Chapter 1
“Not that one,” the deep voice said firmly. “The black one.”
Marissa’s hand quickly pulled away from the beautiful, pink lace lingerie set she was considering while she spun around at the same time to find the voice that had intruded on her favorite pastime. “Excuse me?” she said, moments before her eyes focused on the tall, ruggedly dangerous looking man behind her. When she caught sight of him, she couldn’t believe her eyes. He was at least six feet, four inches tall with shoulders a linebacker would envy. And he had dark, amused eyes that were laughing down at her for some reason.
Immediately she swung her arms behind her back, trying desperately to hide the other lacy or satin lingerie she’d been about to try on. She couldn’t believe she’d been caught in here! Of all the places for someone to approach her, a lingerie shop should definitely not one of them! “Who are you and why in the world would you think I might be even remotely interested in your opinion?” she strangled out, horrified that this man, or any man for that matter, might see the items she might want to purchase.
Zeke Vaughn considered the lovely woman with lush, black hair that curled softly down her back and the furious, soft chocolate eyes. She was trying to appear confident, but he saw the underlying vulnerability. He smiled slightly, noting the blush that stole into her velvety, pale cheeks.
He moved fractionally closer. “I’m going to be your next lover,” he replied, and watched in fascination as her eyes widened, her pulse sped up and her breathing increased. Her full, pink lips opened, then closed while she tried to absorb his comment and her reaction turned him on even more than her sexy, slender body.
Had he really said that? “Excuse me?” she huffed, pulling herself up to her full height which still brought her head only up to the top of his shoulder. Marissa was shocked that any man would dare to be so forward. Men simply didn’t approach her in general and when they did, it certainly wasn’t with a salacious glint to his dark, audacious eyes.
Zeke moved closer, touching her cheek briefly and realizing that the texture was even softer than it appeared. “You heard me, little one. I don’t mean to scare you. I was actually going for a completely different effect.”
She sputtered, trying to hide her terror of this man and the shivers his nearness was causing inside of her stomach. “I’m not scared! I’m insulted.”
Zeke noticed that her breasts were peaked underneath her silk shirt and he couldn’t stop his chuckle. “I didn’t mean to offend. Just stating the truth,” he said and moved even closer, smelling her soft, subtle perfume. It was light and flowery, just like she was. He liked it, he realized. The women he normally dated preferred the heavier, more cloying scents and he never realized how much he disliked them until he had an alternative. “You’re very beautiful. And I think I have to change my mind. The pink probably suits you much more than the black lace would.” His fingers ran tenderly down her arm, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.
For some reason, the man’s attempt to be reassuring only struck her as a challenge. A part of her knew her reaction was a bit irrational but she couldn’t stop the words. She squared her shoulders and faced him, pretending that his touch wasn’t causing her knees to tremble. “I could pull off the black!” she asserted firmly, her eyes glaring back up at him. She tried to step back, but the table filled with lacy thong underwear stopped her momentum. “And please stop crowding me.”
He took the black lace bra off of the stand and handed it to her. “Prove it,” he challenged.
Marissa actually took the bra and was about to step towards the dressing rooms when she realized what she was doing. Turning back to him, she shoved the black lace back at him. “No way!”
His arrogant smile cranked up her anger a notch. “See? The pink would be better.” And he actually dared to pick that one up and hold it in front of her, his dark eyes looking at the lace as if he were trying to picture her in it. “Definitely the pink,” he confirmed. “I can’t wait to see the crystal.”
Marissa grabbed the pink lace, just trying to get it away from her chest area. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide her curiosity and held the pink lace up so she could understand his last statement. When she realized that there was a dangly crystal that would sparkle right between her breasts, she couldn’t help the pink that suffused her cheeks and neck once again. “Leave me alone!” she growled.
With an urgency she hadn’t ever felt before, she stepped around the man. Stomping up to the cashier, she dumped all of her items onto the counter, surprising the sophisticated cashier.
Marissa wanted to turn around and glare at the man, but she didn’t want him to see her flushed face or the way her body seemed to be tingling because she knew with absolute certainty that he was still watching her. Was he laughing at her?
She almost jumped a foot in the air when a strong, dark hand dropped a pink, lace thong onto the pile. “She’ll need that as well,” his deep voice said. “Put it all on my account.”
Marissa stared at the lace, horrified that she’d kept the pink bra he’d been examining her in. With her mouth hanging open in horror, she tried very hard to come up with a scathing retort, something to bring the man down a peg. Or ten!
Unfortunately, by the time she’d turned around, he wasn’t anywhere in the store. She walked to the front, determined to tell him off, but he wasn’t even in the hallway. Where had a man of his size disappeared to so quickly?
“Here you go, Ms. Berutelli,” the cashier stated softly.
Marissa’s head snapped around and saw the huge bag, the top covered in silver tissue paper. With a groan, she stepped back. “I can’t take that,” she declared emphatically.
The cashier smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “Mr. Vaughn just called a moment ago and told me you’d say that. He instructed me to tell you that if you didn’t take the items today, I was to ship them to your house.”
Once again, Marissa couldn’t help it when her mouth fell open in surprise. And that annoying tingling started up once again, irritating her beyond anything she’d ever experienced. “He actually said that?” she snarled.
The cashier smiled and nodded her head, still holding the large bag.
“What arrogance!” she snapped, but she took the bag and stormed out of the shop. She had planned on spending the whole day here at the stores, spending her father’s money on things she didn’t need. But the possibility of running into that man again was too appalling so she quickly walked to the exit, tossing the bag onto the passenger seat of her little, black roadster.