He didn’t budge, his body seemingly fixed in place as he watched her approach, a telltale pulse ticcing in his jaw as he no doubt worked to gauge her intent.
He didn’t have to wait long, not in this confined space.
Once she was within touching distance she reached out, her fingers hooking over his belt buckle with daring provocation. The move bold and quite unlike her. Yet it felt completely natural, instinctive with him, as did the words that slipped from her lips. ‘Unless, of course, you don’t fancy a bit of fun together?’
CHAPTER THREE
A DATE?
She wasn’t simply asking for a date.
She was asking for a whole lot more.
So why wasn’t he straight on it? Why was okay suddenly so hard to say?
He narrowed his gaze, searching her face, looking at those steely grey eyes, all smoky with suggestion, her head tilted to one side.
Had he imagined her earlier vulnerability? Had she been playing him with that unexpected confession? But to what end? It was hardly the greatest come-on—Hey, I’m shit in bed—but then, perhaps that had been her game, to put him off. Only it had failed. Their chemistry was off the charts and she screamed of a woman in need of some fun. He suspected she’d not indulged since Charles had done away with her.
She toyed with his buckle, her eyes locked with his. ‘One date.’
And then he watched her lashes lower, her eyes travelling down his chest as her free hand came up to rest over his thundering heart, the heat of her palm permeating through his sweatshirt and rendering him speechless, utterly captivated. What would she do next?
‘One...’ she lifted her gaze, her eyes almost black as the pupils drowned out the grey, her enunciation bold as she leaned closer ‘...night.’
A night—for fuck’s sake, grow a pair: you want her, she’s offering.
But he didn’t do emotion.
Not in his bed.
Not now.
Not ever.
And she blazed with emotion.
And didn’t that make her appeal all the more? Make her different. Make her special. Make her interesting.
She lifted onto tiptoes, her lips coming up to caress against his own as she said, ‘Let me know when you’ve made up your mind.’
And then she turned and headed for the door so quickly he was left in a shroud of her vanilla scent, and so confidently he was left seriously doubting the emotion he’d read in her earlier.
This woman—vulnerable?
He looked to the teasing sway of her hips snug beneath the trouser suit, the sureness of that walk on those steep stilettos, the entire motion purposefully provocative on her part, and he realised he had to have been an idiot. There was no way.
Ja, he’d been played, all right, and he didn’t care what her intent had been, only what effect her luscious body was having on him right that second.
‘You’re on,’ he said, striding after her, his hand reaching on impulse to settle in the small of her back and making his palm tingle with the possessive contact. His eyes narrowed on the touch—how strange.
‘It’ll be the perfect opportunity for us to discuss what I need to without Julia in earshot,’ he said, drawing back his senses, telling himself the reason he’d given her made the perfect excuse to keep such a get-together platonic. If that was what he needed to do, what he had to do, to protect himself, to protect her.
‘So, it wasn’t just a ruse, you do have something you want to discuss?’ she asked, her surprise evident and making him grin.
‘I never lie,’ he assured her, ‘no matter how much I want something...or someone.’
‘Glad to hear it.’ She returned his smile as she pulled open the front door and gestured for him to precede her out. ‘Are you free this evening?’