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Of course, this was silly, and it didn’t matter. She was a beautiful woman, and Heath had a lot on the line tonight. The deal with Yurovize could be a game changer, and this meeting over dinner would likely determine the final score.
He was rattled, that was all, overly emotional on an important night.
“So how much did you pay for me?” Kassy asked, snapping him out of his reverie.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You know. What did my company charge you for, well, my company?”
“I’d think they’d tell you.”
She had an adorable twinkle in her expressive brown eyes. “No. I mean, yes. But, for all I know, they’re not being honest and are pocketing more than their share. I like to check up on them every so often. It’s good business and you seem like you wouldn’t mind telling me, so —”
“I’d say I’m not paying nearly enough.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
“That’s how it is,” he said, enjoying the quirk of a smile playing at the corners of her lips.
“I bet you think it’s impolite to talk about money.”
“Good God, no. All I do all day long is talk about money.”
“Hmm. I was going to ask what you do, but that comment makes me want to see if I can guess.”
Heath glanced down. Her dress had ridden up slightly and he could just see the rounded curve of her knee. He fought back the urge to stroke that accidental reveal. “It isn’t a secret.”
“No, don’t tell me. Wait, here’s a thought. How about if I’m able to guess what you do, you’ll tell me how much my company’s charging you for tonight?” She smiled.
Heath’s stomach tightened. Damn. What had she said? Her knee had distracted him. Oh, yeah, she was making a deal. “All right, Kassy. I’ll agree to that. But you have to be specific and get it just right.”
“Oh, I’ll get it just right,” she said, with full-on innuendo.
He almost groaned. His phone vibrated in his pocket. Saved in the nick of time. “Excuse me, but I’d better check this.”
She nodded politely and looked away, idly running a fingertip around the rim of her glass. So sexy. Could this woman do anything that wasn’t sexy?
He pulled out his phone. It was a text from his assistant. Yurovize had to cancel the meeting. Supposedly their lead negotiator’s flight had been re-routed due to a storm and he wouldn’t be able to make the dinner in time. Hell.
Heath considered the likelihood that they were telling the truth. Stanford Tilling, the lead negotiator on this deal, was the slipperiest sort of operator. This was probably a power play to force Heath into a new time-line of their choosing.
He shot back a message to his assistant telling her to contact Tilling’s people and find out how late he’d be arriving. Then Heath gladly turned his attention to more pressing matters: the lovely lady perched appealingly on the barstool beside him.
“That was my assistant,” he told her. “Looks like my meeting may be delayed.”
“Oh.” Her lovely face fell. “Does that mean dinner is off?”
“Certainly not.” He checked his watch. “If fact, if you’d like, we could head over to the restaurant now. It’s right here in the hotel. Have you eaten here before?”
“No, I haven’t had that pleasure.”
“It’s one of the best in the city. Just say the word and we’re there. I’m sure our table is ready.”
“Wonderful. I guess. Or not. I mean, this was supposed to be a business dinner, and I hate to tell you this,” she lowered her voice and fluttered her long lashes charmingly, “but I don’t have much to say about business in general. Not tonight anyway.”
“I couldn’t be more pleased. Suddenly, business is the very last thing on my mind.”
“Oh, my. What’s the first thing on your mind?”
He smiled. “Honestly? Do you want to know?”
“I do.”
“I’m wondering how it would feel to hold you in my arms.”
Kassy looked shaken, her flirtatious demeanor startled away for a split second. She recovered quickly. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Damn. He wasn’t expecting that. He leaned forward, gladly planning to take her up on her offer.
She held out a dainty hand and stopped him cold with an arched eyebrow. “Silly man. I meant if there’s time, I might be open to some dancing later. But you’ll have to feed me first before I can decide anything.”
He laughed. “Fair enough.” He stood up and held out his arm. “Shall we?”
She smiled at him, and once again, he was blasted with a wave of premonition, a sense of having known her forever, of wanting to keep on knowing her forever, of knowing her in the most intimate of ways.
Kassy slid gracefully off the stool, picked up her purse, then placed her hand on his arm. Another electric spark shot through him.
He decided that the second they were seated in the restaurant he was texting his assistant to tell Tilling the meeting was off. Heath wouldn’t be waiting around for him.
As of this moment, Heath had far more important things to do. Like dining and dancing with a beautiful woman.
This particular acquisition couldn’t wait.
Chapter Four
AS SYLVIE AND HEATH STUMBLED into the elevator after dinner, Sylvie couldn’t help but think that this was one of the best nights of her life. Heath had been charming, charismatic, and attentive throughout dinner. It was hard to remember that this evening with him was just a one-time deal.
Heath cozied up next to her in the elevator and she thought again about their initial conversation. She had told him in no uncertain terms that this was a hands-off transaction. But as she watched him press the button for the floor to the penthouse, she had to think about what she wanted to do next.
“So where do you think you’re taking me now?” she asked in a teasing tone. She didn’t know if her attraction was growing more intense because of all the flirting or because of all the expensive wine and champagne she’d consumed at dinner.
“I promised you dancing and I know of a place where we can have a dance floor all to ourselves,” he said with a confident smirk.
Sylvie didn’t see the point of beating around the bush. “Does this private dance floor happen to be in your room? I’m kind of psychic, you know. And I’m getting a powerful vision that you’re trying to seduce me.”
“I told you that I wanted to hold you in my arms,” he said in a sultry tone. “I haven’t yet had the pleasure of enjoying that feeling. Can you blame a guy for wanting to have the freedom to fully explore a unique opportunity without being in front of prying eyes?”
He was so close to her that she could feel the vibration of his words, and they sent shivers through her. Sylvie wanted this man, and she was tipsy enough to admit it. Would it be so wrong to let the night continue in its natural ebb and flow?
She wasn’t naïve. It wasn’t as if Alan was the first
man she had slept with, although the list of men before him wasn’t all that long. Still, Sylvie understood how these things worked. If she went up to Heath’s room, there would be certain expectations.
She tried to draw up a mental pro/con list in her head, but there was a fuzzy fog in there that made it a little difficult to concentrate. After several moments of hard effort, there was barely anything in the con column other than Heath thought she was someone else.
Meanwhile, in the pro column, the list rambled on for ages. At the top of that list was that a fling with a hot, rich guy was the perfect chance to put Alan behind her for good.
Sylvie felt reckless. Random sex with a sexy, filthy-rich, ultra-attractive man. How many times would this kind of opportunity come her way? Unique opportunity, indeed.
The elevator doors opened, and Heath put his hand on the small of her back and gently guided her forward, as if she needed any coaxing. He led her out of the elevator and into the hallway. A key appeared in his hand as they stepped towards a wide set of double doors. He paused before he unlocked the door and looked at her with a questioning glance. The moment of truth had arrived.
“I’m not stepping over any boundaries here, right?” he asked.
It was only the second time that evening that Sylvie had seen Heath appear the slightest bit uncertain. She adored him for asking the question, for making sure she understood what he wanted.
He was rather gallant, she thought. He had commanded the wait staff around them at the restaurant with barely any effort. They had waited on their every pleasure and whim, particularly Sylvie’s, and that was because Heath subtly shifted their attention to her.
Sylvie wasn’t used to that kind of attention from anyone. Being with Heath had made her feel like a woman who was worth something, like a queen. Nothing like how Alan made her feel. Heath seemed to respect her, and he had abided by every wall that she had put up to keep the evening firmly in appropriate territory.
The irony now was that she was the one who was ready to break down all the walls and leap forward into the unknown without a backward glance.
So the answer to his question was, no, he wasn’t stepping over her boundaries.
