“Some place you’ve got here,” he said, letting her off the hook with a grin that offered a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t dimple. “It’s got a good energy.”
Saskia leant her elbows back on the soft old wood and sighed. “I love it. Since uni it’s been my home away from home. They make the fattest, crunchiest fries on the planet and their coffee is the absolute best.”
“Only one thing—”
“What’s with the music?” she finished.
They both listened a moment to the dissonance of deep rumbling ABBA lyrics cranking out of the fuzzy old speakers.
“I think it’s meant to be ironic.”
“It’s terrible.”
Saskia’s teeth gripped the lip of her beer bottle as she grinned. “Yeah, I know. It’s a dive. The lead guitarist in the band is the owner’s nephew to whom he pays nothing. But I think there’d be a revolt if it ever changed.”
Nate’s eyes dipped to her mouth, then to her throat as she took a swig and swallowed. She tucked a foot onto the long metal footstand running around along the bottom of the bar and held on with all her might.
Nate’s eyes remained narrowed in her direction, his fingers tapping on the bar, as if he was deciding whether or not to say what was really on his mind. Then a muscle twitched in his jaw. “I’ve been meaning to call to thank you for coming to lunch with my family.”
“They were convinced?”
“Convinced I don’t deserve you.”
“I am rather adorable when I want to be.”
His mouth kicked at one corner again, but there was no humour in his eyes. Dark clouds had swirled in, taking too strong a hold. His hand lifted and he brushed a knuckle down her cheek. “I think you’re rather adorable even when you haven’t a clue.”
“Nate,” she said, in warning, or maybe in entreaty.
Either way, Nate lifted himself from the stool and moved around in front of her slowly, till she was trapped between the man and the bar, the heat of his skin sending her nerves into meltdown.
She tried to tell herself they’d done more than enough renegotiating. That friendship was all she wanted. That she feared the treasure behind the vault doors was too rich even for her.
But then his fingers slid beneath her hair and he bent down till his lips were a whisper away from hers. “I need to kiss you, Saskia. Right now.”
And before she knew it he was kissing her—as if his life depended on it. Her hands slid up the back of his jacket and her leg twined around his strong calves, till she disappeared into heat, desire and sumptuous sensation.
He pulled her to her feet. Her flat shoes landed on the sticky floor with a thump. And when his mouth moved to her ear, sweeping a shot of breath over the lobe, her knees all but gave out from under her. His arm was at her back, dragging her against his body, and his readiness, his need, had her biting her lip to stop from whimpering.
Then his voice, deep and insistent was at her ear. “I lied. I didn’t come here because of Bamford. I have not been able to stop thinking about you since last weekend. About your warmth, your sweetness, your glorious mouth. There’s this light inside of you, Saskia Bloom, and all I have to do is touch you and it burns me up right along with it.” He lifted away, just enough to take her face in both hands, look deep into her eyes and say, “I want you. And I’m not enough of a gentleman to pretend I don’t know you want me too. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Saskia’s eyes flicked between Nate’s, lured by his incessant heat. He wanted her. While her whole body throbbed from wanting him.
Yet a little voice in the back of her head whispered just loud enough to be heard above the rush of blood. He might want her now, but this was not a man who would ever wonder how he lived without her, which was ultimately what she wanted.
She licked her lips, and when he looked like he was coming back for seconds she put a hand to his chest. Fighting the urge to hook her finger through his shirt and lose herself in his kiss. In his everything.
“Nate?” she croaked.
“Yes, Saskia?’ he said, his voice not much clearer than hers.
“I’m not sure this is smart.”
“Screw smart.”
Her blood filled with liquid fire, meaning she had to gather every last shred of sanity she could find and said, “I’m not sure I have it in me. I finished high school a year early, I have first-class honours in Applied Mathematics; smart is my fallback position. And I think we should fall back.”
He fell back not an inch. In fact he might even have pressed a little closer. Close enough that the scent of him filled her nostrils and made her head spin.