Riot(36)

Ice shrugged. “Would you believe I was in the neighborhood and stopped in for a beer?”

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Were you?”

A smile tugged at his sensual lips. “No.”

“Oh.”

“How have you been?”

“Good. You?”

“Good,” he repeated her brief answer, his eyes sliding over her body in the royal-blue dress. “You look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you. My brother told me you got out.”

“You told your brother about me?” He reached out, tugging the passing waitress’s skirt. “Honey, bring me a beer.”

The woman had initially looked angry at his familiarity, but when she got a good look at Ice, her frosty expression warmed, and she smiled seductively back at him.

“Sure thing, sugar.”

Grace mentally noted he had called her honey. So he routinely uses affectionate terms to address women, she thought.

“Only that you were the one to take me hostage,” Grace told him, taking a sip of her drink. “He wanted to let me know the man responsible for holding me hostage was out of prison.”

“I can tell you’re still pissed.”

“A woman tends to hold a grudge over something like that, Ice.”

“I was hoping you would have gotten over it by now.”

Grace narrowed her eyes on him. Was the man crazy?

While the woman from the next table sat back down and immediately began berating her fiancé for not ordering her another drink, the waitress returned, setting down Ice’s beer in front of him.

“Here you go, sugar.” Ice reached inside his wallet and pulled out a twenty. “Keep the change.”#p#分页标题#e#

“Thanks, sweet thing.” The waitress seemed even more attracted to him, giving Ice a slip of paper before moving off.

“Go away, Ice,” Grace told him as soon as he turned back to her.

He frowned at her closed expression. “No. I’ve had to wait for those dickheads watching you to back off.” Ice leaned closer to her. “I’ve missed you.”

Grace sat stunned by his admission. “I can tell,” she said snidely.

Ice crumpled the slip of paper, tossing it across the table. “Baby, I only have eyes for you.”

“Do. Not. Call me. Baby.”

“I think you need to loosen up. Let’s dance.”

“I don’t…” Before she could finish her protest, he pulled her from her chair and led her toward the dance floor.

Grace didn’t want to make a scene. She would dance one dance with him then find a way to slip from the club and go home.

It had been a long time since she had danced. Her mother had often thrown extravagant parties as she grew up, and she had learned to dance at an early age. She had also been allowed in nightclubs in Paris with her friends with Dax escorting them.

She had suppressed her love of dancing by staying away from the dance floor. Now, listening to the music, she was unable to prevent that love from slipping free. Her body moved lithely to the music. Ice was a good dancer, also, moving against her to the sensual beat. She raised her arms to the ceiling as her hips rotated in moves which drew attention to her, but she was unaware, lost in her own pleasure.

As soon as the music ended, Ice escorted her from the dance floor before another song had a chance to begin.

“I wanted to dance again,” she protested with a pout on her face, wanting to lose herself again.

“You want to dance? I’ll dance with you in private. Where did you learn to dance like that?”

“Paris,” she said, flouncing back to her chair. She noticed the man with the irritating fiancée watching her.

“Jesus, woman, you’ve given every man here a hard-on.”

Grace blushed bright red. Dax had gotten in many fights when she was younger with men she had spent the night dancing with. She had forgotten how uninhibited she tended to be while dancing.

“Sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Next time, we’ll be in a private place where I have a bed close by.” Ice grinned at her wickedly.

“There won’t be a next time. I don’t want to see you again. I don’t know why you came to see me, but nothing is going to happen between us.” Grace decided the best way to handle a man like Ice was to be forthright and honest.

“Why not?”

“Because...” She stared at the sexy man sitting next to her and briefly drew a blank. Then reason returned.

His face was harsh, yet he had a carnal appeal that drew her, as it would most women, Grace surmised. There was a wildness about him women would be tempted to tame. Grace was not one of them.

“Let me see.” She began pointing out her reasons for not wanting to become involved with him. “You’re a criminal.”