“CIA? That’s a little deep, don’t you think? Trying to keep me under their control is nothing like selling government secrets to other countries,” she said, making light of her situation.

  “You never know what motivates people to do what they do, Sloan.”

  “I know what motivates my parents, Mercury. Money. My grandfather would say that all the time.” Not wanting to talk about her parents any longer, she told Mercury about her to-do list and how glad she was to have a car to get around town.

  “So, what are your plans for the weekend?” he then asked her.

  “I’m going to relax, maybe check out that mall on the corner and buy a book to read. Your mother invited me to church with her on Sunday. I figured I’d do some interview practice sessions Sunday evening for my talk with Ms. Fowler.”

  “Interview practice sessions?”

  “Yes. Although she’s not doing the official hiring for the pageant, I understand that if she recommends me for the position, then there’s a good chance I’ll get it. I want to make a good impression on her.”

  “You will. Just be yourself.”

  Moments later, they were pulling into her apartment complex and she drew in a huge, exhilarated breath. This would be her place. Granted, she didn’t own it, but it would be hers nonetheless. The apartment would be her home.

  “You okay?”

  She smiled over at Mercury. “Yes, I’m okay. I couldn’t be better.”

  * * *

  Mercury stood in the living room and watched Sloan slowly walk around, moving from room to room, as if she was in awe. If truth be known, he was in total awe of her. Today she was attired in another sundress, this one a beautiful floral print. Her hair was swept up with a few loose strands framing her face. Her makeup was never heavy, always soft and subtle and barely looked as if she was wearing any.

  He’d had to mentally prepare himself to see her again today, after having thought about her into the wee hours of the morning. When had he thought about another woman as much? Hell, he doubted he ever had. He’d tried convincing himself it was because of her ex-fiancé’s visit last night. The man had had a lot of gall to show up at the Steeles’ home.

  Then there was that moment between Mercury and Sloan afterward in his mother’s office when he’d placed her in his lap and held her. It was during that time that he’d felt emotions that were so unlike him. Totally uncharacteristic. Atypical. She had the ability to make him behave like a totally different guy. Like now.

  Drawing in a deep breath, Mercury knew there was no reason for him to still be here. She was in her apartment and had a car, which meant his services were no longer needed. He should be on his way to Notorious to get an early start on the weekend and check the lineup of women who were probably already there. Ready for some action, a one-night stand, a Mercury quickie or a Mercury Steele seduction.

  Yet he was still here, watching her, staring as she strolled from room to room, admiring her beauty. He loved the size of her breasts and the shape of her thighs, easily displayed whenever she moved. There was a gracefulness about her stride. He figured she’d probably attended one of those finishing schools, and that was the reason she and Galen’s wife, Brittany, had hit it off last night. But then, Sloan had impressed everyone without even trying to do so.

  He’d meant what he’d told her in the car. When she met with Ms. Fowler on Monday she should just be herself. There was something about her that drew people in. His brothers, parents and sisters-in-law had been drawn in immediately. It had taken a little longer for him, only because of their rocky beginning. But now he was all in, and like the rest of the Steeles, he was Team Sloan.

  She stopped walking, turned and gave him a smile that heightened his pulse and made a hard hum of lust flare through his veins. Her smile and his reaction to it had been so unexpected he’d immediately shifted, feeling weak in the knees. Otherwise, he might have fallen flat on his face.

  What was he thinking? No woman could make him fall flat.

  “Tell me about your apartment, Mercury.”

  Why did she want to know about his apartment? Usually when a woman asked about his apartment, that meant she was hinting at an invitation. However, he doubted that was the case with Sloan. “What would you like to know about it?”

  “Although this place is furnished, I’m still considering decorating ideas. Nothing costly. Definitely within my budget.”

  He liked how she was forever mindful of her budget, trying hard not to overspend. He knew that would be something she would have to get used to since that hadn’t been her way of life before now. “Unlike these white walls, mine are colorful.”

  “Colorful?”

  “Yes. It wasn’t my choice. I hired a decorator and told her to do her own thing. Unfortunately, she was into bold colors. It took me a while to get used to them, but now I can’t imagine my walls any other way.”

  She tipped her finger to her chin and glanced around, as if thinking about it. Why did seeing her doing something so mundane look sexy as hell? He bet she would be hot in bed.

  He forced back a groan, knowing he shouldn’t be thinking of Sloan in a sexual way. But he had and this wasn’t the first time he’d done so. And why not? She was a woman. He was a man. He’d already admitted to their attraction by kissing her. And they had been kisses he’d totally enjoyed. Kisses he’d gone to bed thinking about. Kisses that were becoming greedier and more erotic every time they shared them.

  What had Jonas told him at dinner last night? It had been obvious to everyone that Mercury and Sloan had been kissing when they walked out of his mother’s office because their lips were swollen. For that to happen had meant some heavy-duty kissing had gone down behind those closed doors. He would admit it had.

  Normally, if he was attracted to a woman, he would have made several home runs by now. With Sloan, he hadn’t even tried swinging. He’d been satisfied with going to the bat with the kisses. He’d figured she had too many issues for him. Issues he didn’t want to become involved with.

