Page 5 of Tempt Me Forever

"She tried to give you hints, man," Drake said, smirking. He was clearly enjoying this. The bastard.

"Really?" Patrick asked.

"She told you she had emergencies three different times. Or was it four?”

Wait a second. Hewas the one who’d eavesdropped on me at the bar. He was the one who chuckled.

Patrick was now red in the face. I wanted to slap that smirk off Drake for making this an extremely uncomfortable situation. Patrick had been a bit annoying, but this was humiliating for him.

He stood up, saying, "Kimberly, I think you and I want different things in life."

"Yes." I nodded because that was true. He enjoyed dates where he talked about data analytics. I didn't. "Thank you for tonight, Patrick. I'm sorry it ended this way."

"Second date. The nerve," he said, looking between Drake and me before he left.

I took in a deep breath.Nope, that isn't going to help me right now.

"What the hell?" I asked him.

"You seemed to need help. The plumbing excuse didn't work."

"Why were you eavesdropping?"

"It’s not like I had to make an effort. You weren't exactly keeping it a secret."

What a smug....

"Regardless, that doesn't give you the right to interfere in my affairs."

"No, but think about it. Where would you be if I hadn't? Still listening to... what was it? 'Data analytics in animal migration'? What the hell even is that?"

"That is none of your business." I felt flustered all of a sudden.

He trained his eyes on me. They were the most vibrant green I'd ever seen. They caught my attention during the job interview as well, but I'd hoped it had been a fluke of the light. Clearly it hadn't. It was super dark in here, but his eyes still stood out. Not that it mattered. The guy was an asshole. Even more so than I’d thought.

I scoffed. "I can't believe you did that."

"I can't believe you’d have a date at your place of work. Who does that? It's highly unprofessional."

Until now, Drake DuGray had only managed to annoy me, but now he'd pissed me off.

"Not that it's any of your business"—I emphasized every word, trying and failing to keep my voice calm. I wasn’t yelling, but you could tell I wanted to—"but I do that for safety reasons, especially when I’m not sure if it’s someone I’m interested in. It gives me good reasons to escape the situation if need be."

"Why even bother if you’re not sure?"

"Because sometimes people don't have great communication skills online, but they're much better in person. That doesn't seem to be the case with you."

My voice was shaking. I was about to lose my cool.

"You seemed like an arrogant, self-absorbed ass in your emails," I continued, "and I see you're the same now. I was hoping for some redeeming qualities when I saw you. Clearly I'd set my hopes too high."

"If that's what you think about me, why did you hire me?" Drake asked.

"You seem very good at your job."

He leaned in, putting his forearms on the table. Damn, he was sexy.

Doesn't matter, Kimberly. He's still a royal asshole.

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