He reached a hand to the thin, mock men’s tie that lay between my breasts, running a light finger along it. He made a deep humming noise in his throat, then pulled his hand quickly back.
He cleared his throat softly. “Are you seeing anyone?” he asked, finally looking back into my eyes.
I bit my lip and shook my head. His gaze went to my mouth at the motion. He watched me with a singleminded focus that I couldn’t seem to look away from.
“Good,” he said. Is this really happening? I thought, dazed. “I assume you’re taking a nap when you get to your hotel. What time will you be waking up?”
Lord, he was direct. Unusually so. It seemed to be swaying me from my normal ways. I was used to gently turning men down before they could directly ask me out. The tactic had always served me well. It saved me awkwardness, and saved their pride. I couldn’t seem to use it on Mr. Cavendish, though. When he asked me a question, I felt almost compelled to answer it truthfully.
“I usually sleep for about four hours, so I can still get to sleep at night. We have an early flight to Las Vegas on Saturday morning. If I slept any longer than that, I’d be up all night.”
He did quick calculations in his head, then asked. “So noon?”
I nodded, wondering why I wasn’t yet explaining that I wouldn’t go out with him. Or do any of the things that he obviously had on his mind…
“I’ll send a car to pick you up for lunch,” he told me. So he wasn’t going to ask me out. He was apparently going to order me out. Why was I having such a hard time getting the words out to tell him no? “You and I need to talk,” he continued. “I have a proposition for you.”
The word proposition, which to my ear had a seedy ring to it, finally brought me back to myself. I shook my head finally, galvanized back into my normal behavior. “No, Mr. Cavendish. I’m flattered that you’re…interested in me in some way. But I’ll have to politely decline. I don’t date.”
He blinked at me, clearly taken aback. He was silent for a moment before he tried another tact. “I don’t date, either, actually. That was not exactly what I had in mind.”
This is good, I told myself around my bruised ego. Of course he wouldn’t want to date you. He probably only dated useless socialites who had never had to work a day in their lives. I wanted him to continue with his explanation now, sure it would kill every ounce of the unwilling interest I felt for him.
“Then what did you have in mind?” I asked him, my voice colder now.
His gaze was hot suddenly, his finger running again along my thin tie. I had to check the impulse to look down and make sure my hardening nipples weren’t outlined through my shirt and vest. “I think you and I are very compatible. In fact, I’m sure of it. Come to lunch with me today and I’ll show you. If you still aren’t interested, I will, of course, leave you alone. But I promise I can make you interested. I’ll treat you very well, Bianca. I’m a very generous man-”
I held up my free hand. I was so done with the conversation. I felt slightly ill, but more aroused, and the combination was troubling to me. “Please, no more,” I told him stiffly. “I’m not interested in any of that, believe me. I don’t know what impression you think I’ve given you, but I’m not some kind of fortune-hunter. I don’t want your generosity. I don’t want anything at all from you. We have a girl that works in back who seems more your style. I’ll send her your way if your’e so hard up that you’re offering random women money. Or whatever the the hell it is you were suggesting. But I can tell you for sure that I am not the kind of girl that you’re looking for.”
I tried to stand, but he didn’t release my wrist. I sat back in the seat, glaring at the hand that held me captive. “That’s not what I meant at all, Bianca. I didn’t mean to sound so…indelicate. But I am very, very attracted to you, and I would very much like to do something about it.” He smiled at me with a mixture of charm and heat that was very nearly irresistible. “Have lunch with me, where we can discuss this at length, and with some privacy.” He released my wrist as he finished speaking.
“No, thank you, Mr. Cavendish.” I got up quietly and walked back into the galley, closing the curtain behind me calmly.
I was taking deep breaths, counting, and just trying to get my anxiety under control, when he swept in after me.
I opened my mouth to tell him no again when he kissed me. It was a hungry, desperate kiss, and I’d never experienced anything like it before. That was perhaps why I didn’t know how to respond. I just stood there, every part of my body stiff except for my lips, which had softened automatically at the touch of his pretty mouth. It was so unfair, that he had this too, this impossibly intoxicating kiss. He’s probably good at absolutely everything, I thought with a twinge of dismay. His tongue swept into my mouth and I moaned quietly in spite of myself. “Suck on my tongue,” he ordered me roughly, when he pulled back for a breath, and I was shocked. I’d never done that. But I was obeying him even as I questioned myself, sucking carefully and then harder. He groaned and pressed against me slowly. I felt him keenly, my body more sensitive than I could ever remember. His erection pressed into my stomach very obviously and I pulled back at the realization. “Touch me,” he ordered, and I finally looked up at him.