Loe raamatut: «Pleasure After Hours»

Chapter 1

Wilmington, North Carolina

“Claude, what is this? I thought you were in love with me?”

A purely girlish laugh escaped Claudia Aspen’s lips. Her vivid blue gaze sparkled wickedly as it was directed toward the honey-toned giant who studied her with a consciously seductive gaze.

“I swear this is business and not…personal, Mataeo.”

“Hmph.” Mataeo North’s responding grunt held a playful undercurrent and he shook his head at the stunning sixty-something woman seated on the sofa opposite him.

“I swear it,” Claudia persisted in a tone that was just as breathy as it was sensual. “Many of the clients feel the same as I do.”

“Are we about to have problems, Claudia?”

“Why no, dear.” Claudia half turned toward the tall, lovely, coffee-complexioned woman seated to her left. “I’m only here to open the floor for discussion.”

“You mean to warn us.” Temple Grahame smiled knowingly while Claudia patted her knee.

“Honey, no.” Claudia gave a saucy toss of her frosted wheat-colored bob. “Mataeo runs a first-class operation. You both do incredible work.” She gave Temple’s knee one final pat and then settled back to her side of the sofa. “It’s just good business to let the clients know they’re appreciated.”

“By renegotiating already competitive rates?” Temple queried.

“By…patting our backs a little.” Claudia recrossed her legs and smiled at Mataeo.

He wasn’t humored. “North Shipping’s a private company, Claude, and it stays that way.”

“Calm down, darlin’. Everyone knows you have no intention of going public, but many of the clients would be open to discussing current rates—in this economy that’s fair to at least entertain, isn’t it?”

A muscle flexed along Mataeo’s square jawline. Propping a fist to his cheek, he looked toward Temple.

“Well, Claudia, it appears that we’re on the same wavelength.” Temple waited for the woman to turn to her again. “Mataeo and I have been working to put together a client weekend to begin with a dinner and round out with a series of individualized meetings to review the higher-end shipping agreements.”

Claudia’s mouth was in the shape of a perfectly glossy red O. “Why, Temple, that’s…that’s a marvelous idea.” Her tone sounded more awed than sensual then. “Is this a secret or may I—”

“Oh, no, feel free to discuss it,” Temple said, knowing Claudia would waste no time doing so regardless. “We haven’t gotten all the particulars in place yet so it’ll be several months into the future.”

“Sweetheart, I certainly understand.” Claudia leaned over to pat Temple’s knee again. “This is a huge deal and will take quite a while to prepare. The mere promise of it will be great news for the clients. Oh—” She paused to retrieve her vibrating cell phone from the sofa cushion. “Excuse me, darlins. I need to take this.”

Temple’s hazel gaze locked with Mataeo’s chocolate one and they headed to the other side of the office to give Claudia a measure of privacy.

“Client weekend?” He whispered when they stood near the floor-to-ceiling windows along the wall behind his desk. “Nice,” he added.

“Thanks.” Temple shrugged and glanced toward Claudia.

“So how much planning have you done?” He leaned against a window and settled both hands into his blue-gray trouser pockets.

“None.” She joined in when he chuckled. “Just came up with it to pacify her.” She tapped a rounded nail to her chin and appeared thoughtful. “But it is a good idea. Don’t know when I’d have time to plan something that extravagant, though.”

“Thanks, anyway.” Mataeo took her hand and tugged until she leaned close for the kiss he placed on her jaw.

She patted his cheek. “My job, remember?”

“No, really, Temp. Thanks.” He squeezed her hand as his warm, deep stare shifted in Claudia’s direction. “She’s been a lot harder to take lately.”

“Taeo…” Temple’s entrancing eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You haven’t slept with her, have you?”

Grinning, Mataeo laid Temple’s hand against his chest. “No. I swear it,” he added when her brow arched a notch higher. He winced a little. “I swear I’ve never slept with her. Just don’t ask me to take any more meetings at her lake house.”

