Board Approved Page 2

  “I’ve been wanting to do that since the moment I laid eyes on you,” he said, roughly. “And truth be told, I can’t wait to do it again.” Tessa inhaled sharply at his words and the desire behind them. He glanced over at her and smiled. His grey eyes were darker than they had been earlier, and she wondered if this was the look she’d read about countless times in all the romance novels she adored. “Where to, Tessa?” he asked. His question brought her back to the present.

  “Uh… oh. Yeah. The Publix shopping plaza. I’m tucked away in there,” she managed to stutter. It was obvious he was attracted to her. She could tell that by the look in his eyes and the way he kissed her. And if truths were being told, she was attracted to him too. Very much so. He was the sexiest thing she had ever seen. She could just tell from that kiss that he knew what he was doing. She was tired of the immaturity of the boys her age. They wanted to get laid and get drunk… and not in any particular order. And they weren’t very good at either. Any orgasms she may have experienced over her limited sexual history were sadly all self-induced.

  She hadn’t been on a date in four months since her heart was broken by Tom, who after two weeks of dating and finally giving in to his demands sexually, informed her that he was married. But was jumping into the sack with someone she didn’t know really the answer to her romantic woes? What if Greg was married? She didn’t see a ring on his finger, but that didn’t mean anything. Tom hadn’t had a ring either. What if all Greg wanted was a quick roll between the sheets? Could her heart handle that again? Her heart? Really? She just met Greg minutes before. How is her heart even involved already?

  Greg pulled into the small shopping plaza parking lot. He pulled right up in front of her studio and put the car in park. There were already four women standing outside the studio with their yoga mats slung over their shoulders. Tessa hit the window button to put her window down.

  “Good afternoon, ladies,” she said out the window. “Had car troubles. Be right there.” She smiled and waved. The women waved back and Tessa put the window back up. “Thank you so much, Greg,” she said turning her head to look at him. She wanted him to know she was sincerely thankful for his help. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you driving me over here, especially with having other obligations.”

  “Tessa,” he said, turning slightly in the driver’s seat. “Stop thanking me. I’d do it again… no questions asked. I have my friend towing your VW to his shop to take a look at it. I need your keys so I can drop them off at his place.”

  “Greg,” she said, not recognizing her own voice. Panic and surprise had set in. She was grateful for his generosity, but she was pretty sure she could not afford what was wrong with her car. Basically, she’d just been doing patchwork on it in hopes it would hold out a few more months so she could save up enough money to get a newer used version. “You really didn’t have to do that. There’s no way I’m going to be able to afford to fix it.”

  “I’m covering the repairs, Tessa,” he said softly. A small smile spread across his lips. “Just give me the keys to the car so I can drop them off. I have Jarod calling me with the estimate and then he can drop the car off to you. We can’t have you driving around in a car that’s on the verge of breaking down every day. It doesn’t sit right with me.” His hand came up and stroked the side of her face.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Tessa said. “No one’s ever just done something so generous for me. And you don’t even know me.” She slid her keys out of her purse and wound the VW key off her butterfly keychain. Tessa handed him the key. Greg took the key and set it in the cup holder in the console between them. She looked up at him. His grey eyes were soft and warm as his gaze dropped to her lips. A wave of heat washed over her as the memory of their kiss fluttered through her thoughts.

  “I only have one request,” he said almost in a whisper. His gaze came back to hers.

  “What’s that?”

  “Go out with me,” he said. “Please.”

  “Like on a date?” she asked shyly.

  “Most definitely,” he said with a small chuckle. Tessa did everything she could to keep from bursting. This gorgeous man… this generous man wanted to take her out on a date. She knew she would be risking her heart by agreeing to this. How could someone like him really be interested in her? He was a big-time attorney for a large firm making good money and living on the beach. He could probably have any woman he wanted. She was just a young yoga instructor trying to make it on her own. It had taken her three years to save enough money to move out of her mother’s rundown bungalow. Her mother would steal money from Tessa for booze and then order Tessa out of the house because she was a bother. She finally had her first apartment. And it wasn’t much. Just a little one-bedroom apartment near Tyrone Square Mall. She really had little to offer him besides herself. But he was asking her out.

