Doing as Reggie had advised, she drove around to the rear and parked beside a very nice silver-gray Mercedes, the same one she"d seen Reggie driving Sat.u.r.day night. After getting out and checking her watch for the time, she walked up to the back door of the restaurant and knocked. It opened immediately. A man who was almost as tall as Reggie and just as handsome opened the door and smiled at her before stepping aside to let her in.
"Olivia?" he asked, continuing to smile, as he closed the door behind her.
She was so busy studying his face, noting the similarities between him and Reggie, that she almost jumped when he uttered her name. Like Reggie, he was extremely handsome, but she didn"t miss the gold band on his finger. "Yes?" she said finally.
"I"m Chase Westmoreland," he said, extending his hand. "Reggie is already here and is in one of the smaller offices, waiting for you. I"ll take you to him."
"Thanks." And then, because curiosity got the best of her, she asked, "Are you one of Reggie"s brothers?"
The man"s chuckle floated through the air as he led her down a hallway. "No, Reggie has five brothers, but I"m not one of them. I"m his cousin."
"Oh. The two of you favor one another," she pointed out.
"Yes, all we Westmorelands look alike."
After walking down a long hallway, they stopped in front of a closed door. "Reggie is in here," Chase said, grinning. "It was nice meeting you."
Olivia smiled. "And it was nice meeting you as well, Chase." And then he was gone. She turned toward the closed door and took a deep breath before turning the handle.
Reggie stood the moment he heard voices on the other side of the door. This was the only place he could think of where he and Olivia could meet without fear of a reporter of some sort invading their privacy. The political campaign had begun officially today, and already all the sides were trying to dig up something on the others.
He"d told Brent that he wanted a campaign that focused strictly on the issues. He wasn"t into dirty political games. He felt the voters should get to know the candidates, learn their stance on the issues and then decide which offered more of what they were looking for. If they wanted something different, then he was their man, and if they were used to the do-nothing agenda that Reed had implemented over the past four years, then they needed to go with Jeffries, since it was a sure bet that he was Reed"s clone.
As soon as the door opened, his heart began hammering wildly in his chest, and the moment Olivia walked into the room and their gazes met, it took everything he possessed not to cross the floor and pull her into his arms and taste those lips he"d enjoyed so much a couple of nights ago.
Instead of coming farther into the room, she closed the door behind her and then leaned back on it, watching him. Waiting. His hands balled into fists at his sides. He smiled and said, "Wonder Woman." It wasn"t a question; it was a statement. He knew who she was.
The b.u.t.terflies in Olivia"s stomach intensified as they flew off in every direction. As she looked across the room at the extremely handsome man, she couldn"t help but pose the one question that had been on her mind since they"d met earlier, at the luncheon. "How did you recognize me?" she asked in a soft-spoken voice.
He smiled, and she actually felt her heart stop. She felt her body begin to get hot all over. "Your lips gave you away. I recognized them. I would know your lips anywhere," he said. His voice was deep and throaty.
Olivia frowned, finding that strange. But it must have made some sense, at least to him, because he had had been able to recognize her. been able to recognize her.
"What about you? You recognized me also. How?" he asked.
"I"m an artist, at least I am in my spare time. I study faces. I a.n.a.lyze every symmetrical detail. Although you were wearing a mask, and I couldn"t see the upper part of your face, I zeroed in on the parts I could see." She decided not to tell him that there was more to it than his face. It had been his height that had first drawn her attention, and the way he"d tilted his head and his broad shoulders. If she could find the words to describe him, they would be, in addition to handsome-tall, dark...Westmoreland.
"I guess both of us can see things others might miss," he said.
"Yes, I guess we can," she agreed.
The room got silent, and she could feel it. That same s.e.xual chemistry that had overtaken them that night, that had destroyed their senses to the point where they hadn"t wanted to do anything else but go somewhere and be alone together, was still potent.
"Please come join me. I promise not to bite."
His words broke into her thoughts, and she couldn"t help but smile. It was on the tip of her tongue to say, yes, he did bite and that she"d had numerous pa.s.sion marks on her body to prove it. However, she had a feeling from the glint in his eyes that he"d realized the slipup the moment she had. His eyes darkened, and she felt heat settling everywhere his gaze touched.
She breathed in a deep breath before moving away from the door. She glanced around. The room was apparently a little game room. It had a love seat, a card table, a refrigerator and a television.
"This is where my cousins and brothers get together to play cards on occasion," said Reggie, breaking into her thoughts. "They used to rotate at each other"s homes, but after they married and started having kids, they couldn"t express themselves like they wanted whenever they were losing. So we decided to find someplace to go where we could be as loud and as colorful as we wanted to be."
She nodded and remembered how things were when her brothers used to have their friends over for poker. Some of their choice words would burn her ears. She then crossed the room to sit on the love seat.
He remained standing and was staring at her, making her feel uncomfortable. She cleared her throat. "You wanted to meet with me," she said, reminding him of why they were there.
