Page 22 of Daring to Love You
But there were people around. Besides, she might’ve been making a move on him, but he was sure she wouldn’t appreciate him doing what he dreamed of doing.
He opened his mouth to tell her she could greet him like that anytime anywhere, but she spoke first, saying, “I know I’m early, but I couldn’t wait to see you.”
Okay, what the hell was going on?
Something was happening here, and Lynix wished he could read her mind, but he couldn’t. However, he could follow her lead.
He cupped her cheek, and taking full advantage of whatever she was up to, he kissed her again. Loving how soft her lips were against his and how amazing she smelled. Hell, he could do this all day, but first, he wanted to figure out what she was up to. Because she was damn sure up to something.
When he lifted his head, her eyes were narrowed, and she shot invisible daggers at him. Lynix couldn’t help but grin. Oh, yeah. This was going to be fun.
A throat cleared, and he belatedly remembered he was in a meeting.
Shit.
Maybe he could shoo them away, then carry Dorian up to the hotel suite reserved for his family’s use. Then again, who was he kidding? No way he could whisk her off and make mad, passionate love to her when she hadn’t even agreed to go on a date with him yet.
Instead, he reached for her hand to make sure she didn’t leave.
“Umm, sorry about that,” he said to Rodney and Shauna. “I tend to get carried away when she’s in my presence.”
He pulled out the chair next to him for Dorian to join them. After reclaiming his seat, he draped his arm across the back of her chair and made introductions.
“We’ve already met,” Dorian said, and Lynix straightened when he heard the edge in her tone.
“Really?”
He glanced from her, then to his guests, who fidgeted in their seats. For a minute, they looked everywhere but at him, especially Rodney. Interesting.
“How do you guys know each other?”
Dorian leaned in as close as their chairs would allow and placed her hand on Lynix’s thigh as she looked at him. He stared back into her gorgeous brown eyes and knew whatever she was about to say, he wasn’t going to like it.
“Remember the marketing agency I worked for before quitting and joining my parents at the B&B?”
Hmm… she hadn’t told him anything about where she used to work, but he sensed things didn’t end well. He tried recalling if Zion had ever said anything about her previous employment and came up blank. Still, he played along.
“Ahh yes,” he said slowly as he looked at the two people sitting on the other side of the table. Then his attention zoned in on Rodney who looked the most uncomfortable.
What the hell had this bastard done to her? Dorian wasn’t the type to make a scene, put on a show, or seek revenge. It wasn’t in her nature. So whatever this guy had done to her must’ve cut deep, and suddenly whatever he’d done made Lynix want to snatch his ass up and seek his own form of revenge.
Instead of doing something crazy, he said, “I remember.” Though he didn’t, but he hoped Dorian would say more and enlighten him as to what had happened.
“That was a long time ago,” Shauna hurried to say as she low-key glared at Dorian, and protectiveness slammed into Lynix. That one statement let him know this woman was a part of whatever took place.
“Actually, it was only a year ago,” Dorian said. “These were the two involved in making my life a living hell at work. So much so, I ended up quitting and leaving the company. But you know what? That was in the past, and I’m over it.”
“What’s over is this damn meeting.” Lynix stood, prepared to take her and leave, but Dorian, who was still seated, grabbed his hand and gently tugged, keeping him in place.
Rodney lifted his hands out in front of him. “Wait. That was a long time ago, but Dorian, I’m sorry if you felt I had anything to do with a hostile work environment.” Then he turned to Lynix. “Mr. Mathews, we at Concept Marketing pride ourselves on being professional and meeting our clients’ goals. We want your business and know we can provide you and your organization with the best marketing campaign. If you’d just give me a chance to finish my presentation, I’m sure you would agree,” Rodney said in a rush.
The man didn’t bother looking at his boss, but his gaze pleaded with Dorian as if she controlled the fate of the meeting. Well, as far as Lynix was concerned, she did. He would find out what they did to her, and no matter what it was, he had no intention of doing business with them.
Not only that, if whatever happened between them and Dorian was as bad as he suspected, he’d do everything in his power to make sure their agency suffered going forward.
“I’d love to hear the rest of the presentation,” Dorian said with a sweet smile plastered on her tempting lips, but her tone said otherwise. “Please continue. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Lynix stared at her a moment longer, then reclaimed his seat. His hellcat, that part of her she’d let him see outside of the jazz club weeks ago, was back. If he was honest, he loved this side of her. This bold, unflinching, take-charge side of her. The fierceness radiating off her reminded him of Cree. Dorian might’ve been more like her big sister than he first realized.