Temple laughed.

“Damn.” Mataeo checked the inside jacket of his suit coat. “Now I’m vibrating.”

The timing was perfect. Claudia Aspen had finished her call and was avidly observing the couple near the window.

“You two look lovely together,” she mentioned when Temple approached.

“Claudia…we work together, that’s all.”

“I’m sure it is, honey.” Claudia kept her eyes on Mataeo while he handled his call. “I don’t think I’d be quite as professional working under—I mean with that.”

Temple rolled her eyes. “Claudia, has anyone ever told you that you’re too much?”

“A time or two.” Claudia shrugged as if it were of little consequence to her. “But even you can’t deny that is too much man to go…untested.”

“Well, you help yourself.” Temple bent to grab Claudia’s portfolio. “I’m afraid you’d be among the masses.” She handed Claudia the leather-bound book. “That is not a one-woman man.”

Claudia shrugged, tucked the portfolio beneath her arm and squeezed Temple’s elbow. “Well, darlin’, that depends on who the woman is, now doesn’t it?”

Temple set both hands on her hips. She watched as Claudia blew a kiss toward Mataeo and then sashayed out of the room.

“Would you please?”

Temple knew her below-the-breath hiss would do nothing to still the man who stood before her. A full-blown bellow would do nothing to encourage cooperation, either, she was sure. As usual, her boss had requested her “assistance” while he did nothing to assist.

“Dammit, Nev.” Mataeo’s sandpaper tone surged and his grip tightened on the phone receiver. “Forget it, I’ll handle it. Forget it, Nevil.”

Temple leaned back where she sat on the edge of the desk when Mataeo moved close to slam the cordless back to the mount.

“So what am I handling?” she asked after his breathing had filled the office with sound for more than five seconds.

“What?” His response held an absent tinge.

Temple’s long, light gaze softened with a mix of humor and mild agitation. “Whenever I hear you tell someone that you’ll handle it that means I’ll handle it.”

“Ah, Temp.” The easy charm Mataeo seemed to possess in droves came through for him then. “You know you’re so much better at most things than I am.”

Unfortunately, the charming effort fell short of his right hand. Right arm seemed a more fitting description.

“Just cut it out and tell me what I’m taking care of this time.” Temple returned her focus to the silver-gray tie she was securing about Mataeo’s neck.

The fact that Mataeo North had no actual assistant was as amusing as it was intriguing. The man was notorious for going to Temple for everything from help with his tie to advice on whether the next deal was worth the pursuit. Any assistant hired for the shipping magnate was of little use. Eventually, the position was phased out entirely.

“Hold still.” Temple slapped his forearm. “Unless you’d like to be choked, and I promise you, I can arrange it.” She tugged the silver tie threateningly. “So what were you talking to Nevil about?” She frowned as she focused on securing the knot.

“Development was supposed to be in charge of planning the lion’s share of the survey expedition for the new building site near the docks.”

“Hmph.” Temple’s hands slowed over the knot she was making in the tie. “I didn’t realize you’d already had a place in mind considering…” She dismissed the thought and continued with her task.

Mataeo’s long brows drew close. “Considering what? That I haven’t closed the deal yet?”

Temple merely shrugged.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

She smiled, feeling the smoky heat of his mocha stare boring into her. She could tell by the strain of the tie around his neck that his temper was on the rise.

“It’s just that you’ve got some serious competition on this one.” Her hands stilled again. “Sanford Norman wants Manson Yates’s client list as badly as you do.”

“Hell, Temp, every exporter along the Eastern Seaboard wants Manson Yates’s client list. Sadly, many aren’t in a position to accept his conditions for sale.”

“And too bad for you Sanford Norman has his headquarters right here in good old Wilmington, N.C.” Once again, Temple resumed her work on the tie.

