Jordans. Needlessly rebellious, he knew, but it made him feel better about being trapped indoors for something like this when he’d rather be out making money or playing on his boat.
His eyes found Diana a few tables back. She was watching him. He grinned but she quickly looked away, fiddling with her earring. When he failed to compel her to look at him again through the power of his stare alone, he turned his attention back to the ceremony.
Sheila Beck and her fellow committee members put on a good show. Lively and fast. Reynaldo received his award to much applause while Sacrum Holdings was unexpectedly honored as one of the most environmentally sound companies in Miami. Instead of leaving like he’d originally planned, Marcus sat in his seat, held prisoner by the slim possibility that Diana would go somewhere with him after the ceremony.
Applause. Speeches. The apparent surprise award to one of the women sitting at Diana’s table—a gray-haired woman with more style than half the women in the room, although she did wear the least offensive color imaginable. Marcus took note of the organization, the woman’s name and the fact that she took her time as she grasped the crystal statuette in hands that shook. The woman was gracious on the stage, and brief. She thanked each of her staff by name, including Diana Hobbes, who was apparently the assistant executive director of Building Bridges. Interesting.
Building Bridges was one of the nonprofits he donated to every year. Small world.
As soon as the ceremony was over, Marcus made his way over to Diana’s table. Most of the gala’s attendees still lingered in the ballroom, grabbing one last drink from the open bar or rabidly shaking as many well-connected hands as they could.
Diana was still seated and talking quietly with her boss. As Marcus moved toward her, he was struck again by how delicate and delicious she looked. His imagination easily conjured what it would be like to walk up to her and kiss the back of her neck, inhale the evocative scent of her perfume, peel that ice-blue dress from her body. He stopped just behind her chair and greeted the other women around the table with a nod and smile.
“How about that midnight walk on the beach?” he asked, resting his hands on the back of her chair.
Diana drew in a breath of surprise but did not bother to look at him. She glanced instead at her boss and then at her friend Trish, who smirked up at Marcus.
“I can’t,” Diana said. “I have to wrap things up here with Nora,” she said.
Her boss waved a dismissive hand. “No, you don’t. Take a little time to yourself this evening. It’s been a long and hard road to get here. Enjoy yourself.” She gave a naughty grin of her own.
“Yes, please do,” Trish said, staring pointedly at her friend.
“Well, Diana, it looks like the only resistance is you,” he said, finally able to meet her eyes, which were a deep, velvet brown. “I would really enjoy your company tonight.”
“Go ahead, Di,” Trish said. “A night with this one won’t bring an end to your carefully constructed world, I promise.”
Diana flinched as if her friend had touched a nerve. She bit her lip. “Okay,” she said. “But I don’t do the beach.” She allowed him to grasp her hand and help her to her feet.
Marcus smiled at Diana’s boss and at her friend. “Thank you for the encouragement, ladies. Have a wonderful night.”
“You, too,” Trish said with a wink.
Diana made a strangled noise. “I’ll see you on Monday, Nora. I’ll be in early to make sure the photos from tonight are up on the website and the copy is ready for the newsletter and press release.”
Her boss waved her off. “Of course you will.”
Trish stood up and slapped Diana on the butt. “I’ll expect you to give me all the details tonight.”
Marcus laughed. “You ready?”
“Yes,” Diana said, giving her friend the side eye.
He offered her his arm and, after a moment’s hesitation, she took it. With her purse clutched in her hand, she walked out of the ballroom with him.
Plums, he realized after a few moments walking at her side through the thinning crowd. She smelled like rosemary and plums. A delicious and fresh sweetness that he had the sudden urge to sink his teeth into. Marcus licked his lips.
“So,” he said to distract himself from her scent and the imagined flavor she would leave behind on his tongue. “Why don’t you do the beach? You can’t swim?”
“I can swim,” she said. “I just choose not to.”
“Why?”
“I think it’s too early yet for that kind of conversation, don’t you?” She looked at him sideways.
“Not at all,” Marcus said. “The sooner I know what you don’t like and why, the better I can plan our next date. So now I know not to plan a romantic dinner for you on my boat.”
“Oh, God, no!”
A man and a young woman who looked like his mistress were already waiting for the elevator when they got there. The woman was beautifully put together in her tight white dress and red heels, her shoulder-length brown hair the same shade as her skin. But there was something almost desperate in the way she clung to him. Marcus nodded in greeting to both while Diana exchanged smiles with them.
“What about an afternoon on the sand?” Marcus asked, continuing their conversation. “No water, just a picnic and a bottle of wine.”
“No.”
He tipped his head to look down at her in curiosity. “Really?”
When the elevator arrived, Marcus held the door open and waited for both women to get into the car ahead of him. After the other man got in behind him, he pressed the button for the lobby. Classical music played as the car descended toward the main floor. The elevator’s mirrored surfaces reflected the two couples studiously avoiding each other’s eyes.
“So what do you like?” Marcus asked.
“Simple things,” Diana said after a brief glance at the other occupants of the elevator.
Marcus took the opportunity of the silent ride to properly look his fill of Diana Hobbes. The skin like silk. Her large eyes, high cheekbones and sensuous mouth in the face that was straight from his boyhood dreams. Angelic. Kind. But Diana seemed serious. More serious than anyone he ever thought he’d be interested in. But there was something about her wide mouth, about the way she seemed to want him but didn’t want to want him.
The elevator bell announced their floor just before the doors slid open. Marcus guided her toward the front of the hotel and the valet. He gave the blue-jacketed boy his valet ticket and stood aside to wait with Diana while his car was brought around.
It was another warm Miami night. Already, Marcus felt like shrugging off the blazer, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and getting comfortable. In her pale blue dress, Diana already looked comfortable in the heat, even relieved to be out in it.
Inside the hotel, she had been cold. It had been impossible for him not to notice her
