* * *
At one o’ clock on the dot, I found Henry waiting for me at reception. He drank me in from head to foot in a leisurely, decadent way, like he was savoring every minute of watching me walk toward him.
Okay.
So maybe he was attracted to me.
He held out his elbow and gave me an arrogant half smile that was much more attractive than I’d like. “Ready to go, Sunshine?”
For a moment I was caught off guard, not only by the nickname but by him. He was like a completely different person to the one who had burst into my home and threatened me against hurting his friend. This man was way more complicated than I think most people even realized.
I tried to shrug off the butterflies in my belly—they’d been there since lunch yesterday—and ignored his offered arm. “Sunshine?” I yanked open the reception door and held it for him.
Henry shook his head, laughing at my rejection, and wandered through the open doorway ahead of me.
“Well?” I said.
“Well what?”
But my query was lost in the feeling of being overwhelmed as the elevator doors closed me in the small space, alone with him.
My cheeks flushed. I could cook bacon on those things.
I shot Henry a look out of the corner of my eye seeing his continued amusement.
“What now?” I huffed.
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “You’re adorable when you’re angry.”
“If you knew anything about women, you would know that is the last thing you want to say to one who’s angry.”
“Actually, considering how adorable I find you when you’re angry, it would make sense I’d want to keep you that way.”
I rolled my eyes. “Very cute.”
He nudged me playfully with his elbow. “We’re just two cuties then, huh?”
The elevator doors opened and I strode out ahead of him. “I’m cute. You… I’m thinking undiagnosed multiple personality disorder.”
Henry’s laughter rang out behind me and I had to suppress a smile at the compelling sound. He hurried to my side. “I’m growing on you.”
“Like a wart.”
He grinned and rushed to open the exit door. As I passed him, his blue eyes twinkled mischievously at me. “This is going to be fun.”
I wasn’t at all surprised to find Henry drove a silver Mercedes S-Class Cabriolet. He had the top down and as he opened the passenger door for me, I almost balked at sliding against the pristine ivory leather seat in case I marked it. Sinking into the luxurious car, I could only stare at the incredibly sexy interior.
Henry got in next to me and threw me the kind of excited grin a child might at Christmas. “Ready?”
“This is quite the car.”
“The words say impressed; your tone does not.” He observed as he pulled on his seatbelt. “Is it the top? Do you want it up so it doesn’t mess your hair?”
“I don’t care about that.” I frowned, annoyed that he’d think I’d be that concerned with my appearance. “I care about how weird this is.”
As we pulled into traffic, Henry slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses. “What’s weird about two adults having lunch together?”
“Because forty-eight hours ago, we were enemies.”
“So melodramatic. We were merely mistaken about one another.”
“You were mistaken about me. I think I have you pegged accurately.”
“And that’s why we’re going to lunch because you don’t.” He shot me that sexy smirk. “You don’t know the good stuff.”
“Has anyone ever said no to you in your life?”
“Yes, frequently.”
“Have you ever listened to them?”
Henry chuckled. “Rarely.”
His laughter and the sight of him driving this beautiful car with lazy confidence, his strong hands lightly resting on the wheel, those ridiculously hot sunglasses—it all affected me. Greatly. A sensuous ripple fluttered in my lower belly.
Dear God, I really wanted him.
The realization caused my breath to escape from me in a shudder, drawing his attention. Quite abruptly, I made a decision. “I’m just going to put it out there in case you’re planning to take me to a stupidly overpriced restaurant for lunch.”
“Okay.” He drew out the word, sounding amused and wary at the same time.
“I don’t particularly like you. In fact, you have become one of the villains in my story so far. I don’t want to date you and I doubt very much that you are interested in dating me. However, I also doubt that you feel so guilty about your treatment of me that you merely want to turn around my opinion of you. No, sir. I’m here because you’re attracted to me. That’s okay because apparently, I’m attracted to you too. You’re hot and it’s obnoxious but I can’t deny it.”
Henry’s mouth twitched like he was trying to suppress a smile. “Okay.”
“We’re attracted to each other or you wouldn’t have asked me out and I wouldn’t have let myself be manipulated into saying yes. But let’s not pretend this is something that it’s not with chivalry and a date. You want to fuck me. And I’m amenable to the idea. So let’s cut all the bullshit and just do it.”
“Jesus.” Henry almost ran into the back of a car that had stopped at the light, slamming hard on his brakes. He looked at me and even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I knew his expression was incredulous. “You’re amenable to the idea of me fucking you? Did I hear that right?”
I flushed. “I’m sure you’re used to women with gentler manners but I’m a straight talker. I don’t believe in flowering up a situation so as not to offend delicate sensibilities.”
The traffic moved forward and Henry didn’t speak.
In fact, he stayed silent for a while.
So long that I began to feel my cheeks burn with humiliation.
I’d read him wrong. He really did only want to make amends.
I wasn’t his type.
Oh God.
This month had been really, really bad for me.
Finally, he pulled up outside a pizzeria on Tremont Street. Once he killed the engine he took off his sunglasses and turned toward me. His expression was surprisingly sober as he intently studied my face, as if he hoped to find answers there. “You’re right,” he said, his voice low, deep, “I want you. But I don’t consider anticipation bullshit. We’re going to have lunch. And you’re going to agree to have lunch with me on Thursday. And then you’re going to agree to be my date to the Delaney Charity Ball this Saturday. After which we’ll go back to your apartment and I will happily fuck you into satisfied exhaustion.”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak because his last sentence turned me on, his words alone sparking delicious excitement deep in my belly.
What the hell would the rest of him do to me?
Of course, after a second or so of physical arousal, the rest of his words sunk in. “What?” I shook my head in confusion. “No. We don’t need to have lunch or go to a ball together.”
“No lunch dates, no date to the ball, no penis for you. And you don’t want miss out on my penis. It’s a good one.”
God, I didn’t want to laugh but he had the kind of irreverent charm that could melt the toughest critic. It was a gift. It was also a mask because I knew there was a dangerous character lurking behind it. Henry Lexington couldn’t be trusted. The thought sobered me and Henry frowned. “What’s the harm in a few dates, Sunshine?”
The harm was in him. I wasn’t a naïve girl in a romance novel who thought she could seriously keep her emotions detached from a guy she was having sex with all the time.
Joe was right about me.
That’s why it would be a one-time thing.
And even then, I was questioning my sanity over letting it happen that one time.
“This week, sex on Saturday after the ball, and then you and I are done.”
Henry contemplated me a moment. And then he held out his hand. “Deal.”
Tentatively, I s
lid my hand into his and had to fight against a thrilled shiver as his thumb caressed my skin. “Deal,” I managed.
He raised my hand to his mouth and gently pressed his lips to it. I stared at him, confused by the old-fashioned gesture as he let go. “Now, let’s eat.”
After hurrying around to open my door, Henry helped me out of the car; I was bemused when he held tight to my hand as he led me toward the restaurant.
We were having lunch at a pizza place?
I didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved.