“Liar,” Emma taunts.
I sigh with frustration. “How did I get myself into this mess?”
Emma laughs. “Well, when a boy has a rocking body and a cute butt, and a girl has worn her vibrator down to a nub, sometimes—”
“Okay,” I say, cutting her off. “I get it. I have to go.”
“Good luck out there,” she quips.
“Thanks. I’m gonna need it.”
Chapter 7
Jade
I sit in the restaurant and stare at the plate of breakfast in front of me. I don’t even know why I heaped all this food onto my plate from the buffet. My stomach is still churning uneasily. Looks like I have to pass on the eggs and bacon, but the toast is probably safe. Maybe it can soak up some of the alcohol. Although I probably need to eat a whole loaf’s worth of bread to do that.
The moment I take a bite, Luke lowers himself into the seat across from me. The sight of him does nothing to calm my queasy stomach. His hair is wet from his shower, and instead of looking rough, he looks drop-dead gorgeous. My mouth goes dry, making it difficult to chew the toast. His expression is unreadable and I feel my cheeks flush with warmth.
“Good morning, Jade.”
“Morning,” I mutter, feeling extremely self-conscious. I force myself to look at him calmly. I knew I’d have to see him again today, but I hoped to delay it until I felt more like myself. But the dreaded confrontation is happening now. There’s no getting around it. No getting around him. I might as well face him now and find out what the fallout from our drunken tryst would be.
Overwhelmed by his smoldering blue eyes, I swallow my toast and nearly choke. I gulp down some coffee. Last night hasn’t changed anything for me. I still find him incredibly hot, maybe even more so. No matter what happened before or what would happen in the future, he’s still the sexiest freaking man I’ve ever seen. I take a gulp of coffee.
He speaks first, “About last night—”
I swallow the coffee in a rush and interrupt him. I have to. I’m too nervous about what he will say. Afraid he will say he wants me gone. “Luke, stop. It’s okay, you don’t have to worry. I just want to forget about last night. We were both very drunk. I can barely remember what we did, anyway. Can we just pretend it never happened? Is that okay?”
Luke gazes at me, confident and unashamed. “Is that what you want?”
I can’t tell whether he’s upset or relieved so I plough on, “Yes. It’s what I want.”
“Too bad,” he says firmly.
His answer startles me. “What?”
“I can’t pretend it never happened,” he says. “And I don’t want to forget about it.” He leans forward intently and pins me with his sapphire eyes. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I woke up this morning. It’s a shame you were already gone.”
I shake my head. “You don’t think it was a mistake?”
“The only mistake I made was not seeing how beautiful you are sooner.”
My breath catches in my throat. Does he really mean it? I find it hard to believe. Maybe he’s just trying to smooth things over with me. He regrets what happened, but doesn’t want things to be awkward between us.
I imagine that as soon as we land in America, he’ll distance himself from me. Maybe I’ll get transferred to another department in the company. Maybe he’ll fire me. I need to fix this myself before things get out of hand. “Listen, Luke,” I say. “We were drunk. We didn’t know what we were doing.”
“I was drunk, yes. But the most intoxicating thing last night was the touch of your lips on mine.”
Holy shit.
Warmth floods my body, and butterflies take flight in my stomach. I’m dizzy. My whole world is spinning.
“I knew exactly what I was doing last night,” he says. “And I know exactly what I want to do to you again. I know you want it, too.”
I open my mouth to deny it, but the words don’t come. He’s right. I desperately want him. I could quite easily let him take me right now. But I’m afraid. He awakens feelings inside of me that I can’t control. It’s thrilling and terrifying, all at the same time.
That’s Luke Remington in a nutshell.
The very thing that makes him so sexy is the same thing that makes him so intimidating. He’s sexy and powerful, dominant and cocky, unstoppable and irresistible. He’s like a force of nature, sweeping me up in his strength. I feel powerless against him. Still, I have to try and resist. “Luke,” I say, shaking my head. “I think you were right all along. We shouldn’t have mixed business and pleasure. I don’t know if I can be as professional as I was while we are sleeping together. I’m worried that I’ll screw up and disappoint you. If we put this little hiccup behind us now, maybe then things will to go back to normal between us.”