“Why wouldn’t you
talk about your work in the restaurant?” I set my purse on the floor by my feet
and shifted to face him. “I’ve never seen anyone get out of a dinner so fast.”
A small smile tugged
the edge of his lips up. “Just like I said in there, some things shouldn’t be
discussed in public.”
“Like politics and
religion.”
“You have a very
smart mouth.” He glanced down at said smart mouth. “Do you ever turn it off?”
“Never,” I
reassured him. “Now, we’re no longer in public, so tell me about what you do.”
He rested an arm
along the back of the seats. His fingertips landed just inches from my hair,
and I gave a cursory glance at their closeness.
Shivers tickled
their way down my spine as he stared at me. He was entirely still except for
the way his eyes flicked left and right repeatedly. It felt an awful lot like
he was taking me in, committing me to memory for some strange reason.
“A lot of people
don’t like me. Pissing people off is part of business, and I’ve done that a
lot, so I try to keep my work private. It’s that simple, sweetheart.”
“I get it. But
now, it is private.” I wasn’t going to let this drop. I’d quit reading before I
did that. “I’ve told you a lot about my bar tonight, so now tell me something.”
“You have the
innate ability to make me feel like I’m back in high school and writing an
essay about being reasonable.”
“If you’d done
that, you might know how to be reasonable.” I paused when he laughed. It was
low blow time again. “Look, Mr. Fox—”
“Damien.”
“You don’t have to
tell me anything about your business and what you do, but given that you’re
failing embarrassingly in your attempt to buy my business, it’s probably in your best interests to start
talking.”
He leaned forward
and took my hair between his finger and thumb. Slowly, he twirled the strands
around his finger, each twist lightly tugging against my scalp. “You should
have been a cop. You’re very persuasive.”
“In that case, you
could probably learn a thing or two from me. Your own skills are lacking.”
“I don’t know.” He
dropped his voice to a low murmur. “I think, if I tried hard enough, I could
persuade you into a few things.”
I raised my
eyebrows. We’d moved on from talking about business. Once again, the Master of
Deflection was doing what he’d been doing for most of our evening together.
“I still haven’t
forgiven you for your antics yesterday, so I wouldn’t even try it.” I tapped
his hand so he released his hold on my hair. It tumbled away from his finger so
I could smooth the strands back down and gave him a pointed look.
“Forgiven me, or
yourself?” His eyes glinted knowingly. Almost self-assuredly.
Hell, there was no
almost about it. He knew exactly how I’d felt when he’d left me. He knew
exactly what he’d done to me, and I did, too. Denying that I was annoyed at
myself because I could still remember how it’d felt when he’d taken my chin in
his hand was pointless.
“Both,” I
answered, sitting up a little straighter. “That doesn’t invite you to exercise
poor judgment and make another attempt to mix business with pleasure?”
“Attempt?
Sweetheart, if I’d attempted to do that, there would have been a lot less
business and a lot more pleasure before I’d left you.”
“You think I’d
give in to you so easily?”
At those words,
Damien slid smoothly across the leather seats. His arm, still resting along the
back of them, hung down behind me, his thumb just brushing against my back. The
rest of his body was mere inches from mine, and I bit the inside of my lip as
he trailed his fingertips up my bare arm. My eyes followed his feather-light
touch while his stayed fixated on my face.
He coasted his
fingers over my shoulder where he touched them to my jaw. Lightly, he tilted my
face around and up until I had no choice but to look him in the eyes again—to
look right there where I could see exactly how much he wanted me.
Dark.
Hot.
Full of
temptation.
Heavy and intense,
his eyes screamed of raw lust and selfish need.
“I don’t think
you’d give in at all,” he whispered. “I think your body would do that for you,
and you’d be helpless to it.”
“You think a lot
of yourself, don’t you?” I said quietly. I touched my finger to his belt, then
ran it up the length of his torso, ghosting it over the solid packs of muscle
that made up his body until I flicked the starchy collar of his shirt. “You
think you can do this and I’ll give in to what is essentially a biological
reaction? I’m stronger than you take me for, you know.”
He curled his
fingers around my chin and dipped his face to mine. “She says with a racing
heart.”
I pressed one
finger against his mouth and ran another along his strong thigh…right up to
where his hard cock was straining against the soft material of his pants.
“Don’t you hate it when your attraction to someone is so obvious?”
His jaw clenched.
“If you have any sense at all inside that gorgeous head of yours, you’ll move
your hand.”
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