A Man Without Mercy

Not that she’d entirely reverted to the old Vivienne, the one who’d been taken in by the likes of Daryl. That seriously pathetic creature was gone for good!

‘So, what do you think of the bathroom?’ Jack went on.

‘What? Oh yes, the bathroom. It’s seriously awful.’

Jack chuckled. ‘Wait till you see the others. The worst is all brown with a yucky olive-green spa bath in the corner.’

‘Good Lord.’

‘The kitchens are slightly better, as long as you like pine. Speaking of kitchens, that’s where I left the food. I’m afraid it’s just hamburgers, fries and Coke—but I figured, who doesn’t like hamburgers, fries and Coke?’

Once again, he didn’t wait for her to reply, just took her hand and led her from the bathroom, out through the bedroom and down a short hallway into a large country-style kitchen where, yes, pine was the order of the day. There were pine cupboards as well as pine benchtops, and three pine stools lined up at the pine breakfast bar. Not that it mattered. Vivienne felt pretty sure that Jack would want the whole interior of this house stripped bare and totally redone.

‘Have a seat,’ Jack said, pulling out a pine stool for her before picking up one of the others and carrying it round to the other side.

When she frowned at his action, he smiled over at her. ‘Have to keep my distance till I’ve eaten,’ he said. ‘I can’t think about sex and eat at the same time, and every time I get close to you, beautiful, I think about sex.’

Vivienne could not help feeling flattered by his remark, though his calling her beautiful all the time was beginning to grate. ‘I find that hard to believe,’ she said somewhat tartly.

His smile widened. ‘Come now, Vivienne, you don’t fool me for a minute with that act of yours. Now, eat up and stop pretending you don’t want to get back to bed as quickly as I do.’

Vivienne opened her mouth to say something more, then closed it again. Because Jack was right. There was no point in denying it. No point in saying anything at all! So she reached for the food and started eating.

Neither of them spoke as they each consumed their hamburger, which was more delicious than any hamburger Vivienne had ever eaten—king-sized and truly mouthwatering, with the kind of ingredients you only got at a small café. The fries weren’t half bad, either—golden and crispy with just the right amount of salt. As for the Coke... Vivienne sighed with pleasure as she washed the meal down with her favourite drink. The only fault she could find was that Jack hadn’t bought Diet Coke, opting instead for the full-strength variety.

‘Do you realise how much sugar is contained in this one small bottle?’ Vivienne said after downing all of it.

‘Not enough to send a rocket to the moon,’ Jack replied. ‘But enough to spark lift-off in yours truly,’ he added with the wickedest smile, his blue eyes glittering with sexual intent at the same time.

Vivienne struggled to act cool under an immediate quickening of her heart. Although she wasn’t about to play hard to get—it was a little late for that—she didn’t want to appear too easy. Or too eager.

‘I thought you’d give me the grand tour of the house first,’ she said, casually picking up one of the paper serviettes which came with the meal and dabbing at the corners of her mouth.

‘Then you thought wrong,’ he said.

Vivienne glowered at him. This was why she’d never liked working for Jack. He was far too bossy. It was always his way or the highway. She used to have to put up with it when she was an employee of Classic Design. But she didn’t have to put up with it now.

‘Don’t I have any say in the matter?’ she asked with a toss of her head.

He looked taken aback for a second. But then he smiled. ‘Of course you do. Far be it from me to force you to do anything you didn’t want to do. I have too much respect for you for that. So which would you rather do, Vivienne? Look around this house for a dreary hour or so, or go have some more fantastic fun in bed?’

Vivienne sighed. ‘You are a clever, conniving devil, do you know that?’

He grinned. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘Then you’d be wrong!’

‘You mean you’re opting for the grand tour?’

She shook her head at him. ‘You know I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I’ll always do whatever you want.’

‘Are you sure about that?’

She wasn’t. But no way was she going to admit it. ‘The trouble with you, Jack Stone, is you are way too used to getting your own way.’