Sultry Pleasure. Lindsay Evans

herself to ask her best friend later exactly who this guy was. In the meantime, the feel of his strong arms around her was intoxicating. The subtle scent of his sandalwood cologne, along with his deep and rumbling voice that pulled answers from her rather than talking about himself, worked magic on her attention-starved body. It had been a long time since a man had paid her such focused attention, especially with Trish around. But she knew it wouldn’t last. It never did.

      “What about the second date?” she asked. “What should I expect then?”

      The question fell from Diana’s lips against her will. She bit the inside of her cheek, but it was impossible to take back the words. She didn’t want to seem overly interested. Or desperate.

      “On the second date, anything can happen,” he said with an amused light in his mesmerizing black-rimmed pale eyes. “Are you giving me something to look forward to?”

      “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” she said. Though she might as well have been talking to herself. Just because he was the first man in months to show her this much attention shouldn’t be a reason to throw all caution to the wind. Like all the others, once he figured out she didn’t have much space in her life for anyone else, he would disappear.

      “I never do that,” he said. “But I do go after what I want.” He looked at her meaningfully. “Can we at least have a first date before we discuss the terms of the second?”

      Her fingers tightened briefly on his shoulder through the soft blazer. She had been working harder than usual lately. Giving all her days and even some of her nights to Building Bridges. Never leaving time to find a man, much less cultivating something meaningful and lasting—or just hot and delicious—with one. And then there was her family.

      As she opened her mouth to respond to Marcus, the song ended. He took her hand, looked around the room as if searching for someone, then tugged her toward the back of the enormous ballroom and outside to the balcony.

      The night was beautiful. A symphony of stars shone in the sky, and the gorgeous Miami skyline lit up like a Christmas tree in December. The balmy breeze brushed over Diana’s face and throat.

      “Come to dinner with me.” The laughter was gone from his voice.

      “I’m a little busy right now,” she said, though her heart pounded in her chest at his nearness and the urgent way he spoke. She allowed him to pull her close and then closer, overwhelming her with the spicy scent of his aftershave and the heat of his body.

      “You are a very compelling woman,” he said in his rumbling voice.

      “And what is it, Marcus, that makes me so compelling in your eyes?” She meant to tease him, to force him into a tongue-tied mess so he could retreat and put them back on more appropriate footing.

      His mouth tucked up at the corners. “Because you insist on saying my name in such a stern way, for one.” He moved a hand down her back, eliciting a round of intrigued tremors. “When you say my name, it sounds like I’m in trouble.”

      “Hmm. Is this better?” She tested the gentler sound of his name on her tongue. Once. Twice.

      “Say my name one more time like that and I might have to accelerate this to being our second date. My teeth are aching for a taste.”

      She shuddered and drew back, her hands falling off his chest and to her sides. She put a few more feet of space between them. His teasing was getting to be more than she could handle. Yes, she liked him, but she was never one to rush into something with any man.

      “I think you’ll have to go hungry this time around,” she said.

      He looked at her with disappointment, sliding his hands into his pants pockets. He leaned back against the railing separating them from the brilliant Miami night. “You’re breaking my heart,” he said softly. “I hope this isn’t something you’re going to do all the time.”

      She turned away from him and toward the rooftop pool, glittering impossibly blue under the lights. “I don’t play games,” she said.

      “But games are part of what make life fun.” Amusement and temptation laced his voice.

      Diana knew she had to get away from this man. She had danced with him for longer than she planned, had stepped out to the balcony with him although she’d known it wasn’t a good idea. And it would soon be time for the awards to be announced. Her boss, the executive director of Building Bridges, wanted to have Diana by her side when the crystal plaques were presented. She looked past Marcus’s shoulder to see the room resolving itself into order, people stepping away from the dance floor en masse and heading into the ballroom, where the round tables and chairs sat.

      “I have to go,” she said.

      He gently grabbed her hand. “Come out with me after this. I’d like to show you my Miami.”

      Just then, a gray-haired man with a red rose in his lapel opened the door behind them and announced that it was almost time for the awards presentation. Diana felt he had looked specifically at her and Marcus, although there were nearly a dozen other people out on the balcony enjoying the balmy evening.

      “We’ll see,” she said, tugging her hand away.

      Diana felt his disappointment but refused to turn around. She slipped inside and made her way quickly into the ballroom and over to the table where her boss was waiting.

      “Diana! I’ve been looking all over the place for you.” Nora Evers, elegant and poised in her pearls and iron-gray Chanel dress, held out her hands to grip Diana’s. “Come. It’s about to start.”

      Nora’s lush figure was downplayed in the severely cut dress, but it was still apparent why the newspapers often called her one of the sexiest women in nonprofit. Her frosted gray hair was cut in a sleek natural style that showed off her long-lashed bedroom eyes and pillowy lips. Her still-youthful body and the way she spoke with someone as if they were the only person in the room made her irresistible to many.

      Despite her boss’s call for her attention, Diana couldn’t resist a last look over her shoulder toward Marcus. Then she deliberately pushed him from her mind and concentrated on the event at hand.

      The Prism Award Ceremony and Gala was one of the best attended and most prestigious charity events in Miami. The award honored business people and philanthropists in south Florida for the outstanding charity work they had done for the local community. Although Building Bridges had been doing its work for more than eight years with Nora at the helm for three of those years, this was the first time the organization had been invited to the Prism gala.

      It was a well-known fact that when an organization’s head was personally invited to the Prism gala, it meant the organization was either being awarded or considered for an award the following year. Either way, Nora and the Building Bridges family were ecstatic. It meant more notice to their small nonprofit, which hopefully would translate into more donations, more interest and more work being done for the children they helped place in loving and safe homes.

      As assistant executive director, in addition to her regular duties, Diana had to also be her single boss’s “work wife.” That included supporting Nora at events like this. She brushed a bit of lint from Nora’s shoulder, then sat down at the table they shared with Trish and two other members of the Building Bridges staff.

      The round table was set up with a beautiful floral centerpiece, full water glasses in front of each of the five chairs and the proper utensils for the meal to come. They were seated near the middle of the room, not so far to the front as the Gates Foundation but definitely not by the kitchen, either. Diana knew Nora would care about that. She nervously touched the back of her ear, then forced her hand to her lap.

      “How was the dance?” Trish appeared at Diana’s side. She sat down at the table, sliding both their purses near the table’s centerpiece. Her amused whisper was for Diana’s ears only.

      She bit the inside of her lips to prevent a smile. Her friend was always trying to save her love life, usually with mixed results.