Board Approved (2 page)

“Where the hell are you?”

“In the parking lot,” Greg said, still watching
Tessa.
 
Just before she slid into the passenger
seat of his BMW, she looked over her shoulder in Greg’s direction and gave him
the sexiest smile he had ever seen.
 
He
couldn’t stifle the groan that escaped him.
 

“Did you just moan in my ear?” John asked with a
chuckle.

“I think I did,” Greg said with a laugh.
 
“I’ll tell you about it later.
 
I’m going to be a bit late to this
afternoon’s session.
 
I have to run
someone across town quickly.
 
I’ll be
back in less than an hour.”

“Run who across town?” John asked with
amusement.
 
“Does she have anything to do
with that moan?”

“Ha-ha, Dorsey!
 
I’ll bring you up to speed when I get back.”

“What would you like me to tell Phillip and the
board?” John asked.
 
Out of all the board
members, John was his favorite.
 
He may
have been one of the richest men in the area, owning the largest construction
company around, Dorsey Construction, but he was the most levelheaded guy Greg
knew.
 
They really hit it off
together.
 
Greg considered John a
friend.
 
And since John had found Elizabeth
Wright, the woman to settle him down, so-to-speak, he’d been trying to find
Greg a companion, too.
 
Any inclination
that Greg was showing interest in a woman resulted in John’s utmost attention.

“Tell them my errand took a little longer than
anticipated,” Greg said.
 
“I promise to
get there as soon as I can.”
 
He ended
the call and made sure Tessa’s car was locked before walking to his BMW.
 
He slid into the driver seat and immediately
started his car.
 
He glanced over at
Tessa and found her staring at him with those big blue eyes.
 
And those eyes were not showing any concern
over their age difference.
 
They were
scanning over every inch of him like she might be considering him for
dinner.
 
The look on her face caused his
cock to stiffen again.
 
Shit!
 
This was going to be a long drive!

Chapter
Two

Tessa stared at the man that slid into the driver’s
seat and a sudden wave of lust swept through her.
 
He was one hundred percent male and she was
totally enthralled.
 
He was incredibly
handsome.
 
Older than
her… maybe thirty-five.
 
She had
never been really good at guessing ages, but she did know he was older than her
twenty-seven years.
 
His navy dress
slacks had done nothing to hide his strong muscular thighs, and the white
button down shirt made it obvious that Greg was not your average male
build.
 
He was built strong.
 
She had felt it when she threw herself at him
for his generous offer to drive her to her studio.
 
Was she
crazy?
 
She threw herself into a complete
stranger’s arms!
 
And then she got into his
car!
 
Her mother would have her
committed immediately if she found out.
 
Shoot!
 
Her alcoholic mother would try to have her committed for anything if it
meant she had access to Tessa’s bank account and Tessa was “out of her hair.”
 

For some reason, Greg didn’t scare her at all.
 
Perhaps it was his soft grey eyes that
assured her he posed no danger to her.
 
All she knew was what her gut told her: she
wouldn’t end up in a ditch on the side of the road. Her body hummed, telling
her this man could take her places she’d never been.
  

“Where are we headed?” Greg asked, putting the BMW
in reverse and pulling out of the parking space.
 
He maneuvered the car with ease.
 
Tessa was impressed with how smooth and
graceful his movements were, considering his size.
 

“Yoga
You
,” Tessa
replied.
 
“It’s my yoga studio on
Treasure Island.
 
Take First Avenue North
all the way to the end.
 
Then make a left
on 66
^th
Street and a right on
Central
.
 
I can direct you once we reach the island.”
 
She sat back against the tan leather seat and
let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
 
That stupid VW bug had been giving her
problems lately.
 
She bought it from a
used car lot when she turned sixteen and had been driving it ever since.
 
It was a great car, but she’d beat the hell
out of it.
 
She didn’t always have the
money to fix things right away, which led to problems getting bigger.
 
This was the third time it had broken down in
less than three months.
 
But with the new
studio open, she couldn’t afford a new VW yet.
 

“I know how to get to Treasure Island,” Greg said
softly before winking at her.
 
The wink
sent a chill down her spine.
 
Was he flirting with her?
 
She could only hope.
 
It was clear there was an age gap between
them, but she didn’t want him to look at her as some young girl.
 
She wanted him to look at her as a woman
because he set something afire inside of her that none of the guys her age
could even spark.
 
“I live there.”

“You live there?” she asked with a hint of envy.
 

“Yes.
 
I own a
condo there.
 
I figure if I’m going to
live in Florida, I might as well live on the beach.”
 
He glanced over at her before pulling into
traffic.
 
He was sizing her up, checking
out her reaction to his statements.
 
He
drove a top-of-the-line vehicle.
 
He
owned a condo on the beach.
 
He dressed
well.
 
Obviously, he had money.

“Impressive,” Tessa said and she meant it.
 
“I’ve always dreamed of living on the
beach.
 
But I don’t think my chosen
career path is lucrative enough to own a house out there.
 
I live in the Tyrone area.”
 
Greg nodded in recognition of the area.

