she still had for him. Damn it all to hell! Layla Jerome had put a spell on him … either that or he had somehow lost his mind.
The decision to return to the place of his birth to help regenerate the area was seriously backfiring on him. The very last thing he’d expected to happen was that he should end up seriously lusting after a beautiful local girl that worked in a café.
He’d come back to Mayfair after finishing work that evening, but he’d neither eaten nor showered. His mind, body and senses had been too caught up in a tornado of longing and lust to accomplish either of those fundamental things so he had headed out to a hotel bar he knew in a bid to hopefully distract himself. Eating held no appeal when there was so much churning going on in the pit of his stomach, and he hadn’t showered because he didn’t want to wash away the alluring scent of Layla’s body. Her seductive smell was all over him, and if he shut his eyes he could recall the wonderful sensation of her soft velvety skin beneath his fingertips and the incredible taste of her sexy mouth …
A bolt of inflammatory need shot straight to his loins and Drake silently cursed the ill-timed inconvenience of it. Even though she’d firmly told him that she wasn’t interested in a sexual fling that would last only a few days or weeks he was still hoping to get her into bed soon. She’d asserted that she wanted to get to know him, but he knew if he let her she would probably be extremely uneasy with the taciturn, insecure man behind the glamorous and successful reputation—a man who was still too haunted by his past to be anywhere near comfortable with the idea of making a serious commitment to a woman.
Glancing impatiently down at his watch, and seeing that it was much later than he’d thought, he lifted the glass he’d put beside him on the bar and drank down the remaining contents in one hit. Even though Layla had been less than warm towards him when he’d dropped her off at the café, Drake had insisted he would ring her, and if he left it any later he knew he probably wouldn’t get to speak to her at all tonight.
‘Had a bad day?’
He glanced round in surprise at the shapely blonde who lowered herself onto the barstool next to him. She wore a fitted silver-grey suit over a dark red shirt with a revealing neckline, displaying enough décolletage to start a small stampede. Except that the provocative sight left Drake completely cold. There was only one woman he would head up a small stampede for and that was Layla.
‘It wasn’t all bad,’ he drawled laconically, getting to his feet, ‘there were definitely some highlights.’
‘You’re not leaving?’
The pneumatic blonde didn’t try to hide her disappointment. But once on his feet Drake knew emphatically what was next on his personal agenda—and it wasn’t whiling away the evening in a bar making small talk with a woman who was clearly on the lookout for a profitable sexual encounter with someone.
‘I’m afraid I am. Have a nice evening,’ he murmured, the automatic half-smile that touched his lips quickly fading because all he could think about was getting back home and phoning Layla.
‘She’s gone to bed?’
On receiving this astounding information from Layla’s brother Marc, Drake stopped stirring the mug of strong black coffee he’d made and turned round to lean back against the marble-topped counter in the kitchen.
Feeling stunned and aggrieved at the same time, he couldn’t help the irritation that seeped into his reply. ‘What do you mean, she’s gone to bed? It’s barely after ten.’
‘She’s never been able to hack staying up late. She’s a real morning person.’
‘And how is it that you’re answering her mobile? Is she staying with you at the moment?’
‘We share a house. I have the ground floor and Layla the top. Didn’t she tell you that?’
‘No. She didn’t. Anyway, morning person or not, I’d appreciate it if you’d go upstairs and see if she’s still awake. I told her to expect my call,’ he said, mustering as much authority as he was able—because he was still reeling at the notion of her going to bed and apparently not being the slightest bit perturbed that he hadn’t rung earlier. Was it because she was still mad at him for wanting to knock the terraced houses down and build new ones?
‘I can’t do that, I’m afraid. I’ve got strict instructions not to. That’s why she left her phone with me. She said if you rang I was to tell you that she’ll ring you on Monday. I’m really sorry, Mr Ashton, but it’s more than my life’s worth to disturb her. You may not know this yet, but my sister’s got a real temper on her. Trust me—glass can be shattered when she loses it!’
Drake clenched his jaw and curled his palm into an angry fist down by his side. She was going to ring him on Monday? Was she playing some kind of game with him that entailed teaching him a lesson for not agreeing to renovate the Victorian terraced houses? he wondered. Could she even guess at the depth of frustration she’d left him with earlier today? More to the point, did she believe that her request that he let her get to know him had frightened him off? Clearly if it had she certainly wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.
‘Okay. Thanks,’ he muttered, finding himself completely at a loss to know what else to say.
Crossly replacing the receiver, he dropped down into a nearby chair. Did she really mean to let an entire weekend go by before she saw him again? He scowled. If he’d had her address and had been anywhere near the vicinity of her home he would have considered battering down her door to make her come and speak to him if he had to … temper or no. He wasn’t about to let a potential display of volatile emotion put him off his goal. Besides which, the mere idea of Layla losing her temper instigated an immediate fantasy of him subduing it with a long, lazy open-mouthed kiss on that sexy mouth of hers.
Having already sampled her exquisite taste, the fantasy was almost too real to be borne. Releasing a hard to contain groan, Drake pushed impatiently to his feet. The hot leisurely shower he’d envisaged was going to have to be replaced by one closer to sub-zero temperatures if his frustration was going to be remotely eased tonight …
Layla released a long sigh of relief when Marc told her the next morning that Drake had rung. She’d gone to bed early because she’d been genuinely tired, but she’d also been irritated with him because he wouldn’t consider renovating the Victorian terrace. It was clear he was also aggravated with her, because she’d asserted that she wanted to get to know him, that she wasn’t just interested in a short-term fling.
The man clearly had issues around allowing a woman to get too close to him and Layla wanted to find out why. She also wanted to know why he wouldn’t consider renovating the Victorian terrace. Somehow she didn’t buy it that it was more profitable to build new residences in its place. Drake might be a businessman as well as an architect, but she didn’t believe that financial consideration was the only reason he wouldn’t look at renovation.
Still, at the end of the day the man was doing far more for the town than anyone had in too many years to mention, and even if she was upset he wouldn’t listen to a small local petition to keep the terraced houses she couldn’t let that taint her feelings towards him … not when she sensed deep down that he was a genuinely good man.
It was while she was clearing away the debris of her breakfast and stacking the dishwasher that a sudden idea took hold. Maybe it was time she played a more proactive part in their association? Perhaps it was time to turn the tables and this time surprise him? She decided that if anything at all was going to come from their association—be it an irresistible and unforgettable fling or a mutual commitment to a much more meaningful relationship—she wanted at least to have joint command of it. Never again would she allow a man’s desires to take precedence over her own wants and needs—or, as in the case of her unscrupulous ex-boss, to convince her that he knew best.
In particularly good spirits that day, Marc agreed to let her have the afternoon off. He even gave her an affectionate hug when she confessed she was going up to London to see Drake.
‘I