Thi
nking about what they’d done together made heat break out on the back of his neck.
“Yeah. I’m seriously refusing. I let her run my event.”
“Which we did brilliantly,” Paige said, and he inclined his head.
“Which you did brilliantly. But that was your expertise. I draw the line on taking you on as a client. It would ruin a beautiful relationship. I don’t want to mess that up.” Except that he’d already messed it up. Or she had. He could no longer remember who was responsible for what had happened between them. The whole thing was a hot blur of chemistry and steamy moments.
“Nothing will get messed up. I don’t want anything complicated,” Paige said. “But maybe you can’t handle it.”
He wondered whether she was talking about the app or their relationship. “The complicated part isn’t the technology. I could put that together for you while drunk.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Why the hell was she asking? She knew what was wrong.
“I’ll talk to one of my team. Get them to work something up.”
Matt looked baffled. “Why don’t you do it yourself?”
Because things were getting complicated with Paige. It had only been a week, and already he felt unsettled. He never felt unsettled in relationships. His relationships were the one simple part of his life. “I don’t mix business and friendship—”
“You’re building her an app,” Matt said mildly, “not sleeping with her.”
Eva knocked her drink over, flooding the table, and Paige shot to her feet, long legs glistening with sticky liquid.
Frankie pushed a napkin in her direction, and Jake slid out of the booth before he could be tempted to lick it off her bare legs.
“I’ll build your damn app,” he muttered. “And Dani can find someone to help with receptionist duties until you’re on your feet.”
Paige brushed past him on her way to the restroom, and for a brief moment he felt the heat of her body against his.
Then she was gone, leaving him disorientated.
Holy shit.
He stood for a moment, wondering how he was going to unravel this.
Frankie, ever practical, had finished mopping the table, and Matt sat down again.
Jake saw Paige walk around the back of the restaurant and vanish toward the restrooms.
“I’ll get you another drink,” he said to Eva, and followed Paige.
He caught her before she could step through to the restroom, closed his hand around her arm and drew her outside into the narrow passageway that ran alongside the restaurant.
He pushed her against the wall, caging her.
“What are you doing? What’s wrong with you?” Her eyes widened. “You don’t need to build an app if you don’t want to. There’s no need to—”
“You’re driving me crazy.” He could smell her hair and the faint scent of her perfume. He wanted to strip off her clothes and kiss his way down her delectable body. Instead, he kissed her lips, hard, demanding and felt her moan against his mouth.
“Jake—”
He jammed his fingers into her hair, holding her head still for his kiss, feeling the bite of her nails in his shoulders as she kissed him back.
Far in the distance he heard the muffled sound of conversation and laughter, the scent of garlic mixing with the humid summer air, but out here there was nothing but the two of them.