He smiled. "Yes, and do you know why?"
"Yes," she said, holding his gaze. "It wouldn"t take much to figure out that now that you know my father is one of the men you"ll be running against in a few months, you want to establish an understanding between us. You want us to pretend that Sat.u.r.day night never happened and that we"ve never met."
He continued to stare at her intently. "Is that what you think?"
She blinked. "Yes, of course. Under these circ.u.mstances, there"s no way we can be seen together or even let anyone in on the fact that we know each other."
"I don"t see why not. I"m running against your father, not you, so it shouldn"t matter," he said.
Olivia felt her heart pounding hard in her chest. "But it does matter. Orin Jeffries is my father, and he and his campaign staff consider you the enemy," she said truthfully, although she hadn"t meant to do so.
Reggie shook his head. "It"s unfortunate they feel that way. I"m not his enemy. I"m his opponent in a Senate race. It"s nothing personal, and I was hoping no one would make it such."
Olivia didn"t know what to say. She knew Senator Reed, who seemed to be calling the shots as to how her father ran his campaign, could be ruthless at times. She had overheard the whispered conversations that took place at her table during lunch. She knew that the man had no intentions of letting this be a clean campaign, and that bothered her because it was so unlike her father to get involved in something so manipulative and underhanded.
"I"m sorry, but it will be personal. I don"t agree, but politics is politics," she heard herself saying, knowing it wasn"t an acceptable excuse. "If I became involved with you in any way, it would be equal to treason in my father"s eyes. Things are too complicated."
"Only if we let them be. I still say us meeting and going out on occasion don"t involve your father, just me and you."
She shook her head as she stood. It was time to go. She really should not have come. "I need to go."
"But you just got here," he said softly in that s.e.xy voice that did things to her nervous system.
"I know, but coming here was a mistake," she said.
"Then why did you?" he asked softly.
She met his gaze and knew she would tell him the truth. "I felt that I should. Sat.u.r.day night was a first of its kind for me. I"ve never left a party with someone I truly didn"t know, and I"ve never had a one-night stand. But I did with you because I felt the chemistry. One of the reasons I came today was that I needed to see if the chemistry between us was real or a figment of my imagination."
"And what"s your verdict?" he asked, holding her gaze.
She didn"t hesitate in responding. "It"s real."
"Does that frighten you?"
"It does not so much frighten me as confuse me. Like I said, I"ve never responded to a man this way before."
"And what was the other reason you came tonight?"
"We never took our masks off, and I needed to know how you were able to recognize me today. I got the answers to both of my questions, so I should leave now."
"But what about me? Aren"t you interested in knowing why I wanted to see you again? Why I asked for us to meet?" He was staring intently at her, and his gaze seemed to touch her all over.
"Why did you want to see me?" she asked.
He slowly moved across the room to stand in front of her, and her pulse began beating rapidly, and heat began to settle between her thighs from his closeness. "Your lips were one reason."
"My lips?" she asked, raising a brow. He seemed to be searching her face, but she could tell his main focus was her lips.
"I claimed them as mine that night," he said in a husky whisper. "I just needed to know if they still are."
And before she could catch her next breath, he pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth with his.
They were still his.
This was what he needed to know. This was the very reason he had kept breathing since Sat.u.r.day, Reggie thought as he hungrily mated with Olivia"s mouth. The memories that had consumed him over the past forty-eight hours had nothing on the real thing. And she was responding to his kiss, feasting on his mouth as greedily as he was feasting on hers. Their masks were gone but not their pa.s.sion.
He hadn"t expected the fires to ignite so quickly, but already they were practically burning out of control. Her body was pressed fully against his, and he could feel every heated inch of her, just like he was certain she could feel every inch of him. Hard. Aroused. He knew he needed to pull back from her mouth to take a much-needed breath, but he couldn"t. He had thought of kissing her, dreamed of kissing her, every since the morning they"d parted. His tongue was tangling with hers, and it seemed he couldn"t get enough.
Instantly, he knew the moment she began withdrawing, and he pulled back, but not before tracing the outline of her lips with the tip of his tongue while tamping down on the stimulating effect the kiss had had on him.
"I really do need to leave." Her words lacked conviction, and he couldn"t help but notice that she had wrapped her arms around his neck and hadn"t yet released him. He also took note that her mouth was mere inches from his, and she hadn"t pulled back.
Making a quick decision for both of them, he said, "Please stay and let"s talk. Will you stay a while longer if I promise not to kiss you again? There"s so much I want to know about you. I won"t ask you anything about your father and his campaign, just about you."
"What good would it do, Reggie?" she asked, saying his name for the first time. The sound of it off her lips produced flutters in the pit of his stomach.
"I think it will appease our curiosity and maybe help us make some sense as to why we became attracted to each other so quickly and so deeply," he responded. "Why the chemistry between us is so strong."
