‘Are you trying to intimidate me? It didn’t work when I was ten—what makes you think it’ll work now?’
‘I was just wondering whether you taste as good as you smell.’
‘You’ll never find out.’ Rowan pushed him away, stood up and put some distance between them. She placed her fists on her hips and tipped her head. ‘Back to business. So, if I ask you for help what is it going to cost me?’
‘What?’
‘Your computer skills? I’m already paying for my food and bed by being the housekeeper...’
Seb looked at the stack of dishes in the sink. ‘Not that you’ve done any housekeeping yet.’
‘Give me a break. I’ll get to it! So, what’s the price?’
‘We’ll work something out,’ Seb said, deliberately vague.
‘And that statement scares the hell out of me,’ Rowan retorted. ‘As per usual you’ve managed to drive me crazy, so I need to leave. I’m going to do some shopping, since there isn’t anything to eat in this house!’
‘Want me to come with you?’
‘I’ve been shopping on my own for a long time now. I think I can manage.’
Rowan made her tone even and unemotional, but Seb smiled at the twin strips of colour on her cheekbones. Her chest was flushed and her nipples were puckered against her shirt. Her mind and mouth might be protesting at the thought of them sleeping together but her body wouldn’t object. He could reach for her right now and he knew that she wouldn’t take much persuading...
Except that he wanted her to want this—him—with both her body and mind. He didn’t want her to have regrets, to think that she was coerced. That would be giving that smart mouth of hers too much ammunition to chew his ass off.
Rowan wasn’t known for playing fair.
‘Money.’ Rowan held out her hand and bent her fingers backwards and forwards. When he just looked at her, she sighed. ‘I can’t go shopping without money, Einstein, and I don’t have any.’
Right. Try to keep up, Hollis! Seb reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet and handed over a wad of bills. He had no idea how much was in there and it didn’t matter. Money was easy. She could blow every cent he had and he would just put his shoulder to the wheel and make some more.
People—it was people who baffled him, he thought as Rowan tucked the cash into the pocket of her jeans.
‘Keys?’ she asked.
‘To what?’
‘Your car. Or were you expecting me carry the groceries back in the basket on the front of a bicycle?’
‘There is no way I’m letting you drive my precious car.’ Seb walked over to a row of hooks by the door and lifted off a set of keys. ‘Here’s a remote to the gate and garage and the keys to Yas’s runaround. Use that.’
‘I can’t use Yasmeen’s car!’
‘It’s my car, and Yas uses it to do errands so that she doesn’t risk getting her own dinged.’ Seb tossed her the set of keys and Rowan snatched them out of the air.
Their glances clashed and electricity buzzed between them again. Except that this time—dammit—it wasn’t all sexual, wasn’t only a caveman impulse to score with a pretty girl. Rowan wasn’t just a pretty face and a spectacular bod; she’d be easier to resist if she were.
She had a brain behind those amazing eyes, a sharp sense of business and a talent to spot art. Being physically attracted to her was enough of a hassle. To be mentally drawn to her as well was asking for trouble.
Yet he was having to fight to keep from taking those couple of steps to her, pulling her against him and making her his.
Seb placed his fists on his hips and blew out a long, frustrated breath. He needed to think this through, to rationalise this attraction he felt to her. Needed to try to find out where these crazy impulses to get her naked were coming from. He believed in being rational, in analysing that which he didn’t understand.
And he didn’t understand what was happening with him where Rowan was concerned. He needed to get a handle on these unpredictable and swamping impulses he had whenever she was in the same room.
Like the impulse to strip her naked and bend her over the back of that chair...
Oh, man. He was in a world of trouble here...
‘Okay, well, I’ll be back later.’ Rowan flashed him an uncertain look and belted out through the kitchen door.
Seb gripped the back of a chair with both hands and dropped his head. What was wrong with him? He never went nuts over a woman—never, ever felt out of control. Sex was important and, like all men, he liked it—no, he loved it—but he had always been able to walk away. Always.