AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Why don’t you come back with me tomorrow?’ he said, as casually as he possibly could. ‘For a few days? Or a week. Or even two. I’ve narrowed down a buyer for the business. I’m planning to finalise the sale tomorrow. So I figured I’d take a break from work when I get home. I can show you around New York. It’s an incredible city.’
He clamped his mouth shut, realising with horror he was starting to babble.
For God’s sake, shut up, you sound like a boy asking a girl on a first date.
But then a huge smile spread across her face, and the panicked ticks of his heartbeat calmed.
‘That’s …’ she began. ‘I don’t know what …’
‘Don’t say anything yet.’ He pressed his lips to hers as the noise of the crowd, shouting down the final seconds of the old year, rose to a crescendo outside on the terrace. ‘We’ve got all night for you to make a decision,’ he finished.
Taking her hands from around his neck, he turned her back to face the scene outside, folded his arms over her midriff and pulled her slim body back against his. ‘Now watch the fireworks.’ He bit softly into her ear lobe, heard her breath catch. ‘Before I drag you out of here to have my way with you.’
As the crowd roared and cheered Big Ben chimed the hour and a blast of light and colour exploded across the Thames. Cassie tilted her head back against his shoulder, looked up into his face. ‘Happy New Year, Jace.’
‘Yeah,’ he growled, seeing the answer in her eyes. She was going to come with him.
Slanting his lips across hers, he captured her mouth in a harsh, possessive kiss, his heart thumping against his ribs and his arms tightening around her instinctively.
It was going to be a Happy New Year all right. At least for him.
He didn’t have to let her go. Not just yet.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘SO CASSIDY, it’s make your mind up time.’ Jace tugged her into his lap. Securing his arms round her waist to hold her in place, he asked, ‘You want me to book you a ticket to the Big Apple today?’
Cassie’s heart leapt into her throat, the sexy smile and the warm weight of his arms making the high she’d been riding since his offer the night before shoot straight into the stratosphere. She swallowed heavily to control the lump of emotion in her throat, ready at last to bare the feelings she had for him.
He wanted to continue their affair; she could see he cared a great deal for her—the way he’d made love to her last night when they’d arrived home from the New Year’s celebrations, fast and frantic the first time, then slow and tender the next, was yet more proof of his growing feelings. But she couldn’t accept his offer under false pretences. He’d been deliberately casual about how long she would be in New York and about why he wanted her there, she suspected as a defence. He was a man who had never been in love before—not even with the woman he had married—and, from the little she knew of his past and his character, had tried very hard to protect himself from any emotion likely to make him vulnerable.
But if she accepted his offer, she had to let him know that her feelings were not casual. She needed to be honest now, and go with her instinct, that his feelings weren’t as casual as he tried to pretend.
Looping her arms round his neck, she gave him a soft smile, her gaze drifting over his harsh, handsome features. The dimple in his cheek, the confidence in his eyes, the locks of unruly hair still glistening from their morning tryst in the shower. She wanted to memorise every aspect of his expression when she told him she was falling in love.
‘I want to come. More than anything I’ve ever—’
‘Excellent,’ he said, interrupting her. ‘I’ll give my PA the news. We’ll need your passport number.’
He tried to shift her off his lap. She had to cling on. ‘I’m not finished, Jace.’
‘We need to get the ball rolling,’ he said, the flash of impatience in his eye making her hesitate. ‘Tickets have to be booked, bags packed and—’
‘Jace, stop it. I’ve got something I want to tell you.’
His shoulders stiffened slightly under her hands. ‘Okay, but make it quick.’
‘I … If I come to New York … You need to know that I …’ She stumbled, her confidence ebbing away. Why did he look so tense all of a sudden? ‘This means a lot to me. Because …’ She had to force the words out past lips that had dried like parchment. ‘I’m falling in love with you.’
His eyebrows rose a fraction, and for a split second she thought she saw something in his face. But it was masked instantly, leaving the precious words hanging in the air between them, sounding foolish and a little corny instead of heartfelt and genuine.
‘I’m flattered,’ he said, the tone of his voice so condescending she cringed. ‘But we’ve really got to get a move on if we’re not going to miss our flight.’ Taking her weight, he lifted her off his lap.
She folded her arms round her waist, her insides churning as the hope and excitement of moments ago turned to bewilderment.
Placing a quick kiss on her nose, he patted her behind. ‘Now go and get dressed. I’ll drive you round to your place so you can pack after I’ve called my PA to confirm about the ticket.’
‘Jace, wait.’ She grasped his arm as he tried to walk past. ‘Don’t you have anything else to say?’
