Villain (Hero 1.50)

As if he’d sensed my thoughts, he flashed me a grin. “I could’ve taken you to a fancy restaurant but I wanted to enjoy my lunch with you. And this here is the best damn pizza and ice cream place in Boston.”

Relieved, I followed him inside. “You like pizza?”

His brows drew together. “Is there a person alive who doesn’t?”

“Fair enough.”

We were seated at a small table; I sat on the red leather banquette that stretched the entire length of the restaurant and Henry across from me in a black wrought-iron chair. I suddenly found I didn’t know what to say or do now that we’d put our attraction out in the open.

Henry, however, never seemed to be uncomfortable with any situation. “So what made you want to be a meteorologist?”

“Um…” I stared at him, confused. “Are we really going to do the ‘getting to know you’ thing?”

“What else are we going to do? Sit here and stare at each other? I could do that because the view is spectacular but I’ve always found a view gets even more beautiful when you know a little something about it.”

“Do you always know the right thing to say?”

He smiled. “I asked a question first.”

I sighed. “Fine. I grew up in Connecticut, a small town, and one day for career day in junior high, a broadcast meteorologist from the local station came to talk to us about her work. She was smart and glamorous and she was very kind to me.” I gave him a wry, somewhat embarrassed smile as I admitted, “I was a chubby, awkward kid. Not very popular. Everyone else was clambering for her attention. But she picked me out and showed me how her job worked. I fell in love with it right there and then.”

“One moment of kindness can change everything.”

“Kindness costs nothing and yet it’s worth everything.”

His answering look was too soft, too tender.

And thankfully the waiter came to take our order at the right moment.

When he was gone, I changed the subject. “And you? Do you like working for your father’s bank?”

“I do. I’m a managing director so I’m responsible for bringing in revenue. It means wining and dining clients, traveling a lot. It suits my personality.”

“I’ll bet it does.” He was the perfect salesman—no smarm, just natural charm. “And did you become a managing director right out of college?”

“No. My father is grooming me to take over as COO shortly. He’s been grooming me forever. I went into the bank after college as a junior analyst. Worked up to senior analyst, then to VP, then to director, and then to managing director. My father wanted me to understand how the business functions at every level. Well, not every level. He didn’t start me in the mailroom.”

“That’s smart.” I was impressed he’d worked his way up through the ranks, even if it wasn’t from the mailroom. “And you genuinely like it? You wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else with your life?”

Henry grinned at me. “I’m not a cliché, Nadia. I’m not a poor little rich boy with a woe-me story of familial pressure and suppressed passions. I have a good family, a blessed life, and a job I like and can depend on.”

I nodded, wishing it weren’t rare to come across someone who was so content with their life.

“I thought you weren’t interested in the whole getting-to-know-each-other thing?”

I rolled my eyes at his teasing. “I’m naturally a curious person. Don’t get a big head about it.”

“Curious, you say?” He raised an eyebrow, and I saw the sexual speculation in his gaze.

“One night, Henry. Not a lot of time to indulge my curiosity.”

The blue in his eyes appeared to darken, to smolder. “It’s time enough.”

Arousal had deepened his voice and suddenly I was imagining all the things I’d like him to do. Lust shot through me, shocking the heck out of me. My breath stuttered and I even felt my nipples peak against my shirt.

Shit.

The pizza arrived, cutting through the tension-filled moment.

I stared down at the yummy-smelling plate, looking forward to tasting pizza that was famous for its charred crust.

“Nadia?”

Reluctantly, for I feared what looking at him would do to me, I lifted my eyes.

Henry stared at me like he wanted to devour me instead of the pizza. “The way you say my name gets me extremely hard, so you might not to want to say it in public too often.”

As turned on as his cheeky words made me, they also gave me a little of my equilibrium back. “And you, Henry, might not want to divulge your weaknesses to me.”

“Go ahead. Call me Henry. I’m perfectly comfortable walking around aroused in public. I just thought it might embarrass you.” He flashed me a mischievous grin before lifting a slice to his lips.

