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Making her whole body go on full alert.
“You don’t owe me any apologies.” She hadn’t expected a discussion about what happened and, consequently, was completely unprepared.
“I do. I didn’t pick you up last night to bring you to the event. I didn’t deliver your engagement ring personally. And then the episode with my grandfather distracted me from one of the most shockingly provocative kisses of my life.”
“Oh.” Completely. Unprepared. “I—”
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
Her heart hammered so loudly in her ears she wasn’t entirely sure she’d hear it, but she nodded. The warmth of his palm on the back of her hand sent sparks of pleasure pinging around her insides.
“Have you thought about us that way before? Or is this a whole new experience, feeling all that chemistry?” His golden-brown gaze captured hers.
Her cheeks heated and she cursed the reaction bitterly even as she shrugged like an inarticulate teenager. But answering the question felt like a “damned if she did, damned if she didn’t” proposition.
“Right.” He let go of her hand. “Maybe I have no business asking you that. But I’ll admit I’m having a tough time concentrating today. I came in early just to hit the gym and try to work off some steam because I damn well couldn’t sleep.”
That got her attention.
“Because of me?” Her voice sounded as though she’d been sucking down helium. She grabbed her coffee and took a healthy swig.
“Things got heated last night, wouldn’t you agree?” His voice lowered. Deepened.
The words felt like a stroke along her skin, they were so damn seductive. But she needed to proceed with extreme caution. She’d heard Valentina’s accusation the night before. Dempsey had left her bed before the sheets cooled, according to her.
“That’s what happens when you play games and pretend things you don’t feel.” She kept her cool, needing to make herself heard before she did something foolish, like respond to all that simmering heat she felt when he touched her. “You can’t tell where the game ends and reality begins.”
For one heart-stopping moment, she imagined what would happen if he kissed her this time. If he laid her on her desk and told her the games ended here and now. She could almost taste the moment, it felt so real.
“Why does it have to be a game?” He edged back from her, his gaze level. “We’ve always been good together. We respect each other. Why not enjoy the benefits of this attraction now that it’s becoming a distraction?”
She could hear the influence of his Reynaud roots in his word choices. It took a superhuman effort not to roll her eyes.
“Maybe because I don’t think of relationships in terms of benefits. We’re talking about intimacy, not some contractual arrangement. And I definitely don’t want to be pursued for the sake of a distraction.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to write off the advantages.” He took a step closer. Crowding her. “Perhaps we should make a list of all the ways you would directly benefit.”
Her heart galloped. Her skin seemed to shrink, creating the sensation of being too tight to fit. She didn’t think she’d make it through a discussion of the ways having Dempsey in her bed would reward her.
“Maybe some other time.” She tossed her empty coffee cup in the trash and stood. “Now that I know you were serious about that day off, maybe I’ll just head back to the house and do some work on my designs.” She would preserve some dignity, damn it.
Although she did take the box of scones.
The light in his eyes told her that he was on to her. That he understood why she needed to beat a hasty retreat.
“Good. I’m coming home early tonight. I’ll take you out for dinner.”
Alone?
Her mouth went dry.
“Maybe,” she hedged, backing toward the door. “I’ve got a meeting with a fabric company downtown later. But I’ll text you afterward.”
She didn’t wait for his response as she walked out into the corridor. Her skin hummed with awareness from being around him and from the knowledge that he wanted her. Her kiss—practically a chaste brush of lips—had shifted the dynamic between them more than she’d imagined possible.
Dempsey wanted her.
And maybe, for now, that ought to be enough. She couldn’t expect him to fall head over heels for her when he’d hardly seen her as a woman up until earlier in the week. Was she a fool to run away from the firestorm she’d created?
