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No thank you, I think to myself.
“Hazel? You lost down there?” Luke’s voice mocks from above.
“No, just looking for...there it is,” I say, finally spotting my phone. It skittered all the way over to Luke’s foot. I crouch under the table and reach for it, but I lose my balance and need to grab Luke’s thigh for support.
Luke’s leg jerks. “What the hell?”
“Sorry! Lost my balance...” I trail off, realizing I’m basically eye level with his crotch.
Maybe he realizes it too because I feel his thigh tensing under my hand.
For one truly insane moment, I wonder what it would be like to kneel at his feet for a different reason entirely. To be the kind of woman who could makehimlose control for once.
Who am I kidding? Luke probably doesn’t even lose control during blow jobs. He probably tangles his hand in his partner’s hair, using her exactly as he wants, the bored king accepting his right to be worshiped.
Fuck, why is that image hot too?
There’s a flash again, from the people taking selfies at the next table, and I hastily grab my phone, before fumbling back to my seat.
I can’t interpret the exact look on Luke’s face, but he must think I’m an idiot.
I hold up my phone with its dark case, defensive. “Blended in with the floor. I couldn’t find it at first.”I definitely wasn’t thinking about your cock.
Luke shifts his broad body, restless. “Let’s get the check.”
I eye my dessert mournfully. Clearly, I need a break from Luke. I’ve always known he was hot, but I hardly ever spend one on one time with me and it’s obviously getting to me.
But that dessert wasgood.
“Stop making horny eyes at your chocolate, Hazel,” Luke says dryly. “You can take it home and make X-rated sounds over it in the privacy of your apartment.”
“I wasn’t...I wouldn’t...God, you’re an ass.”
He laughs, and that should be insulting too, but there’s something about his laugh that lets me in. That tells me we’re in this strange, electric situation together.
He pays, gets to-go boxes for our deserts. He hasn’t touched his giant caramel whiskey cookie, so I get that too.
We head toward the door, my arms full of dessert boxes and my giant purse. The restaurant’s entrance way is narrow, and when a large group of people come in at the same time as we’re leaving, Luke touches the small of my back, effortlessly guiding me through the bottleneck and out onto the sidewalk.
His hand feels big and warm, and normally I hate men who try to steer me through crowds. It always feels simultaneously macho and insincere, like they’re trying too hard to play a role. But with Luke it feels effortless, natural.
He takes control of everything else in his life. Why not the body of his woman?
Not that I’m his woman. The night air feels thankfully cool against my overheated skin.
He drops his hand as I turn around to face him, but he doesn’t step back. I’m uncomfortably aware of his height, his sheer physical presence.
I realize I don’t know how to end this interaction. If he was just a normal interview subject, I’d give him a brisk handshake and thank him for his time. If he was just a guy I was into, I’d thank him for a nice night, and linger a bit to see if he was brave enough to try for a kiss. If he was just my boss, I’d give him a casual wave and say I’d see him Monday at the office.
But somehow Luke’s all those things, and it’s leaving my social instincts in a tangled mess.
Maybe that’s why I try, one more time, to get to know the man under the mask. “I told you why I needed this project. Why do you need it?”
He frowns. “I told you. Reputation improvement so I can become CEO.”
“But it’s a family company, and you’ve been training for this your whole life. Surely if your dad tells the board to nominate you, they’ll listen, even without this book. Right?” I ask.
Something in his expression shutters.
