This wasn’t the smart thing. Or the proper thing. But he couldn’t make himself pull away from her. She tasted like sweet, baby-shower punch, and she smelled like lavender. He wanted to draw her scent into his lungs and hold it there.
But then it was over.
As she pulled away, Oliver felt a surge of unwanted desire wash over him. It was the last thing he needed right now—with Lucy of all women—but he couldn’t deny what he felt. It took everything he had not to reach for her and pull her back into his arms again. He was glad he didn’t, though, as his need for her was stunted by a sudden blow to the face as Lucy punched him in the nose.
CHAPTER FOUR
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lucy asked with outrage in her voice as she backed away from him.
Oliver didn’t immediately reply. First, he had to figure out what the hell had just happened. He was being kissed one second, hit the next and now he was being yelled at.
“Me?” He brought his hand up to his throbbing nose and winced. It wasn’t broken, but there was blood running over his fingers. He’d never actually had a woman hit him before. One for the bucket list, he supposed. “You’re the one that kissed me!”
“I did not,” she insisted.
Oliver frowned and sighed, reaching into his coat for his pocket square to soak up the blood. Harper had never mentioned Lucy being impulsive, but he was learning new things about her all the time. It had been ten seconds since their lips had touched and it hadn’t been his doing. Surely she recalled that. “Yeah, you did kiss me. I said you were beautiful and you threw yourself at me.”
Lucy must have been caught up in the moment, because she seemed very much embarrassed by the truth of his blunt description. Her skin was suddenly crimson against her white dress and she wasn’t even the one who got punched. “Yes…well…you kissed me back,” she managed.
What was he supposed to do? Just stand there? Oliver was not a passive man, especially when the physical was involved. “My apologies, Miss Campbell. Next time a woman kisses me, I’ll politely wait until she’s finished with me and hit her instead.”
Lucy took a cautious step back at his words, making him grin even though he shouldn’t.
“I’m not going to hit you,” Oliver said, dabbing at his nose one last time and stuffing the handkerchief into his pocket. “I’ve never hit a woman and I’m not going to start now. Although it would be nice if you would extend me the same courtesy. What ever happened to an old-fashioned slap of outrage? You straight-up punched me in the face. You hit hard, too.”
She twisted her pink lips for a moment before nodding softly. “I take kickboxing classes twice a week. I’m sorry I hit you. It was almost a reflex. I was…startled.”
“You were startled?” Oliver snorted in derision at her Pollyanna act and immediately regretted it as his nose throbbed with renewed irritation. “How could you be caught off guard when the whole thing was your doing?”
“Was it?” Lucy asked. “You weren’t complimenting me and moving closer to me with that in mind?”
Oliver didn’t remember doing that, but it was entirely possible. Lucy had a power over him that he hadn’t quite come to terms with yet. Despite his best intentions, he found himself wanting to be nearer to her. To engage her in conversation, especially if it might fluster her and bring color to her pale cheeks. He’d wondered several times, in fact, how it would feel to have her lips against his and her body pressed into his own. Unfortunately, it had all happened so suddenly just now that he’d hardly been able to enjoy it.
He wasn’t about to tell her that, though. She might be a pretty, nice-smelling con artist, but she was still a con artist. She’d worked her magic on his sister and his aunt. He’d had no doubt she would eventually turn her charms on him to get him to drop the contest of Aunt Alice’s will, and she’d tried it at her first real opportunity. Letting her know she’d gotten to him would give her leverage. No. Let her stew instead, thinking her plan hadn’t worked and she’d flung herself at a completely disinterested man. She’d have to find a different way to get what she wanted.
“I didn’t come to this party to see you and I most certainly didn’t come to this party to try and seduce you. I can’t help it if I’m a charming man, Lucy, but that’s all it is. I’m sorry if you confused that with me being attracted to you.”
Her mouth dropped open for a moment before she clapped it shut and pressed her lips into a tight frown. “That wasn’t exactly the kiss of a man that wasn’t interested,” she pointed out.