“I got the impression Blake was the one to watch. Isn’t he former special forces?”
She chokes out a laugh, her first one with me tonight. “Yes, a former Army Ranger.”
I smile down at her, enjoying the shift to our lighthearted discussion. “Good to know, and I’m probably lucky I only ended up with a crushed hand.”
“Why did you come, Drew?” she asks, placing her hands on her hips. “This better not be a booty call, because that is not happening after our last conversation.”
“No booty call unless you ask for one. I promise.” Unexpectedly, a fire in the depths of her eyes seems to spark to life. But I’ve made a promise to her. If anything is going to happen tonight, she will need to instigate it.
“Katie, I came tonight because I wanted to speak to you in private, and like I said before, I figured this was going to be my only opportunity.”
She looks around the crowded room. “Seems like you don’t have the privacy you hoped for.”
“True. Will you come with me somewhere more private? I feel like I’m being watched by your menacing brothers.” It’s not the complete truth, given I have a good view of the room behind her and can see each of them standing not far away, but they’re all busy chatting with groups of other people.
She worries her bottom lip. I’m beginning to realize this means she’s undecided about wanting to do something.
She’s wavering. “Katie, I might be an arsehole, but I’m also a man of my word. I promise that you hold the control tonight.”
I hold my breath, waiting to hear if she is going to give me a chance.
With a roll of her eyes and a flick of an offending piece of hair that’s dared to slip forward over her shoulder, she mumbles, “Fine.” And the held air escapes from my lungs. I offer her my hand, but she only looks at it, then crosses her arm around her waist.
“Let’s go,” she says, and accepting her rules of engagement, I follow her through the groups of people toward the entrance, depositing our glasses on a waiter’s tray before we exit. I look left and right, then suggest we go down a carpeted hallway with signs leading to additional function rooms. Katie continues to walk beside me, but her silence feels unnatural.
I lead her past the bathrooms, then around a corner to a quieter area. There are three doors leading off the narrower hallway to what I assume is a series of small function or meeting rooms. I try the first door, and surprisingly, it gives under my hand. I open it enough to be able to poke my head through. It’s a completely empty, darkened room. Perfect, though I didn’t really expect us to find this level of privacy. A smile tips up the corner of my mouth.
I open the door wider. “It’s empty. Are you okay with this?” I’m disturbed by her lack of words since we left the ballroom. Katie, in my previous experience, has always chatted, particularly when she gets nervous. It’s amazing that after the little amount of time we’ve spent together I already know this about her. I don’t think I’ve ever paid so much attention to the way a woman moves or her habits. Like chewing her lip or the way her breathing quickens when we stand close, like now. I guess it’s because none of those other women captured my attention enough for me to bother.
The beautiful woman beside me has always been different, which is why I’m here in a darkened hotel function room, hoping to say something, anything, to try to get us back to the way we were in Cornwall.
We’re standing only a foot apart and her eyes are focused directly on me like she’s waiting for me to say more.
Clearing my throat, I begin, “I came to New York because I didn’t want to wait another six weeks to see you.”
She huffs and drops her gaze. “You didn’t seem to have trouble waiting months before showing up at my office last week.”
“To be fair, I explained in Cornwall that I wasn’t going to be able to get to London. And when I emailed you, it was clear from your response that you probably weren’t interested in seeing me.”
With one finger, I tip her chin back up to me. The lighting is dim in here, even with the door slightly ajar and a thin strip of light from the hallway bleeding into the darkness. It’s enough for me to read the expression in her eyes though. She’s not forgiven me for sending her away in Cornwall. I know I fucked up and it’s way past time I explained and apologized.
“Katie, I know you hate me for not promising you more after Cornwall, but I wasn’t in a good place then. I was struggling to write and frustrated by the slow progress of my recovery. I’m sorry for handling the situation so badly.”
“Hate is a strong word,” she says softly, then straightens, seemingly gathering strength before continuing, “What I don’t understand is why you coerced me into going all the way down to Cornwall only to reject me when I was there. What was that about? Honestly, I have no idea, because it sure as hell wasn’t about getting the contract signed.”
“Aye, it had nothing to do with the contract. Like I explained at the time, I wanted to see you to apologize for sneaking away after our night together.”
“Fine, so you apologized. But then why did you seduce me with some kind of dick sorcery that had me falling into bed with you? If you were only going to tell me to go home when we were done. It was like,that was fun, now go back to London.”
I let my finger drop from under her chin. I want to hold her to me, kiss away the doubt I planted in her. But I can’t do any of that because I promised that she had the control.
“There were no plans of seduction involved. You’ve always been a willing participant. And I don’t even know what dick sorcery is, so I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing any of that.”
“Oh yes, you were,” she states while poking me in the shoulder with one ruby-red painted fingernail. Even her nails shout sex goddess, and a fleeting thought of her wrapping them around my cock has me hardening uncomfortably behind the zipper of my dinner suit. I’m a sick bastard, getting turned on by her anger.
She huffs again, and this time places both hands on her hips. “Like I said before, I’m not your plaything.”
Plaything.The word has me conjuring up more images of Katie, naked and sliding down onto my shaft.
