“Jesus.” Henry almost ran into the back of a car that had stopped at the light, slamming hard on his brakes. He looked at me and even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I knew his expression was incredulous. “You’re amenable to the idea of me fucking you? Did I hear that right?”
I flushed. “I’m sure you’re used to women with gentler manners but I’m a straight talker. I don’t believe in flowering up a situation so as not to offend delicate sensibilities.”
The traffic moved forward and Henry didn’t speak.
In fact, he stayed silent for a while.
So long that I began to feel my cheeks burn with humiliation.
I’d read him wrong. He really did only want to make amends.
I wasn’t his type.
Oh God.
This month had been really, really bad for me.
Finally, he pulled up outside a pizzeria on Tremont Street. Once he killed the engine he took off his sunglasses and turned toward me. His expression was surprisingly sober as he intently studied my face, as if he hoped to find answers there. “You’re right,” he said, his voice low, deep, “I want you. But I don’t consider anticipation bullshit. We’re going to have lunch. And you’re going to agree to have lunch with me on Thursday. And then you’re going to agree to be my date to the Delaney Charity Ball this Saturday. After which we’ll go back to your apartment and I will happily fuck you into satisfied exhaustion.”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak because his last sentence turned me on, his words alone sparking delicious excitement deep in my belly.
What the hell would the rest of him do to me?
Of course, after a second or so of physical arousal, the rest of his words sunk in. “What?” I shook my head in confusion. “No. We don’t need to have lunch or go to a ball together.”
“No lunch dates, no date to the ball, no penis for you. And you don’t want miss out on my penis. It’s a good one.”
God, I didn’t want to laugh but he had the kind of irreverent charm that could melt the toughest critic. It was a gift. It was also a mask because I knew there was a dangerous character lurking behind it. Henry Lexington couldn’t be trusted. The thought sobered me and Henry frowned. “What’s the harm in a few dates, Sunshine?”
The harm was in him. I wasn’t a naïve girl in a romance novel who thought she could seriously keep her emotions detached from a guy she was having sex with all the time.
Joe was right about me.
That’s why it would be a one-time thing.
And even then, I was questioning my sanity over letting it happen that one time.
“This week, sex on Saturday after the ball, and then you and I are done.”
Henry contemplated me a moment. And then he held out his hand. “Deal.”
Tentatively, I slid my hand into his and had to fight against a thrilled shiver as his thumb caressed my skin. “Deal,” I managed.
He raised my hand to his mouth and gently pressed his lips to it. I stared at him, confused by the old-fashioned gesture as he let go. “Now, let’s eat.”
After hurrying around to open my door, Henry helped me out of the car; I was bemused when he held tight to my hand as he led me toward the restaurant.
We were having lunch at a pizza place?
I didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved.
As if he’d sensed my thoughts, he flashed me a grin. “I could’ve taken you to a fancy restaurant but I wanted to enjoy my lunch with you. And this here is the best damn pizza and ice cream place in Boston.”
Relieved, I followed him inside. “You like pizza?”
His brows drew together. “Is there a person alive who doesn’t?”
“Fair enough.”
We were seated at a small table; I sat on the red leather banquette that stretched the entire length of the restaurant and Henry across from me in a black wrought-iron chair. I suddenly found I didn’t know what to say or do now that we’d put our attraction out in the open.
Henry, however, never seemed to be uncomfortable with any situation. “So what made you want to be a meteorologist?”
“Um…” I stared at him, confused. “Are we really going to do the ‘getting to know you’ thing?”
“What else are we going to do? Sit here and stare at each other? I could do that because the view is spectacular but I’ve always found a view gets even more beautiful when you know a little something about it.”
“Do you always know the right thing to say?”
He smiled. “I asked a question first.”
I sighed. “Fine. I grew up in Connecticut, a small town, and one day for career day in junior high, a broadcast meteorologist from the local station came to talk to us about her work. She was smart and glamorous and she was very kind to me.” I gave him a wry, somewhat embarrassed smile as I admitted, “I was a chubby, awkward kid. Not very popular. Everyone else was clambering for her attention. But she picked me out and showed me how her job worked. I fell in love with it right there and then.”
“One moment of kindness can change everything.”
“Kindness costs nothing and yet it’s worth everything.”
His answering look was too soft, too tender.
And thankfully the waiter came to take our order at the right moment.
When he was gone, I changed the subject. “And you? Do you like working for your father’s bank?”
“I do. I’m a managing director so I’m responsible for bringing in revenue. It means wining and dining clients, traveling a lot. It suits my personality.”
“I’ll bet it does.” He was the perfect salesman—no smarm, just natural charm. “And did you become a managing director right out of college?”
“No. My father is grooming me to take over as COO shortly. He’s been grooming me forever. I went into the bank after college as a junior analyst. Worked up to senior analyst, then to VP, then to director, and then to managing director. My father wanted me to understand how the business functions at every level. Well, not every level. He didn’t start me in the mailroom.”
“That’s smart.” I was impressed he’d worked his way up through the ranks, even if it wasn’t from the mailroom. “And you genuinely like it? You wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else with your life?”
Henry grinned at me. “I’m not a cliché, Nadia. I’m not a poor little rich boy with a woe-me story of familial pressure and suppressed passions. I have a good family, a blessed life, and a job I like and can depend on.”
I nodded, wishing it weren’t rare to come across someone who was so content with their life.
“I thought you weren’t interested in the whole getting-to-know-each-other thing?”
I rolled my eyes at his teasing. “I’m naturally a curious person. Don’t get a big head about it.”
“Curious, you say?” He raised an eyebrow, and I saw the sexual speculation in his gaze.
“One night, Henry. Not a lot of time to indulge my curiosity.”
The blue in his eyes appeared to darken, to smolder. “It’s time enough.”
Arousal had deepened his voice and suddenly I was imagining all the things I’d like him to do. Lust shot through me, shocking the heck out of me. My breath stuttered and I even felt my nipples peak against my shirt.