Burn (Breathless #3)(15)

At a quarter to eight, Ash straightened, realization slowly creeping in that she wasn’t coming. Disappointment surged in his veins. Not a common sensation for him. But if she thought he would be deterred by being stood up, she was wrong. It only hardened his resolve.

He was about to pick up the phone to call for his driver when Josie burst through the front entrance to the hotel. Her cheeks were red and her hair was askew, as if she’d been hurrying and the wind had played havoc with the long tresses.

When her gaze lighted on him, she paused, standing several feet away as they locked eyes. He found himself walking toward her when, normally, he wouldn’t be the first to make a move. People came to him. Not the other way around. And yet, he wanted to close in before she changed her mind and bolted back out the door.

“Josie,” he greeted smoothly.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly. “I was painting. Got caught up in what I was doing and completely forgot the time.”

He glanced at the oversized bag hanging from her shoulder and the paint smudges on her fingertips. Then he took in the rest of her, memorizing every detail, right down to her toes.

“That’s quite all right. They’ll hold our table,” he said. “Would you like to eat now or have a drink first?”

She pulled a face. “I’m not much of a drinker. I mean, I don’t have anything against it, and I do drink on occasion, but I’m rather finicky and I drink frou-frou girly drinks. But I love an occasional glass of wine.”

He chuckled. “You’d fit right in with Mia and Bethany and their girls.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Who are Mia and Bethany?”

He reached to take her arm, tucking it over his as he guided her toward the restaurant.

“Mia is the wife of one of my business partners, Gabe, and she’s the sister of my other business partner, Jace. Bethany is engaged to Jace.”

“Sounds like one big happy family,” she murmured.

“Of sorts.”

They arrived at the restaurant and the maître d’ immediately ushered them to the table always reserved for himself or Gabe or Jace when they chose to eat here.

Josie sat across from Ash, but she didn’t fully relax. She was perched on the edge of her seat and her gaze kept darting left and right and beyond Ash. She looked ill at ease and like she’d rather be anywhere but here with him. His ego was taking one hell of a beating. Women didn’t normally have to be blackmailed in order to agree to a date with him.

“Would you like wine?” he asked when a waiter immediately appeared.

She shook her head. “No. Water will be fine. Thank you.”

“Make that two,” Ash murmured to the waiter.

“Don’t let me keep you from enjoying wine if that’s what you prefer,” she said. “I just don’t want to drink and then have to get back home. Alcohol makes me pretty fuzzy. Last thing I need to do is be stumbling around Manhattan after dark.”

“So you can’t hold your liquor and when you do imbibe, you drink girly drinks. I’ll have to remember that.”

Her lips twitched and her eyes flashed. He’d almost gotten a smile out of her. Was he such an ogre? He was used to women falling for his charm, although in Josie’s defense he hadn’t exactly been charming in her presence. Something about her brought his caveman instincts roaring to the surface. He was lucky he could form coherent sentences without growling, beating his chest and dragging her back to his cave by her hair.

That would go over well . . .

Not only would she have his balls, he’d never see her again.

The waiter took their orders and then quickly disappeared. Josie glanced up, a question in her eyes as soon as they were alone.

“Did you bring the jewelry?” she asked softly.

He reached into the breast pocket of his dinner jacket and pulled out a small velvet drawstring bag. Placing it on the table, he slid it across to her, but held on when she would have retrieved it.

“The deal was dinner,” he said. “I’ll give you the jewelry now and hope you don’t make a break for it the minute it’s in your possession.”

She flushed, whether from embarrassment or guilt he wasn’t sure. Maybe she had considered it.

“My ego is taking one hell of a beating,” he said, voicing his earlier thought. “Am I that unattractive, Josie? I didn’t imagine your response to me in the park. You were as aware of our chemistry as I was. But you act like I’m carrying the plague and you don’t want to breathe the same air as I am.”

Her fingers curled over the bag, brushing against his. Instant warmth traveled up his arm to his shoulder. At just her touch. Such a simple thing. Nothing behind it. It was incidental and yet the air was instantly charged with awareness. No, he wasn’t the only one who felt it, but he was the only one embracing it.

“I think you know you aren’t unattractive,” she said lightly. “I doubt you need me to tell you that. I’m sure you hear it all the time. Women probably fall over themselves to compliment you.”

“I don’t give a damn what other women are thinking,” he said bluntly. “I’m more concerned with what you think.”

She carefully drew her hand back, the bag with the jewelry tightly fisted in her grasp, as if she were afraid he’d prevent her from taking it. When he made no move to intercept it, she quickly opened the bag a nd gently pulled out the two rings, a necklace and a bracelet.