“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 <em>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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