even tighter hind end, wearing the Stetson perched down low…
As her imagination took flight, Leila felt a chill wash over her skin. She crisscrossed her arms over her chest, running her hands over the back of her arms at her unexpected yet very vivid imagery.
Her body’s reaction to his sexy baritone, along with her overly active imagination, was as immediate as it was undeniable. Her nipples beaded against her bra, her stomach clenched, and she had to run her tongue over lips, despite the sheen of gloss she’d swiped over them.
Embarrassed at herself, although no one knew what she was thinking, she cringed. She didn’t know when the last time the sound of a man’s voice got her so hot and bothered.
But she knew good and well it wasn’t only his voice, as sexy as it was, that had her body acting like a cat in heat.
She slid her glance over his big body, standing so close to hers, and felt warmth radiating from him, reaching out to her like some kind of heat-seeking missile.
He turned to face her and removed his hat, running one big hand through the dark, thick strands.
His hair, a dark rich sable, was cut low in the back, and the front was slightly longer, long enough to form deep waves.
One corner of his mouth hitched upward as he looked at her, and as if she had no control over her own lips, Leila felt them return the smile.
His smile widened, showing his canines, and Leila was reminded of a hunter on the prowl. She shivered when goose bumps sprinkled over her arms.
His gaze roved the length of her body, starting at the point of her high heel boots, and slowly traveled up to her hips in the slim-fitting short black leather skirt, to the indenture of her waist, before he stopped at the fullness of her breasts pressing against her blouse.
When his hot gaze centered directly on her breasts, she felt her nipples tighten and poke past the flimsy protection of her bra, pressing hot, hard, and thick against the silk of her blouse.
And obviously very visible.
She saw his swift intake of breath as his eyes flew to hers. For one moment, the two of them were enveloped in a silent, sensual cocoon, hyperaware of each other as everything else around them faded away to nothingness.
Leila’s breath caught and her mouth became dry.
Their attraction was unexpected. Instant. Combustible.
“Got a busy day planned, Mr. Walters?” Leila heard one of the Charlies ask, as though from a distance.
When the man turned his head away from her, with what looked like reluctance, she closed her eyes briefly and blew out a breath of air, feeling as though she’d just been slammed with a semitruck and had been holding her breath for hours, instead of the few seconds their exchange had been.
“And I’ve told you both, my name is Brandan. Mr. Walters was my daddy,” he replied with an easy smile.
The men spoke briefly and the sensual fog she’d been wrapped in slowly cleared.
Walters. Brandan Walters.
Damn, why did that name sound so familiar? Leila worried it over in her mind until realization dawned.
Sanchez, Walters and Reed.
Her eyes widened and her heart slammed against her chest as she glanced back over the man…Brandan Walters…as he casually spoke to the two Charlies.
Sanchez, Walters and Reed was the name on the letterhead at the top of the legal papers she’d been receiving over the last two months from the corporation trying to buy out the block of downtown businesses where her restaurant was located.
The same corporation she was hell-bent on fighting. The same corporation that was just as hell-bent on acquiring her property to capitalize on the city’s downtown revitalization project.
Their plans were to build a set of high-end condominiums that would compliment the city’s plans for building an exclusive shopping district, hoping to attract wealthier patrons to the downtown area.
Her eyes narrowed as she stared a hole in the back of his head.
This was the same man she’d been involved with in heated, sometimes down-and-dirty notes and emails over the last two months.
The same man she’d also decided it was high time she met face-to-face, once their heated exchanges had reached the point where she was dreaming of the unknown man at night.
Embarrassed, confused, and thinking there was something seriously wrong with her when she’d woken just this morning with her hands buried in her cooch after having a wet dream about a man she not only loathed, but had never met. The time for some lovin’ was long overdue if he began to invade her dreams at night.
Leila felt incredibly stupid at that moment. In her excitement over meeting the investor, it hadn’t dawned on her that his address was the same as that of Sanchez, Walters and Reed’s.
She narrowed her eyes and glanced at him leaning casually against the kiosk talking to the old guards, her mind at work, furiously trying to figure how she could use this time to her advantage.
“I’d better head on up to the office, gentlemen.” His words brought her mind to a spinning halt.
Yes.
He turned to her and smiled. “Have a nice day, ma’am,” he said, nodding his head, a glint in his bright blue eyes. He paused as though waiting for something.
She simply nodded her head in return and murmured some good wishes. God, what could she do? What could she say to prolong the moment? She had to think of something, and quick, in order to use this time.
Aunt Sadie’s Café depended on it.
She felt his hesitation, as though he wanted to say something to her, when Charlie number one spoke.
“Sir, I believe a young lady headed up to your offices a bit ago, said she had an appointment with you? Isn’t that right, Charlie?” he asked, scratching his head and turning to Charlie number two who sagely nodded his head, his attention focused on the newspaper.
Damn those Charlies!
“Thanks for the heads-up, guys. Guess I’d better go then,” he said, and with one final look her way, left, his long legs taking him away from them.
Then he walked away, cheerfully whistling, no doubt thinking of some other poor woman’s dreams he was going to demolish. Leila grit her teeth.
She shoved out of her mind the fact that he’d invaded her dreams the night before, before she’d ever met him. And now that she’d met him in the flesh…
She shook her head. No time for those thoughts.
She unconsciously began to drum her fingers on the kiosk and stared at his broad, retreating back before her lips stretched into a wide smile.
“Anything else we can do for ya, Miss?” Charlie number one asked, a frown on his aged face as he stared down at her.
“No.
