Intimate Seduction - Brenda Jackson [54]
He didn’t say anything, but she swore she could hear his teeth gnashing. And then. “What have I told you about calling me Mr. Steele? If I remember correctly, I was Donovan last Friday night.”
He’d been a number of things last Friday night, she thought. He was also the best lover she’d ever had, granted she hadn’t had many to compare him with, but the one comparison she could make pushed him off the charts. “Mr. Steele, is there a reason you called?” From his tone she knew there was.
“Yes, there is a reason. I thought we understood that no one but you or your aunt would be responsible for the cleaning of my home.”
Natalie smiled politely, although he couldn’t see it. She had received good news earlier from Dr. Stanley and had no intention of letting him ruin her day. “As you know, my aunt is recuperating, and considering our relationship—specifically what happened between us last Friday night—there was no way I could return to your home.”
“Did I force you to have sex with me, Natalie?”
His question came as a surprise. “No, of course not.”
“So there’s no way you can claim there was any type of sexual harassment involved, right?”
“Right, and neither am I trying to. But the key word is involved. We slept together, of our own free will, but we slept together nonetheless, and in doing so, we’ve taken our relationship from a professional one to a personal one,” she tried pointing out.
“If I remember, we didn’t get much sleep that night. And one has nothing to do with the other. And you were forewarned what would happen if my requests weren’t followed. I enjoy my privacy and—”
“For crying out loud, Donovan,” she said, annoyed enough at this point to forego professionalism. “Ms. Harris is old enough to be your mother. She has been married for over twenty years and is not aspiring to become a cougar. She’s harmless. And we did a thorough background check. The woman is trustworthy.”
“Probably. But still, you defied my wishes. Meet with me at the Racetrack Café at seven tonight to discuss the situation.”
Natalie frowned. “There’s nothing to discuss.”
“I think there is. You’ve made me an unhappy client. If you check the files of several of your other clients—namely Jeremy Simpkins, Harrell Kelly, Uriel Lassiter, Myles Joseph and Colin Ashford, they are clients based on my recommendations and referrals. All it would take is a phone call from me and they’ll drop the Special Touch Housekeeping Agency like a hot potato.”
Natalie’s frown deepened, and she sat up straight in her chair. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“I wouldn’t suggest that you try me. I’ll see you tonight at seven.”
Natalie slammed down the phone.
Just who does he think he is? How dare he!
She began pacing the floor. He would ruin her aunt’s company just because he couldn’t have things his way? So, he wanted to meet with her to discuss things. Fine. She’d meet with him, and she’d give him a piece of her mind.
Donovan drew in a long breath as he hung up the phone. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he’d just displayed a sign of a desperate man. Of course he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Natalie’s aunt’s business but she didn’t have to know that. Besides, he couldn’t think of any other way to get her to meet with him tonight. And because he didn’t want her to think it was all about sex, he’d decided it would be best if they met someplace other than his home.
Now that was another mystery to be solved—that it wasn’t all about sex. The intensity of their coming together had been as miraculous as it could get. Even when he hadn’t wanted to think about it, when he hadn’t wanted memories to invade his brain and accumulate in his mind, they had anyway.
But now he wanted to get to know the woman who had him biting at the bits. What was there about her that he found obsessive? Why had he denied himself the opportunity to bed Jean Carroll on more than one occasion because the thought of being inside any woman’s body other than Natalie’s, was a turnoff?
Admittedly, he was as intrigued as he was horny, and tonight he was determined