I towered over him. “I just paid twenty-five thousand dollars for a concert. It’s exactly how it’s going to work.”
Jake straightened his tie and turned away. It was obvious there was something he was dying to spit out, but I didn’t know if it was my size or the look on my face that stopped him.
“Okay, that’s never happened before.” Lexi stood with her hands on her hips.
“What’s that?”
“Jake ran out of here speechless.” She held her hand over her mouth and laughed.
“Why is that guy your manager?” I couldn’t help but ask, even though it was none of my damn business.
“It’s complicated,” she answered.
I felt as if I had crossed a line. I didn’t like complicated or long stories. I didn’t usually stick around for either.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s gone. How about that drink?”
“That’s how you want to spend your twenty-five thousand?” she asked.
“Oh, no no.” I shook my head.
“What?”
“I asked you out for drinks before the auction. I have two dates with you.” I studied the V of her throat. I swore her pulse was beating faster.
“Two?”
“Mmmhmm.” I wasn’t letting her out of this.
“You don’t think it’s too late tonight? For the drinks, I mean.”
I laughed. “Where I’m from it’s never too late.”
“And where are you from, Luke?”
I bent toward her, lowering my lips to her ear. “Texas.”
“Is that supposed to impress me?”
Everyone had cleared out behind the stage. She was the last one from her crew. All I could think about was pressing her against the wall and letting my hands have free reign over her. I had never wanted to feel a woman’s lips under mine like this before. I could almost taste them. How soft they would be. The little purring sounds she would make.
I moved closer. “It should.”
“I’m from Tennessee. I guess it doesn’t have the same meaning.”
My hand flattened against the wall over her shoulder. “No it sure doesn’t. Everything’s bigger in Texas.”
I moved in to drag her lips under mine when we both jumped.
“What the hell?” We looked up.
The symphony members had returned to collect their instruments and the cellist had dropped his case.
I cleared my throat and made some space for us to breathe. Lexi’s eyes hadn’t left my mouth.
I slipped my arm around her waist, anticipating her falling off-balance. I inhaled her perfume and her shampoo. God, she even smelled like heaven. I let her go once she was steady again.
Everything about this scenario screamed for me to take her. To find a dark corner and kiss the hell out of this girl. Damn the band or the straggling guests. I could have wrapped her in my arms so fast and felt her heart beat out of her chest. But there was something about Lexi that made me want more than a quickie in the closet. I wanted to savor this woman. Devour her. Drink in every part of her. And I wanted to take my time doing it.
“I guess we’re lucky that didn’t land on our heads.” She giggled. “Maybe this isn’t the best place to be.”
“Maybe not.” I let my fingers fall from her waist.
“And I need to get back to the hotel and change.”
“See you at my place?” I asked.
She bit her lower lip. I took that as a yes and strolled out of the hospital, loosening my tie and throwing my jacket over my shoulder. This night was finally about to get good.
8
Alexa
The driver pulled up in front of Luke’s house. “We’re here,” he announced.
I wasn’t quite ready to get out of the car yet. I fidgeted with my purse and looked outside at the ranch-style home. So this is where Austin’s most infamous quarterback lived? We were far from the city and I looked out of the window, noticing you could actually see the stars in the sky. The front porch light drew moths the size of Texas to its glow.
Did I actually have the nerve to go through with this? It was a drink. He said drinks. Just drinks. I remembered the look in his eyes. The promise of sex practically dripped off his entire body.
It didn’t help that I had baited him into outbidding every man at the benefit tonight for a private concert with me. At the time it seemed playful. It was a way to get back at Jake’s constant pestering. Maybe it had started as the act of a petulant child, but now ... sitting outside of his house there was nothing childish about this.
I could even excuse what I did as charitable, but I wasn’t sure that’s how Luke would see it. I’d never met someone with more testosterone running through his veins than that man. He was determined to win. Determined to show everyone that he could win me.