  Even if it was ultimately just sexual, she couldn’t find a way to say no to his request. Nothing in her wanted to say no. Just from their limited time together, Tessa knew he was going to open her eyes to a whole new world and that excited her. And that made her want to risk it all.

  “It doesn’t bother you that I’m twenty-seven?” she asked in all seriousness.

  “Does it bother you that I’m forty-two?” he asked. His face was sincere when he asked the question. She could tell he was concerned that his age would be an issue for her.

  “Forty-two, huh?” she said, making her best effort to keep a serious tone. “Goodness, you are old! Will you need a walker for the date?” His eyes widened a bit at her comment before she broke into laughter and then so did he.

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “Yes,” she said softly before throwing her arms around his neck. “I say yes.” His arm slid around her body and gave her a squeeze. The feel of his hand on her low back sent a heat coursing through her body. She wanted to know what it would be like to feel his hands everywhere on her body. She wanted to throw caution to the wind.

  “Good,” he said. “I was a little worried you’d say no. Here’s my business card.” He drew back from her embrace and pulled a card out of the front pocket of his shirt. “It has my cell phone number on it. Call me in two hours and I’ll update you about your car and what the plans for tomorrow night will be. I’d make the date tonight, but there’s no way I can get out of a client dinner on this short notice. But you’re mine for dinner tomorrow!” Tessa took the card from his hand and looked at it.

  Gregory T. Snow. Partner. Lowes & Kravitz. She laughed to herself. That card should also say gorgeous and generous and sexy if it were going to be truly accurate.

  “Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I will call you.” She reached for the door handle, but his hand grabbed her forearm and pulled her closer until his forehead touched hers. His grey eyes looked into her own.

  “I meant what I said about kissing you,” he whispered. His warm breath floated over her face. “I can’t wait to do it again.” He kissed her on the tip of her nose before pulling back. She sighed. Yep, she sighed. Like nothing in the world could be greater than this moment. “Now get in there and teach those ladies some yoga. I’ll talk to you in a bit.” Tessa opened her passenger side door and slid from the BMW SUV to the ground. She grabbed her yoga mat and purse from the floor of the car and slung them over her shoulder. “Tessa,” Greg called before she shut the door.

  “Yes?” She peeked in.

  “I can’t wait for tomorrow night.” A smile spread across his face and Tessa’s knees weakened at the look. If he could make her feel this way with just a smile, she was in big trouble. “Enjoy your class.” She shut the door and stepped up onto the curb as she watched him drive away.

  “Who was that?” one of the girls waiting outside the studio asked. “He’s smoking hot!”

  “I know,” Tessa responded, doing a little dance from where she stood on the curb all the way to the door of her studio. “And he asked me out for tomorrow night.”

  “Get out!” one
of the other girls shouted. “You said yes, right?”

  “You better believe it,” Tessa said, opening the door of her studio and letting the yogis in. Namaste!

  Chapter Three

  Greg smiled the entire way back to Advantage. He had watched Tessa in his rearview mirror as he drove away. She danced with what looked like excitement from where he left her until she reached her studio door. He hoped that was a sign that she was as excited as he was about seeing her Saturday night.

  He didn’t know what came over him at that red light. She just kept talking. He could tell she was nervous, but he didn’t know exactly what made her so nervous. He had kept glancing over at her and she just kept talking and gesturing with her hands. It was adorable, but he wanted to put her out of her misery and the only thing he could think to do was kiss her. And it was the best damn decision he had made in days. She had tasted like cotton candy… so sweet. He’d be on this sugar high for the rest of the afternoon. He could have spent the next several hours just kissing her if only they hadn’t been at a red light. Oh well, there was always tomorrow.

