Читать книгу On His Knees - Cathryn Fox - Страница 13

I PUT MY hand on the small of her back as I lead her out of the restaurant. I stop to talk to Katrina, the hostess I just stood up for, and tell her to put the food on my tab, package it up and take it back to the dorms for her and her boyfriend. We step into the lobby and Summer gives me a grateful smile. I smooth my hair back and lead her toward the elevators, both of us momentarily lost in our own thoughts.

Here I thought she would have been more comfortable in a room full of wealthy people, seeing as she’s soon going to own half my grandfather’s estate if I don’t do something about it. But she wasn’t relaxed at all. Sure, she maintained her composure, was poised and beautiful the whole time, but her body language spoke volumes. She wasn’t comfortable. Why would a con out to steal millions be out of place in a classy restaurant? Oh, maybe because she was afraid to run in to some other rich guy she bamboozled in the past.

“What just happened in there?” she asks, her voice low, a bit strained.

“You didn’t like the way they were treating the hostess, and neither did I.” Anger burns through my blood. I’ve worked in the service industry trenches for years, and I know what it’s like to be treated poorly.

“I used to be a waitress,” she tells me, and from the way she’s scrunching up her face, it’s clear she’s been in the hostess’s shoes before. “I’m sure as a bartender, you get your fair share of unruly clients, and unwanted advances.”

“Yeah,” I say. As a powerhouse lawyer I do, too, but I keep that to myself.

“What did you say to those guys?” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, and it draws my attention as she worries her teeth over it. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I told them they were being a bunch of assholes to the hostess, and if they kept it up, I knew a hotshot lawyer who would make a public mockery of them.” The corner of my mouth turns up in a grin. “Then I told them if that didn’t scare them, I knew where their wives were.”

Her small laugh curls around me, through me, warms me from the inside out, and I take a sidelong look at her, in time to see her put her small hand over her mouth, looking so damn adorable as she tries to quiet her laugh, it’s all I can do not to drag her to me and kiss the hell out of her.

“Then I told them to apologize.”

She puts her hand on my arm, and her touch stops me in my tracks. I turn to face her and the sincerity in her eyes hits me like a double shot of tequila, making me a bit unstable.

“Thank you,” she says softly, glancing at her feet. Her mouth turns down, so soft and lush, I ache to feel it under mine. “I’m sorry it ruined our nice dinner.”

“Dinner’s not over,” I announce sharply, shaking thoughts from my head that shouldn’t be there.

“Oh,” she says, and looks at the elevators I just led her to. “I thought—”

“As much as I like you in this dress, you’re going to your room to take it off.” Her eyes widen, and my cock jumps as I envision her taking it off for me, slowly, seductively. “You’ll need jeans and a sweater for where we’re going.”

“Where might that be?” Her inviting gaze rakes over me, and a groan of pure torture catches in my throat.

“You’ll see.” I could take her to her room and seduce her. She looks about as ready for it as I am. I’m not slowing this seduction down because I want to spend a bit more time with her. No, that’s not it at all. I’d rather do it in my chalet, on my turf. That way after I take her to her knees, and out her for the con she really is, she can think about how much she hurt my granddad on the walk back to her penthouse, which I plan to have packed up before she even gets there.

“What about you?” Her eyes linger on me. “Are you going to change?”

“Yes.”

She glances toward the front sliding doors where three doormen stand waiting. “Where are the staff quarters located?”

“Not too far from here,” I say. Not that I’m staying in them. No, I’m in one of Granddad’s private chalets just down the road from this hotel, and that’s where I plan to take her, right after I grab us some takeout. The sooner I get this seduction under way, the sooner I can get away from her...from temptation.

Shit.

“I can make my own way back to my room.”

“I—” Granddad pounded manners into me, and letting her walk back to her room unaccompanied on a date isn’t something I’d normally do. Then again this isn’t a real date, but still.

She puts her hand on my chest, and my heart pounds fast. Can she feel it? Feel what her touch does to me?

“I’m a big girl, Tate. Go ahead and run back to your quarters and get changed,” she says. I’m about to protest again, but she looks like she needs a minute to herself after the incident in the restaurant. It obviously shook her up. I can imagine a beautiful girl like her has been the subject of much taunting during her waitressing years. I might be trying to take her down, but I’m not a total asshole—not all the time anyway.

My gaze moves over her pretty face. “You sure?”

“Yes, we can meet in the lobby, say thirty minutes?”

“I can be fast,” I say and step into her. Like I said, the sooner I get this done the better. Being fast has nothing to do with wanting to get back to her as quickly as possible. I touch the sleeve of her dress, run my fingers over it. A low whimper catches in her throat. Yeah, I’m getting to her as much as she’s getting to me. That much is obvious. “But if you want thirty minutes, I can be slow,” I say, and she blinks up at me, like she’s trying to figure out whether I’m talking about sex or not.

“Fifteen...” she says on a breathless whisper. “Fifteen is good.”

“Okay,” I say, and usher her onto the elevator when it arrives. I watch her, and before the doors shut, I say, “Keep your hair up.”

I grin as I walk away. Oh yeah, I love seeing the long column of her neck, and I want to be the one to pull that clip free to let her mess of curls fall over her shoulders. I grab my coat from the bellman who took it earlier, and step outside, the cold air like a punch to my throbbing dick, knocking some sense back into me, thankfully.

The wind blows as I hurry to my chalet, the snow crunching beneath my shoes on the winding pathway. I hurry inside, turn the heat up a bit more, wanting it warm for when we arrive, and check the logs in the grate. The perfect setup for a seduction. I change into a pair of jeans and a sweater, and then I tug on my Sorels and ski jacket.

I check the time and hurry back outside, wanting to keep my word that I’d only be fifteen minutes. I enter the lobby and find Summer dressed in a different coat, one that reaches her knees, and a big pair of boots with fur peeking out of the tops. Goddammit, how she can make that look sexy is beyond me. Her eyes are searching for me, like she can’t wait to be with me again. A wave of need builds inside me at that realization. Why the hell do I like the idea of her needing me so much? I stare at her slightly parted lips for a moment, and resist the urge to stalk over there, grab her and plunder her mouth already. I exhale slowly to get myself together.

She turns her back to me and I hurry toward her. I bend to put my mouth near her ear. “Fifteen minutes,” I say, as her scent teases and torments my senses. “I’m a man of my word.”

She spins and the smile that lights up her face fucks me over big-time. Her eyes drop to take in my casual wear, and her smile widens as she taps her chin. “I can’t decide which I like more, the dressed-up version of Tate or this dressed-down version.”

“Once you see me naked, there will be no competition,” I tease, and wonder if I’m going to get a punch to the nuts for my crudeness.

“Cocky much?” she teases in return.

“Cocky? That’s one way to put it.” She stares up at me like she doesn’t know how to respond, so I lean into her again and say, “But that’ll cost you more than a drink.”