Page 10 of Intrigued
I folded my arms. “May I ask why I’m being interrogated by you?”
His eyes narrowed, widened, and tapered again. Finally, he walked over to the bar. “What do you like to drink?”
“Tonic water with lemon.”
He stopped pouring himself something stronger and looked at me. “For what reason do you need to keep a sober head?”
I rolled my eyes and walked over to him. “Jasper, I’m not here to investigate your family.” I narrowed an eye. “Unless there’s something you’re hiding.”
All of a sudden, he looked as if he were chewing on an Alka-Seltzer tablet.
I cracked a smile. “Just kidding. Goodness, do you ever lighten up?”
“Red wine?” he asked.
“What about red wine?”
“We don’t have tonic water. Will red wine do?”
I was a lightweight, barely able to handle one glass of anything alcoholic, but I couldn’t deny him. The way those blue-green eyes burned right through me set my panties on fire, and I wasn’t wearing underwear; it was my pussy that was all hot and bothered.
I cleared my throat. “Sure,” I croaked.
Jasper ripped his eyes off my face and poured two glasses of red wine. “So, Miss Henderson…”
“Please call me Holly,” I nearly begged.
Once again, he studied me curiously. “Don’t you like your last name?”
“Not really.” Boy, was that the truth. Perhaps I was wrong to feel that way. Everyone should love herself. But my parents had made that virtually impossible for a very long time. Then one success had led to another. One friend had told me how amazing I was, then another and another, until I’d heard it from many more. Then one day, I had some real self-esteem, which had nothing to do with my parents and everything to do with the people fate had brought into my life.
Jasper’s glower made my heart skip a beat. He was a thinker, the sexy, brooding kind of man with rivers of angst raging deep inside him.
“I only call my friends by their first names, Miss Henderson.”
It felt as if I were having an out-of-body experience. No, we were not friends. I wanted to be his friend. I wanted to be something to him—to mean something to him. I closed my eyes and shook my head. What in the world was happening to me?Don’t cry, Holly. Don’t cry.
“Your skin is so soft,” he whispered.
I opened my eyes. “What did you say?” I asked, even though I’d heard him clearly.
He put his fist over his mouth and coughed. “I have something for you to sign.” Jasper walked behind the bar and pulled out what was clearly a nondisclosure agreement.
“No,” I said bluntly. “I’m not signing that.” I had probably never been so damn offended in my life. “I am your sister’s houseguest. If you want me to sign a nondisclosure agreement, then you better have her ask me to do it, not you.” I stormed right past him, but he grabbed my arm and tugged me against his chest. The fronts of our bodies collided. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling, on the inside and outside. Jasper Christmas was as hard as steel, his chest and his cock.
“Why the fuck did you show up here?” he asked, breathing heavily.
My mouth was stuck open. I didn’t know how to respond to what he’d said or the lust racing through me. I gulped. “Why did I show up?”
Jasper released me as though he’d found his common sense again. My head flinched back slightly.Is this happening in real life?
Without another word, he snatched the NDA off the bar top and stormed out of the room. What had just happened seemed so surreal. He’d left the door open, and I could hear voices mingling somewhere nearby.
I took a deep breath and pressed my hand against my stomach as I steadied my posture.One, two, three, four.I was ready to join the Christmases for dinner.
Chapter Four
Icouldn’t get being near Jasper and his rock-star hard-on off my mind. Had he really wanted me that much? Perhaps I’d felt an object in his pocket or something.
