Page 10 of Purchase Power
“Good! Because let me tell you about some of the dates I’ve had…” Her awkward chuckling didn’t ease the situation they shared.Is he getting closer? He’s practically touching me. Uh, for a guy who doesn’t want romance, he sure is putting on the heavy seduction.Lucy felt like this was a normal night at the club, and she happened to be in the same restroom as the guy who had caught her eye all night. Yet instead of dancing and drinks at the bar, he would treat her to a VIP experience with their own bottle of Champagne and his tongue down her throat.
She’d let him, because she found him arousing, and she was a woman in search of new and unique experiences.
“You have…” Noah’s hesitation wasn’t from a lack of words. He clearly knew what he wanted to say. Perhaps he didn’t know how to say them. Or perhaps he waited for Lucy to get a grip on herself, such as shoving her hand behind her and bracing against the arm of the couch. “A very interesting aura, Ms. Craig.”
She could smell his breath. Peppermint and alcohol. Neither cheap. Perhaps one in the same. “My aura, huh? Let’s talk about this whole brooding billionaire thingyou’vegot going on. Like a regular ol’ Mr. Rochester with better teeth. I’m presuming. I don’t know what Mr. Rochester’s teeth were actually like.”
“Do you always chatter when you’re nervous?”
“Do you always drag the moment out when you’re about to kiss a girl?”
“I thought I told you I’m not into kissing.”
“You said not kissingmuch.I’d hope you’d kiss a girl before doing anything else.”
Lucy didn’t expect him to respond with an actual kiss. Indeed, that’s not what he did! That would be asking for way too much.
Mr. Noah Gabriel had a bolder seduction style. It was calledUntie Her Coat and Open Up the Present.
She let him. Partly because she was frozen in place, partly because she figured the man had paid for the privilege. Mostly, though, Lucy wanted it. The closer this man came, the more excited her bodybecame. She forgot what brought them together. She had no idea there was a transaction involved, that she had signed up for a whole month of his mind games, or that this man meant what he said when he declared,“I’m not looking for love.”
Lucy closed her eyes when his fingertip touched her for the first time. She was a fool for the wrong man after that.
