Tycoon's Terms of Engagement

And then there were those moments when she looked wary, catching her lip. As if she was afraid she was about to say something she shouldn’t. He’d known that look all his life—when someone was keeping something back from him.

His parents had never, ever discussed his birth father. They’d told him they knew very little. That his birth mother had never wanted to talk about it. That they didn’t even know his name.

But he knew that wasn’t all they knew. They knew more—they just didn’t want to tell him.

Stephanie didn’t answer him now either, choosing to bury her nose in the menu instead. He gave her a few minutes and then asked which dishes she was mentally debating over.

‘All of them…’ she sighed.

‘Really?’ He waved and called the waitress over. ‘We’re going to do a banquet, if you don’t mind. One of everything.’

‘Jack—’ Stephanie interrupted, sounding scandalised. ‘We can’t do that.’

‘Sure you can.’ The waitress smiled at Jack, her eyes glued to him. ‘Sampler sizes of everything?’

‘That would be perfect.’ He smiled back and shot Stephanie a triumphant glance.

‘She’d bend over backwards too…’ Stephanie muttered beneath her breath as the woman walked away.

‘You think?’ He laughed. ‘Too bad. I only want you. Backwards. Frontwards. Sideways. Any way. Every way.’

He looked at her and realised it was the truest thing.

He got as much pleasure out of watching her enjoy the meal as he did in tasting it himself. A few bites of each delicious dish. He laughed at her scolding him for such wastage.

‘You’re someone who can do anything,’ she mused eventually, sitting back in her chair and gazing at a beautiful painting that hung on the wall near them. ‘Is this what it’s like for you all the time?’

‘Hmm?’

‘You just travel about, looking at the most amazing things, eating the most amazing things… having the best time ever.’

His heart warmed—she was having the best time ever. So was he.

‘It’s never like this,’ he said honestly. ‘Not usually as relaxed… it’s busier. If I’m travelling it’s usually to meet up with a few of the writers. There are meetings. I like to do some spot fact-checking… It’s busy. I don’t get to relax all that much. There’s always something to think about. Some email to answer or a person to see.’

‘But you’re relaxed now?’

He nodded.

‘So am I.’ She smiled.

Something turned over in his chest. Suddenly he didn’t want to think any more. Or talk. He needed to move.

‘Let’s go back to bed.’

She laughed and shook her head a little. ‘So single-minded…’

Fixated? Yes.

‘You’ve got to say it’s a good idea.’ He leaned forward.

‘It’s a good idea.’ She nodded. ‘A very good one.’

He was so glad she was on the same page.

Sex. That was all.

He summoned the waitress and asked for the bill. But the second the woman placed the slim leather folder onto the table Stephanie tried to snatch it up.

Jack stopped her by playing snap—smacking his hand down on hers. She might have got her hand on it first, but he was on top. And he wasn’t giving it up. He felt her hand form a fist beneath his. And then she pulled her hand away.

‘You’ve got to let me pay.’ She looked ferocious.

‘No, I don’t,’ he answered easily.

‘Well, I’m not spending the day being treated like some… mistress or something.’

He was so surprised he laughed long and loud. Stephanie sat back, folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

‘Mistress?’ he repeated with another chuckle. ‘Like in some movie or something?’

She didn’t like him paying. Was that why she’d picked the pyjamas over the designer dress?

Five minutes later he watched her stride ahead of him and get into the car. She slammed the door in a way the old car wouldn’t appreciate. So not positive and enthusiastic Steffi Leigh now. She really was angry?

‘I’ll borrow the pyjamas for the day, and thank you for them, but that’s it.’ She sat with her arms folded and her nose in the air.

He liked the show of pride in what she would and wouldn’t accept from him, but he wasn’t above teasing her about it. ‘Well, you could give them back to me now if they make you feel uncomfortable.’

She turned her head and met his challenge with fire in her eyes. ‘Sure.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

SHE STARTED TO unbutton the pyjama jacket. Jack stared at her, then quickly glanced around the car park. ‘Someone will see!’ He started to laugh.