The Room - A Sensuous Experience

company. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for anything else.”
Robyn pressed her lips together. The sound of her voice was barely a whisper. “That is something we can agree on.”
The tone of his voice dipped low. “I’m sure I can think of a couple more things where we might agree, or at the very least could enjoy.”
Robyn had no doubt about that. She both wanted and didn’t want to take the bait. Again, she decided to focus on the familiar. Safer ground, Robyn. Take this conversation back to safer ground. “This is the formal dining room. I chose the mahogany wood furniture in here to warm the room up a bit.”
He chuckled. “Okay, I’ll play along since we’re back to pretending I give a damn about seeing these rooms and the things in them.” Maxwell was doing his best to be patient and not rush anything but was failing miserably. He tried to focus on her every movement which only served to make matter worse.
As he studied her, the way she used her hands when she spoke, the little tilt of her head as Robyn explained the intricacies of a design, the way her eyes sparkled as she talked about each piece of furniture and why it was selected for a particular part of the house, it aroused him. He wanted those hands all over him. They were wasted on anything else.
She explained the different reasonings behind the decor, but Maxwell barely heard a word as she showed him around. He really didn’t care. The entire purpose for even being at this party was because he knew she would be here.
Maxwell made Robyn nervous, and that was why Robyn tried to focus on her work. Talking about it always calmed her nerves. Frustrated, by her own response to him, she raked her fingers through her hair. “What exactly is it you want from me?”
He slowly dragged his eyes from the floor to the sexiness of her legs. Then, he continued to peruse her body only to pause at the juncture between her thighs. His eyes rested there for a few moments before slowly continuing their journey upward.
As his gaze rested on the fullness of her breasts, Maxwell ran his tongue across his bottom lip. He’d give up a kidney for just a taste. After taking his sweet time admiring her, he finally managed to make eye contact. His voice was husky. “The honest answer or the politically correct one?”
He’d undressed her with his eyes, and Robyn didn’t want to admit the fact that she liked it. She bit her lower lip. He didn’t even try to hide the heat in his gaze. She was not ready for this man or this moment. He rattled her and Robyn didn’t like feeling out of control. Back away from the ledge. The man is going to have you jumping to your death. Change. The. Subject. “Tell me about your company?”
Maxwell understood what she was trying to do. For now, he allowed it. It would give him a moment to get himself under control. The pull between them was strong—much stronger than he’d anticipated at this stage. He felt it and knew that she did too. But too much too soon could ruin everything. Instead of pulling her into his arms and kissing her until her knees buckled, Maxwell responded matter-of-factly. “I’m a shark. I find small companies who are developing cutting edge technologies, and depending on how far along they are in the process, I buy them before anyone else.”
“That sounds . . . risky.”
He nodded. “It can be. Especially if the companies don’t want to sell.” He flashed his mega-watt smile. “But . . . I’ve been told that I can be very charming and convincing when I want to be.”
She didn’t mean to, but she let her guard down just a little as she attempted to hide her smile. “I would say modest too.” His energy was contagious.
He laughed. “I haven’t been accused of that in a while.”
“If you’re calling yourself a shark, I would assume you’re probably not ever modest, so I would assume no one would tell you that. According to Eva, you’re here with all the important people in the Technology World, so you must be good at what you do.”
“According to Eva? You never looked me up?”
Robyn stood frozen. “Why does it feel as if you’re fishing for compliments, Mr. Bryant?”
His head tilted ever so slightly. “Just curious.”
“Well . . .” Robyn looked around the room but not at him. She said the first thing that popped into her mind. “Do you know anything about that IPO that is being launched?”
Maxwell not only knew but had everything to do with the IPO. It was his. “I might have a little something to do with it.”
“That’s really impressive. I gather from the snippets of conversations I’ve heard tonight that it’s expected to do very well. I hope everything works out with it.”
“Expectations are always good, but not everything turns out the way I hope.” His gaze penetrated her soul. This one wasn’t filled with lust, but more like he was searching for something within the depths of her eyes.
Robyn turned away, not sure if he found what he was looking for.
The warmth of his words floated over her. “Fortunately, I think my luck is changing.”
She felt the hairs on her body stand up. Robyn had been trying to keep the conversation light but no matter where she steered it, they always seemed to be talking about something other than the topic at hand.
Robyn felt the need to try again. “You’ve seen the lower level. I