Without a word, she stepped into the luxurious confines of what happened to be a state-of-the-art Audi. The windows closed, sealing them within an atmosphere that both chilled her blood and warmed her toes. She felt Nick Vitale’s gaze sweep over her for a few moments in silence but she looked straight ahead. She let out a shaky breath as he then turned back to focus on his driving, shooting them off with a squeal of tires.#p#分页标题#e#
“Address?” Nick Vitale quipped the moment they were out of the private road.
Keyonna pushed her fingers through her hair in exasperation. “Look, there’s absolutely no cause for you to drop me home. I much prefer to get a cab…”
“Save my time and your effort,” the infernal man said calmly yet with that hint of steel in his tone. His hand was poised over the GPS.
Quelling the urge to bestow him with her most catty eye roll, she blurted out her home address and then said a silent prayer that she could keep her cool the short drive to her place. Thankfully she didn’t live that far away and was virtually counting down the minutes until she would be free from Nicholas Vitale’s disturbing presence.
He drove smoothly and with total precision, and as the silence drew on Keyonna couldn’t help stealing a glance at his profile. She couldn’t read a thing from that darkly brooding face; he looked as forbidding as he always did. But soon, Keyonna felt the need to break the ominous silence so she took the bold step.
“Okay, Nick, why don’t you let it all out,” she said calmly, taking the liberty of calling him by his first name since he’d done the same with her. “Go on; tell me what else you think of me after that little stunt I pulled back there. I’ve come to discover you’re hardly the type to mince words.”
Was it her imagination, or was there an upward quirk to his tantalizing lush mouth? Keyonna wanted to kick herself for noticing how nicely curved his lips were for a man and how it had tasted damn good to kiss him. She could still feel the texture of those warm, lightly savoury lips with just a hint of bourbon.
“You’re a brave woman, Keyonna,” Nick told her somewhat thoughtfully. He spared her a narrow glance before facing the road again. “A little crazy, but I can see you’ve got guts. Unfortunately, all that does nothing to lessen the feelings of utter rage I have for you right now.”
Uh oh. Keyonna swallowed inaudibly. She should have known that underneath his cool exterior, the man was fuming. Hiding a flinch, she turned to view him as he continued to speak in that deceptively conversational tone.
“And do you know I’m engaged? No; I doubt that you do. You see, you’ve just managed to ruin my engagement to Rachel Conte. She definitely will not marry me now.”
Keyonna shrugged. “Too bad,” she said without any attempt to sound sorry for him. She’d forgotten nothing about the things he’d said to her and in fact, his accusations were drawing up her wounded feelings all over again. He was mean, hard and appalling and deserved whatever was coming for him.
“Yes; too bad for you,” he told her with a dark, stern tone. “Because I’ve decided that if she will not agree to go ahead with the planned wedding, you will have to do.”
Keyonna twisted right round to look at him after those bluntly delivered words.
Her mouth was slack as she told herself she had to have misunderstood him. “Are you being serious?”
“I’m certainly not joking,” he told her calmly, his eyes still on the road ahead, his grip on the steering wheel firm and sure. “I don’t know why you put on that performance, arresting though it was.”
He paused to cock an eyebrow at her, and she could tell he was being sarcastic. Her eyes narrowed though she didn’t interrupt as he continued, “But what I do know is that it has inconveniently landed me without a fiancée and therefore, no bride. This is a big problem for me. A billion dollar problem.”
His matter-of-fact tone made her sit up, her attention now fully grabbed as she tried to make sense of it all. He really wasn’t bluffing, she realized, staring at him. “Hold on…she hasn’t exactly broken up with you, has she?”
Nick’s well-cut lips twisted at her question. “Rachel has as good as done so. You saw me go after her. Well, I did my best to reason with her, but she told me it was best if I didn’t try to see her again. Ever.” He glanced Keyonna’s way, his gaze chilly. “Rachel is a proud, spoiled brat. Catching me in the arms of such a beautiful and delectable woman like you must have been a hard sight to stomach.”
Keyonna swallowed drily. It wasn’t the first time he’d called her beautiful tonight but she still felt that sheer drop in her belly. Now he called her both beautiful and delectable. Well he had a funny way of showing he regarded her as such, she thought even as she told herself she shouldn’t be sure he meant her to feel flattered by his comments.