Excerpt from Courting Trouble
Outside, night had fallen. The darkness was inky, with just a little slash of a moon. The streetlight provided a funnel of artificial brightness, but they stood just on its edges, somewhere in the grayness. Jason couldn’t help but stare at Sienna’s profile as she watched the street.
She was beautiful. Tall and blonde, with feminine features and expressive blue eyes. Her legs went on forever, and her skin… He’d snuck enough touches tonight to know that her skin was soft and addictive. It made his fingers ache to touch again.
They started buzzing, and he pushed his hands into his pockets.
He still couldn’t believe she was here, the girl from the charity event.
It rankled him.
He stared at the tips of his shoes as he considered how close that dinner meeting had come to going straight into the crapper. This deal was important to him. He’d wanted to make a good impression, but he’d been off his game all night.
Thanks to Nina.
He was still beyond pissed with that woman. Talk about the queen of manipulation.
“You saved my ass tonight,” he confessed gruffly.
Sienna blinked. “You’re welcome,” she said politely.
And just a little passive-aggressively. He hadn’t said thank you, because he wasn’t really in a grateful mood.
He’d needed a date for tonight. It had been that simple. Tandy… Randi… what’s-her-name had finally come through with an appointment with her boss, but for obvious reasons he couldn’t bring her along. When Dumonde had said he was bringing his wife, Jason had known he needed a quick date. Calling Nina had been the obvious solution.
He’d just never expected Sienna to come walking through the doors of that hyena’s swanky office.
How had that bitch known? He didn’t for one second believe this was a coincidence.
“Turning the discussion to French was genius.”
She cocked her head ever so slightly. “It wasn’t a strategic move. I was just being polite.”
And he wasn’t. Point noted.
He rubbed his chin, feeling the rasp of a five o’clock shadow. He’d waited so long to get that meeting scheduled, he might have been overly aggressive. It was a trait he was known for. He was also known for his tenacity.
“Is that one of the highlights on your bio? Your bilingual abilities?”
Her controlled expression turned even more calm. Icily so. “I have no idea what’s marked on my bio. If it is, Nina’s short two languages.”
A smirk pulled at Jason’s lips. Okay, not so calm after all. He liked the cracks that were forming on her well-bred, frigid exterior.
“Why else would she match you up with me?” he asked.
“I have no idea.”
“I do.” Queen Nina had been at the Aquamarine event the other night. She must have seen him staring at the pretty waitress. Honestly, his attraction to her had to have been obvious. He’d nearly gotten whiplash when he’d set eyes on her.
But to pull Sienna into Luxxor’s world?
He didn’t like being played.
And as hard as his cock might have kicked to attention at seeing her again, he hated the idea of the cool blonde walking around in the escort world even more.
Her gaze finally flicked away from the street to look at him. “Care to share?”
Oh, he did. He just didn’t think she’d appreciate the kind of sharing he wanted to do. “My charming personality?”
Her eyes flared with fire. He saw her lips pinch tight, but then she took a deliberate breath. It was the eeriest thing in the world. The lines on her face smoothed, and her gaze went expressionless. “I apologize that I interrupted your business negotiations.”
She said “negotiations” so flatly that it was clear that she didn’t think it was the appropriate word choice, yet there was no emotion behind the word whatsoever. Her sociable attitude had turned so pleasant and plastic, Jason had to grit his teeth.
“You’re very, very good,” he said quietly.
“Thank you.”
“They bought us as a couple.” He let his gaze slide deliberately down her body. She was standing in a pose like something out of a ‘50s handbook, with her feet angled appropriately and her ankles pressed together. In fact, her legs were seamed together like the binding of a book, all the way from ankle to thigh.
“Wasn’t that the point of my attending tonight?”
She was still calm, but her pupils had dilated ever so slightly. Her shoulders were lifted half an inch higher, and she was holding that clutch as if she wanted to hit him with it.
He took a step closer. “Why do you do this? Why do you go out with strangers for money?”
The animation that had been in her eyes over dinner was gone. Those pretty baby blues were impassive.
“I like helping people,” she said in that Stepford Wife voice.
It was a voice Nina had put there. He knew it was a trained response, recommended procedure.
“Helping them by role-playing?”
“Yes,” she answered, unashamed. “I’m a friend, a confidante, or even arm candy.”
But she didn’t like being the latter. He could tell by the way her lips stiffened.
“I enjoy people,” she said.
He took another step, this one to the side so he was directly in front of her. “But you don’t like me very much, do you?”
There it was, the spark he’d known was there, buried deep down.
She shifted backwards, away from him, bumping up against the concrete planter. He stopped her before she could trip, his hands naturally seeking out the warmth of the bare skin at her waist. He didn’t grab her. The hold was barely there, only touching her, but she froze.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“Liar.”
Her body language wasn’t standoffish, but it was closed-in. Rejection. Jason frowned. Was she afraid of him?
His gaze skimmed back up to her face, but before it got there he noticed the way her breath was working in her lungs. The distracting cutouts in her dress made it clearly apparent—as did the press of her nipples. The dark color of her dress had hidden them well, but with the play of light and shadows, he saw them now.
Jason felt the thrumming inside him. He didn’t know why he was pushing her like this.
Yes, he did.
He didn’t want to be out with one of Nina’s creatures. They were slick and trained and cultured and correct. He wanted the waitress from the party. He wanted to feel that zing and see the pink in her cheeks when their gazes connected.
“You think I was rude to Etienne’s wife.”
She lifted her hands. One settled on his biceps, not holding him away, but creating a barrier.
“I think you were eager to talk to him about your idea.”
She was still lying. He’d seen the way her jaw had clenched and caught the furious looks she’d thrown at him before she’d turned the discussion in another direction.
“You weren’t happy to be paired with me,” he said. “I saw the disappointment on your face in Nina’s office.”
Her pretty blue eyes snapped open. “You were the one who wasn’t happy.”
Ah, there it was. Still polite, but it scraped at the iceberg of truth she was hiding.
He took a small step towards her, invading her space. The planter behind her hid them from any prying eyes at the restaurant. “You think I’m an ass who can only get women by paying for them.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’re a smart girl, that’s clear.” He let his gaze slide over her again and deliberately ran his thumb underneath one of those convenient cutouts at her waist. “Did you take this job for the perks? Do you like playing dress-up and going to all the fancy dinners?”
Her mouth dropped open, unladylike, before snapping closed again.
“Is it just easier to pay the bills using that angel face and killer body?”
Everything turned on a dime. Fury flared in her eyes, and her cheeks went beyond pink to bright red. She pushed at him and lunged sideways, but he moved with her.
“You are an ass,” she hissed. She pushed at his shoulder with her free hand. “You didn’t even mention that Marie was going to be here tonight. You discounted her entirely when she’s key.”
“I know,” he said, watching the fury that radiated from her face. “Now,” he added when she glared at him.
“You treated Nina like a whipping post when all she was trying to do was help you.”
He gritted his teeth. “You obviously have no idea what was going on there. I’m not apologizing for that.”
“You’re a bull in a china shop,” she snapped. “Constantly pushing things out of your way. I didn’t have to come tonight, you know. You’re lucky you got anyone on such short notice.”
“I’m lucky I got you.”
He closed the distance between them fast. He’d been fantasizing about finding her for weeks, but in his head none of it had gone down like this.
It had gone like this.
He kissed her, his mouth closing over hers. Swinging an arm around her waist, he pulled her against him.
The sparks that had been flying combusted.