Heated Secrets (Rose Garden Apartments Book 1) Read online

  “Look away, Drako,” she ordered, her gaze narrowing on him ominously.

  “Not a chance,” he replied with that smooth, sexy voice of his. Every time he used that voice, she loved it. It sent shivers throughout her body and zapped her brain so she could barely think properly.

  Of course, he’d never used that tone with her before.

  “Turn around!” she hissed, edging sideways towards the door, trying to hide her derriere from his lascivious gaze. But secretly, she loved it! She’d never been a fan of her bottom before. She’d always thought it was too big, too round. The supermodels had tiny butts. Lilly’s was not tiny!

  But moving out of his office, she felt a secret thrill that Drako liked her butt.

  Still, she slipped sideways out of the room, ignoring his soft, sexy chuckle.

  The rest of the day went well in some ways and horribly in others. It was busy enough that Lilly didn’t have time to ponder the wisdom of starting a sexual relationship with Drako – knowing that there would be no emotional involvement – but not one of those utterly chaotic days that sometimes happened when working for a man like Drako Gataki. He had people constantly coming and going from his office. Several times, he asked her to take notes and, afterwards, he’d ask her opinion on the subject matter. Other times, he met with people alone and Lilly had no idea what was going on behind the doors until he came out and gave her notes himself.

  It was both exhausting and yet, still exhilarating. But it was just a normal day. By the time Drako’s last appointment ended, Lilly was ready to call it a day.

  And yet, she knew that Drako was waiting for her to give him an answer. She knew without a doubt that he’d accept whatever she chose. She also knew that, if she said yes, that he would sweep her away to his beautiful penthouse and make love to her. If she said no, he would escort her to her car and nod to her as they drove their separate ways.

  So, what was her answer? What could she do? How could she enter into a relationship that she knew couldn’t go anywhere?

  And yet, how could she not? She’d been in love with Drako for so long! How could she give up this opportunity to be with him, to get to know him? She’d dated many men over the years. And none of them had stirred anything within her. She’d been bored by their kisses, eager to say goodnight as soon as soon as the date was over. Several times, she’d been eager to leave the date even before the night had ended. Unfortunately, Lilly was too polite to walk out in the middle of a dinner date.

  Drako never bored her. Just the opposite, in fact. She’d thrived on trying to keep up with him over the years. And when he took her to the social events required for his business, she’d enjoyed being by his side, listening and learning about the way others did business.

  But now it was quiet. Too quiet, she thought.

  “Are you ready?”

  Lilly jerked around, finding that Drako was standing next to her desk. Goodness, he looked amazing! After last night, she knew, intimately, what was underneath that sophisticated suit. She now saw him in a completely different light.

  “Ready?” she squeaked.

  Her nervousness amused him. “I am taking you out to dinner, Lilly. Shut down your computer and let’s go. I know you’re hungry.”

  She was, but how did he know that?

  “You didn’t eat lunch today. You only nibbled at your sandwich.”

  Lilly blinked. “How…?”

  “Because I know you. And because you have been fidgeting for a while now. You fidget when you’re hungry.”

  That was true, but she wasn’t aware that anyone other than herself had noticed that nervous habit. It was a bit disconcerting that he knew her so well. She’d thought she’d been a bit stealthier in her ways.

  “Come. Let’s have Italian for dinner. You’re probably in the mood for carbs.”

  She stood up, but hesitated, frowning up at him. “Why would you say that?”

  He laughed, and took her tote bag as he put a hand to the small of her back. “Because you crave carbs when you’re nervous. You always have pasta right before Thanksgiving, or whenever you know that you’re going to have to spend time with your parents. You have pasta every time you go out shopping for birthday or Christmas presents for your family because you’re never sure what to get them. And you second guess yourself every year, which means you head over to that sushi place several times during the days leading up to any family event.” He pressed the button to call the elevator. “If your family bothers you so much, why do you continue to associate with them?”

  He was right, darn it! She always became nervous whenever she had to select a present for a member of her family as well as on the regular occasions when her presence was expected for family dinners, which happened almost weekly when her father was in town, or if Congress was in session. Goodness, if there were controversial bills being debated on the Senate floor, and her father was on the news at night, she hated it! He was such a grump whenever a reporter misquoted him or attributed incorrect motives to his actions! During those weeks, family dinners were even more tense. Hence why she generally headed home and stuffed herself with tater tots after a visit to her parent’s house.

  But there was no way Drako could know about her tater tot obsession.

  Could he? Oh goodness, the man was too intelligent and way too observant for her peace of mind. What was she thinking? She couldn’t have a casual affair with Drako! First of all, they worked together. Secondly, he was just too…everything! Too physically amazing. Too physical, she’d learned last night. Too observant. Too…what the hell was she thinking?!

  “Stop it, Lilly,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Stop what?” she asked, nibbling at her lower lip.

  Drako watched as Lilly worried her lip with her teeth. He touched the lip until her teeth released it, then rubbed his thumb over the tender skin. “Stop worrying,” he commanded. “I’m not going to do anything that you don’t want to do. This is your choice.”