Olivia pulled her arms from around his neck, thinking that what he was suggesting wasn"t a good idea, but neither was kissing. But then she really didn"t want to leave, and she had to admit that she"d wondered why they had hit it off so quickly and easily. But it didn"t take a rocket scientist to figure out some of the reasons. He was an extremely handsome man, something she had recognized even with the mask. And his approach that night had not been egotistical or arrogant. She had somehow known he was someone she could have fun with and whose company she could enjoy.
And those things had been verified in the most intimate way.
"And we"ll just talk?" she asked, making sure they understood each other.
"Yes, and about no one but us. That way you can"t feel disloyal to your father."
She inhaled deeply. "But I still do," she admitted openly.
He didn"t say anything for a moment. "Let me ask you something." At her nod, he asked, "If we would have met at any other time and if I was not your father"s political opponent, would he have a problem with you dating me?"
She knew the answer to that, since her father had never been the kind of dad who cross-examined his children"s dates. He had always accepted her judgment in that area. Now, her brothers had been another matter, especially Duan. "No, I think he wouldn"t have a problem with it," she said truthfully.
"That"s good to know, and that"s why we should move forward on the premise that the campaign should not affect our relationship." His voice and smile conveyed that he truly believed what he was saying.
"But how can it not?" she asked, wishing things were that simple.
"Because we won"t let it," he responded. "First of all, we need to acknowledge that we are in a relationship, Olivia."
She shook her head. "I can"t do that, because we really don"t have a relationship. We just slept together that night."
"No, it was more than that. It might have been a one-night stand, but I never intended not not to find you after you left the Saxon on Sunday morning. In fact, I took this to a jewelry store this morning to see if I could trace where it was originally purchased," he said, pulling her diamond earring from his pocket. "It might have taken me a while, but eventually, I would have found you, even if I had to tear this town up doing so," he said, handing the earring to her. to find you after you left the Saxon on Sunday morning. In fact, I took this to a jewelry store this morning to see if I could trace where it was originally purchased," he said, pulling her diamond earring from his pocket. "It might have taken me a while, but eventually, I would have found you, even if I had to tear this town up doing so," he said, handing the earring to her.
She took it and studied it, remembering just when she had purchased the pair. It had been when she"d gotten her first position at the Louvre Museum. These diamonds had cost more than the amount of her first paycheck. But it had been a way for her to celebrate.
"Thank you for returning it." She slipped the earring into her pants pocket and then looked back at him. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
"I want to know everything about you. Over dinner. In here. Just the two of us."
She licked her lips and noticed immediately how his gaze had been drawn to the gesture. "And you promise no kissing, right?"
He chuckled. "Not unless you initiate it. If you do, then I won"t turn you down."
She couldn"t help but smile at that. "You mentioned dinner, but the restaurant isn"t open today."
"No, it isn"t, but Chase will make an exception for us. Will you join me here for dinner so we can talk and get to know each other?"
She was very much aware that if her father knew she was here, spending time with Reggie, he would think she was being disloyal, but she knew she truly wasn"t. If at any time Reggie shifted the conversation to her father, as if pumping her for information about him, she would leave. But for now, she owed it to herself to do something that made her happy for a change, as long as she was not hurting anyone. If Duan or Terrence had been caught up in a similar situation, there was no way her father would have asked them to stop seeing that person. She should not be made the exception.
Olivia knew Reggie was waiting for her answer. "And our time here together will be kept confidential?"
He smiled. "Yes. Like I said, this is about you and me, and not the campaign. As far as I"m concerned, one has nothing to do with the other."
"Then, yes, I"ll join you here for dinner," she said after taking a long, deep breath.
Six.
"I know your favorite color is lavender, but tell me something else about Olivia Jeffries, and before you ask, I want to know everything," Reggie said as he sat in the chair at the table while Olivia sat across from him, on the love seat, with her feet curled beneath her. They were both sipping wine and trying to rekindle that comfort zone between them. know your favorite color is lavender, but tell me something else about Olivia Jeffries, and before you ask, I want to know everything," Reggie said as he sat in the chair at the table while Olivia sat across from him, on the love seat, with her feet curled beneath her. They were both sipping wine and trying to rekindle that comfort zone between them.
Chase had been kind enough to take their food order and had indicated that he would be serving dinner to them shortly. He had given them a bottle of wine, two winegla.s.ses, a tablecloth and eating utensils. Together, the two of them had set the table.
Reggie wondered if being here with him reminded her of how intimate things had been between them on Sat.u.r.day night. They had shared dinner then, but only after spending hours making love, to the point where they were famished.
"I"m the baby in the family," she said, smiling. "I have two older brothers."
"And I know the Holy Terror is one of them," Reggie said, grinning. "He went to school with a couple of my cousins and two of my brothers. In fact, my brother Quade was on his football team in high school. I understand the Holy Terror has mellowed over the years."
Olivia chuckled. "It depends on what you mean by "mellowed." Both of my brothers tend to be overprotective at times, but Duan is worse than Terrence, since he"s the oldest. Duan is thirty-six, and Terrence is thirty-four."