She was thirty-one years old and he knew her well enough to know that, underneath the official trappings, she wasn’t a woman who was used to the ways of the world. She wasn’t a woman like the ones he dated.
It made her teeth snap together with frustration but what could she do?
The more she protested and fought against his act of chivalry, the more bewildered he would become at her overreaction.
He wasn’t going to politely step aside and leave her be. He was a guy who had no objections to being a bull in a china shop if the occasion demanded, and since when were bulls in china shops interested in polite behaviour?
Nico was curious and she couldn’t blame him. She’d made such a big deal of being private that of course he was going to be curious in a situation like this.
‘Victor was...becoming a bit of a nuisance,’ she admitted. ‘It’s the first time we’ve gone out on a date and I had no idea he would end up drinking so much that he...’
Grace fiddled with the stem of her wine glass and her eyes skittered away from his piercing stare.
‘Some people can’t hold their drink,’ Nico rasped. ‘One too many and the inner creep takes over. Did he do anything more than just make you feel uncomfortable? Did he try and...touch you?’
‘No!’ But she laughed. ‘Why? Would you offer to go and pummel him on my behalf?’
‘Damn right.’
‘You’re kidding, Nico.’ Their eyes tangled and there was a brief, breathless silence. Her pulses leapt and, for a few seconds, every thought was driven from her head because there was a burning intensity in his dark eyes that made her feel giddy and sharply alert at the same time.
‘I don’t joke about certain things.’
‘Well, he didn’t. He was just a bore and then a pest. That’s all.’ He was still looking at her in a way that made her blood sizzle and she rushed into chatter, which was so unlike her. She confessed that he was an Internet date and then launched into a nonsensical monologue about dating apps, growing redder and more flustered by the second. Eventually she lapsed into embarrassed silence, mortified and despairing at how utterly she had let herself down.
‘The Internet can be a dangerous place, especially for a beautiful woman.’
Grace’s eyes widened. She wondered whether, in her feverish panic at the way the conversation was going, she had imagined what she’d heard. Maybe she’d been hallucinating, having some kind of out-of-body experience.
But then he reached out and covered her hand with his. His eyes didn’t leave her face. Just that hand, warm on hers, idly stroking...
And her body went up in flames. They licked past all the defences she had erected over the years, sweeping them under a blast of heat as scorching as a furnace. Her heart was a drumbeat that made her feel sick and faint. She was trembling and her breathing had slowed as her body responded to his casual touch.
It was as if she had been fast asleep and now, eyes wide open, life was rushing at her in dazzling, Technicolour fury.
It was terrifying and she snatched her hand away and rubbed it, lost for words.
‘I... I think I’ll be heading home now,’ she breathed jerkily, and Nico sprawled back in his chair.
‘Let me get my driver to take you.’
‘No! No... I... I can make my own way back.’ His voice was its usual lazy drawl while she had to clear her throat to avoid sounding like someone with a speech impediment. ‘Monday,’ she gabbled, standing and snatching at her bag, at once eager to leave but conscious of the floaty summer dress and her body on fire under it.
‘Monday?’
‘I’ll have those reports for you first thing! I’ve also...also done some checking up on the security systems at Deals, making sure there are no viruses in the system before I start loading sensitive information.’
‘Grace,’ Nico said softly, ‘I’m sorry your evening didn’t work out the way you wanted it to. Head home, sleep it off and don’t even dare think about anything work related until you’re in on Monday. Nothing is so important that you need to log onto your work computer on a weekend.’
He slapped his thighs and stood as well, towering over her, emanating waves of heat that furled around her like a miasma and scrambled her thoughts.
‘Have a good weekend...whatever’s left of it...’ He saluted her with a half-smile on his face. ‘And word to the wise...be careful on those dating sites. You never know what or who you’re going to find there.’
‘Thanks for the advice, Nico,’ Grace countered sweetly. ‘I’ll bear that in mind the next time I venture out into the big, bad world.’
And before he could say anything else on the subject, she spun round on her heel and walked away.
CHAPTER TWO