Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

“Then, as my first client, I can offer you a substantial discount.”

Her head tilt was laced with suspicion. “What’s the catch?”

I want you to be mine.

His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow. Whoa. Easy there.

“Why would there be a catch?”

She stared at him intently, as if trying to get a read on him. He gulped again at the possibility she was using her psychic wiles to see into his head.

You don’t believe in that shit, remember?

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he insisted, “There is no catch. If you’re happy with my work, give me a good recommendation should anyone ever ask.”

Her gaze slid down again and his blood heated. Then she looked to the side and shrugged her slim shoulders. “I’ll think about it.”

What?

“What’s to think about?” Exasperation sharpened his voice.

Desperation was more like it. He wanted a yes, right now. He wanted her to take him in the back. Right. Now. So he could work on her numbers.

One orgasm, then two.

Her chin rose at his tone and she shot back, “Whether or not I want to deal with you being an ass on a regular basis, for one.”

The sudden urge to grin took him by surprise. He barely contained it as he asked, “And two?”

She hesitated. “What exactly do you mean by substantial discount?”

This time, he couldn’t contain a small smirk of victory. “Whatever you think is fair. Maybe throw in a dinner or something.”

“Or something.” Her voice had now gone hard. She rocked back on her heels and folded her arms in front of her. “There it is.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to pay you with sex, Loyal.”

He’d wanted her to say his name, but not in that pissed-off, offended tone. Heat climbed the back of his neck even as his dick got stuck on the word sex. “That is not what I was suggesting at all.”

“No? So, if I said let’s go in the back right now, you’d say no?”

His heart nearly stopped in his chest. Holy fucking shit. She had read his mind.

Seriously freaked out, he took a step back.

Her eyebrows rose in challenge. “Yes or no, Loyal? What’s your answer?”

This time her voice went the slightest bit husky when she said his name, and with the way his pulse reacted, he couldn’t have lied if his life depended on it. “Yes. But it wouldn’t have a damn thing to do with accounting.”

The words sat between them, and in the silence that fell, the wanting between them became a tangible thing. Her face flushed, and her breathing turned as shallow as his. He waited for her to invite him to the back.

Begged her with his mind to invite him to the back.

She uncrossed her arms, looked at his card again, and then brushed the edge over her palm as she stepped around to his side of the counter. Anticipation slammed his heart against his ribs, but she bypassed him without a glance and strode toward the front door.

As she walked, she said over her shoulder, “Like I said, I’ll think about it. Come back tomorrow and I’ll let you know.”