My cheeks flushed the hot annoying pink they got when he was this close. “Thank you, this looks perfect.” I attempted a sip of the hot beverage.
He smiled and thumbed the top of my lip. “Sorry, I get a little overboard with the foam.”
I pressed my lips together. “Just hope the coffee isn’t cold by the time I reach it,” I joked.
“Oh sure, hop on a stage to introduce a clown and now you’re a regular comedian.”
“It was a magician,” I corrected.
“I wouldn’t know—I left after the opening act,” he winked before pulling me in for another hot kiss.
Scott glanced out the window briefly and I sensed some distance in them. Then remembered something. “I didn’t plan on intruding on your solitude Sunday.”
He stroked my head and nodded. “My Sundaysareusually quiet. But unfortunately today, I owe an old friend brunch.”
Something tugged at my chest at his vagueness. Was he meeting a woman? An old flame? The reserved look in his eyes may have suggested someone he cared about. And clearly didn’t want me knowing.
Silently, I urged myself to snap out of it. It wasn’t as if I had any claim to him.
Not to mention that last night, I’d quietly mouthed the wordsone nightafter I put aside any morals I had left.
I drew in a breath. “Well, I won’t keep you from whoever it is you’re meeting.” My brows jumped and I moved from him, hating how jealous I sounded at the possibility of him being with another woman.
I felt his eyes behind me as I went to set the coffee down on the counter. Warm hands slipped under my shirt and turned me to face him; I was expecting an apologetic expression but instead found his eyes bright with amusement.
“It’s not what you think,” he reassured before what appeared to be a decisive moment in his head. “In fact, why don’t you come with me?”
I huffed. “Scott, you don’t have to prove anything to me. You’re free to see who you want.”
“As a matter of fact, I think I do. But not to prove that it isn’t a woman I’m going to see; I just realized it’s an opportunity to prove to you that I am not the ruthless and nonnegotiable businessman thatIt’s Just BusinessandNew York Uncoveredarticles said about me.”
I bit my lip and flushed.
“Yeah, I looked it up,” he said. “I want you to meet someone who has a slightly different opinion and is in no way biased.”
He was asking me to go to a brunch with an old business acquaintance? No harm in that, I supposed.
What? No. I should leave and think about what the hell I was going to do before meeting any friends of his.
The last thing I needed was to get too close to a wealth-focused billionaire who would only expect equality in a companion.
Or a one-night stand.
I looked up at his waiting eyes and nodded once; remembering I wasIsabel. The mystery socialite who knew to hold her own in a room full of Fortune-500 CEOs and no one, not even Scott Weston and the deep feelings that were growing for him, would ever intimidate me. Not his strong arms or his deep green eyes. Not even his selective generosity to struggling businesses.
The man couldn’t be perfect.
He just couldn’t,
There were his exquisite looks—and then there was the way he made me feel when he touched me. Or made my insides flip with a single look. The impossible way he read every expression; noticing what I liked and when I was uncomfortable.
And now I was letting him do the very thing that made me steer clear of anyone who tried; he was finding a way into my heart.
“Okay,” I said before reaching to pick up my mug. “But first, I need to get cleaned up, can I use your shower?”
His eyes washed over me. “At your own risk.”
After getting cleaned up, I sat on the stool by the kitchen island, watching Scott in front of the stove. In a white t-shirt and dark jeans, he flipped scrambled eggs onto two small plates, insisting I have protein with my coffee.