  “Why is it just my choice?” she grumbled, bursting out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. They were pretty much alone in the lobby at this point in the evening. Most of the other employees of Gataki Industries had left hours ago. Glancing at the time, she saw that it was after eight o’clock in the evening. Since she’d been here since seven o’clock this morning, Lilly wondered if there was a work-life balance that she should consider implementing.

  “Because I already know what I want,” he replied.

  She saw the heat in his eyes and her body warmed at the thought that he wanted her. Her! The all-powerful, terrifying Drako Gataki wanted her!

  “Why me?” she asked, blurting out the words before she thought better of them.

  Thankfully, he took her question at face value. He stepped closer, apparently fully aware of their surroundings and the fact that their conversation could be overheard. “Because you’re one of the most beautiful, fascinating women I’ve ever met,” he murmured in a low, deep voice that sent shivers down her spine and turned her insides to mush.

  “Oh!” was her profound response.

  “Yes,” he repeated teasingly. “Oh.” He put a hand on her elbow, leading her out of the granite and glass lobby that had been designed to intimidate. “Let’s eat. You need food and we’ll talk about this.”

  Drako watched as Lilly nibbled on her lip again and he swallowed a groan, picturing himself doing that for her.

  “Yes,” she whispered, then glanced over at the reception area of the lobby where four security guards were seated. Thankfully, they were busy watching monitors, not looking in their direction.

  He glanced down at her, his body tightening with desire. “Yes…what?” he asked, needing to be sure.

  “Yes. I want it,” she told him, her chin jutting upwards. “I know that a physical affair is all that you can offer me. But yes. I want that.”

  His body involuntarily moved forward, but he pulled back, holding himself with iron control as he absorbed her agreement. When he ha
d himself fully under control, he nodded sharply. “Excellent. Then let’s have dinner and set the ground rules.”

  He felt her hesitate, knew that she’d anticipated him doing something, maybe tossing her over his shoulder and hauling her away. Although the idea was tempting, he didn’t want to start any rumors. So instead, he nodded, even stepped a little further away from her, as he led her over to the parking garage.

  “I have my own car here,” she said, pulling her keys out.

  “Leave it,” he snapped, his body humming with anticipation. “I’ll drive you back tomorrow morning.”

  She shook her head and his gaze was drawn to her hair. He remembered it last night, feeling his hands slide through the surprisingly soft tresses. He remembered the way it had tickled his chest, turning him on more than he’d thought possible.

  “I can’t,” she replied, glancing warily back at the building, where she could still see the security guards, as well as a few others who were working late. She fiddled with her keys and looked at her shoes. “I know that this is going to be a short term relationship, Drako. So when this ends, I need my dignity and my reputation. I don’t want to leave my car here overnight and show up with you in the morning.”

  Drako clenched his teeth. She was right, he knew. People would talk. Unfortunately, they’d gossip about her, not him. It was wrong and yet, it was the reality of their world.

  But he didn’t want a secret affair. He didn’t want Lilly to skulk out of his bed in the morning so that she could rush home and shower before heading into the office. For some reason, that made this whole idea seem…sullied somehow.

  “Let’s go to your place,” he said. Not sure why. He knew that her apartment was in the worst part of town. Too many times, he’d tried to convince her to move to some place safer. But Lilly wouldn’t abandon her friends. Perhaps it was time that he met these wonderful human beings and decide for himself if they were safe enough for Lilly. If not, he’d insist that she move to a safer part of town. Hell, he’d even pay for the damn apartment himself, and tell her that he wanted her closer to work. Damn it, he’d buy her a damn condominium to keep her safe, if that’s what it took. A visit to her place would also allow him to gauge his new property manager’s progress. Lilly should have moved into one of the renovated apartments by now. He’d given Ms. Litton explicit instructions to ensure that Lilly got one of the first apartments after it had been cleaned and updated.

  “Why would you want to go to my place?’ she asked, a burst of stunned laughter punctuating her question. Even her eyes twinkled.

  “Why does that amuse you?” he asked, moving closer in what was supposed to be a threatening manner. But the closer he came to her, the more he wanted to kiss her. Unfortunately, employees were still coming out of the building. Gamoto, why were his employees working so late? Did he have to mandate that his staff leave at a reasonable hour?

  He almost laughed at the idea. How many nights had he stayed late into the night? Lilly generally stayed with him until he left in the evening, sometimes into the early hours of the morning if they were on a deadline.

  “I just think it’s hilarious that you are frustrated that others are working late when you’re a workaholic yourself.”

  “I enjoy my work, Lilly,” he replied, walking her over to her car and opening the door for her. “I’ll follow you to your apartment.”

  With that, he closed the door and walked to his car, revving the engine a bit more than was strictly necessary. But his mood was tense as he anticipated pulling every damn pin out of her hair and watching it cascade down over his hands. Then he’d strip her clothes off, kissing every inch of skin he revealed.

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he followed her out of the parking garage. He wondered if she was nervous about him following her since she kept glancing at him in the rear view mirror.

  “Yes, my little tyrant,” he muttered to himself. “You should be nervous. You’ve agreed and now we’re going to proceed. With gusto!”

