Chapter 10: Corban

If I thought getting Luna out of my brain had been difficult before, the kiss at the restaurant yesterday had made it a damn near impossible exercise now. I gripped the leather-bound journal and focused on the stately homes swishing by the window.

Summit Avenue was the last place I’d have expected Luna to live. Millionaires resided on the stately old street. Why on earth was she fronting as an event planner if she had that kind of money? Larissa and Ross had told me she struggled to pay the bills thanks to some mishap that’d occurred while I was in Japan. I just didn’t believe it. None of it made any sense.

They hadn’t gone into much detail about it, but I’d been confused when I’d asked my buddy for her address and received this one.

I ran my fingers over the cover of the journal. It was past time I gave this back to her and got my suit jacket back for that matter. And then there was the issue of our kiss. I needed to apologize. She’d done exactly what I asked her to do when she posed for the blowing of the kiss. It had been me that had lost my fool mind and kissed her for real.

That kiss had haunted my dreams last night, and a date with my hand in the shower this morning had only slightly eased the ache. And even that had been short-lived. As soon as I finished masturbating to the image of me pounding into that sweet body, my cock had gotten rock hard again.

I’d love to believe that Luna had wanted the kiss too, but after we broke apart, she’d been quiet. Too quiet. Regretfully quiet. We’d eaten lunch, and she’d left with a polite “thank you” rather than a peck on the cheek. It was as if she wanted to avoid physical contact. I’d overstepped and blown it. Probably because I hadn’t been laid in so many months I’d lost count.

Her putting up walls meant one thing and one thing only: I’d crossed a line, and she wasn’t happy about it.

I owed her an apology. Hopefully, she’d want to continue as planned with the Twins event. I couldn’t afford to search for another event planner so late in the game. And I didn’t want to. I wanted Luna to plan the event that would make or break my career. Truth be told, I wanted Luna.

“Here we are, boss,” Lou said and parked in front of the biggest house on the street.

I gazed up at the wrought iron fence, the verdant garden it contained and the brick-faced home beyond that. It made my penthouse condo look like an eye sore. “This is the address? You’re sure?”

“This is the place.” Lou slung his arm across the back of the passenger seat, then looked back at me. “Teach you to judge a book by its cover… boss.”

I chuckled and opened the back door. “Hang around, will you, Lou? If this goes well, we might hit a restaurant.”

“You got it,” the driver said and gave me a thumbs up. “Haven’t seen you with any ladies in a while. I like Miss Luna. Drove her back here the other day.”

I got out of the car and strolled across the sidewalk and up to the front gate. I couldn’t block the sense of awe coming over me as I opened the gate and entered the garden. This place could’ve jumped out of the pages of one of those interior design magazines. Fitting, since the woman was an event planner.

I took the stairs two at a time, then pressed the pearly knob next to the jamb.

Bells chimed inside the hall.

Something banged inside the house. “Just a second.” Luna’s voice drifted down the stairs.

I tapped my fingers on the outside of her journal, trying to stall the pounding of my heart as I waited for her to appear. I imagined what she had on. A pencil skirt or a dress? I wanted to see her in jeans. After inspecting her perfect ass, I could only fantasize about how denim would show off that glorious asset.

Footsteps rushed toward the other side of the door, the latch drew back, and Luna appeared, breathless, makeup free and clad in yoga pants and a loose shirt.

Wrong on all counts.

“Oh!” Luna tugged on the hem of her shirt. She looked down at her bare feet. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting you, Mr. Drake.”

Mr. Drake? Keeping it formal post-kiss, apparently. She’d already been calling me Corban for days. She’d put up brick walls I was unlikely to push through.

“I – uh, wasn’t expecting anyone, actually. I finished my appointments for the day. Please, come in,” Luna said, and her gaze latched onto the journal.

I handed it to her. “I’ve been meaning to give this back to you. I would’ve brought your skirt too, but it was pretty messed up. I don’t think you’d have been able to fix it. I hope that’s okay.”

“Thanks.” She took the journal from me and ran her hand over the cover. “I knew I’d lost this.” She didn’t add a qualifier onto the end of that sentence.

“I hoped to get my suit jacket back. Is that a possibility? It’s one of my favorites. My lucky suit, actually. I closed my first billion dollar deal wearing it.” I lifted the corner of my lip in a practiced Indiana Jones smile – he’d been my hero as a kid. I’d seriously considered forgoing the corporate world to become an ass-kicking archaeologist until I found out that archaeologists didn’t get that many opportunities to kick ass.

“Of course,” Luna said. “How forgetful of me. I – it’s at the dry cleaners. I’ll send it over to your office once I get it back. Is that okay?”

My tongue felt thick in my mouth. “Sure.”

We both went quiet, and I searched for a topic to segue into the next portion of this afternoon’s events – namely, the apology.

“I – would you like something to drink? A cup of coffee, maybe?” Luna asked and walked through an open arch to the left and to a spacious living room.

I followed her through, unable to resist a glance at her toned ass. Yoga pants. I’d have to add them to my list of desirable female attire.

She turned, and I averted my gaze. “Pardon?”

She smiled, facing me again. “A cup of coffee? Tea?”

“Uh, actually…” I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand, “I thought we could head out and have a glass of wine. Maybe some appetizers. You know, go over the details for the event. That kind of thing.”

Luna hugged her journal to her breasts. “Yeah, that would be great. Just give me a few minutes to get changed?”

She made to leave, and I grabbed her by the forearm. The skin on skin contact shocked me a little – silky soft, fine hairs. “Wait a second, Luna.”

