Entice Me (Stark Trilogy #3.11)
J. Kenner
About the Book
I didn’t understand passion until I met Damien, the man who turned my world upside down and swept me off my feet.
And though our life together feels perfect, we can’t escape our secrets – and the danger that continually threatens to surface.
But for one night, I seek a respite. A birthday wish for my husband, my lover, my friend – one absolutely perfect night.
It is my most ardent wish.
And I only hope that it will come true . . .
Find out how it all began for Nikki and Damien in J. Kenner’s hot and addictive bestselling Stark series: Release Me, Claim Me, Complete Me, Take Me, Have Me, Play My Game, Seduce Me, Unwrap Me and Deepest Kiss.
Return to the smoking hot Stark world with the Stark International trilogy: Say My Name, On My Knees, Under My Skin and Take My Dare, is the explosively emotional story of Jackson Steele and Sylvia Brooks.
Don’t miss J. Kenner’s sizzling Most Wanted series of three enigmatic and powerful men, and the striking women who can bring them to their knees: Wanted, Heated and Ignited.
Chapter One
“Dinner and a movie just isn’t going to cut it,” I say to Rachel Peters, my husband’s executive assistant. We’re on the fifty-seventh floor of Stark Tower, which is divided in half between the residence and the penthouse office suite. I’d been working in the apartment living room on my laptop while Damien took a phone call, but I’d slipped over to the office side specifically to enlist Rachel’s help.
Her mouth twists, and she glances down at the print-out of Damien’s agenda that shows both his personal and professional appointments. “Considering you’re planning Mr. Stark’s birthday, I’m going to assume that movie is a euphemism for something much more entertaining.”
I roll my eyes. Yes, Rachel has become a good friend over the last few months. And, yes, I’ve become comfortable using corporate resources such as the limo without going through Damien. But that doesn’t mean I think that having Rachel help me plan a night of unbridled sex with her boss would be a fair use of corporate resources. “Assume whatever you want,” I say. “But what I need help pulling off doesn’t involve that kind of entertainment.” I bat my eyes innocently. “Believe me. I have the extracurricular part of the equation covered.”
She presses her lips together in what I can only assume is an attempt to hold back a full-on laugh. “I bet you do,” she finally says. “Okay, so just tell me what you need and I’ll make it happen. But tell me fast. His car’s going to be downstairs soon.”
“We should have at least five more minutes,” I say. “He was still packing his overnight bag when I left.” Damien’s flying to New York tonight, hitting a couple of meetings about Stark International’s acquisition of a biomedical research facility in the morning, then returning to LA tomorrow just in time for cocktails with a tech genius he’s been courting to head up a new division of Stark Applied Technology.
Damien had suggested that I join him on the trip, offering to reschedule the cocktails so that we could spend a long weekend in Manhattan. I turned him down, reminding him that I’m in the thick of putting together a key proposal for a corporate account.
That’s not entirely a lie. I do have a corporate proposal on my desk. I’ve been working my tail off to build my web and mobile app development business, and if I win this new client, my clout in the industry will grow exponentially. So Damien knows I’ve been working almost non-stop on it.
What he doesn’t know is that I’m taking a little break from it while I plan Damien’s birthday extravaganza.
“A surprise party?” Rachel repeats when I tell her what I have in mind. “Are you sure?”
“You don’t like it?”
“Are you kidding? I love it. I just don’t see how you’ll be able to keep it a secret. I mean, I have a few friends who wouldn’t have a problem at all because their husbands are basically clueless. But Mr. Stark notices everything. And where you’re concerned, he notices everything and then some. You really think you can do it?”
“Absolutely,” I say, though I’m not sure at all, because the truth is, Rachel’s right. But I want to do this. It feels right. And certainly more meaningful than a gift, because what the hell can you get a man who can buy anything he wants on a whim?
I tell Rachel as much, and she nods. “It’s a good point. I mean, the man bought you an island, didn’t he? It’s kind of hard to top that.”
“I did buy a really fancy watch that I had engraved, but that’s just so meh. I’m going to put it in his Christmas stocking.”
“It’s a nice gift, though.”
“I suppose. But what I want to give him is a celebration. Not just of his birthday, but of everything we have together.”
When we’d said “I do,” we’d both believed that we were setting out on the journey alone. After all, his father is a reprehensible man whom Damien disowned, and my mother is a controlling self-centered bitch whom I try to keep out of my head at all times. As far as we were concerned, our family consisted of exactly two people—me and Damien.
But nothing ever goes the way you expect it, and now Damien is close with Jackson Steele, the half-brother he never knew he had, and Jackson’s wife Sylvia is not only Damien’s former assistant, but has become one of my closest friends. They have two adorable kids, and Damien and I couldn’t be happier spoiling our niece and nephew. In other words, in the blink of an eye, our family portrait went from two to six.