  He had dropped off Tessa’s car key at Jarod’s, where he had been told the tow truck was already picking up her vehicle, and Jarod promised to get in touch with him within the hour. Greg parked his car in the parking lot at Advantage and walked the relatively short distance to the door. He pulled his pass out of his back pocket and scanned it to gain entrance to the building.

  “Mr. Snow,” he was greeted by the portly security guard. “Aren’t you a little late getting back from lunch?” The guard smiled at him.

  “Yes, I am, Sam,” Greg said with a smile. “Had a few extra things to do today.” Greg walked the short distance through the atrium to the escalator and took it two steps at a time. He was a little over an hour late to the last half of the board meeting. They only met quarterly and he knew he had been running a risk not getting there on time. But something about Tessa called out to him and he didn’t regret his decision to be late to the afternoon session one bit. Shit! He had a date with a gorgeous twenty-seven year old yoga instructor. Life didn’t get much better than that. He walked towards the executive area and scanned his pass to enter. This place was like Fort Knox.

  “Mr. Snow,” Suzie McCormick welcomed him pleasantly. She was the executive assistant to Advantage’s CEO, Michael Herron, the only inside director on the board. “They just started thirty minutes ago. They held lunch a little longer in hopes you’d be back in time, but none of the men wanted to be here until six on a Friday, so they picked things up just a bit ago.” She swept her blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled at him.

  Suzie had had an eye for John Dorsey for the last year, but since John got together with Elizabeth, one of Advantage’s corporate in-house attorneys, six months ago, Suzie was turning her sights to the other two single men sitting on the board. What used to be relentless flirtation with John was now apparently directed at either himself or Mark Olson. Greg and Mark hung out periodically and played the occasional round of golf on the weekends. They’d spent a few minutes here or there teasing the hell out of each other as to who should nail Suzie and just put her out of her misery.

  But in all honesty, Greg wasn’t interested in Suzie. Not that she wasn’t attractive. She was… in a runway-model-type way. Suzie was tall and slim with beautiful blonde[GB1] hair[JSC2] [GB3] and blue eyes. Definitely more Olson’s type. Greg had always been attracted to shorter women. His ex-wife had been all of five feet three inches tall and built strong. She’d been crazy beautiful with long blonde hair and bright green eyes. So, Suzie wasn’t really his type. And now that he had a date with Tessa, he wasn’t even contemplating the alternative. But he knew Mark was not opposed.

  He quietly pushed through the large wooden doors to the boardroom as Elizabeth Wright was standing at the table presenting once again on the construction defect case that three Advantage insureds were involved in. All eyes turned in his direction. Phillip Barker, the chairman of the board, nodded at him with a smile. Phillip was a great guy and he didn’t run the type of ship that would get Greg in trouble for being late. A couple of the other members might have been annoyed, but Phillip would be okay.

  “Nice of you to join us, Greg,” Elizabeth said sweetly. Her long auburn hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck and her emerald green eyes shined. John Dorsey was a very lucky man to have landed her and he knew it.

  “I apologize,” Greg said, bowing his head at her in greeting. He quickly moved towards his seat next to John and sank into the thick leather chair. “Please carry on.”

  Elizabeth smiled at him and then winked at John before she continued on with her presentation. It was clear that John must have mentioned to her that Greg had been late because of a woman. John and Elizabeth had been trying to set him up with various women since the two of them had become inseparable. They were eager to go on double dates and take trips with another couple. But none of the dates they had set him up on really panned out. It wasn’t that Greg was picky. He always had fun on the dates, but none of them sparked anything more than a pleasant time. He had made the conscious effort to not sleep with any of them either. The women had either been friends of Elizabeth’s or women that John knew, so he hadn’t wanted to ruin his friendship with either of them.

