The Heart Wants What It Wants

That man…

What the hell had she gotten herself into now?

George grinned at himself in the mirror as he fixed his tie.

This convention was turning out to be a lot more fun than he’d expected it to be. It wasn’t like he never met women at conventions and conferences. It was always fun, and there were always people ready to mingle. He was no hermit. He enjoyed his life, and he enjoyed pleasure. He made no bones about it. But this woman…

She was different.

For one thing, she had absolutely no interest in what he considered his life’s work, and he’d never met a woman like that before. Most women he tangled with were reasonably well-informed about his company and his net worth, at the very least.

He didn’t mind that his wealth was one of the things that made him attractive to a lot of beautiful women. It was fair enough. He had no intention of being seriously involved with any of them, but he’d make sure that they were happy with what they had in the time they did have with him. It was only polite.

But Diana had had no idea who he was.

He’d been a bit flabbergasted when he’d realized that. At a convention where he had rock star status, introducing himself as ‘George’ was usually enough. He’d thought she was playing it cool, to be honest. But it had soon become clear that she had no idea who he was, and then things had become a lot more interesting.

The effect he could see he’d had on her had been because of him – just him. It hadn’t been his net worth doing that.

That was a novel experience for him.

Oh, it wasn’t like he was insecure about his own attractiveness. He knew he was a good-looking man, he was in excellent shape, and he could pick up women even if he weren’t one of the richest men in the country. He knew all of that. And yet, it had been an exhilarating experience to have a woman’s undivided attention because of him. Just because of what she could see.

There was a perverse part of him that had liked the joke, too. Sure, it had been a bit of a mean prank, not letting her know who he was. But there, too, she had surprised him.

He had expected her to play the blushing ingénue, or the teasing coquette, and give him pretty apologies and maybe a few wry jokes about how she’d been so silly. But he hadn’t expected her to turn her phone off and hide in her room, letting go of the chance to cultivate his interest. He’d made his interest very clear.

No, he hadn’t expected that.

Diana David had surprised him, enough to make him seek her out and make a second date after having been stood up for the first one. That was another thing he had never done before. He did not deal with rejection by giving the woman another chance. He couldn’t remember the last time he had dealt with rejection at all, really.

Women usually threw themselves at him, some more subtly than others. He enjoyed all of them. When the heavens gave you such gifts, who would turn them down? He loved women. He loved them soft, he loved them canny, he loved them every way they were made, and he made no secret of it.

Maybe it was the thrill of the chase, because she had tried to run and hide.

Maybe it was because of the way those deep brown eyes – they were so dark, almost black, but there were hints of gold in them that he had noticed when she’d been having that ridiculous conversation with that carrot cake – that he’d wanted to talk to her again. Maybe it was the way that incredible body of hers stirred him up, more than he had felt in a long while.

But whatever the reason was, he had no intention of letting Diana go without finding out just why he’d been compelled to go and find her again, and coax her into a dinner date, even if she had made her disdain for what he did known loud and clear.

He wanted to see her enjoy her food with that unabashed pleasure that had done things to him. He wanted to find out what else she enjoyed.

She was a diversion. Maybe that was all she would be – a diversion for the weekend. He’d consider the weekend well spent if she were.

But he’d find out. Whatever it was, he’d find out.

It was with more enthusiasm than he had mustered in a while that he walked out of his penthouse suite and made his way down to where she’d be waiting for him. He knew she’d be waiting, a little nervous, a little shaky, wondering how she was supposed to behave. He’d noticed how she’d leaned against the table earlier in the morning.

The possibilities – he’d thought of them.

He wouldn’t hide it.

George walked out of the elevator, and made his purposeful way to her door. He was on time, of course. He was always on time. He didn’t like being kept waiting, and he didn’t like keeping people waiting.

He raised his hand to knock on the door, but the door opened before he could knock.

It was dark in the room.

“You’re right on time,” said Diana, her voice low and soft, with just a hint of huskiness that made him wonder how she’d sound if he kissed her, pressed her against him and made her want to lean against something again.

She stepped outside, into the light, and George simply stopped thinking.