I almost did…just from looking at you.
His eyes widened and I was struck by the sudden, mortifying thought that he was reading my mind. That better not be true because there was an X-rated movie reel starring him and me running through the back of my head.
Was that why he was smiling like that?
“That’s what all the other girls have been calling you,” I murmured, cheeks heating in embarrassment.
“Well, they can keep calling me that. You can call me Killian.” The name fit him. Sexy. Deadly. Couldn’t he have been named Herbert? Did everything about him have to be so annoyingly hot?
“Nice to meet you, Killian.”
“Yes, it is.” He nodded. “We’ll have time to get to know each other a lot better. Right now, you need to come with me. You’re in danger.”
My eyebrows shot up toward my hairline. “I’m sorry, say what now?”
He leaned in and raised his voice a little. “You need to come with me. You’re in danger,” he repeated.
I took a step back, even though my shameless libido wanted to leap onto him and climb him like a tree.
“I heard you the first time.” I laughed. “I just couldn’t believe you thought that would work. Do a lot of girls fall for that line?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never used it before.”
“I feel so special.” I shook my head at him. “Sorry. I’ve got to go back to work.” I didn’t care if my entire body was humming with desire for this man. It would be a cold day in Hades before I waltzed off with a sexy stranger just because he’d crooked his little finger at me.
His smile faded. He shook his head in puzzlement. “What’s the problem?”
“Are you serious?” I laughed. “First of all, I’ve got customers waiting. And secondly, buy a girl dinner first, won’t you?”
“All right,” he said agreeably. “Or I could hunt down a stag and cook you dinner. That’s traditionally the way it’s done with our pack.”
There he went again. He actually thought I’d go back to the house of a perfect stranger so he could “cook me dinner”? And what a weird way to refer to his friends – a pack? Like – a gang or something?
“I was kidding. I just meant if you’re trying to ask a girl out, you need to put in a little effort. Well, it’s been strange. Got to go, see you never,” I said. That was true because once he struck out with me, he’d just wink at the next girl, and she’d fall into his arms, and the thought made me very sad.
I tried to walk past him. He moved in front of me. “Daphne. You’re not listening. You’re coming with me.” He reached out and put his hand on my arm. An electric shock of arousal sizzled down my nerve endings. I yanked my arm away, and he took a step closer to me.
I took a step back.
Fear battled with attraction.
He was moving me toward the open doorway at the end of the hall—the one that led to the alley behind the restaurant. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Everything below my navel cried out,yes, yes, yes!While my brain screamed, “Run!”
My heart thudded in my chest. I stopped dead and planted my feet firmly, and he walked up until he was pressed against me. The thickness of his enormous erection pressed into my chest and made me dizzy with desire.
His mouth curled up in a lazy smile. “I knew you’d come around.”
Before I could reply, an indignant voice yelped from behind him. “Daphne! I told you he was mine!”
I stepped to the side so I could see around him. Clarisse stood there, glaring at me. A chef poked his head out the kitchen door, down the hallway from us, to see what the ruckus was about.
“Everything okay?” the chef called out. He walked into the hallway, and a couple of sous-chefs joined him. At least I had an audience now, which meant that Killian couldn’t kidnap me. That was definitely good news – although my libido apparently hadn’t gotten the message yet.
Killian turned around, scowling. He shot an annoyed look at the kitchen staff and then directed a look of disgust at Clarisse. “I told you I’m not interested,” he said to her. “Several times. You might want to get your hearing checked.”
“Your loss.” Clarisse’s face flushed red. She fixed her angry gaze on me. “We don’t need any more servers,” she said snidely. “I’m cutting staff. Go home. In fact, take the week off.”
