Page 41 of Pleasure Payback

‘I didn’t know that. Consider me impressed.’

‘Yeah, so were we.’ Tyler smiled as he rose. ‘Thank you for a lovely lunch, but, if you’ll excuse us, we need to get back to work.’

I switched my gaze to Neve as the twins departed. Her expression remained sceptical but marginally less guarded.

‘The other question Sam asked was aboutyourfamily,’ she said. ‘Are your parents back in England too?’

I tensed, then forced myself to relax.

So she was interested in me beyond sex. While the thought was gratifying, the subject matter was far from welcome. My parents belonged to a box I rarely liked to visit. A box that represented secret childish yearnings that would never be fulfilled. A box I’d buried a very long time ago when I’d learned to thrive without emotional crutches.

I wanted to refuse but the look in her eyes compelled an answer.

‘No. They live in Greece.’

She leaned forward. ‘Oh? Where? I visited Athens very briefly a long time ago. Loved it. The people are so warm and friendly.’

My smile felt as tight as the bitterness twisting inside me. ‘My parents didn’t go to Greece for the warmth or friendliness, I’m sure. Their reasons were far less ecologically inclined.’

She flinched, and silence dropped like an anvil, smashing a briefly pleasant atmosphere. I felt a little bad. Not enough to dilute the brutal truth though.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by the waiter’s arrival to clear away our plates. Neve chatted with him for a minute but through it all, my gaze resting on her face as she talked, I saw the fierywhat the fuck?looks she sent me.

The temptation to tell her to down her sword, tell her she’d won in the business stakes this time rose.

I stopped myself just in time. I wasn’t going to let sex get in the way of this deal.

Businesswas what I was best at. And staying close, keeping an eye on how Fantasy Rooms progressed, was prudent.

The waiter finally left, leaving me blessedly alone with Neve. Her expression didn’t bode well; nevertheless my dark mood receded, replaced by deep carnal anticipation.

‘Suggestion. Maybe you should make more of an effort in the presence of my new business partners, huh?’

I smiled. ‘Don’t you meanourbusiness partners?’

Her plump lips flattened in an irritated line.

‘If they wanted to keep my interest they should’ve stuck to talking business. But that’s not what this is about, is it, Neve? I’m a Mortimer. If you didn’t want to hear about my unsightly baggage or hear unsavoury truths, you shouldn’t have asked.’

She glared harder. ‘It’s calledgetting to know each other.’

‘Go on, then, it’s your turn.’

‘If you wanted to know, then you should’ve paid attention.’

Shit. What did I miss? ‘I’m paying attention now.’

‘You lost your chance. Now I’m more interested in what you meant about your parents.’

Tension spiked again but I throttled it down. ‘Why?’

She shrugged, the action highlighting the smooth curve of her shoulder. Sunlight glinted off her creamy skin, wetting my mouth with the need to trail my tongue over it.

‘I’d like to know if you inherited your rude and abrasive characteristics from them.’

The pulse beating at her throat made me harder. I itched to stroke it. Stroke her all over, right before I devoured her. I wanted to feast on her in so many ways I doubted we’d make it out alive by the time I was done. She caught the direction of my thoughts. Her colour heightened and she pressed her lips together in that way I was beginning to realise signalled, and attempted to deny, her arousal.

‘You think you can handle me, Neve?’

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