  Now, that was a laugh since he was involved. All the way up to his balls.

  And speaking of his balls...

  They were actually twitching with need for her. He could just imagine that same finger that was tapping her chin stroking them, cupping them before using that same hand to feel him all over. Just the thought of her touching him down there—hell, touching him anywhere—had him feeling the area behind his zipper expand. He needed to leave. Now.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said, moving toward the door. “There’s an important appointment I need to keep. I’ll see you later.”

  And then he was gone.

  He walked quickly to his car without looking back. In fact, he nearly held his breath until he reached his car, got inside and buckled his seat belt. When had he rushed away from a woman’s place instead of rushing to it? Okay, he did remember rushing from Nancy Ormond’s place the night she hinted at wanting him to father her baby. That was an altogether different issue than what had him dashing from Sloan’s apartment.

  He checked his watch and decided that he would go home and change clothes, chill a bit and then hit Notorious. He needed a night in some woman’s bed. There had been a woman he’d seen last night when he’d been there with Jaye. She had given him the eye and had even flirted with him when he’d been about to leave. Maybe he’d be lucky and hit the jackpot tonight.

  In fact, he intended for that to happen.

  Sixteen

  Yippee! She had the job!

  Sloan was tempted to do a happy dance around her apartment, but she didn’t want to disturb the Hollisters, the couple living in the apartment below her. She had met them when she’d gone bike riding on Sunday. Of all things, she had purchased a bicycle on Saturday. She loved her blue bike and went riding every morning.

  She thought about the phone call she’d just received. After their talk yesterday, Margaret Fowler had been so taken with Sloan that she’d immediately called the pageant committee to put in a good word for her. Yesterday evening they had called to arrange a Skype interview that she’d thought had gone well. Obviously it had, since she’d just received a call from the pageant’s hiring team, who’d said the job was hers.

  She had been blown away by the salary they’d offered. It was more than Sloan had thought it would be. Nearly three times as much. They’d explained it was based on the number of languages she spoke. That meant she would be able to pay Mercury back sooner than planned for the loan, and hopefully she could double up on her car payments and pay the bank off sooner, as well.

  Mercury...

  Sloan hadn’t seen or talked to him since Friday, when he’d brought her here. She had gone to church with members of his family on Sunday. After church she’d been invited to Galen’s home in the mountains for dinner. She’d figured Mercury would show up, but he hadn’t. She didn’t want to admit to being disappointed at not seeing him, but she was. It was Tuesday and he still hadn’t called. Not even to say hello and see how she was doing.

  She wished she could talk to him to tell him about her new job, her first job, and she was excited about it. She refused to let Mercury’s absence rain on her parade. She wouldn’t call him. Chances were, he felt he’d spent too much time with her already and wanted his life back, the way it was before meeting her.

  Fine, she hoped he was enjoying it. She couldn’t let his absence get to her. Besides, she had plenty to keep her busy. She needed to set up her office since she would begin working from home in a few weeks. The laptop she owned was old and it was time to upgrade to a more advanced model. Then she would need a printer that had both scanning and faxing capabilities. She also needed to purchase office supplies.

  However, Sloan knew no matter how busy she was, she would think about Mercury. She thought about him when she woke up every morning and he took over her dreams when she went to sleep at night. Those two days they’d spent together had meant everything to her. Evidently more to her than to him. Undoubtedly those kisses had been no different than any others he’d shared with women. They’d meant nothing to him and probably didn’t even compete.

  No surprise, since she had limited experience when it came to men. Harold hadn’t wanted to make love to her and now she knew why. And that one time with Carlos Larson had been a total waste of time. Probably not for him, but definitely for her. She’d been wholly disappointed. Sloan had a feeling a night with Mercury would not disappoint her.

  A night with Mercury...

  She shouldn’t be thinking such things even after four kisses and a cuddling session in his lap. He’d only indulged her as his way to either chastise, comfort or talk sense into her. His methods were effective and quite enjoyable.

  The ringing of the doorbell meant she had a visitor. Other than the Hollisters, who lived downstairs, the only people who knew where she lived were the Steeles. She tried ignoring the tingling sensation in her stomach at the possibility that it could be Mercury.

  She checked the peephole and couldn’t see the person’s face for the huge green plant in front of it. Could it be Mercury? Swallowing deeply, she asked, “Who is it?”

  She then held her breath. Hoping. Wishing. Wanting it to be...

  “It’s Gannon, Sloan. I brought you a housewarming gift.”

  She let out the breath she’d been holding and with it came deep disappointment. What had she expected? Had her claiming he was her fiancé made him want to put distance between them? That had to be it, although he seemed to have accepted her explanation as to why she’d done it. Had he given it further thought and decided he didn’t want her to get any ideas about where their relationship was going or wasn’t going? The bottom line was they didn’t even have a relationship.

  That had to be it. What else could it be? Was keeping his distance a way of making sure she understood that?

  “Sloan?”

  She blinked. Gannon had to be wondering why she hadn’t opened the door yet. “Yes. Just a minute.”

