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“We simply bumped into each other. Jane didn’t tell me that you’re celebrating.”
Jenna wriggled her fair eyebrows. “Even better. It’s kismet.”
“You know, that’s not a cocktail.” Jane said, changing the subject awkwardly away from fate and romance, as she nodded towards the Scotch Carter had ordered himself.
He tilted a sardonic smile in her direction. “Don’t you think I’d look a little ridiculous drinking that?” He nodded at Jane’s pink concoction, that was topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.
She lifted it to her lips and sipped through the straw without responding. His eyes were drawn to the way her bright lips curved around the straw. He felt himself straining against his pants, in an immediate kick of hunger. He swore to himself. He hadn’t been provoked to this kind of reaction since he was a school boy. There’d been a lot of water under the bridge since then. The strength of his attraction to her surprised him.
The whole night, as he stumbled through conversation as best as his totally turned on body would allow, he kept remembering how she’d felt pressed against him. How her body had responded to his.
He’d told Hank that he’d been sparing him from the claws of a gold digger.
So why had he fallen into the same trap?
Because she was too uniquely appealing to resist.
Carter placed his credit card on the bar, and turned around to watch the two girls from a distance. Their heads were huddled together, eyes close, as they whispered secrets. A flicker of a smile traced his lips as he suspected they were discussing him.
At the next table, three businessmen kept slipping furtive glances in their direction. A sharp kick of possessive jealousy assailed him out of nowhere. It was worse than he thought. He needed to have her. It was a soul-deep desperation that required immediate answering. Only it would have to wait. For a night at least.
He sighed heavily and returned to the table, preparing to play the part of the perfect gentleman for a little while longer.
CHAPTER THREE
“You didn’t have to buy us dinner,” Jane said, a little while after they’d left the restaurant. It was one of those perfect New York nights. The rain had cleared, but it had left in its wake a startling clearness in the city streets. The usual fog and grime had been washed away. Everything seemed to sparkle. Or perhaps it was just Jane’s vision that was glistening.
He put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his body. God, he wanted her.
“I had a surprisingly pleasant evening.”
“I did too,” she agreed thickly.
“Hey, you two! Are you coming?” Jenna waved at them from the waiting cab, pulled half up on the kerb.
“I should…” Jane said, a small frown on her face. “Unless you… I mean… we didn’t actually talk about when I would start my new ‘job’.”
His expression didn’t change despite the strange torrent of emotions that stormed through him. “Not when you’ve had half a liquor store to drink.”
Disappointment seared into her. “You kept buying drinks,” she whispered, dropping her gaze.
Again, he had that impression of distinct vulnerability. Strange for a woman like her, who was so beautiful and, at times, so confident. He lifted her face with a finger under her chin. “It’s your birthday. Thank you for letting me share it with you.”
She shook her head. “You can be really ch
arming sometimes, you know.”
“That’s not all I can be.” He ran a finger through her hair, and the knowledge that he must wait for her was like a knife inside of him. “Tomorrow night?”
She nodded. “Where? When?”
She deserved to be taken to five star dinners every night. The thought came to him out of nowhere and he pushed it aside. This was not about romance. He had done something he’d never thought possible and propositioned her for the purpose of sex. Why was he dressing it up as something else? He mentally put some distance between them. “I’ll have my driver bring you to my apartment.”
“No,” she instinctively pulled away from the idea of his knowing where she lived. “I’ll make my own way. Just let me know the address.”
“Janey?” Jenna called insistently.
“I’m coming,” she said, throwing a look over her shoulder.
