Lusty Billionaires Bundle(147)

He struggled to recover his usual easy charm and not let his attention stray from her flustered face to the gentle swell of her breasts and the slimness of her legs encased in their tight jeans.

‘Some wine, then. Food smells good, whatever you say…’ He disappeared towards the sitting room, to rescue the untouched wine she had poured earlier on and returned with the tray. ‘Gone a bit tepid, unfortunately…’

‘No problem. There’s some ice in the freezer.’

That unsettling moment had passed as ice was fetched and the table set and the food brought out, occupying most of the table top even though it was just one dish of pasta, one of salad and some dressing.

Or had it?

They sat opposite one another, but Tessa could feel her cheeks aching from having to force herself to smile. Just a few centimetres too far, and their knees would touch. A major disadvantage with a tiny kitchen table, she decided. To avert that possibility, she tilted her legs to one side, but every fibre in her being was aware of him, aware of the flex of his muscles as he dug into his food, aware of the way he twirled the spaghetti on his fork, aware of his dark eyes resting on her face during mouthfuls.

They talked about music, pleasant, unthreatening chitchat that made her think about dancing with him. They talked a bit about work, about his ideas for the Far East, which made her wonder how he would look after a few weeks in the hot sun. Even darker and sexier than he did now. From that they moved easily into chatting about holidays abroad, and after she’d drunk two glasses of wine in record time she heard herself elaborating on her childhood, on how things had changed after her parents had died, on places she had seen and all the ones she wanted to but probably never would. At the back of her mind she knew that she would regret all the confidentiality in the morning, especially after her robust speech about keeping the lines between them clear.#p#分页标题#e#

But she didn’t want any pregnant pauses to creep into the conversation between them.

‘I hope it hasn’t been too much of a strain,’ Curtis said, when they had finished eating.

‘What hasn’t?’

‘My being here with you tonight, taking advantage of your hospitality and good nature…’

He knew that she would blush. He also knew that he should be listening to his head, which was telling him to leave as soon as possible, even if that meant waking his daughter up.

‘I…no, of course not…it’s been fine…’

‘Good.’ He stood up and waved her down when she was about to follow suit. ‘Don’t even think about it! You cooked and I’ll wash. Fair’s fair!’ He raked his long fingers through his hair and looked at her steadily. It required a superhuman feat of concentration. Her mouth looked so damned tempting, half parted like that…

‘Why don’t you go and check on my daughter?’ he said thickly, turning away. ‘I’m a quick washer. By the time you get back I’ll be done.’

Tessa stood up, thankful for something to do that required her to be out of the kitchen. ‘Just make sure you do a good job,’ she said lightly, addressing his broad back and wondering how she could possibly know that he was smiling. ‘I don’t accept shoddy work.’

She had expected a nightmare evening. It hadn’t been. It had been good, and she wasn’t sure whether that was worse…





CHAPTER FIVE




TEN minutes later Tessa returned to the kitchen to find that the washing-up was certainly being done but in a cavalier fashion that entailed stacks of dishes balanced precariously on the draining-board. She watched, enjoying the sensation of being the observer rather than the observed, as Curtis’s hand hovered, trying to locate a safe spot on which a wineglass could be deposited without bringing the whole fragile balancing act crashing to the floor.

‘Anna’s up,’ she announced. Without intervention, she doubted that the glass would survive in one piece. Before he could add it to the worrying pyramid of dishes, she grabbed a tea-cloth and removed it from his hand.

‘Oh, good,’ Curtis said, taking time out to watch her as she quickly dried the object and then moved on to remove crucially placed items back to the safety of the kitchen counter.

‘Up and very apologetic about just falling asleep like that. Apparently she’s been up very late most nights, doing emails to her friends, and what with exhaustion from work and all the stress of this evening, she just closed her eyes for one second and nodded off. I told her that she could have a bath and freshen up before she came down.’

‘Well, let’s hope she’s in a slightly better frame of mind when she emerges,’ Curtis replied, rinsing the last of the cutlery and dumping it into the upturned frying-pan, which was the closest thing to hand.