Page 2 of The Billionaire's One-Night Stand Nanny
“Flora,” I offered, more truthfully this time.
“Flora,” he repeated. My name sounded so good in his confident, low voice. He stepped closer to me, and the scent of his cologne, clean and unpretentious andmasculine,mingled with the sweet vanilla smell of books. My mouth suddenly felt dry. “I know thatyoulike the steamy ones.”
I drew a breath and found it shaky.
His lips were pink as they curled up into a slow smirk at one corner, and–
Oh, god, I was staring at his lips, and he totally noticed.
“You’re teasing me again,” I said. My voice sounded shaky, too, and I glanced up into his eyes, expecting to find the same humor there as before.
Instead, all I saw was desire.
“Flora,” he said. “Tell me if I’m crossing a line here. But you looked… sad, earlier, when you walked over here.” I swallowed, looking away–and he reached out with one large hand, hovering it just over my cheek before his knuckles brushed over my skin as he tucked back a stray strand of hair. Goosebumps raced up my spine beneath my cardigan, spreading over my shoulders and down my arms. “You’ll have to forgive me if I preferthisexpression.”
His eyes dropped down to my chest for a split second, and a flare of heat burst low in my core.
Then someone’s loud laughter rose over the low hum of the launch party, and he stepped back.
I let out the breath I’d been holding, hoping for– Forwhat, exactly? For an older man whose name I didn’t even know to kiss me at a book launch?What was I thinking?
Then again…
“What’s your name?” I asked.
I wanted to forget who I was, just for a few hours.
“Why, so you can file a police report?” he said with a huff of self-deprecating laughter. “‘I was accosted by a strange man next to the romance novels’?”
What better way to forget than losing myself in someone else?
“No,” I said. “Because I don’t make a habit of kissing men whose names I don’t know.”
He looked up sharply, eyes wide.
“And I thought that maybe, I might want to kissyou. Tonight. At my apartment. ”
“Sorry?” he asked.
“I know I’m being forward.” I glanced over at the table, the pile of romance novels. “But… otherwise it’s me and one of these. I’d have to say goodbye to some people, but…”
“You’re asking me to come home with you,” he said, a statement, not a question.
I nodded. He wore an odd expression–a smile, a slight confusion around the eyes–which I couldn’t read, and I waited for him to say something. I was only slightly embarrassed: if he said no, it wasn’t like I would see him again. Of course, if he said yes, it also wasn’t like I would see him again, after tonight.
He appeared to hesitate for a second, but then–
He stepped closer, backing me up so that the backs of my thighs hit the edge of the table, and he held up his hand again to once more tuck my hair back behind my ear. I was thankful for the support of the table of books as my legs went wobbly. His eyes found mine, searching for…somethingwith an intensity that made my heart beat hard against my ribcage, and then his fingers slid from behind my ear to below my chin. He tilted my face up just as he bent his head down closer. I could feel his breath, warm against my lips, when he spoke.
“Ryan,” he said.
“Ryan,” I repeated, slowly and carefully. It fit him. Classic. Solid. Reliable. Exactly what I needed, right at this exact moment. “So,Ryan…want to get out of here?”
CHAPTER2
Ryan
I wasn’tsure what I was doing, flirting with a beautiful stranger over a dozen copies of something calledRavished by the Rake,but I definitely didn’t anticipate it ending with her–Flora–asking me to come home with her.
