Page 51 of The Money Man
“That’s not your average motive.”
“It got me out of New York so he couldn’t push me to go to auditions any longer. And it gave me the motivation I needed to finally tell him that I wasn’t interested in being a star.”
“But you are one. Just in a different business.”
He snorted as he thought of his father’s reaction. “Not good enough.”
“And then you had the nerve to do something just as risky as acting when you graduated from business school.”
“Yeah, he quoted all the statistics about start-ups failing.” He took a swallow of wine. “Ironic since numbers were my thing, not his.”
Alice gave his fingers a gentle squeeze and earned his gratitude by turning the conversation toward herself. “At least my mother knew I couldn’t be a model,” she said. “She doesn’t understand my love of numbers but she appreciates the steady income it generates.”
“Why would you want to be a model?” He scowled at her self-deprecation. “It has to be even less satisfying than being an actor. It’s based entirely on outward appearance and whether yours fits with the current fashion trends. I can’t imagine anything worse.” Revulsion shuddered through him.
“My mother would argue that it takes some talent as well,” Alice said. “But you’re mostly right. And my looks don’t fit any fashion trend.” She held up her hand as Derek opened his mouth to protest. “Believe me, I’m at peace with that.”
Their appetizer sampler arrived and stopped all conversation except as it related to the delicacies arrayed artistically on the platter between them. He enjoyed watching her face as she tasted each one, her expression changing from curiosity to appreciation and sometimes even to downright ecstasy. Alice’s mother clearly had no idea of how beautiful her own daughter was.
When she started to lick her fingers after sampling the short ribs, he nearly grabbed her hand to finish the job himself. Then he caught her expression and realized she was deliberately teasing him. “You will pay for that later,” he said in a mock growl, his cock tightening as he considered exactly how.
“I’m counting on it.”
Chapter 13
As they headed to the airport, Alice snuggled into Derek and drifted in a pleasant haze, sated with delicious food—including an extraordinary bittersweet chocolate tart—and wine. Not to mention the low hum of sexual awareness they’d been playing with all through lunch.
Derek had gone quiet after buckling his seat belt, either equally replete or already focused on his big project. It was a shame he needed to work on the plane. She’d like to have had sex on a private jet; it would add to her new image of herself as a corporate spy. She gave a quiet little snort at that.
The car turned onto the tarmac and rolled up to the jet. “It’s going to be hard to go back to security lines,” Alice said as Derek helped her out of the limo.
He slipped his arm around her waist to steer her toward the plane. “I guess we have something to thank Barsky for since he prompted your first ride on a private jet.”
She nearly stopped on the tarmac as a thought struck her. She had a lot more than a ride on a jet to thank Barsky for. If Barsky had been an honest, hardworking software coder, she would never have met Derek, never have experienced the exquisite pleasure of his body moving over and inside hers, never have fallen in love with his brilliant mind.
Whoa!Fallen in lovewas a little extreme when she’d met him less than a week ago. Yet she felt a connection to him that had nothing—well, only a little—to do with the intense physical attraction between them. He understood her on a level that no one else ever had. Because his life was built on the same foundations.
Even his looks no longer intimidated her. Not that it was possible to ignore them because his beauty was sometimes blinding. But his attitude was so different from her mother’s that she could see past his DNA-blessed exterior to the man within.
However, she needed to remember that he was still out of her league in the long term. If even a woman as brilliant and accomplished as his former fiancée couldn’t hold on to him, plain old bookkeeper Alice had no chance.
She glanced up at him as he strode along beside her, the sunlight turning the streaks in his hair to molten gold and outlining that tiny bump on his nose. He seemed in a hurry to get to the plane and back to work.
She leaned into him to savor the contact before he returned to being a high-powered consultant. As she did, he glanced down at her. His eyes blazed with the same intention they had held after that kiss in the limo. An answering flame seared through her.
Maybe he wasn’t in a hurry to get towork.
He helped her up the steps and followed her into the interior of the jet that seemed suddenly smaller. Kai greeted them with sparkling water, which allowed Alice to steady herself as she slipped into her seat and buckled her seat belt. After all, Derek wasn’t going to sweep her into his arms with the flight attendant looking on.
She frowned. In fact, what about Kai? For the most part, he’d made himself scarce on the flight down because Derek had indicated they wanted to discuss business. But how could they be sure that he wouldn’t decide to pop out to check on them at an embarrassing moment? She shrugged inwardly, figuring that even if he did, she would never see him again.
The jet’s engines revved and she tugged her seat belt tighter as they began to roll forward.
“Alice?”
She turned to see Derek holding out his hand across the aisle. She smiled and laid her palm against his. He immediately began to stroke his thumb over the bumps of her knuckles. She looked a question at him and he leaned sideways to raise her hand to his lips, brushing them against the back of it first, then angling their entwined hands so he could press his mouth to her palm. When he flicked the tip of his tongue against her skin, his touch shot straight into her core.
“Don’t you have to work?” she said after swallowing a gasp.
