Irresistible Forces - Brenda Jackson [12]
His heart began to thunder in his chest. He had a feeling it would be a long and tempting evening.
This had to be the longest elevator ride that she’d ever taken, Taylor thought as she tried looking at everything other than Dominic. He was standing beside her and she felt tension grip her stomach.
She didn’t feel like engaging in a nice conversation just to pass the time. Although she and Dominic had spent many hours together poring over his financial portfolio, their meeting tonight would be altogether different. She was now a woman with a plan. And it was a plan that she hoped he would go along with.
“I should have asked before commissioning the cook to come up with something special for dinner tonight if you’re allergic to anything.”
She glanced up at him. “No, there’s nothing I can think of that doesn’t agree with my system.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
She met his eyes. They were staring deep into hers.
“And don’t be surprised if we see my parents at some point tonight.”
She arched a brow. “Your parents?”
“Yes. They’re here at the hotel. They flew in from California and are on their way out of the country.”
She nodded. “I’ve seen pictures of them together in various magazines. They make a nice couple,” she said, meaning every word. Marcello Saxon was an extremely handsome man with his classic French looks. And Dominic’s mom was a beauty, who didn’t look a day past forty. In a rare photo that Dominic and his parents had taken together that had appeared in People magazine earlier this year, Megan Saxon looked young enough to have passed for his sister.
“Thanks, and I agree. They do make a nice couple. I am fortunate to have them as parents.”
The elevator came to a stop and the doors swooshed open. Dominic stood back for her to walk out ahead of him and then he was there again, by her side, leading the way down an elegantly carpeted hall toward a set of double doors at the end.
They came to a stop at the doors. “The kitchen staff was arriving when I was leaving so everything should be set up now,” he was saying. “We can discuss things over dinner and, if need be, converse further afterward.”
As she stared into his green eyes she suddenly felt a heated rush, a swamp of sensations of the strongest kind. It was nothing more than a business meeting over dinner, yet she had to get Dominic to see how useful they could be to each other, how together they could bring something or rather someone special into each of their lives.
As he opened the door to his penthouse she knew she was about to have her one shot at it and she didn’t intend to blow it.
“So, Taylor, when did you come up with the idea of wanting me to father your child?”
Dominic watched as she took a deep breath before raising her eyes from her plate to look at him. He had caught her off guard. She hadn’t been expecting his question, especially not now. They were in the midst of enjoying a delicious and impressive entrée the hotel’s restaurant had prepared and had been discussing a recent documentary that had aired on television that focused on the plight of finback whales. He had discovered a while back that they were both lovers of sea life.
She put her fork down beside her plate. “I made the decision once I knew I wanted to move ahead with my plans to become a mother.”
He lifted his hand in the briefest gesture before asking, “And? What were your other options?”
“I had several,” she said, leaning back in her chair. Anyone observing would assume she was rather comfortable with their conversation, but he had a feeling she really wasn’t.
“I could have contacted a sperm bank where the identity of my child’s father would never be known by me or by him or her. Or I could have engaged in a one-night stand for the sole purpose of getting pregnant. Neither appealed to me.”
“But I did.”
“Yes, you did,” she answered in what he thought was a polite tone. “You had all the characteristics I looked for in a man and those I want