It Was Only a Kiss

‘You arrogant, snotty child!’ He deliberately kept his voice even, knowing that harsh words delivered coldly had more of an effect than ranting and raving. ‘How dare you walk into my company and my office and presume to tell me what to do with my business and how to do it? Who the hell do you think you are?’ he suddenly roared, and Jess winced as his words bounced off the walls.

Jess lifted up her hands and he noticed that she didn’t look particularly scared. Hell, she didn’t look scared, period.

‘You don’t understand—’

‘What I understand is that you are a bright young thing who has always been told that she’s wonderful—clever and bright and talented. Pretty too. After so much unstinting admiration and affirmation, how could you think I wouldn’t want to hear the pearls of wisdom that fall so effortlessly from your lips?’

Jess jumped to her feet. ‘Luke, I—’

‘It’s Mr Savage to you! I’m your boss, not your friend! If you want to get anywhere you’d better bloody learn some humility and some respect! I have my own MBA, sunshine, and I’ve run a successful company for years. I have put in the sweat and tears and the work to earn the right to have an opinion. You haven’t!’

‘Stop yelling at me!’

Luke looked at her and shook his head. A part of him—okay, all his boy bits—thought she looked magnificent, with her heaving chest and wild eyes, fury staining her high cheekbones like the rasp of a lover’s beard. She looked furious, but not intimidated, and a part of him had to admire her courage.

A very small part of him.

‘It’s not my fault your marketing plan sucks! I’m just telling you that the St Sylve vineyard will suffer if you do not adjust your strategy!’

‘Because you say so?’

‘Yes! Because I’m damn good at this. I just know it won’t work!’

Luke rubbed a hand over his chin. ‘So, now you have a crystal ball as well? Can you tell me if I’m going to get skinned in my divorce or whether the price of oil will drop?’

‘Of course you will get skinned—that’s what happens when you marry a gold-digger! And, no, the oil price is going to keep climbing. The markets are too unstable at the moment to allow a drop,’ Jess replied.

Luke could not believe that she hadn’t picked up his sarcasm. ‘For someone who’s only been here a couple of months, you seem to be firmly plugged in to vineyard gossip.’

Jess sent him a cheeky grin. ‘Thank you.’

‘It wasn’t a compliment.’

‘I know.’

He was going to kill her. Luke stalked around the desk and gripped her slim shoulders with his much bigger hands. ‘I’m not sure whether to strangle you or smack you.’

Jess tossed her head of honey-coloured curls and looked up at him with bold and defiant brown eyes. A brown so deep it could almost be black.

‘You’re not the type to hit a woman.’ Jess lifted one shoulder and sent him a look that was as powerful as it was ageless. ‘And you’re just annoyed because you know I’m right.’

‘Annoyed? I’m way past annoyed and on my way to incandescently livid.’

Under his hands Jess lifted her shoulders. ‘But why? I’m just telling the truth.’

He was exasperated at her cheek, but he was even more furious because she had his blood pressure spiking and his pants jumping.

‘You are cheeky, conceited, smug and vain,’ Luke muttered as his lips edged their way down to hers. He could see the challenge in those eyes that held his...and as well as not tolerating failure, he also never backed away from a challenge.

Jess tipped her chin up and he could feel her breath on his lips. She felt slight and feminine in his arms, and while he knew that he was playing with fire he couldn’t let her go.

‘Then why are you going to kiss me?’

‘Because it’s either that or put you over my knee,’ Luke growled.

‘But you don’t like me,’ Jess stated.

‘God, how old are you? Attraction has nothing to do with liking someone.’

‘It should.’

‘You’re naïve.’

‘Kissing me would be a mistake,’ Jess whispered even as her lips lifted to his.

‘Too damn late.’

Electricity arced and thunder rolled as he yanked her slim frame into his solid chest, burrowing his hands into her hair to move her head so that he could deepen the angle of the kiss, could touch every corner of her sexy mouth with his tongue. His hand dropped to her lower back and he pulled her against him. His stomach swooped when he felt her hips against his, her small hands sneaking under his shirt to feel the skin of his back and shoulders.