“Hi, Reese. I’m Camille Strickland.”
He shook her hand and returned the smile. “Hi, Camille.”
“I dated your cousin Blade a while back. I hear he got married.”
“Yes, he got married a little over a month ago.”
“Oh. What a shame. I understand you’re available.” She reached out and traced a manicured finger along his arm.
“Available for what?” he asked, annoyed by her boldness.
“Whatever comes to mind,” she said seductively. She seemed to be pouting. “You’re not like Blade. He liked flirting,” she said in a sultry voice.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Don’t apologize. Here’s my card,” she said, thrusting it into his hand. “Give me a call.” She batted her eyelashes several times and then gave him a flirty wink before turning to walk down the hallway, swaying her hips in a body-hugging pencil skirt and killer high heels that looked like they could double as lethal weapons.
Okay, he would admit that she looked good—but he wasn’t Blade. And when it came to women, his and Blade’s tastes were completely different. It would take more than a tight skirt and stilettos to make him tongue-tied. Even five months without sex hadn’t made him that hard up.
He continued walking, shaking his head as he stepped into an elevator at the same time another woman did. She glanced over at him and gave him a come-hither smile. “Excuse me for asking, but aren’t you Reese Madaris?”
Reese stepped off the elevator thinking that some women had no shame. The woman had tried coming on to him, and way too strong. When the elevator stopped on the next floor to let other passengers on, he retreated all the way to the back, as far away from her as he could get. She had repeatedly licked her lips as if to give him a blatant come-on, letting him know just what she could do with her mouth. The combination of her words and actions had been a total turn-off.
When he exited the elevator, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that the woman was still following him. When he rounded the corner, so did she. Probably not a coincidence. Reese continued walking and heard her make some sort of growling sound, but he refused to turn around. Damn, had he attracted a stalker? His grandmother had warned him what would happen now that Blade was off the market. And it seemed the old gal knew what she was talking about.
He smiled when he saw Kenna sitting in the lobby waiting for him. When she saw him she smiled, eased out of the chair and began walking toward him with a graceful stride that he couldn’t help but admire. He really liked the dress she was wearing, which showed off her curvy hips, her ample cleavage and the most gorgeous legs any woman could possibly possess. She was the kind of woman any man would want to have as his own. She didn’t have to flaunt her beauty and sexuality. It came naturally. He was convinced that one day she would make some deserving man very happy.
An idea quickly popped into his head. When he reached Kenna he pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the forehead. “Thanks for waiting, sweetheart.”
“No problem,” she said, giving him a what-the-heck-is-going-on look with her eyes.
He glanced over his shoulder to see the woman leaving the building, and it was only then that he released a deep sigh.
“Okay, what was that about?” Kenna asked him, following his gaze.
He chuckled as he tightened her hand in his. “Mama Laverne warned me that with Blade out of the picture, chances are single women would turn their sights on me. I thought she was joking, but apparently I was wrong.”
“Wow, you’re in demand, huh?” she asked, grinning as he led her out of the building.
“I don’t see anything funny about it. In fact, on our way to dinner I need you to give me some dating advice.”
She lifted a brow. “Dating advice about what?”
“How to handle unwanted advances…”
Chapter 6
Kenna shifted in her car seat as she thought about Reese’s request for dating advice. She couldn’t help smiling. Poor baby.
“I hope you’re hungry, because I am.”
She glanced over at him and snickered. “I guess a man can work up an appetite eluding women on the prowl.”
“Hey, watch it. You know how I am about stuff like that.”
Yes, she did know. Reese wasn’t like most men who were as gorgeous as he was. He didn’t have a conceited bone in his body. He probably thought he was just a regular-looking guy, even though his looks alone could make a woman’s panties wet.
She remembered just what she’d thought the first time she met him at his dorm room to go over his physics studies. She had taken one look at him and for a moment all thoughts of Terrence had been erased.
The first thing she’d noticed about him, besides the beautiful color of his skin, the darkness of his eyes, his chiseled jawline and kissable mouth, was that he had the manners of a Southern gentleman—one who knew how to treat a woman like a lady.
It didn’t take long to discover that he was a loner. Although he had plenty of friends on campus, he pretty much stayed to himself most of the time, rarely allowing others into his circle. He was not a party animal. In fact, the more time they spent together studying, the more she got to know the real Reese Madaris, the one few understood or ever got close to.
“You never did answer my question,” he said, glancing over at her when the SUV came to a stop at a traffic light.
“Your dating question?”
He shrugged. “If you want to call it that. I’m not interested in any of those women. Most of them were probably involved with Blade. Do they honestly think they can just move from one Madaris to the next?”
Kenna couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously, Reese, a woman hard up for a man will move from one brother to the next. They don’t care. Like your great-grandmother said, with your cousin Blade out of circulation, that means you’re next.”
“Then I guess that means you and I need to keep on pretending.”
She rolled her eyes. “Or you and Alyson need to hook up again.”
He shook his head. “I doubt that will happen.”
She wondered why he felt that way, but decided not to ask. She figured the only way to get rid of her attraction to him was to make sure he was seeing someone and she was seeing someone, too. “We’ll see.”
When he didn’t respond she decided to flip through the pages of a magazine she’d found in his SUV—a tractor magazine. “You’re buying another one of these?”
He glanced over at her. “I’m thinking about it. And you never answered my question.”
She hadn’t answered it because she didn’t want to think about how it would feel being rejected by a man like Reese. “My advice to you would be to let them know you’re not interested up front. The worse thing a man can do is to lead a woman on.”
He nodded. “That sounds fair. But what if they don’t get the hint?”
She glanced up, met his gaze and grinned. “Trust me. You have a look that lets a woman know when you don’t have the time or the inclination. A woman would be crazy to try and take you on. But then…there are a lot of bold, brazen women out there, so beware.”
“But if push comes to shove, you’ll be my backup plan right?”
She didn’t want to think what being his backup plan might entail. Inside the Madaris Building when he had leaned over and kissed her on the forehead,