Page 21 of Booked for Summer

‘And whatdoyou want to do?’

She looked back at him. ‘Do you really want to know this?’

‘If I didn’t, I wouldn’t ask.’

She seemed to study him before nodding her head. ‘Yeah, I can see that about you. You wouldn’t bother to pretend to like something or enjoy it, so, well, thank you for being interested. Nobody has ever actually asked me what I want to do.’

‘Not your parents?’

‘They’re the best, don’t get me wrong, but they were more about what I was capable of doing.’

He thought back to his own childhood and realised in many ways he’d been lucky. His grandma had always shown an interest in him. ‘You don’t have to thank me for asking questions I want to know the answer to.’

‘Okay. I hope you don’t regret asking though because when I get onto this subject…’ She grinned. ‘I have this obsession with books, and when I say obsession I mean crazy, over-the-top passion for them. Obviously, I’m addicted to reading them, but I also love touching them, smelling them. God, there is nothing better than the smell of a new paperback. Well, maybe some things are as good. Like whatever aftershave you wear, that’s a real belly flutterer.’ He almost choked on his drink and she giggled. ‘Nobody’s ever told you how good you smell? Well, books also smell amazing but in a different way. Comforting, yet with a hint of promise because you know when you open it, you’re going to be transported somewhere thrilling. And then there’s the covers. There is nothing prettier than a stack of books.’ She glanced around her and laughed. ‘Okay, again you’ve got me there because this beach, in this peachy light, is probably the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. In fact, it looks like it could be the backdrop to a raunchy romance novel. It just needs a tall, dark, handsome guy on the front wearing nothing but his shorts and a broody smile.’ Her eyes caught his, mischief dancing in their blue depths.

His groin tightened. And yes, he wanted sex, but he also felt the impact of her grin under his ribs and all the way down to his toes. ‘You want to work with books.’ A thought niggled, but vanished at the sight of her uninhibited laughter.

‘What gave it away? But yes, I do. And hopefully when I get home I’ll be able to persuade my boss to give me more responsibilities in that direction. Maybe get the chance to proofread some books, start to learn how to edit. I don’t know. I want to be more than a woman who juggles diaries, files documents and answers emails.’ She stared back at him, face suddenly serious. ‘And I want people to see more than a blonde, busty airhead when they look at me.’

He inclined his head, aware he’d judged her that way, too, when he’d first seen her. ‘I can’t not see the blonde hair, or the sexy as fuck figure’—he gestured to the table they were sitting on—‘but I don’t do this. Or at least I haven’t, not for a long time.’

‘This?’

‘I don’t make drinks reservations. I don’t ask questions of the woman I’m drinking with.’ He made sure to catch her eye. ‘I don’t enjoy listening to her talk.’

‘Oh.’ A flush crept over her cheeks but then her mouth tilted in a playful smile. ‘You want to hear more about books?’

‘Not books, no.’ They brought back bad memories. He glanced at her empty glass. ‘Do you want another drink?’

She sunk her teeth into her plump bottom lip. ‘What’s the alternative?’

‘I take you back to where you’re staying.’ He lifted his eyes to hers, let her see his desire. ‘Or you come back to the boat.’

‘Um, the cocktails weren’t up to much, if I remember.’

Christ, she was teasing him. The sad part was he didn’t even mind. Welcomed the flirting, even if it didn’t end the way he wanted it to, because he was fucking enjoying himself. ‘There’s always champagne.’

‘Oh, yes. I guess I could make do with that.’

She shot him another playful smile, this time added a wink, and he almost groaned out loud. Thank God he’d worn a jacket, so he could hide what he knew was an obvious bulge at his crotch.

When the bill arrived, he batted away the dollars she tried to push onto the table. ‘I’m loaded, Jade.’

‘So? When I sit down for a drink with my mates, we either share the bill or work it out on the basis of what we drank. Not how much we earn.’

He didn’t have friends he went drinking with. ‘I invited you, I pay.’

She thumped her small fist onto the table. ‘Rock-paper-scissors.’ When he just stared at her, she grinned. ‘Come on, you must have played this game. Basically if you put your hand in a fist it’s a rock, and if I put two fingers out like this?—’

He placed a hand around hers. ‘I’m aware of the game. Just not why we’re playing it.’

‘Duh, so I can have a chance at paying the bill, Mr Money Bags.’

Was he seriously about to play this dumb game while sitting in a sophisticated restaurant? She waggled her eyebrows, smiling playfully at him. ‘Fine.’

He went with rock, figuring she’d go with scissors again. But a grin erupted across her face as she signalled paper. ‘Yay, I win.’ She grabbed at the bill, and her face fell. ‘Holy shit, that’s a lot of money. What was in the cocktails, gold leaf? Because I read about that, you can have a cocktail with gold leaf, which seems a real waste of gold. And money.’

Smiling, he took the bill from her and handed it, together with his card, to the passing waiter. ‘Would have been easier to accept my offer in the first place.’

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