“Being an entrepreneur is an amazing
accomplishment,” he said, weaving between traffic on First Avenue North through
downtown St. Petersburg.
 
“Now, I’m
impressed.”

“Thanks,” Tessa replied, feeling the blush spread
over her cheeks.
 
What was it about this man that caused her body temperature to raise
twenty degrees?
  
“So, do you work at
Advantage?”
 

“No.
 
I’m a
partner at Lowes & Kravitz here in St. Pete.
 
I practice corporate law.
 
But I’m a member of the board of directors at
Advantage.
 
That’s why I was there,” he
said matter-of-factly.
 
“It’s board day.”

“Oh flip,” Tessa said softly.
 
“I’m so sorry.
 
I didn’t realize I was keeping you away from
something important.
 
I’m sorry.
 
You can drop me off at the next bus stop and
I’ll catch a ride to the studio.”

“It’s not a problem,” Greg said with a smile.
 
The car was stopped at a red light and he
glanced over at her. “I promise you I don’t mind at all.”
 
The heat in his gaze made the butterflies
flutter in her belly.

“I imagine being on a board of directors is a pretty
big deal and they expect you to be present.
 
I feel horrible.”
 
She looked down
at her hands resting in her lap.
 
Here
was this gorgeous man sitting next to her and she was in damsel-in-distress
mode.
 
She hated feeling helpless because
she was anything but.
 
She spent most of
her life taking care of her mother, so Tessa didn’t feel comfortable being in
the role where someone was taking care of her.
 
He must think she was incapable of taking care of herself and the things
in her life.
 
Another
reason for him to think of her as a little girl and not an independent and sexy
woman.
 
 

“Stop apologizing, Tessa,” Greg said.
 
“Everything will be fine.
 
I’ll head right back once I drop you
off.
 
What were you doing there?”
 
He turned to look at her.
 
His eyes were warm.
 
He was interested.
 
He wasn’t just trying to make idle chit chat.

“I teach yoga in the gym on the first floor,” she
replied.
 
“Advantage’s HR was looking to
do some classes for the employees on their lunch break.
 
One of my friends works there in claims and
she recommended me for yoga.
 
I teach
twice a week from noon to one.”
 
Her gaze
swung up to look at him.
 
His dark brown
hair was very short on his head and sprinkled with a few greys just like his goatee.
 
He was distinguished and he carried himself
that way.
 
It didn’t surprise her that he
was an attorney.
 
He spoke eloquently and
with such confidence.
 
Clearly, he was
way out of her league, and she wasn’t sure why this revelation was such a huge
disappointment to her being that they had only just met.

“That’s great,” he said, driving through the
intersection once the light turned green.
 
“So you own your own studio and teach at Advantage.
 
I’d say you’re pretty busy.”
 
She watched as he maneuvered through traffic
and made a left on 66
^th
St, headed for Central Avenue and then the
bridge that would take them to Treasure Island.
 

“I am.
 
I do
two classes a day at the studio Monday through Saturday.
 
I also do two classes a week at the county
building for employees and then at Advantage,” she explained.
 
“And that’s not to mention all the time I
spend promoting and trying to drum up business.
 
I’d like to be able to eventually hire another girl to help with the
classes, so I don’t have to be stretched so thin.
 
But I’m not complaining… I swear.
 
I love what I do.”
 
Shut
up!
 
When she was nervous, Tessa just
didn’t know how to stop talking and the verbal diarrhea just kept spilling from
her lips.
 

“I don’t want to seem like I am ungrateful for what
I have.
 
I’ve worked hard for it.
 
Very hard.
 
And…”
 
Before she knew what was happening, Greg’s hand palmed the back of her
head and pulled her into a kiss that sent her head spinning.
 
His lips were firm yet soft to the touch and
he moved them
expertly over her own
.
 
His goatee tickled her skin in a lascivious
way that made her wonder what it would feel like at other spots on her body.
 
His tongue flicked out over her lips and Tessa
was unable to stifle the moan that rose up her chest.
 
He took that as the opportunity to move
further and pushed his tongue between her lips.
 
Oh sweet Jesus, he tasted
fantastic!
 
He tasted like caramel
coffee.
 
She could get lost in his taste…
in his kiss.
 
His experience was evident
as he licked into her mouth, exploring every crevice.
 
His hand flexed at the back of her head
before sliding down to the nape of her neck and caressing her there.
 
 
She’d
never been kissed so thoroughly, so sensuously.
 
Her panties dampened as he took the kiss deeper and her hands gripped
his shirt tightly as if it were the only way for her to keep from melting into
the seat.

Beep!
 
Beep!
 
Startled back to reality by the cars honking
behind them, Tessa pushed back from the kiss.
 
She had been so wrapped up in her verbal dribble that she hadn’t even
recognized that they had been stopped at the light just before the bridge.
 
And then his kiss threw her into a tailspin.
 
She’d completely lost track of where she
was.
 
She came to, to find she was making
out at a traffic light with a man she barely knew, and she was struggling to
catch her breath after the make-out session.