Kayla sighed inwardly as yet another suit entered the hotel elevator. She didn't even look at them anymore. They just blended together. Same dark clothing, slicked back hair, and covetous expressions on their faces. But this was the price she paid for trying to be more approachable.
In an attempt to find someone to take her mind off Nick, Kayla had come to this conference in Chicago with a plan. She was going to get over her dislike of the corporate drones, and give them a chance. Since she usually dressed like a stylish librarian in neutral, conservative clothing and understated makeup, her current low-cut, emerald green silk blouse and slick red lips made her feel a bit like a five dollar hooker.
For the most part, her plan had worked. She definitely drew more attention than ever before. At previous conferences, she had spent at least part of her evenings fending off horny executives who thought she must be easy prey because she was one of the few young, unattached, and somewhat attractive female participants. She had quickly relieved them of their delusions with her sharp tongue and cool demeanor.
Dressing a little more provocatively and leaving her hair down had not been a good idea. It was like dragging a juicy pork-chop through a pack of famished wolves. It didn't seem to matter to these men that she wasn't enthused about their interest. The fact that many of them were married was equally irrelevant. Conferences for them were like a giant frat party rather than the networking and education platform the organizers had intended.
Leaning back against the wall of the elevator, she ignored the last batch of men exiting and their lecherous glances. She was on her way up to her room on the 40th floor to change. Hopefully, she would feel more comfortable and less like prey in her conservative armor.
She just needed to accept that her plan had been a bust. It was the last night of a four day conference and no one appealed to her, despite her best efforts to be more open-minded. She was simply bent towards men with a bit of a rugged edge to them. She couldn't seem to help herself. She had a type and Nick had embodied it.
She was beginning to fear that she was on a fruitless quest to find a man to compete with her cowboy. It was just like the Jake obsession, except much worse. Unlike her childhood crush, Nick seemed to return her interest. Yes, it was his job to reciprocate emotions, but there was no way he could fake that kind of passion. She was convinced there was something real between them. The way he had shouted her real name as he'd climaxed had convinced her. But she had no idea how to find him.
Right now she was stuck in Chicago for the next five days. Her boss had requested her assistance in developing some training materials that were being piloted at the branch here. It was a great opportunity for Kayla, but she longed to get back to Vancouver. She'd decided that she was going to return to the scene of the crime and try and find Nick. He obviously had some kind of relationship with the owners of that stud-farm, and that was a good place to start. She felt like a crazed stalker for even entertaining the notion of trying to track him down, but she really needed to resolve this. If she did find him and he seemed less than thrilled, she would just ask for her panties back. But at least she would know if she'd imagined their connection.
Relieved to be alone, except for one last man facing away from her, she watched the numbers flash by above his head. Bored, she took her first good look at him. He was tall and well-built, which was appealing, but he was also wearing a ridiculously expensive, pin-striped suit and shiny black Gucci loafers. Just another corporate robot.
His sandy hair was cut military short in a style that wasn't corporate-chic at all though. No shiny product marred its softness. She felt herself growing curious about him. She couldn't even smell any offensive aftershave wafting towards her. Just a hint of soap and clean skin. Usually being in elevator with a man in a suit was like being trapped in a cologne factory, so she usually took the stairs. Today, she was wearing four-inch pumps and forty floors was a lot. She'd learned recently that she liked a bit of punishment, but not that kind of torture.
She was just moving forward to get a better look at him when he reached towards the elevator control panel and hit the stop button. The elevator obeyed with a lurch, and Kayla grabbed the hand-rail to keep herself from stumbling.
The man in the suit turned towards her and gave her a familiar naughty grin. Kayla's heart lurched. It was him. Her cowboy. But he didn't look like her cowboy at all. He was still gorgeous, but the stubble, messy hair, and thread-bare clothing were gone. This guy looked like a complete corporate shark. And yet she still found him wildly attractive.
She looked at him in shock for a moment, so thrilled to see him again that she thought about just grabbing him and kissing him and forgetting completely about the elevator maintenance staff that were probably already alerted. Then reality set in. Had he followed her somehow? Was he some kind of deranged stalker? Was she now trapped with someone dangerous?
'Nick? What are you doing here? And why have you stopped the elevator. They're going to throw us out.' She said, reaching out toward the panel to hit the release button.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, until she was pressed up against his side. 'I need a few minutes with you to explain. Just give me that and I'll get us moving again.'
She frowned at him and removed her hand and body from his grip. 'Two minutes and then we need to get out of here.'
'Would you believe me if I said I belonged here?' He asked cheekily as he reached into his pocket, brought out a card and handed it to her.
She took the card from him and moved away to look at it. It said his name was Nicholas Finnegan, and he was the CFO and Founder of Anin Industries. She looked up at him questioningly. 'I don't get it. Why would you be working at a stud-farm? Or as a prostitute, for that matter?'
He handed her another card. This one was very familiar. It was the same one that had been slipped under her door at the London conference last month. 'Let's just say I have a vested interest in both.'
She stared at him incredulously. 'You mean you own both?'
'Well, I have the majority of shares in Delta of Venus, so I don't technically own it outright. But the farm is mine.' He looked at her hopefully.
'I can't believe this.' She shook her head and handed the cards back to him. 'You set the whole thing up then? What if my fantasy had been something weird, like I wanted to dress you up as a baby or something?'
'I guess I'd be shopping for some really big diapers then.'
'You're serious? You wanted to sleep with me that badly?' A small, pleased grin stole across her face.
'Well, yeah. Of course. Eventually. But more than anything I wanted to get to know you. Unfortunately, you weren't exactly the most approachable. I'd seen you burn a lot of guys, and I didn't want to be one of them. I thought if I could meet you under different circumstances, I might stand a better chance of not being totally rejected.'
'I don't get this. We haven't even spoken before we met at the stable, have we?'
'Nope. Not a word. I know this is going to sound kinda creepy, but I actually noticed you last year at another conference.'
She reached around him with a glare and hit the elevator release button. It started moving again, but very slowly. 'A year. You've been watching me for a year? Do I need to call the police or something? You haven't been sitting outside my home with binoculars, have you?'
He grinned sheepishly. 'Of course not. It started off very innocently, I swear. I watched how you were really kind to all the waiters and bar staff. Then, I was at that presentation on staff motivation you gave and you were so professional and confident, and yet a little bit of humor kept sneaking into everything you said. What can I say? I was intrigued.'
They reached the fortieth floor and the elevator doors slid open. Kayla wasn't sure what to do. She thought of how happy she'd been to see him and how much trouble he'd gone through to gain her attention. Why was she angry with him exactly? Hadn't she contemplated stalking him just as soon as she got back home? Pretty hypocritical to criticize his methods when she was fully prepared to infiltrate his work environment to hunt him down.
He'd deceived her, for sure, but if he'd approached her in his current corporate mode of dress, would she have blown him off? Probably. She seemed to have some kind of weird prejudice against men in suits. Maybe it was her humble upbringing, but somehow she had developed an aversion to them. She didn't want to believe she was that superficial, but apparently she was.
She looked at him now, standing there looking irresistible, with his powerful arms holding the elevator open. He was waiting impatiently for her to decide if she was ready to take her fantasy cowboy and make him part of her
