“I think Marie ordered it from your shop because she knew you’d deliver it,” he said.
I had been about to unpack the food that I’d gotten us, but I stopped. His statement sounded a bit peculiar … for several reasons.
“She knows about us? I mean, not us, I realize there is no real us yet, but our date.”
“She does.” He entertained me patiently, like he had all the time in the world just for me.
Something else bothered me, but I couldn’t for some reason, place the worry at that moment so I continued with unpacking the takeout boxes of food. He joined me. We worked silently, with my mind processing the revelation of his lawyer’s involvement. I was trying to figure out why it caused that unsettled feeling inside me.
“Why would she want me to come over?” I asked finally.
He met my gaze full-on. His eyes intense. “She knows that I am attracted to you.”
“Oh.” The uneasy feeling still plagued me. “You seem pretty close to her.”
“Not really,” he replied. “But I’ve known her for a long time.”
“I see,” I said, but I didn’t. It was weird. All the boxes of food were finally laid out before us so I handed one to him and picked one for me.
“There’s no fork?” he asked as I handed him a pair of chopsticks.
“Don’t you know how to use these?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nah.”
I smiled, finding his admission a bit amusing. “Don’t worry, I got some forks too, but I thought since you lived in New York you would be an expert at using them.”
He put a piece of the chicken into his mouth, leaned back, and chewed on it.
I watched his face, waiting for his reaction. “How is it?” I asked.
“Delicious. You made a good choice,” he replied sincerely.
Pride warmed my chest.
23
Willow
We went on eating, and when he asked to taste some of my dumplings I held out the box to him.
“Can I taste yours?” I asked, looking at the carton of pepper beef he was holding.
His lips stretched in amusement. “Haven’t you already had it just now?”
I was caught. All I’d really wanted was to share something that was his without even realizing it. My head lowered in embarrassment. “I … I’m just a bit greedy today.”
He offered the box to me, but I was too embarrassed to even look at him, so he turned my face to his and brought a piece of dark meat to my lips. “Be a devil. Have some,” he drawled.
I looked into the gorgeous sunburst of blue and ice and black speck in his eyes and my lips automatically parted.
I closed my mouth around his fork, savoring even more than the food, the fact that the white plastic had been in his mouth. Sharing made me feel intimate with him, and it was what I most enjoyed. I barely even tasted the food.
“Another piece?” His voice was thick, and his eyes suddenly veiled.
I shook my head. Words were gone from me. I looked away, needing to collect my scattered thoughts that had scattered like fallen leaves in the wind.
The atmosphere had changed and I had lost my appetite, but I pretended to put another piece of food into my mouth and chewed mechanically. Stop it, Willow.
My gaze went over to his big oak desk, and the mess of papers that were strewn all across it. I could never work in such a mess. It would do my head in, but it obviously worked for him. He probably made more money in a day than I did all year.
“You mentioned that you’re working on a project. Can I ask what it’s about?”
“Of course,” he said. “I have a group of overly greedy bastards as clients.”
My head whirled around. The expression on his face made me laugh and a bit of food went down the wrong pipe. I started coughing. He leaned forward, grabbed a bottle of water and held it out to me. I accepted it, drank it down quickly. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “It’s just your expression …”
He was leaning back against the sofa, to all intents and purposes in a relaxed pose, but his eyes were strangely alert. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and again his gaze became disturbingly sultry.
“I love it when you laugh,” he whispered. “Never apologize for it.”
It felt as though he was speaking from the depths of his heart which I couldn’t understand since we barely knew each other. I felt absolutely speechless. How the hell did we get here so fast? As it stood I was ready to sell my soul to him. I took a deep shuddering breath and forced my gaze back to my food. I felt slightly better when I was not directly looking into the starburst in his eyes. “You were telling me about your project,” I croaked.