The Tycoon's Captured Heart (10 page)

Grayson chuckled.  He definitely wouldn’t utter anything so crazy as to imply that she was out of shape.  There was no way he would tell her that she was out of shape.  In fact, she was in perfect shape, he thought.  Her shape was probably too good.  Maybe if she gained about a hundred pounds, he wouldn’t have this painful desire to kiss her and make love to her.

Nah, he thought.  He loved the woman, not the shape.  Even if she gained weight, he would still think she was beautiful.  Hell, he wondered if there was anything that could ease this painful need to possess her, which had only grown more evident over the past week.

So why had he decided he could work out of a crumbling, stone castle while she finished up her work?  He could have just as easily sent a whole team of bodyguards to protect her.  Hell, they could have even run with her, or, at a minimum, driven behind her as she ran through the streets.  Living in close confines with her definitely wasn’t his best idea.  But would he leave?  Hell no! 

He looked down at the beauty who was trying hard to pretend she was finished with her run.  But he knew her better.  The woman loved to exercise and loved a good, long run better than anything.  “Come on, Scarlett.  Suck it up.  Let’s keep going.”

He was right, she thought.  It had been only five miles and she could do better than that.  She glared up at him but instead of wimping out, she turned and ran down the hill.  “Fine!  But I’m keeping the pace from now on.  You stay behind me.  Not beside me because you just keep pushing the pace harder.  Got it?”  And that’s how they finished out the next five miles.  Grayson didn’t mind in the least.  He followed behind her, admiring her butt as she moved in and out of the streets, up the hills, down the hills and across the fields that were blooming despite the cold weather. 

When they made it back to the castle, she was practically jumping up and down with the euphoria of the endorphins rushing through her.  “That was great!” she laughed, throwing her arms around his neck.  “Let’s do it again!”

Grayson laughed, pulling her close.  “How about a shower?”

She froze, thinking that he was offering to shower with her.  “Um…” Was he inviting her to share the one bathroom with him?  Was a good, long run all it took to make the man give in and make love to her? 

“You can go first,” he told her and smacked her bottom. 

She stepped out of his arms as the disappointment hit her hard, unaware of the way her nipples were pressing against the thin material of her running shirt.  “Are you sure?” she asked.

Grayson had to concentrate to keep her from noticing his body’s reaction to her hug.  “Yes.  Go ahead.  I have a phone call to make.”

She turned around and ran up the stone steps of the castle.  Right now, there was only one bathroom in the entire castle but Scarlett had figured out how to use three of the bedrooms for bathrooms.  That would reduce the bedrooms from nine to six, but in Sierra’s mind, bathrooms were more important than bedrooms. 

She felt one hundred percent better now that she’d exerted herself and used her muscles.  Goodness, she loved to go for a long run.  She didn’t like running with Grayson as much, but he pushed her, made her run faster.  She probably held him back from really exerting himself but she didn’t care at the moment.  She felt wonderful!  Euphoric! 

Stepping out of the bathroom after her shower, she cinched the towel tighter around her body.  She was looking down at the floor so she didn’t see Grayson as he was coming up the stairs until it was too late. 

Or maybe it was perfect timing, she thought as she stared up into his startled eyes.  “I was…” she started to say, but the words wouldn’t come out correctly.  Not with his large, muscular body so close to her own. 

“I get it,” he commented back, looking down at her.  She felt his hands clench on both sides of her waist and instinctively moved closer to him.  “I just…”  She could feel the tension in his body, knew that he was fighting to hold back from touching her more thoroughly.  And that’s when she made the decision that she wasn’t going to allow him to do that!  Not this time! 

But what could she do to encourage him?  What did a woman do to seduce the man she was madly in love with? 

When she didn’t finish the sentence, he moved forward, slowly pressing her back against the wall.  “What?” he asked softly but with that gravely edge to his voice that sent shivers racing throughout her whole body.  “You were just…?”

“Going to my room,” she finished weakly, her eyes moving from his brown ones down to his lips, wishing he would kiss her.  She wanted to feel that fire, feel the intensity of his kiss, his hands on her body and that explosive pleasure that he’d shown her the last time. 

“Why?” he demanded.  His mind was telling him to back off, to let her walk by but his body, aching for so long to be with her again, wouldn’t listen.  His body wanted this.  His body was determined to feel her softness once again. 

Scarlett looked up into his hard, brown eyes, the yellow flecks on fire.  She could do this!  This is what she’d been wanting since he arrived!  “Give me a reason not to.”  Her blue eyes begged him to take the initiative, to do something with her.  She was in a towel for goodness sake!  Couldn’t he just…

Grayson’s lungs inhaled a gust of air as he stared down at the blond perfection in his arms.  Or almost in his arms.  He wanted her.  Badly!  “Go to your room, Scarlett.  Go before I do something we’ll both regret again.”  And a moment later, he pushed himself away and disappeared into the bathroom. 

Scarlett stared at the opposite wall, beating herself up for not just dropping the towel.  But the interlude proved one thing to her befuddled mind.  He was interested!  He wasn’t immune!  He wanted to be able to resist her, but he wanted her. 

She’d seen the heat in his eyes, felt the tension in his body and the way his hands fisted at her waist.  Oh yes!  He’d wanted her almost as badly as she wanted him! 

She smiled, her fingers tightening on the towel still knotted just above her breasts.  For some reason, he was fighting this attraction.  With a delighted laugh, she shook her head as she headed down the hallway.  Oh was he going to lose that battle, she thought and almost danced into the room she’d taken over during the renovation.  She almost laughed out loud with excitement and renewed determination. 

Grayson stepped into the shower, amazed that the old plumbing actually worked.  As the cold water streamed down his body, he couldn’t believe what he’d just done.  Or almost done.  Berating himself for coming onto Scarlett again, he almost slammed his fist against the tiled wall, furious for putting her into an awkward situation once more. 

