‘Don’t get your hopes up,’ she said swiftly. ‘I’ll talk to her, perhaps over lunch, and if she says she’s not interested, she’s my client—what she says goes.’
‘I have no doubt you’ll convince her,’ he said, his attention pulled away by the gentle whir of the window rolling down behind him.
‘Come on, people,’ Julia exclaimed over it. ‘I’m dying of excitement here.’
‘Keep your hair on,’ he teased, his good humour coming to the fore as he reached through the window to roughly caress his sister’s head.
‘Touch my hair again, Daniel, and you’ll lose a finger.’
‘Which one? I’m particularly fond of—’
The window started back up, her face creased into a severe scowl. He started to laugh, his eyes dancing as they returned to Zara and she lost sight of everything, including how to breathe. His laughter kicking up a frenzy as it reached into her belly, his eyes so alive, so sexy, so captivating. She trapped the sensation in her gut, trying to douse the sudden ache.
And he read her reaction, his amusement trailing off, his eyes heating, regret creasing at his brow. ‘There are so many things I’d rather be doing right now, but duty calls.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really...you, for one.’
She gave a sharp intake of breath, her body tightening over the thrill of his blatant remark. ‘And what of work?’ she blustered. ‘Don’t you have more pressing matters that you should be tending to there?’
‘Not until she’s sorted.’
‘Uh-huh.’ She nodded, but she was barely aware of what they were discussing now, her body still dancing
over his, ‘You, for one.’
He stepped past her and headed to the front of the vehicle, leaving her eyes to trail after him, helplessly devouring the way his dark jeans and charcoal sweater fitted him to perfection. Surely this burning anticipation should’ve been well snuffed out by last night’s antics, not rising ever higher. It should’ve been setting off alarm bells too. Instead she was getting high on it, thriving on the mutual desire coursing between them.
EJ’s words seared her mind—‘Get back in the field.’
Hell, she was already there, naked and waiting as far as he was concerned.
The driver’s door swung open before he reached it, a chauffeur in full-on livery stepping out. ‘Sir,’ he greeted, nodding respectfully in her direction too.
She gave him a smile and hugged her bag to her chest, regulating her breathing and trying to remember, no matter how high she wished to put Sexy Big Brother on her priority list, work still came first.
‘Ms Anders has kindly pulled this schedule together for you, Peters.’ He flicked her a glance and her breath caught mid-regulation, hanging in her throat until his eyes released her and the air with it.
‘Very well, sir.’ Peters took the sheet from him and made to move off. ‘I’ll just get the door for—’
‘No need.’ Daniel stopped him with a grin and raised palm. ‘I can let us in.’
‘Of course, sir.’ His driver nodded and as he climbed back inside, Daniel headed back towards her.
‘Shall we?’ he said, his hand closing over the door handle. ‘That’s if I can remember how to use one of these...’
She laughed. ‘Doors can be quite complicated, by all accounts.’
He pulled it open. ‘You’re telling me. Wait until I introduce you to my Vantage.’
‘Your Vantage?’ she repeated softly—she knew what a Vantage was, had hankered after one herself, but that wasn’t what had a question mark hanging on the end of her words. No, it was what he’d meant by it. Was it his way of saying that he expected there to be future outings together, alone, outside business? Outside their arrangement?
Even though neither of them had confirmed it out loud, was it a done deal? Were they now—dating?
Excitement swelled. The fear that had stopped her from wanting more initially now taking a back seat as hope bloomed. Hope that, despite her first impressions, he really could be the perfect package. Nothing like Charles at all. The way he’d worshipped her body from head to toe, he’d made her feel like a goddess, not like a boy dressed up, not as Charles had made her feel, when he’d tried gifting her bigger boobs every Christmas and birthday they’d spent as a couple.
She shuddered with the unwelcome memory and honed her focus on the warm amber depths now staring down into her expectantly.