  It took about twenty minutes to make their way out of the city and reach her apartment complex since the evening traffic had already died down.

  As he parked, he watched Lilly get out of her sensible sedan, his body on fire for her. He wanted her with an intensity that…hell, if he didn’t get control of himself, he’d probably scare her. So he slammed his car door closed, pressed the button that would engage the security system and stood there, several parking spaces down from her and watched her, his eyes moving slowly over her soft curves.

  “Are you…,” she looked at him with worried eyes. He couldn’t see the color from here, even though the sun hadn’t set yet. “Do you still want to come inside? I could order dinner for us.”

  He realized that staying away, not coming towards her, was making her nervous. That definitely wasn’t his intention. So he moved closer, taking her hand in his and looking down into those beautiful, sapphire eyes. “Lead the way, Lilly.”

  That must have been what she was waiting to hear because her nervousness seemed to dissipate. He saw the relief in her eyes and she smiled slightly, then headed between the buildings to her apartment.

  Looking around, Drako took note of the complex for the first time. He might own the place, but he hadn’t really looked at it, other than to demand that Lilly’s apartment be renovated first. There were four buildings, two of them forming a V with the wider ends facing each other. The center courtyard was still a tangle of weeds, but he could see where someone had been working on the mess. He made a mental note to have the new manager hire a team of landscapers. It would take a while to get this grass growing again. It was mostly clover and other weeds that, after years of neglect, had choked out the life from the grass. Maybe he should just have someone tear it up and replace it with sod. And a sprinkler system.

  “What’s wrong?” Lilly asked, standing at her doorway with her keys hanging from her dainty fingers.

  He shook his head. “I was just wondering why the grass looks so bad,” he explained, then took the keys from her and unlocked the door.

  When he stepped back, she paused, looking up at him.

  “You’re in control, Lilly,” he assured her softly.

  Her shoulders relaxed and she led the way inside. As he followed her in, he looked around. There was more light now, but nothing had changed inside. The apartment was still dreary with the saggy kitchen cabinets from the nineteen eighties, the chipped Formica countertop and the old, ragged carpet. It was clean, because Lilly was always meticulously clean. But everything was still…rough.

  He said, “I thought I read somewhere that these apartments were undergoing renovation.”

  Lilly dumped her tote bag on a chair in the living room, if one could call it that, and then pulled a bottle of wine out of the fridge. “We have a wonderful new property manager. Her name is Maggie and she’s a whirlwind of productivity!”

  “What’s she doing, if not fixing up the interiors?” he demanded, not wanting Lilly to know that he’d bought the place and fired the previous, worthless manager.

  “Oh, she’s renovating everything! I’ve been trying to stay out of her way, but she’s very friendly while she bustles around.”

  “And the interiors?” he asked, thinking of the receipts that she’d submitted to the accounting department.

  “She’s working on them. The interior apartments are absolutely beautiful!”

  He looked around again. “What the hell is she changing?”

  Lilly laughed and handed him a glass of wine. “She hasn’t gotten to mine yet. She started on one next door and even offered me the space. But I told Maggie to give it to someone who needed it more.”

  “Why didn’t you take it?” he demanded.

  She shrugged dismissively and took a long sip of her wine. He was going to fire that woman first thing in the morning for this! He’d given her specific orders to renovate Lilly’s apartment first! Why the hell wasn’t she following his damn orders?!

  “Becaus
e Nora is still dealing with the damage caused by that flood a couple years ago. And Jimmy is a war veteran. He’s living on social security and his military pension, dealing with a lot of issues from his time with the military. Both of them need a safe space more than I do,” she told him, her voice softening as she continued. “Jimmy and Nora have already moved into new apartments. Jimmy’s cough has cleared up now that he has reliable air conditioning. His lungs had been bothering him and, once the workers got into his apartment, they discovered a huge amount of black mold growing in his closet.” She tilted her head quizzically. “Is this really what you wanted to discuss? My apartment décor?”

  He grumbled a little, noticed that she was leaning against the kitchen counter. The counter that should have been replaced two weeks ago!

  “No,” he replied. “We’ll get to that later.” He took a long sip of the wine, surprised by how good it was. “So, what are your rules?” he asked.

  Lilly stared up at him, her eyes moving slowly over his features. “Well, since I’ve never done this before, I’m not sure–”

  His eyes sharpened slightly. “What haven’t you done?”

  Lilly shrugged casually, as if this conversation wasn’t of the utmost importance. “Entered into a casual affair, knowing that it would eventually end. Most of the relationships I’ve been in have had the hope that it would lead to something more permanent.” She watched his jaw tighten. “I know that’s not on the table, Drako. You don’t have to worry about me declaring my undying love for you.”

  His eyes sharpened. “Okay, good. What else?”

  “No public displays of affection,” she added, thinking quickly. “When you end an affair, the women who come to the office are pretty public about it. I don’t want anyone reading about the end of our relationship in the news.”

  “Agreed,” he said with a sharp nod. But Lilly got the impression that he didn’t quite like that stipulation.