It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1)(49)

He balled his napkin and tossed it aside. “I can’t stand to think that I did this to you. Where are your guts, Phoebe? Where’s the woman who maneuvered me into taking Ronald back as GM?”

She stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Like hell you don’t. You conned me. It took me a couple of days to figure out your neat little scam. You and Ronald set me up. He actually had me convinced the two of you were lovers.”

She was relieved to see that he seemed annoyed rather than angry, but she picked her words carefully. “I don’t know why that’s so hard to believe. He’s a very attractive man.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it. But the fact is, the two of you aren’t lovers.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do, that’s all. I’ve seen the way you treat him when you think I’m watching: running your eyes all over him, nibbling on your bottom lip, cooing when you talk.”

“Isn’t that the way women behave with their lovers?”

“That’s just it. You behave the same way with the janitor.”

“I do not.”

“You behave like that with almost every man you meet.”

“So what?”

“Everybody but me.”

He watched her push away her uneaten sandwich. “You try to tantalize me with that man-eater body of yours, but you can’t pull it off very long, and the next thing I know, you’re staring at your feet or foolin’ around with your fingernails.” He leaned back in his chair. “It hasn’t escaped my notice that you stick your chest out for everybody in pants, but lately it seems I can hardly exchange two sentences with you before you’re hunching your shoulders. Now, why is that?”

“You have an overactive imagination.”

“I don’t think so.”

She stood. “It’s late. I have to go.”

He rose, too, and came around the end of the table to touch her for the first time since the incident in the gazebo. He was relieved when she didn’t flinch, but his stomach still clenched when he thought about what he’d done to her.

As she stood before him in his old blue shirt, she looked both beautiful and fragile, and he couldn’t remember ever meeting a woman so full of contradictions. He didn’t want to like her, but it was getting increasingly difficult not to.

He closed his hand over her shoulder. “Are you still afraid of me?”

“Of course not.”

She might not be afraid, but she was skittish, and his conscience couldn’t tolerate that. Lowering his hand, he began very gently to rub her arm through the soft cotton sleeve. “I think you are. I think you’re scared silly I’m going to turn into some kind of deviant and attack you again.”

“I’m not.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am.”

“Prove it.”

“How do you suggest I do that?”

He didn’t know what devil was prodding him; he only knew his teasing made her smile, and he loved the way her eyes crinkled at the corners when that happened. With a mischievous smile of his own, he pointed to his jaw. “Give me a kiss. Right here. A friendly little smacker like one friend gives to another.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Her eyes were crinkling, and he couldn’t resist teasing her a bit more, although it wasn’t exactly teasing since he kept thinking about how that incredible body would feel pressed up against his own, which, considering their earlier encounter, wasn’t the best reflection on his character.

“Come on. I dare you. We’re not talking about one of those unsanitary soul jobs. Just a friendly little peck on the cheek.”

“I don’t want to kiss you.”

He noticed that she’d waited a few seconds too long to protest, and those golden brown eyes of hers were as soft as her lips. He was no longer in the mood to tease, and his voice sounded husky. “Liar. All this heat can’t be coming just from me.”

He dipped his head, and the next thing he knew, he was nuzzling the side of her neck, finding a soft spot just below her ear. He didn’t draw her into his arms, but the tips of her breasts brushed his chest.

He heard her sigh. “We don’t like each other.”

“We don’t have to like each other, honey. This isn’t a permanent partnership. It’s animal attraction.” He kissed that alluring mole at the corner of her eye. “And it feels good. You feel good.”

She moaned and leaned against him. He gently cupped her arms, and his kisses moved lower until he found her mouth.

Her lips were soft, neither parted nor sealed, just soft and right. She tasted good, smelled good, like baby powder and flowers. He felt like a randy sixteen-year-old, and as he slid his tongue over the plump curve of her bottom lip, he reminded himself that he’d outgrown her type of woman years ago. Unfortunately, his body seemed to have forgotten that fact.

He deepened the kiss, telling himself that he might be starting to like her, but he didn’t respect her, he didn’t trust her, and if he couldn’t touch those breasts of hers soon, he was going to explode. Except after what had happened in the gazebo, he needed to move slow, but, God, she was driving him crazy.

She pressed against him and made a soft moaning sound that was like a shot of whiskey straight to his veins. He forgot about moving slow. He forgot about everything except this hot little, soft little, eat-me-up baby with the come-to-papa body.