Mataeo leaned down a bit to look into Temple’s lovely coffee-brown face. “And that’s the only hitch standing in the way of my closing this thing—a pretty pitiful hitch if you ask me.”

Temple tapped his chin, instructing him to straighten. “From the reports I’ve read, that’s enough. Thank you, Jesus,” she whispered upon finishing with the tie. She knocked her fists against his broad chest to urge him out of the way.

Mataeo didn’t move. “Do you think Sanford Norman’s willing to set up new digs right on the dock to accommodate Manson Yates’s clients and treat them in the manner they’re accustomed to?”

Temple braced her hands along the desk, the natural arch of her brows rose as her suspicion set in. “I still don’t know how you managed to convince…anyone to part with property in that area.”

“Impressed?” Mataeo stood back and folded his arms across his chest. The glint in his rich chocolaty gaze dared her to deny that she was.

“Only if you close the deal.” Temple made a pretense at quickly straightening the knot in his tie. “Otherwise you’re just an idiot who paid too much for a piece of property he can’t use.”

“Why the hell do I keep you?” Mataeo went around his desk in search of his cell phone and keys. “You’re no good for my ego.”

“Which is considerable.” Temple toyed with the box pleats at the hem of her tan skirt. “Lucky for you, you’ve got enough volunteers around to…stroke it.”

Mataeo rose to his full six feet eight inches. “Funny.” He tucked the phone into the jacket of his gray three-piece.

“But true.” Temple didn’t look away from her pleats. “You only keep me around to tie your ties.”

“And a damn good job you do of it, too.” He went back to searching his desk. A scowl shadowed his face as he massaged a hand across the back of his neck. “Temp, have you seen—”

The jingle of keys caught his ears and Mataeo looked up to see them dangling from Temple’s fingers.

“I keep you around for everything that matters.” He shook his head and grimaced while voicing the confession. He leaned across the desk. “You know I can’t function without you.”

Temple laughed and brushed a playful slap to his flawless cheek. “You’d be just fine.”

“You’re wrong. I need you for everything that matters.” His stare didn’t waver. “Like this lunch.”

“Taeo…” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t start, not about this. You know how I feel about us taking on more clients right now.” She watched him with accusation lurking in her hazel eyes. “This is all about your greed and that damn win-at-all-costs competitive streak of yours.”

“That’s what business is all about, Temp.” He moved from behind the desk.

“That may be, but it’s getting more dramatic every day, and I’ve had enough.”

Mataeo’s glare harbored more concern than anger.

Temple shifted her gaze back to the hem of her skirt. Silently, she cursed her slipup as she noticed the uncertainty creeping onto Mataeo’s handsome face.

“I just prefer playing this one from the background, you know?”

Soothed by her fast clarification, Mataeo gave a slow nod.

Temple leaned over and tugged his jacket lapel as if to set it straight. “You should get going unless you want Sanford Norman entertaining Mr. Yates over drinks while they wait for you.”

“Right.” Mataeo grimaced and pushed himself from the desk. “I’ll see you later. You’re heading home, right?”

It wasn’t exactly a question. He knew his right arm/ best friend well enough to know her routine rarely changed unless he changed it.

He stopped just before the double doors to his office suite and turned to ply her with a crooked smile. “Last chance for lunch? My treat?”

Temple blew him a kiss. “Good luck.”

North Shipping may have been one of the many exporting businesses along the Eastern Seaboard but few compared to the savvy of its owner and the success he’d garnered in the field. Much of that had to do with the crew of employees Mataeo surrounded himself with. Everyone was at the top of their game from the entry-level shipping clerks to the man’s righthand/right arm, Temple Grahame.

The fact that they were friends—the best of friends, for many years—was an added perk in an already powerful relationship. Taeo and Temp, as they were known by most of their business associates, seemed to complement each other in every situation, be it professional or personal.

Of course, everyone speculated that they were more than friends. This was no surprise considering Mataeo North was both idolized and envied by most men he knew. This fact had as much to do with his business prowess as it had to do with his sexual conquests.