  Pasting a huge smile on her face, she opened the door and said, “Gannon! It’s good to see you. Come in. Ahh, this plant is beautiful. Thanks for my gift.”

  * * *

  Mercury leaned back in his chair and absently tossed paper clips back and forth in the center of his desk. Then he would gather them all up and start the process all over again. It was an unproductive way to spend his time, but he would do anything to keep his mind off Sloan.

  He had deliberately stayed away from her the past four days and intended to add four more. That meant he would be a no-show Thursday night at his parents’ for dinner. He wasn’t ready to see her and at least he had an alibi. He would be flying out Thursday morning to Dallas for a high school basketball game. His eyes were on a player by the name of Brock Dennison. Brock was only seventeen, which meant he had to complete at least two years of college before he could get signed on with the NBA at nineteen.

  Any other time Mercury would be looking forward to such a trip, but he was not this time. Although he knew he should keep putting distance between himself and Sloan, part of him didn’t want to. He wanted her. Hell, he hadn’t even been able to pique his interest for any other woman. He’d gone to Notorious four nights in a row and women had thrown themselves at him; a couple of them had all but invited him out to their cars for quickies, and he’d turned them all down. Granted, he did have discriminating taste, but still, he’d never gone this long without getting laid. So why was he going through self-induced torture?

  He knew the reason and had already admitted to it.

  He wanted Sloan. And he wanted her bad.

  He wanted to seduce the hell out of her, knowing he would enjoy every minute of doing so. However, he’d made up his mind not to cross the line with her. She wasn’t one of those women a man would enjoy in bed without wanting more, more and even more. She was the kind of woman a man could get addicted to. Hell, wasn’t he addicted to her taste already after just four kisses? He could close his eyes and remember how his tongue felt in her mouth, the lusciousness. Needing to savor the memories, he closed his eyes and remembered sucking her lower lip into his mouth, nipping on it a few times before their tongues dueled in one hell of a heated encounter.

  He would seduce her with even more hot, deep and erotic glides of his tongue. More than once he’d been tempted to take her just where they stood and...

  The buzzer on his desk had him snapping his eyes back open. He glanced at the stack of paper clips, scooped them up and placed them in the designated bowl before clicking on the buzzer. “Yes, Pauline?”

  “Your brother is here to see you, Mr. Steele.”

  Mercury frowned. “Which one?” Not that he was in the mood to visit with any of them. No doubt they were here to get in his business, wanting to know why he’d been a no-show at Galen’s on Sunday.

  “Mr. Gannon Andrew Steele.”

  Mercury shook his head. His brothers had given up trying to figure out why Gannon wanted to gloat that he’d gotten their father’s name. It didn’t matter to the five of them since they were all Drew’s boys. They had the looks and high testosterone levels to prove it.

  “Send him in.”

  It didn’t take long for Gannon to walk through the door, smiling broadly. Mercury wondered what the huge grin was for. “Any reason you’re not working today?” he asked his youngest brother, who took a chair without being invited.

  “I’m leaving in the morning to make a pickup in Santa Fe and won’t be back for a week.”

  Mercury frowned. “It will take you a week to go to Santa Fe and back?”

  Gannon’s grin widened. “No.”

  There was no need to ask Gannon what he would be doing while he was in Santa Fe. Mercury knew it had nothing to do with taking in the sights...unless you counted some woman’s bedroom as something to see.

  Over forty years ago, Drew Steele had taken his small trucking company and turned it into a million-dollar industry with routes all over the United States. When Drew retired, Gannon had taken over the company as CEO. Gannon enjoyed getting behind the rig himself on occasion and Mercury and his brothers knew why.

  “So, what’s this I hear about you agreeing to be on the cover of Chloe’s magazine?” Mercury asked Gannon. Chloe Westmoreland was someone they considered a cousin-in-law since she was married to Ramsey Westmoreland, who was a cousin to Quade.

  Mercury wasn’t sure how it was possible, but Gannon’s smile got even wider. “I guess Quade told you about that, uh? You know what they say. If you got it, you might as well flaunt it.”

  And Mercury knew Gannon was convinced he had it. “Whatever.”

  Suddenly the smile disappeared from Gannon’s face. “And speaking of Quade, is his firm checking out that business with Sloan?”

  “I told you guys last week that I was pulling him in to check out some things for me.”

  “Yes, and you also said you would be hanging around Sloan more, too, but you haven’t been doing it.”

  Mercury frowned. “I didn’t need to. I have a friend who works for Homeland Security constantly checking the airline database. Cunningham left Phoenix, and if Sloan’s father shows up in town, I’ll know it before his plane lands.” He then lifted a brow. “And how do you know what I’ve been doing or not doing with regard to Sloan?”

  “Because I just left her place and she said she hadn’t seen you since Friday, the day she moved into her apartment.”

  Mercury’s frown deepened. “What do you mean, you just left Sloan’s place? Why were you there?”

  Now the smile returned to Gannon’s face. A slight one, but one just the same, and it was enough to let Mercury know the last thing he should have done was lose his cool at the thought of Gannon visiting Sloan.