I tried not to laugh.

I did.

But damn, he made it difficult.

The sound of my laughter clearly delighted him, his answering smile big enough to light up Boston.

“How much time do you have?” Henry said in lieu of “hello” as I met him at reception on Thursday. I was keeping up my end of the bargain and meeting him for lunch.

“Why?” I eyed him warily. Today he was dressed casually—instead of a suit, he wore a black, thin cashmere sweater with the sleeves pushed up his forearms, and slim-leg black trousers.

“Because I secured the afternoon off so I could spend it with you. Very difficult thing to do. You should feel honored.”

“And what if I didn’t have time to give you the entire afternoon?”

“Do you?”

“Maybe, but if I didn’t…?”

He grinned. “I’d convince you that what I have planned is better than whatever you have planned.”

“What if what I have planned is sex with an exotic stranger?”

We stepped into the elevator and Henry pressed his hands to his chest dramatically. “Oh how she wounds me.”

I laughed at his antics. “Okay. So what did you want to do?”

“Well…” he drew it out, waiting until we stepped out of the elevator, “if I recall, you told me on Tuesday that you hadn’t toured Boston since coming to live here. Correct?”

“Correct.”

Henry reached inside the back pocket of his trousers and produced two tickets. “Hop On, Hop Off, Red.”

It was difficult for me to admit, but the man was continually surprising me. “A bus tour?”

“Not just any bus tour. You pay practically nothing for the whole day and you get off and on at whichever stops you want. It’s genius.”

I snorted. “I would’ve thought you’d want to tour in style. You seem the type.”

“That’s your problem.” He tapped my nose playfully. “You see me all wrong.”

“Hmm,” I said, letting him know I wasn’t convinced by his sincerity. “I’ll need to change into something more comfortable.”

“We can stop off at your apartment.”

“If we’re doing that, we might as well have sex and be done with this.”

He wrinkled his nose, seeming to consider it, and then he shook his head. “Nah. I like my plan.”

“You’re seriously giving up the chance at sex for a bus tour?”

“Yes.” He put his hand on my lower back and led me around to the passenger side of his car. That innocent touch made my blood heat.

Why wasn’t it affecting him as much, dammit?

I glower

ed at him and he gave a bark of laughter as he got in the car. “I have had women pissed at me for fucking them and not calling them again. Never have I had a woman pissed at me for refusing to do just that.”

“I’m smarter than most women.”

Henry threw his head back in laughter. The gorgeous sound trickled away in the wind as we moved into traffic and I shook off the uneasy feeling that I was starting to like Henry Lexington.

And wasn’t it a clusterfuck to like a man but not trust him.

* * *

“You had fun, right?” Henry’s eyes were filled with laughter.

We were currently sitting in Carrie Nation where I’d ordered the biggest burger along with the biggest cocktail. It wasn’t the first time I’d been there. A date once brought me here and we sat in the intimate speakeasy section. Very nice atmosphere for a first date. If your date didn’t spend the entire night talking to your breasts.

Thankfully, Henry was being a gentleman and he wasn’t looking at my breasts, even though my shirt was soaked.

As was every inch of me.

I’d tried to dry as much of myself as I could under the hand dryer in the bathroom. I should’ve insisted on going home but Henry thought it was hilarious that we’d been doused in an unexpected rain shower after visiting the Old South Meeting House.

The cocktail bar and restaurant was a few minutes away. I hadn’t known where we were going when Henry grabbed my hand and started running.

The waiter had laughed at us when we came through the doors.

Henry was fine. Wet shirt and hair and somehow he looked more lickable than normal.

I looked like a drowned cat.

“Super fun.” He laughed at my deadpan tone. “Up until the rain, I mean.”

Actually it had been fun. I thought Henry would get bored half an hour into it, but he seemed to enjoy the tourist thing as much as I did.

“You knew all the stuff we learned already, though, right?”

He shrugged. “It’s good to get a refresher. Especially in such lovely company.”