Page 18 of Sweet Spot

Gorgeous bastard, I cursed him since all I could do was helplessly sit and watch him approach me, his eyes burning into mine. His sheer size eclipsed the light as he made his way to my table and stood before me – raw masculinity wrapped in an expensive Italian suit.

“You look beautiful.”

He said it before I could so much as open my mouth and just like that I was compromised. “Thank you,” I murmured, watching him watch me. I had to blink several times before I even remembered I was pissed at him. “Lukas – ” I shook my head. “What you are doing here? I know you didn’t come just to have drinks with your friends.”

“I have no interest in hiding that I’m here for you.”

“And why are you here for me? You thought I couldn’t protect myself from an Internet stranger?”

“No, I thought you got an inaccurate impression of me back at the house and I couldn’t sit through my night without fixing it.”

I stared. “So you came all the way here to interrupt my date? Because I caught you calling some poor girl a gold digging bitch?” I laughed in bitter disbelief. “First of all, it hardly surprises me. Second, what could you possibly say to defend yourself?”

“I can say that Emmett was the one responsible for naming that particular contact – ”

“Please, Lukas – ”

“ – and the person in question isn’t a woman. It’s a guy named Cam,” Lukas said, his cheeks flexing when he said the name. I narrowed my eyes.

“Who’s that?”

“Formerly my best friend. And business partner. I forced him out of my company two months ago and he’s been calling repeatedly to argue the terms of his buyout. Feels duped, wants more money, the like. My friends hate him as much as I do and Emmett,” Lukas glanced over his shoulder, “who has his own unique charm with words,” he smirked, “put that nickname in my phone. If you don’t believe me, I’ll leave this here.”

To my surprise, Lukas slid his naked iPhone across the table in front of me, the screen already open to his missed calls. I stared at the last one – “Useless Gold Digging Bitch.” The time stamp matched the time I’d seen the call come in at home and a part of me did want to grab the phone and call right back. And then maybe flip through his camera roll and see what kind of dirt he had in there – sex tapes, dick pics, incriminating screenshots. There had to be a bounty of fascinating material from just the photos alone and biting my lip, I stared at the phone with true temptation. It was the coveted gateway into the mind of men as ridiculously hot and successful as Lukas, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish I could just read him like a book.

Still, I pushed the thing back at him.

“It’s fine, I believe you,” I muttered. “But you should go now. My date’s going to be back soon and – ”

“You’re not remotely interested in him.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m not?”

He cracked a little smile. “No.”

“And how on Earth do you know that?”

“I know exactly what you look like turned on – let’s not pretend that isn’t a fact,” Lukas returned easily, his stare falling to my mouth. “I know just how pink and swollen those lips can get when you’re all hot and bothered. I know how you start to squirm. And I didn’t see any of that till about ten seconds ago. Correct me if I’m wrong but your date’s been gone much longer than that.”

I was defiant. “He’s nice.”

Lukas smirked. “I’m nice.”

“You couldn’t even say that without laughing,” I snorted.

“Give me a chance then,” he grinned. “I can be nice to you if you let me.”

Damn it. I believed him. I wasn’t sure why but I did since I knew it was a bad idea to. My fragile attraction for Hayden was based solely off of negative feelings for Lukas, and now those were fading again. And I couldn’t afford that. “Fine,” I finally said. “Then be nice to me now, Lukas, by leaving me alone. Just because you’re here doesn’t mean I stopped being on a date.”

He stared at me a second, as if trying to read my bluff. “Fine,” he said. “Just don’t drink too much,” he added with a smirk, turning on his heel before I could tell him to mind his own business. Grrr. I raged silently as I watched him sit with his friends at their booth, quickly joining Emmett in charming the figurative pants off the waitress. She was giggling nonstop and so hard I was sure I might see her pass out from lack of oxygen. Ugh.

Did I just tell Lukas to leave me alone and then get upset that he left me alone?

God. I wanted to tear at my own hair. What sense did my brain make anymore? Apparently none.

“Lia?”

“Just a former coworker,” I blurted when Hayden sat back down. He gave a quizzical look that told me he hadn’t seen Lukas at all.