingers brushed against her breast. Her nipple tightened and she wanted to thrust her chest out so that he’d have to do more than accidentally caress her hungry flesh, but instead she bit her lower lip.
“There we go,” he said.
He pulled his hand away slowly and she wished she could see his eyes behind those dark sunglasses he wore. Nick was a master at seeming in control, but his eyes always gave him away.
Her pulse was still racing and she wanted to pull him back to her, wanted to feel his hard body pressed to her own softer one. Maybe Rose’s pin was working its magic, spinning a spell around Lila and her dream man.
Lila shook her head. If Nick wanted her it was for business and not in the way a man wanted a woman. He was too savvy to mess up a winning partnership with old-fashioned lust.
Nick put the car in gear. Sweat broke out on Lila’s body but it had nothing to do with the heat coming from the car. It had to do with the man sitting next to her. A man that she’d decided was off-limits. A man, she suddenly realized, who’d decided she was his next meal.
Nick knew that he’d unnerved Lila, but he couldn’t just drive by and not stop for her. It bothered him that he’d probably passed by her this summer without noticing. But not that much.
He’d never paid much attention to her as a woman except to note that she complemented him nicely, being blond and built. She made them look good when he had visitors or when they attended meetings together. To him, Lila represented the perfect office assistant, someone who knew her job but was also pleasing to the eye.
All of that had changed after he’d returned from Paris in early September. Lila had seemed softer somehow. She’d chatted with him casually before taking a memo and he instantly knew something was different. Actually he knew exactly what had changed.
His reaction to her.
He’d gone on point like a hunting dog scenting prey, and he’d been unable to shake this damned attraction to her. And she seemed oblivious, which made him want to get a reaction out of her even more.
“You were going to tell me about your trip,” she said.
Yeah, Camden. Now that you blackmailed her into your car, talk business. “I need you to prepare a presentation for the domestic guys with last quarter’s financials. I have the data in my briefcase.”
“I’ll clear my desk and work on it first thing.”
Nick nodded. Silence built in the car, and he realized he knew too little about Lila outside of work. He had no idea how she spent her free time. Lila was so homey sometimes he was amazed she’d chosen a career over a family. But she had. And now he wanted—no needed—to know why.
“You live at Amber Court, right?”
“Yes, why?”
“No reason. Do you like it?”
Oh, God, he sounded like an actor in a bad sitcom. He’d never tried to get to know someone he already knew. It seemed his MO needed a change but his focus on Lila was now purely physical.
“It’s nice, but I’ve dreamed of owning a two-story house with—”