Washing up, he quickly dried off and then moved back to his bedroom.  Pulling on jeans and a sweatshirt again, he swore to himself that he would just work and make sure that Scarlett was safe.  He wouldn’t push himself on her.  His only purpose here was to make sure that Scarlett didn’t get hurt or run into any of the criminals that Harrison had mentioned.  That was it!

He stepped behind his computer and focused all of his attention on work issues, not allowing his eyes to move away from his computer. 

He was successful for about three hours.  Unfortunately, a conference call had him pacing through the small dining room and his eyes didn’t need to be glued to a document or a computer screen.  They were free to wander.  And they wandered right to Scarlett who was now dressed in a new pair of leggings that hugged her body, smoothing along her adorable bottom.  They moved up her figure and he loved the way the soft, cashmere sweater made her appear even softer.  That cozy material made his mouth water and he knew that God was putting him into a special kind of hell because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

Had she worn these kinds of revealing clothes before?  He hadn’t always been around her when she was working.  Normally, he saw her in dresses or elegant suits.  But out here in the countryside, there was no need for that kind of formality. 

He made a strange sound when she came into the dining room with her measuring tape and started to take down numbers.  That bottom was too close, he thought.  He could just reach out and run his hands over her sexy figure and…

“Grayson?” someone on the other end of the conference call prompted.

Grayson had absolutely no idea what was going on with the meeting.  His entire focus was on the woman examining the walls. 

Scarlett turned to look at him, her eyebrows lifted higher as she listened to the person on the other end of the conference call.

“Sorry,” he snapped.  “What was the question?”  He didn’t bother to mention that he was distracted.  Everyone on the phone call knew that he’d been distracted but they had no idea what that something could be.  When he glanced back at Scarlett, she was smiling up at him, her cute butt sliding onto the wooden surface of the dining room table. 

His eyebrows went up again, silently asking her what she wanted. 

“Grayson?” the voice called out again.

“What?” he snapped, irritated that someone was interrupting his concentration on the long legs that were crossed at very slim ankles. 

There was silence on the conference call and Grayson sighed, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.  “Sorry.  Let’s continue this conversation tomorrow, okay?” 

He didn’t wait for the people on the call to agree.  With the press of a button, he ended the call. 

Silence reigned in the dining room for a long moment.  Finally, he leaned his body forward, bracing on his outstretched arms.  “What are you doing, Scarlett?” he demanded, his brown eyes heating up as he noticed the pink stealing up to her porcelain cheeks. 

Scarlett bit her lower lip, lowering her lashes slightly as she considered her next words carefully.  “Here’s the deal,” she replied softly.  “I don’t know why you left my house so quickly after the one night we had together,” she started out.  “But I was wondering if maybe…perhaps…” she took a deep breath and looked up into his burning, brown eyes.  “Well, I was wondering if there might be a possibility that you’d like to repeat that night.”

Grayson stood very still, his mind going over her words again and again.  There was no grief this time around, she hadn’t been drinking any alcohol, she hadn’t just buried a relative and she hadn’t just spent hours at a tedious gala. 

It was just the two of them. 

Scarlett was asking him if he’d like to make love with her again?  Was the earth spinning? 

“Hell yes!” he growled.  A moment later, he was coming around to her side of the table and leaning over her as his arms wrapped around her slender figure, lifting her up so that she was completely pressed against his harder one.  His mouth covered hers and he kissed her, demanding that she open her mouth, demanding entry to the sweetness that was her lips. 

This wasn’t the gentle loving she’d experienced the first time in this man’s arms.  This was a demanding, overwhelming kind of loving.  And her body craved more!  Scarlett wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands diving into the surprising softness of his dark hair.  Her fingers were actually gripping those dark locks, afraid he might stop, afraid they would be interrupted again and she wasn’t going to allow that!  Not this time!

When he tore his mouth away from hers, she whimpered, but realized a split second later that it was only to move to her neck and she smiled happily as she tilted her head slightly, giving him better access and even shivering when his teeth scraped along her skin, making her body shiver with excitement. 

His hands weren’t still either.  While hers continued to hold him close to her, worried that some silly nugget might pop into his head that would make him stop what he was doing, his hands were sliding underneath her sweater, pushing the material away so that his fingers could smooth against her skin.  Good grief, she loved the way he touched her!  He seemed to know exactly where all of her sensitive places were on her skin.  Or maybe he just realized they were sensitive because she made some sort of sound whenever his fingers moved over that spot.  She didn’t care!  All she cared about was begging him to do it again. 

“Don’t stop,” she whimpered when he pulled back slightly.  “Oh, please don’t stop!”

Grayson shook his head.  “No way!” he replied and lifted her into his arms.  “But we’re not doing this here,” he told her and lifted her into his arms. 

With her legs around his waist and his hands supporting her bottom, he carried her out of the dining room.  Scarlett wasn’t too interested or concerned about where he made love to her.  All she cared about was having it happen, needing it to happen.  So when he made it to the stairs, she was already nibbling at his neck, loving the way he smelled right there under his jaw.  She felt the wall against her back and shifted her body to enjoy that hardness pressing against her core, shivering when she moved exactly right.  And since it felt so good, she did it again.  And again. 

“Why are we stopping?” she breathed out, closing her eyes when his fingers found her nipples through the thin, lace material of her bra.

Grayson was pressing her up against the wall, his legs unable to carry her up the stairs when she pressed her heat against him like that.  It felt too damn good! 

“Because I can’t carry you when you make those sounds, love,” he told her with a deep, husky chuckle. 

“I’ll stop,” she gasped, worried that she was doing something wrong.