Page 35 of Forbidden Romeo

“But please don’t… push me on it again.”

“I won’t.”

“Aimee?”

“Hmm?”

She looks torn about something, so I wait patiently for her to find the right words. But then, finally, she simply sighs and says, “I prefer you as a redhead.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

She turns away from me with a tentative smile and heads back into her room, closing the door behind her.

Chapter Nine

Jack

I’m surprised to see Kate waiting for me when I make it down to the hotel foyer. When the receptionist called, he made it sound like Padraic himself had come to carry me home.

Although, to the guy’s credit, I’m not sure which of them is more intimidating.

“Please tell me you didn’t escape house arrest just to come to Padraic’shotel?”she snaps at me as soon as I’m in earshot.

I shrug. “I’m working.”

“That’s not what Padraic thinks,” Kate hisses. “He thinks you came here to rub it in.”

“Then he’s wrong, isn’t he?”

“So you’re telling me if I go upstairs right now, I won’t find a doe-eyed brunette in the master suite?”

I try my best not to smile a little at the mention of Aimee. The way I left her up there, naked in the pool… Dear God, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as beautiful. It makes me more than a little pissed at Kate for forcing me away from her. Especially when she seemed so keen to relive last night’s… pleasantries.

But who am I kidding? The sex was amazing, but the whole evening was just otherworldly. It was like I was in an entirely different universe, where I could just spend hours talking and flirting with the most stunning woman I’d ever seen. One where the family business was nothing but a faded memory, and the grief of Graham’s death could be kept at bay.

I’m no fool; I know that people like that don’t just come into your world without a reason. But whatever I did to deserve her, even for this small respite, I will always be grateful.

Kate taps her foot impatiently, so I shrug again. “Like I said, I’ve been working.”

“Well, could you ‘work’ a little closer to home next time?” Kate snaps back before storming past me and out the door. She doesn’t bother looking back as she calls out, “Walk with me.”

I offer the ashen-faced receptionist a sarcastic salute in goodbye before jogging to catch up.

“Do you have any idea what kind of damage control I had to do with him this morning?” Kate scolds me like a child. “You must have realized somewhere in that thick skull of yours that this was a god-awful idea.”

We exit the hotel, and I see a parked car with shaded windows waiting for us. Kate’s driver nods at us respectfully as we walk toward it.

“Well, let’s just say I owe you one for dealing with a temper tantrum and leave it at that,” I say as Kate approaches the door.

“This isn’t just a tantrum. He’s pissed.”

I can’t help rolling my eyes at how dramatic Kate is. “If he was really that pissed, he wouldn’t have sent you.”

Kate simply opens the car door. Revealing none other than Padraic himself.

Perhaps Kate wasn’t being dramatic.

Because the way Padraic looks at me right now is more than a little pissed.

---