Chapter 1 – Drake
I was waiting for her to call. I knew she was going to. She had to. How could she not? I was willing to fix everything how she wanted. I still wasn’t sure if I was just lying about it all. I think I was. I hadn’t meant to say it, but it had come out and there was no way that I was going to back down now. It was the first time when we were talking that she’d seemed able to consider having anything to do with me. Before I made the offer to keep the museum going, I knew that there would have been no way for her to say yes. After a couple of days, I started to wonder if she was going to take the bait or not.
When the phone rang I jumped a little. I had been waiting for the phone call for some time, and when I finally heard her quiet and breathy voice, there was nothing I could do but relax. She was finally falling into my web. I hated how long it had taken, but I was okay with it if she was mine now.
“Good to hear from you, Erin. I was starting to wonder if I would at all.” I hadn’t really, but there had been a few moments that I hadn’t been very sure. Other girls wouldn’t have played coy and blown me off like Erin had. It was part of the reason that I had made sure that I met her with an offer she couldn’t refuse.
“I didn’t know if I was going to call you, Drake, if I’m one hundred percent honest with you. I think you are used to getting what you want, and I want you to know that if I agree, it is just a date.”
I wished that I could see her face. To have seen her lips form those very words would have been enough to send me over the moon. But instead, I was only able to see it in my mind and that wasn’t really good enough for me.
“Of course, Erin. I would never turn it into something that it wasn’t. I usually don’t have to go to such extremes for a date.”
There was silence and I wished again that I could see her. I wondered which Erin I was going to get. The meek and mild side of her was skittish, but when I had gone to her office, she had come back with fire in her blood.
“Come with me to dinner. It is just an innocent date, Erin Adams, nothing more.” I could think of so many other things that I wanted, but I was patient and I didn’t mind waiting. There was a part of me that wanted to say something to her, but I didn’t want to scare her away and I knew that that was a definite possibility if I wasn’t careful.
“Um, okay, Drake. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any funny business. I don’t want to keep my job that bad.”
I didn’t like her comment. Why didn’t she see it like everyone else did? Her friend was dying for it after one look, much like everyone else that I met, but Erin was almost immune to my affection and it still bothered me. I knew that her denial of my presence was part of the reason that I wanted her so badly, but I still didn’t quite understand it. When I was dying to kiss her, to be inside of her, there was nothing I could do but want things to be different.
“I assure you that it is nothing like that, Erin. I hate to think what you must think of me if you believe such things.”
“Well, you are the one that is blackmailing me for a date, so it seemed appropriate.”
I smiled into the phone, glad that I’d gotten the fiery one instead of the meek side of her. I liked the smart mouth on her when she was upset, and at the moment she was raring to give me a tongue lashing. Call me crazy, but I wanted one from her.
“I guess you could see it that way if you wanted to.”
“How would you look at it?”
I stopped for a moment and silenced the words on my lips. I had to be careful, and her quick wit had me using my own. What I was going to say was too much and I had to once again tone it down for her. I was used to dealing with women who were just as forward as I was. Erin was not the same at all.
“I would look at it like I’m a determined man who will do what is necessary to get what I want.” I left out what I wanted from her. I was sure that my voice and tone were clear on what I wanted. Every time I saw her she couldn’t meet my gaze, so I would assume that my eyes were more than willing to tell her what my mind and body desired more than anything else. Erin had plenty of signs telling her what was needed from her.
“What do you want?”
Her small voice sent a shiver down my spine. Again I had to literally bite my tongue to stop the words that were dying to flow out of my mouth. Why did she have to ask me such a question?
“I just want a date, Erin… and maybe a kiss.”
She sighed with a little relief and told me that she would agree to one, but not the other.
“We will see, Erin. Wear that dress that you wore to the art exhibit downtown and I will have a limo there to pick you up at seven.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, tonight. I don’t want you to change your mind again, so I will be there.”
“Okay.”
That was all she said before she hung up. I should have felt better than I did. There was a surge of excitement and the same feeling that I got when I had solved a hard puzzle. She was the puzzle, though, and it was hard to piece together what I was supposed to do next. My body responded to her voice and tone, but now I was left thinking of her alone in the office.
Still, I was smiling, and there was nothing that was going to take me down from the cloud I was on. I shouldn’t have felt this way, but it was the first time in a long time that I felt challenged. I mean, sure, I had to lie to get here, but there was a saying about business and love. I planned to be cutthroat in both, as I had been for many years. It was the best way to ensure that I got what I wanted. There was a little guilt that I had lied to her, but I kept reminding myself that once I got her in my arms, it wouldn’t matter how she got there.
My mind went to the dress that she had worn to Rose Woods’s place. It was the one thing that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of, no matter how good the pictures were on the wall. It hadn’t been that it was overly sexy or anything like that. It had flattered her slight curves well, but it was the transformation in it that had made me see red. Erin had looked so different from before, and I hoped for the subtle sexy change again.
Sitting back, I had to smile. Everything was finally going as planned, and part of me that hoped I would be able to convince her that she needed me as badly as my body thought that I needed her. I kept trying to tell myself that it was finally going to happen, but I had to wonder. There was a part of me that still wasn’t so sure. If she had been any other woman, I would have already had her screaming my name beneath me, but Erin was different. This was one of those times that I wished she was the same as all of the rest.