With that in mind, a woman like Temple Grahame wouldn’t spend her days in his sights and remain unnoticed for long. Especially when her looks—as well as her personality—were enough to literally stop a man. With her wide, hazel stare and soft hypnotic voice, Temple struck most as delicate, understated and nonconfrontational. She was, without a doubt, the polar opposite of her boss.

Temple Grahame, however, was no floor mat. That truth was simply one of the millions of reasons Mataeo North trusted her with his life and livelihood.

Sequestered in the mellow environment of her office, Temple wouldn’t let herself dwell on how her leaving would affect him. Thankfully, there was a knock on her door that set aside the troubling thoughts that were rising. She left her desk when she saw Megaleen Barnum poke her head inside the room.

“This a good time?” Megaleen called out with a wave and a smile.

“Perfect time,” Temple greeted her attorney with a hug.

“So how goes the head-hunting?” Megaleen set her things on the cream suede sofa near the door.

“I think I’ve pretty much narrowed it down.” Temple sounded upbeat. “Taeo’s gonna need quite a few people in here to handle everything he’s got me covering.”

“Including screening calls from jilted lovers?”

“Shh…” Temple scolded her friend playfully. “There’re some things he’s gonna have to learn to handle on his own.”

“So are you sure he’ll let you go just like that when you tell him what you have in mind?” Meg asked once their laughter had softened.

“I don’t see why not.” Temple propped one hand on her hip and massaged her neck with the other. “People resign positions every day, don’t they?”

“Yeah.” Meg strolled the office with hands propped on her hips, as well. “But there is the potential for drama and speculation when the one resigning is second in command for a multinational shipping corporation.” Meg turned to face her client with a curious light blue stare. “Do you really think it’ll be a stress-free event?”

“Oh, Meg.” Temple massaged her neck with both hands then. “I don’t expect it to be blissful, but it won’t be overwhelming. I’m putting a lot of good people in place here.” Her voice held the slightest twinge of doubt.

Meg heard it clearly. “Mataeo won’t be the only one with questions, you know?” She smoothed her black pin-striped skirt and took one of the chairs in front of Temple’s desk. “The first thing people will think is that there are business woes and that you’re getting out while the gettin’s good.”

Temple smirked and took her place along an overextended windowsill. “No, Meg, the first thing people will think is that we had some kind of lover’s spat and that I’m leaving him over it.”

Megaleen focused on her twiddling thumbs and didn’t reply. It went without saying that her client/friend had taken the unfair brunt of the negative aspects to being the right arm of one of the most powerful men in the shipping world.

Mataeo North had garnered money, success and adoration—sexual and scholarly. Temple, meanwhile, had dealt with the rumors, name-calling and doubts over whether she was truly qualified to hold such a weighty post.

As if she could have done anything about it had she tried. Looking the way she did, the assumption was that she’d reached such lofty heights working from the bedroom or wherever Mataeo North desired to have her. The woman was far too lovely to have made her way in the world by using her brain of all things.

Megaleen had heard it too often in the circles she ran in as a business attorney. Most of the women Mataeo employed hated her friend with a passion. Their reasons had little to do with the intellect and business savvy Temple possessed, but with the coffee-brown complexion that needed no enhancements. Meg doubted the woman owned a lick of foundation. Then there was the healthy bust and bottom size, model-quality legs and the almost nonexistent waistline which set the envy a step further.

“He’ll understand why I need to do this.” Temple’s soft voice sounded even fainter as she studied the view of Wilmington’s city streets below. “As long as we keep our friendship intact—that’s the most important thing.”

Meg smothered a sigh while flipping a lock of auburn hair between her fingers. Temple Grahame’s greatest asset was her kindness and she paid dearly for it. She truly believed that decency and treating others fairly would ensure the same treatment in return. Oh, boy, didn’t she believe that about Mataeo North, Meg mused.

