Billionaire With a Twist(16)

I snatched my hand away, blushing.

“Uh. Why were you looking for me?” I asked quickly, trying to distract him from my accidental almost-groping. “Was there something you needed to tell me?”

“Indeed there was,” he said with a grin that told me he had definitely noticed that too-long touch, and hadn’t quite decided whether or not to let me off the hook. “I wanted to tell you that the cook has made her famous pork chops for dinner.” He offered his hand. “I was hoping that might tempt you to join me.”

Like that man needed to offer pork chops to be a walking temptation.

Too bad it was one I couldn’t give in to.

“My room has plenty of food in the kitchen, I don’t want to intrude—” I began, though I really did, in the worst way. But then my stomach rumbled like a dying bear, betraying me. I blushed so scarlet that the Red Sea would be a pale pink in comparison.

“Sounds like someone disagrees with you,” he said, eyes twinkling.

“Just my body,” I said. “It’s an idiot. I try not to listen to it.”

“Oh?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve found that my body offers excellent advice.”

Well, why don’t we reintroduce them and see if yours is a good influence, my mouth urged me to say. I bit it back down and said instead, as lightly as I could, “Care to trade?”

That was a mistake. He eyed me up and down, and I felt my blood heat up in some extremely inopportune parts of me.

“It is an excellent body,” he murmured.

He leaned forward, and for one second, I thought he was going to kiss me.

Then he linked arms with me instead. “Come on. Let your body lead you to some new experiences.”

When he put it like that, how could I refuse?





SIX


“And don’t come back here for thirty minutes!”

Turns out that those pork chops were still simmering, and the cook didn’t take kindly to two people standing over her shoulder drooling, even when one of those two people was a hunky guy with a body that belonged on the cover of Playgirl.

A blast of hot air accompanied us out of the kitchen doors, before the cool air-conditioning enveloped us once again.

Then I looked up at Hunter, grinning that easy grin with those perfect teeth and those golden eyes…

Yeah, suddenly all the air seemed very hot again.

“Sorry about that,” he said, grabbing my wrist and tugging me down the hall. I tried to concentrate on his words and not the gentle firmness of his hands. “She’s got a bit of a temper, and the whole kitchen is her sovereign territory.”

“I didn’t notice you disabusing her of that idea,” I pointed out.

His grin grew wider. “Because she’s entirely correct. I couldn’t microwave popcorn if you duct-taped the instructions to my face.”

I laughed, and let him pull me along. “So where are we going now?”

“Well, I can’t let my expensive new advertising consultant starve because of a territory dispute,” Hunter said dryly. “I’m going to have to take drastic measures.”

“Drastic measures?” I echoed sarcastically. “What, are we going to go shoot a bear? Because my shot would put you to shame, just warning you.”

He turned back towards me, raising an eyebrow. “You can shoot?”

“Since I was a teenager,” I said. “My dad used to sneak me out to the range; Mom never would have approved.” That was putting it lightly; if she ever found out, I would shortly thereafter be finding out exactly what it looked like when a human head exploded.

“Well, that’s good to know,” Hunter said. “But the measures tonight aren’t quite so drastic. I just happen to have a secret snack stash.”

I raised my eyebrow even though he had turned back away and couldn’t see it. “When did you turn into a teenage girl?”

And when had I decided it was a good idea to mouth off to my boss/client? I knew the words coming out of my lips weren’t appropriate, and yet somehow every time we talked, I just got more and more sarcastic. But it was either that or lust-struck declarations of wanting to be swept away in his arms, and I definitely couldn’t let those out. Unprofessional as my snark might be, at least it kept a tiny part of my dignity intact.

A tiny, tiny bit.

Meanwhile, Hunter’s shoulders had tensed. “Who says teenage girls are the only ones who get to have a snack stash?”

His voice was trying to be light, but there was a tension underneath.

Maybe I had gone too far with my teasing after all. “I wasn’t trying to say—” I started.

“There was a time in my life when I didn’t have any food at all,” he said, so softly that for a second I thought I had imagined it. “I feel…safer, knowing I have something stashed away. Just in case.”

What the hell? Hunter Knox had grown up the pampered scion of a wealthy family—hadn’t he?

I realized the assumptions I had been making, and I suddenly felt very small.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

He turned again, giving me a gentle smile. “It’s all right.”

He took my hand then, and my breath caught in my throat.

“I’d better guide you the rest of the way,” he said. “It gets pretty cramped from here on out.”