“I’m guessing questions are not allowed,” she responded. With a sigh, and more than a small dose of trepidation, she waved her hand. “Lead on. If His Majesty,” she replied sarcastically, “wants a private chat, I’m all for it.” Maybe she could follow up on her question about the markets, throw him off his game and then go in for the big question – where Brianna was!
The man led her through another ballroom that contained only very serious looking men in dark suits and sunglasses – each with a wire coming out of the back of his collar and connecting to his ear. One of them murmured something into what was probably a hidden microphone because the doors opened as she approached.
When the doors closed behind her, she realized she was alone in the room. Well, not quite alone. The man of the hour was at the other end of what appeared to be a very elegant conference room.
She stood at one end of the too-quiet room, staring at the man with growing trepidation. But she refused to let him see how terrified she was of him.
Nazar looked at the vivacious brunette with the rich, brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, startled by the impact her slight frame had on him. He’d never experienced such a powerful gut reaction to a mere woman before. He was irritated by how distracting she’d been during the press conference. “You’re quite beautiful,” he said finally, realizing that he’d just been staring at her, although he wasn’t sure how long that had been going on.
Nikki squirmed under his gaze. “And you’re very arrogant.” As soon as she said those words, she wished she could have pulled them back. Taunting the man was no way to get information, she reprimanded herself. She thought about Brianna and how her friend would be sweet-talking this man already. Bri could wrap anyone around her little finger with just a word or a smile. Rachel was just as good, but she used logic and perseverance, whittling down someone’s argument into logical, small parts and showing them how her ideas were superior.
Looking down, she shook her head and gave herself a strong, mental shake. When she looked up again, he was standing right in front of her and she gasped at how tall he was, and how…overwhelmingly male!
“What are you doing?” she stammered, taking an involuntary step backwards, needing more space between their bodies. His closeness caused….weird sensations to flutter all around inside of her.
“I wanted to go over your question.” His hand moved, touching her cheek, grazing her skin and sending shivers everywhere. “The expression on your lovely face told me that you weren’t completely satisfied with my response.”
She grabbed his wrist, trying to pull his hand away, but her grip didn’t have any strength to it. “You sidestepped my question completely.”
He smiled slightly, obviously enjoying the challenge. “Why don’t you ask it again?”
“Why did you try to avoid answering it while we were in a group of people?” she challenged and felt stronger with the look of approval in his dark gaze. She just wished she wasn’t getting a crick in her neck from looking up at that approval.
“Because anything I say about markets is analyzed to death. I have to be very careful about what I say. And even about the things I don’t say. Anything could be taken to mean something else, something unintentional.”
Nikki frowned, realizing that what he said was probably true. The head of the Federal Reserve spoke in such ambiguous language that, most of the time, she had absolutely no clue what he was telling the rest of the world. Sometimes she got it. And sometimes Rachel would explain it over a round of martinis. It still might not make sense, but at least they had fun trying to figure it out. “I guess I need a few drinks to interpret your response then,” she said and tried to step backwards. But the door was behind her and she couldn’t move, felt trapped by both his body and his heat.
“I would be delighted to buy you a drink.”
Nikki’s heart thundered with those words. “Um…no! I mean…Uh…”
His hand reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You don’t want to have a drink with me?”
Nikki immediately shook her head. “No. I don’t.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you’re….” she was going to say a criminal, but Brianna’s admonishing gaze popped into her head. “You’re royalty. I don’t really get along very well with royalty.” What a crock, she thought and almost laughed at the idea of Rachel rolling her eyes at that bit of logic.
“I’m just a man who would like to get to know you better. And a drink sounds like a good idea.” He started to move away, taking her hand in his. It was the same arm which she’d been holding, proving that she hadn’t been keeping him away. He’d merely been pretending, which caused even more trembling. “Come. We’ll enjoy a glass of wine in my suite. And you can ask me about any market that interest you.”
Nikki took several steps, not sure what had just happened. She’d been about to call the man a criminal and now she was having a drink in his suite?
“No!” she cried out, digging her heels in to stop their forward momentum.
He turned back and came closer, looking down into her eyes once again. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently, amusement shining out of his eyes.
“I can’t have a drink with you! Especially not in your private suite!” she gasped out.
“Why not?”
She searched her mind, knowing there was a reason, but for the life of her, it wasn’t coming to her very quickly. “Because…”
He chuckled, enjoying the flustered look in her eyes. “Because you’re attracted to me and we might not stop at a single drink?”
She was so startled for a moment that she simply stared at him. Then what he was telling her struck her and she started trembling even harder, shaking her head with the logic in his mind. “That’s a huge leap you just took. Do your other women jump from a drink to your bed so easily?” she asked, still chuckling at the possibility.
He shifted ever so slightly and all of the amusement in his eyes completely died. “Yes,” he stated emphatically. “Are you saying that you’re not interested in my bed?”
Nikki swallowed as she looked up once again into those black eyes. “Um…No!” she whispered. But the idea of him and a bed were more enticing than she cared to admit. “I’m not attracted to you.”