Page 49 of Charming Deception

She blinks at me, surprised.

I’m determined to start this over right, though.

And get what I want.

I probably should’ve asked her to have dinner with me in the first place, when I met her in the street, but I’d been caught off guard.

I had no idea I’d ever be seeing her again, and get another chance, but here we are.

Things have changed.

For starters, there’s no way she’s going out tonight without me. She’s too vulnerable to having some rebound fling with the first asshole who makes a move, and I can’t have that.

It’s counterproductive to my goal.

“Have you eaten?” I prompt when she seems low on words.

“I… No, I haven’t. We were going to eat out.”

“I know a great place.”

“Why? Why are you asking me to dinner?”

“Because your brother and I are tight. And I want to apologize for what happened this afternoon.”

“You mean, firing a very nice man so you could give me his job, and not telling me?”

There it is again. That subtle fire of hers.

The one that makes my fingers twitch with the need to tangle themselves into her hair and squeeze until she gasps, opening her mouth for my?—

“Yes. That. I didn’t think it through. Cole wanted you to have the job, so I gave it to you.”

She softens, her shoulders relaxing a little. “I do appreciate that.”

“Then have dinner with me. Give me a chance to start over.”

She considers, with a glance over her shoulder at her friends. Her ride. She takes an excruciating moment to decide, but I can feel it, the moment she decides to give me another chance.

“Okay. I mean, yes. Just let me go tell them.”

“Of course.”

She goes over and leans into the open back window, saying something to her friends that I can’t hear. Her black velvet leggings hug her perfect ass, and my cock swells.

I take a deep breath, stuffing down the sexual attraction by sheer force of will.

I can’t believe how drawn to her I am. I know it’s the challenge. She’s beautiful, but it’s the abstinence from sex that’s fucking with me.

I need to keep it under control. Even if I didn’t have the challenge to deal with… there’s still Cole to think of.

His little sister is dear to him, and she’s clearly off-limits.

When she comes back over to me, her cheeks are flushed, and I wonder what her friends said to her.

“I do have one condition,” she announces, eyes flashing with challenge. “You have to give Romeo his job back.”

She means it.

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