He’s staring into my eyes and I’m so turned on by him I want to launch my body at his… instead, I retreat. “Well, thanks for the tour, Ian. It was nice to see you and I’m glad I got the chance to tell you I really appreciate your dropping the lawsuit. It was kind of you.”
“Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow? The weather is supposed to be nice and I thought to perhaps take a drive.”
“Um, okay. Yes, I’d like that. You have my number, right?”
“Yes. Why don’t you go see what your friends are planning to do? If they want to stay and you want to go, I’ll take you home.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I know you just got here, Ian. I wouldn’t want to spoil your evening.”
He laughs. “Spoil it? Funny. Go check, Ariel. I’ll wait.”
His eyes look stormy and I wonder what’s going on in that Machiavellian mind of his. But I want to stay with him, I do. I may be crazy but whatever. So I march up to Mariah who is presently chatting with a ruggedly good-looking man—he looks like a cowboy. But that’s impossible, right? I mean, this is a BDSM club, after all.
“Mariah? Can I have a minute?” I have to yell to get her attention.
“Sure. Will you excuse me for a moment?” I hear her shout to her new friend.
“I’m leaving, Mariah. You look like you want to stay. Ian offered to take me home. Do you want me to accept?”
She looks at me oddly, then glances over to Naomi whose lips are currently locked together with those of Ian’s blond friend. “Yeah, looks like Naomi’s occupied for the evening. And I’d like to stay,” she says excitedly and turns her head away from her cowboy. “Isn’t he gorg?”
I smile and nod. “Okay. I’m ready to go home so I’ll take Ian up on his offer. I’ll see you later or tomorrow.”
I thread my way back to Ian. “They’re staying; I’m going. If you really don’t mind, I’ll take you up on your generous offer.”
“Let’s go.” He offers me his arm.
“Don’t you need to tell your friend you’re leaving?”
He shakes his head. “He’ll figure it out. Come on.”
My heart is beating wildly again. In the club we couldn’t get too intimate but now we’re outside—it’s just he and I, without the lawsuit clouding the energy between us. As we walk to his car, parked in the lot behind the club, I allow myself a long look at him. There was too much going on earlier to check him out thoroughly. He’s wearing black jeans that fit him like a snug glove, and a black tee-shirt that stretches tautly across his broad chest. Black boots, black belt, a high-tech black rubber watch. The man in black—I really like the effect though it does make him look a bit like Satan, if Satan was a breathtakingly handsome man.
“Where am I taking you, Ariel?”
I suck in a deep breath. Should I do it? If he turns me down, I’ll be crushed. Oh, what the hell—you only live once. I thrust my chin up. “Your place?”
His head rears back in surprise. “Are you saying you want to spend the night with me, Ariel?”
I nod, not trusting my voice to hold up. I can’t believe I just said that—just propositioned him. It’s a first for me.
He’s looking into my eyes without saying a thing, just gazing, as if he’s reading my mind or soul. Say something for God’s sake. Yes? No? Maybe so? Absolutely not? Something, damn it.
His fingertips brush across my cheek lightly and he takes my hand and kisses it. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Chapter 11
Life is truly a theatre for the absurd, Ian thinks, as he floors the accelerator once he merges onto the highway. There he was, scheming and conniving every which way to get Ella back into his life and he failed miserably. Miserably. And then all it took was a chance encounter where she happened to see him with other interested women and she asks to come home with him. He shakes his head.
Jealousy. No one is immune to it, man or woman. All one has to do is read a little Shakespeare to see how even the high and mighty fall upon its sharp and sometimes double-edged sword, eyes wide open. Why it didn’t occur to him to use it to his advantage was the real mystery. He’d known Ella had a robust streak of the green-eyed monster right from the start. Their first night out together, he’d run into a female acquaintance. When the woman put her hands on him, he’d glanced at Ella and saw her eyes simmering at the proprietary insult. He’d seen no reason to tell her that he didn’t even like the woman—Ella’s reaction had amused him at the time because they’d just met and had no claims on each other. Not that they ever did… but he would like to now. Very much.