“Okay,” she breathed and blinked up at me from underneath long lashes. I could get lost in the depths of her eyes.

“I owe you an apology for yesterday.” I let go of her. Touching her for too long would ultimately lead to an embarrassing situation, and I needed her to know this apology was from the heart. It wasn’t lip service.

“An apology,” she licked her bottom lip, and I was hypnotized by the movement, “ah, it’s okay. I guess most guys don’t know that much about flowers.”

“What?”

“You know. You wanted to use roses? And I said no? I accept your apology for even suggesting it.” She broke the tension with a radiant grin.

God, it made me want to kiss her all over again. “I’m serious.”

“So am I. Roses are the whores of the flower world.”

“Remind me never to buy you roses,” I muttered.

Her eyes widened, and she shifted from one foot to the other. “Wha – why would you–?”

“No, I – shit, this isn’t coming out right.” I squared my shoulders and took control of the situation. “I’m apologizing for kissing you. I know that must’ve made you uncomfortable, and it wasn’t my place to do that. Unprofessional and unwarranted. It’s just that the moment was made up of too much… perfection.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry, Luna.” That had to suffice. And if it didn’t, I’d find another way to make it up to her. Several counterintuitive ideas cropped up in my mind, and I squashed them down before they woke the beast below.

“You’re sorry,” she said.

“Yeah, I hope you can forgive me, and we can move past this. I really need this event to go off without a hitch, and I know you’re the woman to get that done.”

Her lips wriggled in place. She worked her jaw, drew in a breath, then bobbed her head up and down, once. “Yeah. We can move past it. Of course.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. Okay. Fine. I’m going upstairs to get changed, all right?” She backed out of the living room and knocked into a cabinet beside the exit. Glasses rattled inside it.

“Sure,” I said, hiding my grin.

Luna swept out of sight, taking the intoxicating coconut smell with her.

I’d fucked that up somehow. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. Her reaction hadn’t been what I expected. She hadn’t even cracked a smile.

“Well done, dumbass,” I muttered. What did you expect? For her to throw herself at you, bitch you out about unfinished business all the while ripping her clothes off and asking you to fuck her.

I circled the coffee table and drifted toward the mantelpiece where several picture frames sat on the polished top. One of Luna in a modeling shoot, blowing a kiss that put the model from the Kiss Boutique to shame. Another on a beach, her in a bikini, tastefully shot with a sarong and the shadow of a palm tree dancing across the sand. Her body blew me away. Even after the incident in my office, I hadn’t been able to look my fill, so I stared at the bikini shot, mentally cataloging every nuance of her shape for later.

And then one of–

“What?” I muttered and snatched up the frame. “No way.”

Luna stood side-by-side with Ralph Lauren, both grinning at the camera. What on earth had Miss Faye done to wind up in a picture with him? In my gut, I knew it all had something to do with her past and this damn mansion I stood inside. With trembling hands, I put the picture back where I found it but gazed at the image as if doing so would cause Ralph to speak and ease my confusion with his version of the truth.

It must’ve been taken years ago. In it, Luna was fresh-faced, cheeks padded with baby fat. She was lovely, but she’d matured into a stunning vision of feminine beauty.

Evidence of Luna’s achievements screamed at me from every corner of the room. A framed degree on the wall. Modeling pictures. And even what looked like a tribal shield that must signify international travel.

I took every new find like a punch to the gut. They drove the point home, again and again.

You’re falling for her, dumbass. You’re falling for her. And obviously, you don’t deserve her.

One kiss and a few days of working together, and she had me wrapped around her finger. What was worse, she didn’t even know it. Because she didn’t know that a hard-hearted workaholic like me never fell. I turned away from the pictures and accolades and looked out over the peaceful garden to the sleek car waiting outside. Lou was right.

It’d been a damn long time since I felt anything for anyone.

The last time had been a girlfriend in college, but that relationship had blown up when I found her screwing one of my buddies in my own dorm room. The funniest part? I’d had a ring in my pocket – my great-grandmother’s engagement ring to be exact. My father had gifted it to me, but he told me to give it to the right woman. I still had it.

My great-grandmother hadn’t carried the ring across oceans and land so that it could wind up on the finger of some hussy. The antique diamond sparkler sat in the bottom of my sock drawer and had since I’d left for Japan years ago.

Ross thought I’d initially taken the position in Japan to avoid my ex, Natalie, but the truth was, I’d taken it to avoid myself. I lost myself in work out there and become this person.

A man who wore suits eighteen hours a day and spoke in professional, clipped tones. I was a carbon copy of every corporate climber out there, but it hadn’t bothered me one bit until now. I didn’t want to be just another corporate suit to Luna. I wanted and needed to be a man. Her man.

I wanted everything, and it scared the living bejesus out of me.

“I’m ready,” she said from the doorway.

I jolted and looked at her, then lost my breath all over again.

She’d slipped into a cocktail dress. “What?” she asked and touched her silky smooth hair. She spun on the spot and showed off the backless portion. “Is it too much?” The slow turn killed me.

“You look – I mean, yeah. Wow. Great. Not too much. No.” I slammed my mouth to stop the babbling.

“You sound like a robot.” She laughed, and the mirth tinkled in my ears. “Are you sure this is okay? You were already wearing a suit, and I didn’t want to embarrass you by looking like some ragamuffin.”

“It’s – whoo…” I was trying to ease her distress and blinked, I hadn’t meant to make that noise. “It’s perfect. You look great, and I know just where to take you. I’ve got a car waiting outside if you want to head out?”

“Ready when you are,” Luna said.

I hadn’t been ready until that moment.