Angela Meets Devin

"I am glad you like it. I chose them to match your eyes."

She tried to lighten up the conversation that had gotten suddenly uncomfortably intimate. "My ice queen eyes?"

"I don't see ice when I look at your eyes. I see fire, like the blue flame at the heart of gas burner."

Angela blushed and held the orchids to her face, covering her trembling lips as she inhaled the scent of orchids and leather once more. What was it about this man that set her heart pounding.

Dinner was at one of the hottest new restaurants in New York. Angela wondered how he had gotten a reservation on such short notice. It was a Japanese restaurant specializing in sushi. He held her arm as she gracefully knelt to sit at the low table.

Once again he ordered without consulting her, having a wide sampler tray brought to them. "Let's try a little of everything." He also order Saki served in the traditional way warmed in a clay server with tiny cups. He showed her how to tip back the little cup and drink down the warm rice wine in a single swallow. The sushi was excellent. They gasped and laughed as the blaze of the Wasabi made their eyes water.

He steered the conversation to her. Asking her about her childhood, she related to him that she had been an only child, raised by her mother, never knowing her father. She had gone to private girls school, and a local city college to study business administration. She had had a series of jobs in various businesses but had moved to NYC Property Management Services Plus because it had been established by a woman and had the reputation for promoting women to management positions. She answered truthfully that she was 27 years old when he asked her age.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

She smiled and dropped her eyes. "If I had a boyfriend, I wouldn't have accepted your invitation to dinner tonight."

After dinner they walked hand in hand along the busy New York streets, looking in store windows, tipping street performers, enjoying the awed faces of tourists as they gawked at the lights and chaos of the crowded streets.

He began to tell her about himself. He had been born in Greece to a very traditional family, the oldest and only son he had inherited his fathers business when he was only 29. He had built the Devinikos Corporation from that business. He had married young and had two children, a son who worked for him and a daughter who was studying to be a doctor. His wife died of cancer while his children were still young. He had married a second time, but it had not lasted.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" She reflected the personal question back at him.

"My work forces me to travel extensively. There have been some women in my life but they have meant little to me."

They stopped by an outdoor cafe. He ordered again, coffee, brandy, and cheesecake for each of them. This time she questioned him. "Why do you assume that you know what I want? You order without even asking me."

"Have I ever ordered anything that you did not enjoy?"

She had to admit that was true. She smiled softly and shook her head. "I have enjoyed everything this evening."

"Trust me to take care of you."

As they walked back to his town car, he slipped his arm around her waist. She leaned into him as they walked, once again inhaling his scent, surrendering to the waves of warmth and sensuality that flowed over her. She wondered once again what it was about this man that terrified her and made her feel so safe at the same time.

As they approached the car, Angela felt her steps falter and slow, becoming aware of how she did not want this evening to end. "What is the matter?" His voice was soft and deep.

Her voice was soft. "You have cast a spell over me. I don't want the magic to end." She stopped and leaned against his chest.

He laughed softly, his lips against her hair. "I promised to be a gentleman this evening. So I must take you home unharmed. Perhaps another evening you will allow me work my magic on you." Placing a finger under her chin he lifted her face to his and lowered his lips to hers.

As their lips touched Angela felt a rush of exquisite excitement, her loins heating and dampening. A long shudder cascaded over her as she tipped her head back and opened her lips, surrendering to him. He held her tightly, his mouth forcing hers to open further, he ran his tongue along her lower lip and sucked it into his mouth, then slowly dipping deeper into her mouth caressing her tongue. When he lifted his mouth from hers, she was trembling, a long sigh shook her frame. He kissed her forehead and walked her to the car.

Once in the car she leaned against his chest, half hoping he would kiss her again. He wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

Before she left the car he spoke one last time. "Angela will you do something for me?"

Her heart jumped. "What is you want?" She wasn't sure she could refuse him anything but she was not ready to reveal that to him just yet.

He picked up her wrist and taking the corsage he gently broke the flowers away from the leather band. Then reaching into his pocket he brought out a matching leather bracelet and gently fastened it around her other wrist. "Wear these for me. Don't take them off tonight."

"Not even to shower?"

"Now you taunt me into imagining you unclothed. Now who is the sorcerer and who is the sorceress? Of course you may remove them at any time you wish, but they are difficult to put on without help. A little water won't damage them."

He changed the subject, "Do you work tomorrow?"

"I had planned to work a couple hours to put together my report about my meeting with the cruel owner of the Devinikos Corporation. Tomorrow is Saturday so I had not planned on putting in a whole day."

"I plan to tour some more prospective properties tomorrow. Would you care to accompany me? Perhaps you could give me some advice about properties in New York."

"Mr. Devinikos, I would gladly accompany you but I doubt there is much I could teach you about buying real estate."

"Many of these properties are old industrial sites. Dress in clothing appropriate for climbing around old dirty buildings."

He walked her up to her apartment door. As she turned to thank him for a wonderful evening he hushed her, placing his fingers against her lips, softly tracing their contours with his thumb before leaning in and taking her lips with his. He leaned her against her door and pinned her there with his mouth. She felt her hands creep up his chest and touch his hair, her heart was hammering in her chest and her breath came fast and short. His lips became harder and his kiss became rougher, his tongue delving deeper, his hand on the back of her neck tightening. A soft whimper of fear and excitement rose up in her throat. Abruptly he broke away from her, his breathing ragged. His voice hoarse, almost a growl, the murmured in her ear, "I will have you, you will be mine." And he turned and walked away without another word.