Christ, he was a mess. He hadn’t realized quite how much until she had walked back into his life. Maybe he was an idiot to go along with this. Maybe he should just walk away before he got in too deep. Because he suspected that he might never get enough of her.
He studied the purity of her features, her beauty only enhanced by the scar. Her face was a perfect oval, with high cheekbones, a narrow straight nose, and full, sculpted lips. He was almost overcome by an urge to lower his head and take those lips with his own. Slide his hands around that perfect ass and lift her onto the counter. The blood pooled in his groin, and his balls ached.
He stepped back. Just to prove he still could.
“Okay, so we do this then?” he asked.
“I told you, I’ll talk to Jake and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, stick to the schedule you gave us. If you need to change anything let us know…and play nice with your babysitters. They’re here for your protection.”
“You’re leaving?” He didn’t want her to go. Not yet.
“I’m heading back to the office.”
He wasn’t going to let her go without a kiss, but as he leaned in, she slipped out from in front of him.
“I’ll call you tonight,” he said as she reached the door.
“I won’t be there.” And she was gone.
Chapter Eight
She’d stayed away for two whole days. Just to prove to herself that she could. But there was no avoiding Declan tonight. It was the first of his “business dinners” and her first go at being his “non-confrontational girlfriend.”
She’d arranged to meet him here, wanting to make an entrance. To help with that, she’d borrowed a dress from Kim. She did own a long black dress that she used when she was on duty at parties and the like, but that dress, while elegant, was intended to make her merge into the background as much as possible. Tonight she needed to make a statement. She wanted people to notice her, so when she turned up on other occasions, she would already be imprinted on people’s minds as Declan’s girlfriend.
The dress was red. Apparently, Jake had a thing about red. Strapless, it left her shoulders bare, hugged her breasts, waist, and hips and then flared out in a fishtail. On her feet, she wore four-inch scarlet stilettoes—again borrowed from Kim—she didn’t want to think about what Kim had gotten up to in those shoes. But in them, Jess would tower over most of the other women there. She would be hard to forget.
She was also wearing makeup for the first time in…she couldn’t actually remember how long. While she didn’t dislike makeup, most of the time she just didn’t see the point. But tonight, she wanted to look like something she wasn’t, and the makeup was a mask. She’d used a cover stick to hide the scar, then foundation. It was weird seeing her face perfect. She missed the scar. It was part of her now. She’d smudged black under her lower lids, blue on her upper, lots of mascara to darken her lashes, and bright red lipstick that the packet promised was kiss-proof and would last twenty-four hours.
After handing her coat to the girl behind the counter, she headed into the main room and loitered just inside the door. She spotted Declan straightaway and her breath hitched in her throat. He stood across the room, talking with another man. Even with his back to her, he was stunning in a black tux that fitted his broad shoulders.
As if drawn by her stare, he turned slowly. His eyes widened when he saw her, and a slow smile curled his lips. He left the man he’d been speaking to without another word, strolled over, and came to a halt in front of her. His gaze wandered over her, leaving a trail of heat.
“You look…hot, sexy…stunning.” He took a step closer, then his hand reached out to stroke down the line of her cheek. “You also look different without this.”
“Like the old Jess?” Did she want him to say yes?
He shook his head slowly, still studying her. “No, not like the old Jess. She was a young girl. You’re all woman.” His hand dropped to his side. “Have you been avoiding me?”
“Yes.”
A smile flickered across his face. “Scared?”
That was spot-on. But she bit back her inclination to snap something sarcastic and just bestowed him a gracious smile. “Not at all. We were just getting everything organized, going through the intel, and setting things up.”
His eyes narrowed. Then he shrugged and glanced around the room. “Is there anything I should be doing?”
“Having fun? Mingling with the rich and influential?”
“I mean different than normal.”
“No, just act as you normally do. There are a couple of high-level politicians here this evening, so security is huge. No one is going to try anything. Tonight is really in the way of a trial run, sort of see how you behave.” In her new nice persona she gave a bright smile. “But I’m sure you’ll do great.”
Declan’s brows drew together. “Are you being nice again?”
So much for being subtle. “Yes. But for real. I’ve decided it’s time to put the past behind us. After all, ten years ago, you were young, immature, an asshole, a…”
He grinned. “You were doing so well…for about two seconds.”
She took a deep breath and refixed her smile. “What I meant to say was we were both young and I can’t blame you forever for breaking my immature heart. So, just to let you know, no hard feelings.”
His eyelids drooped, and he watched her out of half-closed eyes. “Hmm. I’m thinking there’s going to be lots of…hard feelings.”
Why did her gaze drop straight to his groin?
…
Declan shoved his hands in his pockets, mainly to hide the fact that his dick was hard. Had been since she’d walked into the room in that red dress and once again rocked his world. He’d come alive as though a light switched on in his mind.
His gaze wandered down to where her scarlet-tipped toes peeped out from under the dress. In her four-inch heels, she was only a couple of inches shorter than he was. And she was quite the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
He wanted to strip her out of that dress, though maybe she could keep the heels, and fuck her until he stopped thinking about the past. He didn’t want her to be “nice.” He wanted bad, filthy-dirty, no-holds-barred sex with her.
“Come on,” she said, “time to mingle.”
Looked like the sex was going to have to wait. It was going to be a long hard night.