Page 74 of Reluctantly Rogue

Linnea

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An hour later, I sigh as I slide into the front seat of the black rental car.

Jonah shuts the door, and I watch as he rounds the front bumper.

God, he’s hot.

He’s such a great kisser, too.

Guys who look like that should be great kissers. It’s only fair.

As if I know anything about great versus bad kissing.

But if I thought kissing James would be like kissing Jonah, I would have been all over him, and somehow Iknewit wouldn’t be. Nothing in me tingled. Nothing in me got hot when James looked at me.

How can I just know that it would be different?

Jonah gets in and starts the car.

“So you were right about James being boring,” I tell him. “Buthe is willing to look over my plan to keep Cara competitive with Canada for the energy project. So the dinner wasn’t a waste.” I pause. I want to tease him. Poke at him. Flirt? Maybe? Is that what this is? But I want to get a reaction out of Jonah. “And Ididget a hot kiss tonight, anyway.”

He doesn’t respond immediately. I glance over and see the muscle in his jaw tense. It makes me smile. It’s a reaction and I know now that it means I’m getting to him. In a good way.

“You’re going to keep Cara competitive withCanada?” he asks, ignoring the mention of the kiss.

I smile. “Yes.”

He glances over at me as he pulls out of the parking garage and into traffic. “Of course you are. That’s awesome. How?”

“I’m not sure yet. But when I do, James will look at the plan.”

“You don’t have a plan yet?”

“Well, no. I just found out that Canada is also in talks with him about taking his research facility there.”

Jonah chuckles. “You’ll figure it out.”

That makes me feel warm.

“When does he need to know?”

Soon. So I need to get to work. “He’s flying to Canada next month. They’re beating us on labor costs and I don’t love the idea of bringing those down, to be honest. I want our people paid well. So we need to give James’s company something else that makes Cara more attractive. The real key is getting the king on board, of course. He didn’t really like James when he met him.”

“Really?” Jonah looks surprised.

“No. But he told me he trusted me. If I like James, Diarmuid will listen to him.”

Jonah just smiles at that. And yes, it’s a good feeling knowing that I have the king’s trust. I’ve earned it. Diarmuid knows that my intentions are always to do what’s best for Cara.

“Diarmuid does agree this is a great project to bring jobs to the island.” I turn in my seat to look at Jonah. “In fact, this new plan to woo James could be something great for Torin to present to Diarmuid.”

Jonah looks at me again. “You’d let Torin present it?”

“He needs something to show Diarmuid that he’s serious about being king. That he has good, solid ideas and that he’s able to work with international influencers.”

“But it will be your idea.”

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