“Yes. I think I should be going.” She was enjoying everything way too much. Usually her radar would be beeping madly by now, warning her of danger, but she hadn’t heard a damn thing tonight.
“You can’t drive with all that alcohol in you,” he pointed out. “Stay. I have a spare bedroom, if you like.”
She was tempted to stay, and not to check out his spare bed. There wasn’t any room in her life for Brad, or anyone. She didn’t even like him, anyway. It was just the alcohol.You just keep telling yourself that.She ignored the sarcastic bitch in her head.
“One would think you purposely plied me with alcohol tonight, Mr. Sun,” she said softly.
Did his smile widen slightly? There was certainly amusement in his voice. “I think you once accused me of being too straightforward. Now you’re accusing me of being underhanded.”
“‘Devious’ comes to mind. ‘Underhanded’ isn’t calculating enough.”
“I purposely chose a fruity wine. Obviously that didn’t sweeten your tart tongue, damn it,” he said mildly.
That was the second part of the attack, sneaking in that teasing charm over dinner. How could she have missed that? And why did she want to muss up his hair more? She wondered how he would look after hot sex. Oh, bad idea to bring that up now. Because she suddenly had a vision of him on top of her right here on the couch. She bent and picked up her glass, drinking quickly.
“It takes a lot to wear me down,” she said.
“I have time,” he said.
He didn’t know it, but there wasn’t enough time for anything in her life. A quickie here or there, maybe, but nothing that she knew would be what she wanted, if she allowed this thing happening between her and Brad to grow. She didn’t need another complication, either. No room for romance, or love, or anything permanent.
Let’s face it. Bradford Sun was an upcoming bureaucrat, sworn to uphold the law. She was at the opposite end of the spectrum, running illegal art booty and mingling with criminals. Oil and water, and ne’er the twain shall meet.
“I like it when we’re friends and talking,” Brad continued.
“We aren’t friends,” Lily muttered. “We’re just being friendly.”
“Not going to argue with you right now over semantics,” he retorted mildly. “We’ve an agreement about the coming interviews, then?”
“Yeah.” She had agreed to ask several of the girls who could speak English whether they would tell their story. She sighed, hating the fact that she had to admit it out loud. “I like the idea, Brad. And it’s really good of you to facilitate the meetings. I wouldn’t have been able to get hold of any big-shot newsman to run this kind of story.”
He regarded her quizzically. “There, it wasn’t that difficult, was it? While you’re all relaxed like that, you can throw in a line or two about how wonderful being with me is and that you would like to stay the night.” He laughed, then added with a wicked grin, “If it helps, here, have another drink.”
More than relaxed. Lily seldom drank so much in one sitting, especially with a man around. Alcohol made her horny. There, she admitted it. And Brad wasn’t helping by showing her this side of him. She had always known it was there, and she had diligently avoided being alone with him because of it, yet here she was, doing exactly that, enjoying that hidden side and wanting him more than usual. He chose that moment to look back at her and his smile was that easy masculine curve that always made her insides clench.
She was so fucked.
The man was in phenomenally good shape. He had scaled walls and run on the top of narrow ledges as if he had been living in this city of old buildings all his life. Amber had determinedly followed along, but he had managed to keep just out of reach, turning around now and then to make a show of checking his watch.
Amber scowled. He had hardly been out of breath when she had finally jumped in front of him a few minutes ago, a mile away from where they had started.
“Not bad. You’ll do,” Hawk said.
“There has got to be a better way for me to spend my nights than doing this,” she said, trying not to breathe too hard.
“Chasing a guy can be good.”
“Not if he keeps running off,” she pointed out.
“Consider it foreplay. Here’s your car. I’ve got to get back to Dilaver, and I’ll be gone for a few days on a trip with him. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Amber looked speechlessly at his back as he disappeared in the direction of thekafenas.Foreplay? That was play? Her aching muscles didn’t think so.
Once she reached home, Amber sat down on the bench behind the restaurant and removed her wet shoes. The wooden steps that led up to her back deck had a tendency to creak, especially when the weather turned warm after a cold night, and she didn’t want to wake Lily. She stretched her legs out, ruefully wondering whether she would be able to walk on heels in a matter of a few hours. God, was she going to be tired today.
Hawk had purposely taken her on a workout. There was no question in her mind that he had been testing her stamina as she began the chase that had taken her a solid hour to catch up with him. Even then, she wasn’t so sure it hadn’t been becausehehad wanted to be caught.
She made a face as she rubbed the bottoms of her aching feet. One thing was for sure. Hawk continued to surprise her each time they met.
