Intimate Seduction - Brenda Jackson [52]
Chapter 12
Natalie sat at the desk in her aunt’s office as she worked on the schedules for next week. It had been a week since she had made love to Donovan in his huge bed. She hadn’t heard from him, but she hadn’t really expected any contact. Like she had told Farrah, she and Donovan fully understood each other. He didn’t want anything beyond what they’d shared Friday night and neither did she.
She’d been keeping herself pretty busy. The agency had taken on three new employees, and she’d been busy working them into the schedule. Her aunt’s doctor visit this week indicated she was healing nicely, and Natalie was happy for that. So it was her opinion that life was good.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t have those dreams each night in which Donovan had a starring role. And now that she knew how it felt to make love with a man who was just as giving as he was taking, she knew he had tilted the scales and she doubted another man would ever affect her the way he had. She’d been dealing with elements of chemistry since she’d won her first science fair in the eighth grade, but Donovan had the ability to ignite a totally different kind of chemistry, the type she wasn’t accustomed to dealing with. And then there were those funny little feelings that would start fluttering around her heart whenever she thought of him. They were feelings that could grow into something more than she wanted them to be. They were feelings that had more to do with the human anatomy than with chemistry.
She’d gone to pull one of the client’s records from the file cabinet when her cell phone rang. She quickly picked it up. “Yes?”
“Dr. Ford, this is Dr. Stanley.”
Natalie lifted her brow in surprise. Dr. Miriam Stanley headed the global study of the troposphere for NASA, and they had worked closely on various projects over the past two years. “Dr. Stanley, this is a pleasant surprise. Is anything wrong?”
“No, everything is fine. However, I was hoping I could request your assistance on short notice.”
“In what way?” Natalie asked, leaning back on the desk. She was already reviewing formulas for NASA that could imply a continental pollution source for industrial emissions.
“We will be hosting a number of government officials on the Princeton campus next Friday, and we were wondering if you could be included on a panel for a discussion on global warming.”
Next Friday? Natalie nibbled on her bottom lip trying to determine if it could work. Her aunt was doing fine so flying back to Princeton for a couple of days wouldn’t be so bad. She could fly out Thursday night and fly back Saturday morning. “Yes, I’d love to participate.”
“Thank you. I’ll e-mail you a number of the key discussion topics,” Dr. Stanley said.
A few minutes later Natalie hung up the phone, still smiling. She knew her name had been tossed about as a possible person who could sit on the Global Warming Commission. To do so would be an outstanding accomplishment. She needed to start jotting down the key points she intended to discuss, and hopefully, doing so would keep her mind occupied for a while.
Donovan released a deep breath when he heard the sound of the front door opening. That meant Natalie had arrived for the weekly cleaning of his home. And again he’d taken a work-at-home day. He hated admitting that he’d been looking forward to this day all week long—and had even contemplated calling her during the week. But then he would remember their agreement. What they’d shared had been a one-night stand and nothing more.
Still, he couldn’t discount the fact that she had been on his mind every day and night. Since he had yet to change his bed linen, he drifted to sleep breathing in her scent and filled with passionate memories of their one night together.
The thought that Natalie was downstairs had his shaft hard. He could, and he would now admit that he had it bad for her. The last seven days had been pure torture. More torturous than the agony she