The Millionaire Affair (Love in the Balance 3)

“Right,” he said, his brother’s sarcasm apparently contagious. “Because timing could have cleared all this up.”

Kimber picked that moment to step into the kitchen. She wore a white sleeveless shirt showcasing her toned, slender arms and a pair of cotton shorts revealing way more of her luscious legs than he wanted Evan seeing. She ran a hand through her damp, freshly showered hair and a memory lit his brain. Kimber beneath him, arms pinned over her head, face flushed, mouth open in a sensual sigh.

He’d have to see about adding to that list.

“You look refreshed,” Evan told her.

After his boneheaded brother left.

She offered a light punch on Evan’s arm as she passed by, eyeing Landon through her lashes. “Have one of those for me?”

“Sure.” He reached for the cabinet, using the excuse to send Evan a telepathic message to give them a minute. But Evan was already backing out of the kitchen, palms raised as he mouthed the words “Good luck.”

Landon got to work on Kimber’s coffee while she leaned against the counter and studied her sneakers. “You don’t have to feel strange about paying me.”

He pressed his lips together. “You heard.”

She shook her head. “I’m not going to be weird about it. It’s fine. It’s good.”

The television in the other room was tuned to cartoons. Zany, silly sounds punctuated by Lyon’s and Evan’s laughter assured him they weren’t being overheard. He stepped closer to Kimber, using whatever excuse he could to be close to her again. A voice in his head warned that wasn’t advised. He ignored it.

“How are you feeling today?” He laid a kiss onto her temple, hiding the smile he couldn’t keep off his face.

She turned her head and spoke into his ear. “Amazing.”

Gooseflesh erupted on his arms. Hands he didn’t remember grasping her with tightened their hold on her body.

“Landon,” she said on a soft giggle. “Not now,” she whispered.

He looked into her eyes, lowered his lips to hers for a silent kiss, then forced himself to back away. He handed over her coffee. She sipped. What had she meant by not now? Because the second his brother was out of here, he wouldn’t mind taking her straight back to bed.

He stifled a yawn. After another espresso.

“What are you doing tonight?” As soon as it was out, he had to fight to keep from retracting his question. He’d meant to play it cool, not ask her out within sixty seconds of laying eyes on her. What the hell?

“What do you mean?”

Her question did nothing to answer his, and put him at a disadvantage if he answered first. What if she didn’t want him again so soon? In an attempt to be coy, he lowered his lips to her ear. “What do you think I mean?”

When he pulled away, she was smiling, looking shy and beautiful and damn, she smelled good. He made a mental note to keep her stocked in cucumber body products for as long as this thing between them lasted.

“I think I’d like that,” she said.

She thought? “You think?” he repeated, feeling wounded. What. The. Hell.

“What do you think?” she parroted his words back to him, again giving him absolutely nothing to go on.

What did he think? He thought he’d like to see her out of those clothes within the hour. He thought he’d like to get her out of this penthouse and buy her a vintage or custom-made dress of her choosing. He thought he’d like to see her smiling at him over a candlelit table in the corner of an Italian restaurant.

“I think we should make some headway on the list,” he said instead. “I hate unfinished business.”

“What number did we do last?”

He blurted out the truth before he could stop himself. “Four.”

Lips on the edge of her mug, she lifted an amber brow. “Is five what you had in mind tonight?”

And then some. “I thought I’d feed you first. How’s dinner sound?”

“Far away,” she murmured, sipping her coffee.

He couldn’t read her expression. Did she not want to wait? Or was she simply responding to fill the air?

“And then, number five,” he added, trying to keep things light. Suddenly he was worried she might turn him down, adding to the melee of confusion circling his brain this morning. He really should have gotten more sleep.

Her smile undid him, sparking his attraction for her into a full-blown forest fire. “I’m going to have to see this list.”

“I’ll e-mail it to you.”