“The view?” Tasha stammered.
“Hmmm, very impressive.”
“It certainly is.” She gestured towards the window and landscape beyond.
“That’s not the one I was referring to.” A wolfish grin spread across the handsome face she still stared at.
How much of her had he seen? She blushed like mad and was struggling to speak, her mouth was so dry. She looked him up and down and thought he was probably just touching forty, but he was in fine fettle; about six feet tall, maybe a little over, broad, but muscular. His eyes were a rich, deep brown, almost black now, maybe due to the lighting and he still had a full head of dark brown hair. Yes, very fine fettle.
Standing in front of her smiling, he introduced himself with an outstretched hand. “Hi, James Maybury, Jim.”
“Hello, Natasha Winters, Tasha.” She felt flustered as she continued to hold the hand he’d offered her.
“Apologies if I embarrassed you.”
Tasha nodded, accepting his apology for her discomfort at him finding her bent over and his words to her about it.
He appeared to almost shake her off, making her realise she was still holding his hand. Once he’d freed himself he gestured for her to sit down in one of the lounge chairs at the far end of the room.
They talked for some time about the work she’d already done, what she had planned and her hopes for the future. Jim explained that these meetings were normally held with colleagues, but for no reason he disclosed, not this time.
Suddenly, he leapt to his feet. “Dinner, Tasha?”
She looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was already six o’clock.
“Erm, yes. Sorry, James, I talk too much.”
“Not at all. I could listen to you all night, and please, Jim.”
The wicked glint in his eyes lit up the whole of his face and caused her to shiver and heat up at the same time.
She blushed again. “Okay, Jim. Although I think you’re more of a James than a Jim.”
He laughed at her. Just a short, single laugh as he cocked his head and appeared to study her. “You are very forthright, Miss Winters.”
She shrugged, quickly becoming confused why that action resulted in a deep frown creasing his brow. Tasha had a strong need to remove his frown and replace it with his earlier happy expression. “Sorry.”
He waved her apology away and she was relieved that he was happy again, the curl of his lips confirmed that. “Unnecessary. So, dinner?”
“You don’t have to do that.” As much as she wanted to spend more time with him, Tasha was also beginning to worry that if their dinner was discovered it could be horribly misconstrued. As handsome as the studio mogul or whatever his title might be was, she didn’t want there to be future accusations that she had in any way slept her way into roles. She knew better than anyone how valuable, convenient and overused sex was as a commodity, but not for her.
“Honey, I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to, so the fact that I’m inviting you to dinner suggests I’d like to have dinner with you.” His tone was flat and calm, his expression a little less so when she noticed it darkening.
“Oh.”
The man before her smiled which actually made him more attractive than ever. Gorgeous in fact. Gorgeous enough that she began to wonder just what it would be like to kiss him and be kissed by him, held in those arms and to be made love to by him.
“Is that a yes then?” He wore an unmistakeable grin as he took another step towards her while she could only gaze up.
She flitted her glance from his eyes to his lips that he was licking, slowly and seductively until she was sure she’d actually moaned out loud. She really was unsure whether she should do this or not, although she certainly wanted to spend another couple of hours with the man who had made the last three hours fly by and why wouldn’t she? He was sexy, attractive, articulate, and made her imagine things she hadn’t of late, including kissing. Her nod confirmed her intention to take him up on his offer of dinner.
“My hotel is just around the corner.”
Without another word, he took her by the elbow and steered her from the room, downstairs and into the first passing cab. The tension between them was palpable. The charge that crackled and arced lasted for the entire journey. Nobody spoke, including the driver.
Tasha knew that this had the potential to be the worst decision of her life, professionally. This had to be career suicide, she knew that, and still ignored the alarm bells going off in her head. Her own earlier warnings to herself about how this could be viewed if anyone ever found out about it were now a distant memory.
The cab pulled up outside the hotel she didn’t doubt was five star, possibly six star. Was six star a thing? She was sure it was. The door of the cab opened, startling her slightly as Jim’s hand appeared to help her out. Tasha stood on the pavement, the sidewalk, she thought with a small smile, while Jim paid their fare with a very generous tip before he returned his hand to her elbow and guided her to the lifts and eventually to his suite. Not the bar or restaurant, but his suite. The few doubts she’d had that she wasn’t in trouble with this man disappeared right there and then. He was trouble with a capital T.
