Wade looked into Tori’s eyes. They reflected a confusion he could sense in every inch of her tense body language. She wanted him. She despised him. He was walking a fine line between the two sides. He decided to push her until her desire won the battle. He leaned in and gently brushed a strand of red hair out of her face, barely grazing her forehead and cheek with his fingertips. Tori sucked in a ragged breath when he touched her. He spoke low, almost like a lover’s whisper. “Maybe I don’t. So tell me, what do you want, Tori?”
She swallowed hard but didn’t pull away from him. “I want…” Her voice trailed away as though she couldn’t find the right words. “I didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to try to romance the land out from under me,” she replied, choosing to ignore his question. “As if you even could.”
So she was onto him. That might make the seduction harder, but not impossible. “You doubt my abilities?” He grinned a wide, mischievous smile at her and pulled back to give her some room to breathe. He’d rattled her enough.
“No, but perhaps you underestimate my ability to resist you. Tell me, what was that kiss about?”
That was a damn good question. What was that kiss about? Tori was the last woman he needed to be attracted to, but his reaction to her was undeniable. Stupid, but undeniable. At best, he could try to use their attraction to tip the scales in his favor. “I told you already. I’m after the win-win scenario.”
“I’m not going to sell you my land, Wade. If that’s all tonight was about, all that kiss was about, then you can take your Christmas tree and go back inside.”
Tori shifted her boots in the snow and crossed her arms under her breasts. The act of defiance did little to discourage the thoughts about her running through his mind. It had only focused his brain on the perky orbs of her breasts that pressed against her chenille sweater and threatened to erupt over the top of her scoop neckline.
It made his mouth water to think about gliding his hands over the soft fabric and kneading her supple flesh. He had the fierce urge to run his tongue along her collarbone and the crest of her breasts.
When he tore his gaze away and looked her in the eye again, he knew he’d been caught in the act. Her eyes widened, and he was struck by what a gorgeous shade of blue they were. Her eyes were a lovely shade of light blue that reminded him of the ice-blue eyes of his friend’s Siberian husky. Cool, wary and penetrating. They were also sparkling with the hint of a desire she didn’t want to acknowledge. She dropped her hands back to her sides to ruin the display she created.
“Actually, no. That isn’t all that it’s about.” He didn’t elaborate, but the pointed way he watched her lips as she tentatively licked them should have spelled it out for her.
Whether it was due to the cold or to his blatant admiration, her creamy cheeks turned a rosy pink and her breath came out rapidly in foglike bursts. He wondered if that was how she would look when she was flushed and breathless from his passionate caresses.
He hadn’t been lying when he said he wanted her to like him. That he wanted to ask her out to dinner sometime. When they argued, his blood boiled with irritation and arousal all at once. Wade liked a challenge. Tori was certainly that.
Sure, he intended to get that land back one way or another, but that was a separate issue. Business versus pleasure. He wished she could see the difference, but the women he’d known had a tendency to tangle issues together into an impossible knot. Tori was no different where this was concerned.
Initially he’d thought that indulging in their undeniable connection would complicate the issue. But kissing her in the foyer had changed everything. Denying the electricity between them might actually make their problems worse. He was certainly getting cranky returning to his bunkhouse room every night, alone, with Tori on his mind. Tonight he would have to share the room with Brody and listen to his opinion on the matter.
That wouldn’t help the tension building up, either. Perhaps if he and Tori blew off a little steam together, the situation wouldn’t seem quite so dire. On her end, at least. On his end, it was most certainly dire, no matter how much pent-up sexual frustration taunted him.
His perfect solution would be to get the land back, offer her enough money that she could buy land that was even better for her needs, and have her in his bed for a while. There didn’t have to be a bad guy in this story if she would be open-minded to the options. He wasn’t above abusing their sexual chemistry to get his way—if they happened to end up in bed together, so be it.