  After Elizabeth’s glaring presentation, and a question and answer session involving the lawsuit and ongoing discovery, Elizabeth and her boss, General Counsel of Advantage, Corbin Shaw, left the boardroom. She threw a warm smile in John’s direction, who smiled and winked at her. Greg had to admit he had been a little envious of their relationship. John had seen her six months ago when she was first introduced to the board and something in him clicked. He went after her full force. He had told Greg he knew the minute he saw Elizabeth that she would be it for him. Here they were six months later, very much in love and preparing to move into John’s beach house together.

  “Let’s take five minutes,” Phil said, clapping his hands together before pressing them to the mahogany table and pushing himself up. “I need to hit the head. But Greg, please don’t leave the building. It’s just a five minute break.” Phil’s face broke out into a smile as he headed to the large wooden doors. Everyone else in the room laughed, including Greg.

  “So, tell me about her,” John said, leaning over the arm of his chair.

  “What’s to tell?” Greg responded. However, he couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across his face at just the thought of Tessa.

  “You were an hour late coming back to session,” John said. “And you’re a stickler for time. Not to mention the fact you moaned in my ear when I called you. So, she must be something special.” John twirled his pen between his fingers, waiting for Greg to spill it.

  “She is gorgeous,” Greg said, softly. He didn’t really want Mark Olson involved in their conversation. Since Mark’s divorce, he’s been on the prowl and looking for “fresh meat” as he called it. Tessa would certainly fall under the category of what he’d been chasing lately and he didn’t want Mark anywhere near her. “She’s a yoga instructor. Owns her own studio on Treasure Island. In fact, she teaches classes downstairs in the gym a couple days a week. I ran into her in the parking lot. Her car broke down. So, I helped her out. And she agreed to go out with me tomorrow night.” The idea of seeing Tessa again made him happier than he’d been in quite some time.

  “Do you want Elizabeth and I to go with you to keep the pressure off?” John asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Greg said, looking at his friend. “I don’t think there’ll be any pressure. Tessa and I are on the same page.”

  “Tessa, eh?” John teased. “I like the name. So, when do Elizabeth and I get to meet her?”

  “Christ, Dorsey,” Greg said with a laugh. “I just met her.”

  “Okay, so next weekend you’ll bring her over to my place for dinner. Let’s say Saturday at six,” John said, patting Greg on the back.

  “Do I have a choice?” Greg asked with a chuckle.<
br />
  “Not really,” John said. “Especially after I tell Elizabeth. She’s going to be mad I didn’t set it up for tomorrow.” They just laughed as several of the other board members returned from the break and Phil called the last part of the session to order.

  Chapter Four

  Tessa scurried around her bedroom in her white lace cheeky underwear and matching strapless bra. Greg was picking her up in fifteen minutes and she had no idea what to wear. When she called him to get an update on the status of her car and their plans for Saturday night, he said he wanted to go somewhere fun because he was restless from sitting in a board meeting all day and schmoozing at a client dinner on Friday. He suggested hitting Gators Café & Saloon on John’s Pass. Tessa had been there a few times with some friends, but it had been awhile. It was casual and right on the Intracoastal Waterway. She flipped through several items in her small closet. She was leaning towards a halter dress. She had a light blue and indigo paisley dress that she thought suited her.

  Even though it was early October, the Florida temperatures still reached into the low nineties during the day. And the evenings only dipped into the low eighties, so she could get away with a halter dress for another several weeks. She’d bring a shrug just in case.

  She pulled the paisley dress off its hanger and slipped it on. Standing before the full-length mirror hanging on the back of her bedroom door, she admired herself in the dress. It was flattering to her figure, which was short and leanly muscular with a small chest. Of all the things her mother could pass down to her, she wished it had been to be more fully endowed the way she was. Regardless, the halter dress made it seem like she had more than she did, as did the push up bra. Tessa smiled at herself. Her curly blonde hair fell past her shoulders and the light blue and indigo of the dress made her eyes even bluer. To herself, she looked a little older than her twenty-seven years and that made her happy.