Pushing out of the chair, Megaleen headed for the coffee table while praying Temple never had to find out otherwise. She took the portfolio from the table and gave it a wave.

“Should we go over this before either of us gets called away?”

Roaring laughter from the table of five men drew hardly any attention—most of the tables inside the G-Red Gallery were filled with laughing men. The place was a popular lunch destination specializing in steak, seafood and beer created in-house by the establishment’s own brewery.

Manson Yates’s happy bellow, though, could easily rival any of the other male patrons’ in the place.

“Good thinkin’, San, for suggesting this place!” Manson clapped Sanford Norman’s shoulder. “I don’t travel down to G-Red nearly as much as I used to.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Yates.” Sanford attempted a humble nod while sending a cunning wink in Mataeo’s direction.

Unfazed, Mataeo tilted his beer mug in a mock toast. “Does business keep you away, sir?” he asked Manson Yates.

The older man chuckled. “Hell no, this place is perfect for business! No, son, my reason is far more demanding than business—it’s my wife!”

More wild laughter resumed. Even the waiter, who’d arrived to hear Manson’s explanation, submitted to his own share of grinning.

“A nag of a wife’ll do it every time!” Sanford railed after tossing back what remained of his beer. “I swear some of my best wet dreams have been ruined by the sound of Regina’s voice in my subconscious!”

The laughter following that was noticeably less boisterous, primarily because Manson Yates didn’t appear amused.

“I adore my wife, San,” the man confirmed, a stern expression sharpening his weathered features. “Her nagging me not to come here has more to do with my doctor’s instructions that I stay off red meat, and since G-Red has the best and biggest cuts around…”

“Apologies, sir.” Sanford gave a quick, phony cough while pressing a fist to his mouth. “I meant no disrespect. Your wife’s a beautiful woman.”

“Yes, she is, and you should treasure yours.” Manson tilted his beer bottle in Sanford’s direction. “A wife is a man’s most trusted supporter, but only if she’s treated properly.”

Sanford nodded, but there was no agreement dwelling in his hooded green stare.

“You don’t look convinced, San.” Mataeo decided to call him on it.

Again, Sanford cleared his throat. “That’s not it.” He waved toward the waiter for a refill.

“What is it then?” Manson inquired.

Sanford ran a finger along the inside of his collar. “Just not all of us have been as lucky as you to find a woman like the one you’ve been blessed to marry.” He tapped his index and middle finger to his forehead and offered Mataeo a mock salute. “You’re smart to hold on to your freedom, man.”

“Nonsense.” Manson was shaking his head. “Don’t listen to it, kid. There’s nothin’ like building a life with a woman you love, trust and desire,” he told Mataeo before turning back toward Sanford. “If you view your marriage as less than a blessing, perhaps you should consider improving your role as a husband.”

Manson didn’t wait for Sanford’s response but turned his focus back to Mataeo. “There anyone special, son?” he asked and shot Sanford a glare when the man chuckled over the question.

Mataeo shrugged, finding no cause to be less than honest. “There’re actually several special someones.”

“Ha!” Manson dragged a hand through a shock of white hair. “Nonsense—no such thing. There can only be one,” he declared with a wink and a smirk.

“Business can be sweet when it’s successful but it can be a cold bitch on most nights.” Manson paused to take a swig from the fresh, chilled bottle the waiter set before him. “Love, marriage and family are what keep a man sane and keep him in the game.” He downed a healthy swig and then waved at someone across the sunlit dining room. “Fellas, I see a friend I should speak to.”

“Don’t let the old man fool you,” Sanford cautioned Mataeo when they were the only two at the table. “When it comes down to passing along that client list of his, it’s gonna be about who has the better cold bitch of business—not the better wife or…special someones.”

Mataeo supplied a cool smile and barely raised a brow. He and Sanford enjoyed their drinks in silence until Manson Yates returned.