“Enjoy your vacation,” Mick advises. “I’ll be in touch when I know something.”
“Thank you.” We rise and start to leave, but turn back at Mick’s voice.
“The next time you request entry into my city, you’d better be fucking honest about who you’re bringing with you. I don’t like surprises.”
“Understood.”
“I’ve heard great things about this show.” Nadia walks out of the walk-in closet off our suite’s bedroom and holds the necklace I gave her in Denver out to me. “Will you please fasten this?”
“Of course.” I slip the diamonds and platinum around her slim neck and fasten it under her hairline, then kiss the ball of her shoulder. I notice she doesn’t have any earrings in. “You’re damn beautiful, Nadia.”
She grins at me and then does a little spin in her red dress, showing it off. “Thanks. I’m glad I brought this along, just in case. And you look pretty damn good yourself in that suit.”
I adjust the knot of my tie and then hold my hand out for hers. “Shall we?”
“Let me just grab my clutch.” She rushes to the bed and slips a tube of lipstick into her bag, then takes my proffered hand. “Let’s go watch a Broadway show.”
The truth is, Nadia takes my breath away. She handled herself well at Mick’s office today, knowing when to stay quiet and let me do the talking. She’s intelligent. And she’s sexy as fuck.
I shouldn’t have kissed her on the plane this morning. I was only trying to shut her up, but all I did was remind myself how good we are together in bed.
How much I want her.
How I never stopped wanting her.
And she’s made it clear that a physical relationship is out of the question.
I’m a damn fool. I need to keep my hands to myself and keep my focus on the task at hand.
She’s a colleague who has become a friend. That’s all.
But when we step into the elevator, and she leans her head on my shoulder as we watch the floors tick down, all I want to do is pull her to me and kiss her breathless.
Instead, I turn my lips down and kiss the top of her head.
“Tell me about this show.” Before I take you back upstairs and fuck you into next week.
“The lead actress is London Watson. She’s a huge name in theater, and she wrote this show a couple of years ago. Still stars in it. I’m excited to finally see it.”
“Sounds great.”
We walk through the hotel lobby and see our car is waiting. The ride through Manhattan is slow, as always, but before long, the driver drops us off in front of the theater. I bought us VIP tickets, so we bypass the line and are immediately shown to our seats.
“That’s Paul Rudd,” Nadia whispers and nods to the man several seats down. “Holy shit, I love Ant-Man.”
“Tell him so. We have a few minutes before the show starts.”
She bites her lip and then shrugs her shoulder and stands to approach the actor. Paul smiles up at her, then stands to talk to her. I can’t hear everything that’s said, but there are smiles, a couple of laughs, and then Nadia returns to me.
“Oh my God,” she says. “He’s so nice.”
“He looked like a good guy.”
She grins. “This is a fun day. Well, aside from having guns pointed at my face, of course.”
“Yeah, that was a little intense.”
“But the rest of it has been better than expected.”
“I’m glad.”
She links her arm through mine and leans on me. Nadia has become more and more physically affectionate over the past few weeks, at least since we started staying at the penthouse again.
I don’t mind the affection.
But damn if it doesn’t make me want more.
“You really do look nice in this suit,” she says casually. “I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”
“I’m sure you have.”
“No, this one is navy. You usually wear black.”
I glance down at her. “You pay attention to the color of my suits?”
“You usually wear black,” she says again. “I like this on you.”
The lights flicker, signaling the start of the show. Through the entire three hours, Nadia touches me—holds my hand, leans her head on my shoulder, smiles up at me.
She’s flirting with me.
Blatantly.
Boldly.
Either she’s trying to seduce me, or she’s playing a game. And I have no patience for that. She has me tied in knots, my dick semi-hard as we leave the theater.
“London was amazing,” she gushes as we get into the waiting car. “She’s so talented. I absolutely loved it. Man, I’m starving.”
She grins over at me.
“Are you hungry?”
“Hmm.”
She frowns. “You don’t know if you’re hungry?”
“I could use something.” I turn my head and watch Manhattan pass us by. The traffic is no less frantic at midnight than it was close to four hours ago.
“Let’s just order in at the hotel,” she suggests. “We can get comfortable and eat all the food. That sounds awesome.”
I nod. When the car stops in front of the Four Seasons, a bellman opens our door. I climb out first, then turn to offer Nadia my hand to help her out of the vehicle.
She’s in another pair of those mile-high heels she loves. The kind that look damn hot over my shoulders as I fuck her into oblivion.
I remember very well.
“New York just energizes me,” she says when we step into the elevator. “Don’t you love this city?”
“You’re talkative tonight,” is my only reply.
“It’s New York,” she says. “Like I said, it energizes me. I don’t come here often enough. For obvious reasons.”
She slides her hand into mine, and I glance down at her.
“Why are you flirting with me so hard tonight?”
Her smile doesn’t dim, but the light in her blue eyes sparks. “Oh, so you did notice?”
“Hard not to.” I lead her out of the elevator and down the long hallway to the presidential suite, then unlock the door and walk inside. “You’ve turned it up.”
“Turned what up?”
“The flirting.” I turn and look at her as I loosen my tie. She drops her bag onto a table and crosses her arms over her chest. “What’s going on?”
“I like flirting with you.” She moves to me and brushes my hands out of the way so she can unbutton my shirt. “I like being with you.”
“You set the rules hard and fast from the beginning of this, Nadia. No sex. I’ve upheld my end of that bargain.”
“I know.” There’s no flirtation in her voice now as her eyes find mine. “And I also know that it’s unfair and just plain ridiculous to muddy the waters. To change the rules.”
“But I have a feeling you’re going to do just that.”
“We’re good together,” she says at last. “I thought I could turn that piece off. That I could ignore it. But damn it, the truth is, we are good together. And we’ll be working together for God knows how long.”