‘It’s good to see you, Jules.’ He swept forward, leaning across the table to kiss her proffered cheek and anyone could catch the moment hanging in the air, sweeping them up in the sizzle.
‘You too.’ Julia looked up into his face as he straightened. ‘It’s a lovely place you have here.’
‘I would’ve liked you to come sooner.’
‘I would have if...’ She shrugged, her eyes lowering. ‘Well, things are different now.’
‘Too right, they are,’ Daniel said, stamping out the sudden lull and easing himself into the seat alongside Zara, near enough to breathe in his aftershave and leave her needing a whole lot more. None of which were appropriate in that moment, and she kept her eyes averted. On safer ground. ‘Why don’t you make up for lost time and show her around, Johansson, now that Julia has come around to my—?’
Julia’s eyes snapped to his. ‘I’ve not agreed to anything yet, s
torebror. I’ve said I’ll consider it.’
‘Okay—okay, now you’ve agreed to at least consider my proposition I have things I’d like to discuss with Zara.’
Julia eyed them all, nervously shifting in her seat, seeming flustered. ‘Right, fine, but remember, this is my home—what I say goes, Daniel.’
‘Sure thing.’
‘I’m depending on you, Zara, to help keep him in line.’
His sister’s trust in her had Zara smiling, her head momentarily off the distraction to her left as she nodded her assurance. It felt good that the woman trusted her to keep her corner. She wouldn’t let her down.
Julia gave her a smile and then rose from the table, her eyes cautiously on Johansson before she moved away. Zara watched them go, watched how Johansson’s hand swept into the curve of her back, the move more telling than either of them probably realised, and then they were gone, and the atmosphere shifted with a very different electricity.
Or not so different, if she dared think on it properly.
She looked to Daniel, hands folding in her lap as she fought the need to reach out for him. This was a restaurant, hardly a place to re-establish the intimacy they’d shared the previous night, but the urge was there, making her pulse race and her tummy draw tight.
‘Alone, finally,’ he said under his breath, his gaze sweeping the discreet arrangement of tables before coming back to her. ‘Thank you for talking to her.’
She took up her glass of water for a drink, needing its chilling quality to loosen up her vocal cords. ‘You’re welcome.’
‘You’re becoming fast friends, by all accounts.’
She let her eyes drift to the other diners, trying to douse the effect his nearness inspired, but, just as it had in the car, his warmth radiated down her side, luring her in whether her eyes were on him or not. ‘Well, she’s my client. I’m looking out for her best interests.’
‘And me?’ he said, all husky and pulling her resistant gaze back to his own, imprisoning her with his heat. ‘Are you simply looking out for mine too?’
Her throat closed over completely, her heart rapping against her tonsils. His sexual interests, she was all over.
But isn’t he a potential client now too, investing in the same property?
The warning bells chimed but her body wasn’t listening. ‘It would seem so.’
‘Aren’t I the lucky one?’ He reached up, his fingers sweeping back a lock of hair, brushing it behind her ear, the gesture intimate and barely there, yet its effect working through her system like an electric current. ‘Can I take it our one-date arrangement can become two?’
She smiled shyly, the fact he’d read her so well, had hit on the question that had been burning through her all morning, making her suddenly coy. ‘Is that what you want?’
But you shouldn’t want it, her conscience screamed. Not now he’s potentially crossed the line...not now he’s in client territory.
His hand slipped to her thigh, his fingers stroking through the fabric of her trousers and making her breath catch. ‘I daren’t tell you everything I want right now.’
‘No?’
‘No,’ he repeated, his head ducking to close the distance between them, his eyes flashing darkly. ‘It’s agony, keeping my hands off you.’
She swallowed, her belly on fire with his words. ‘Agony?’