Flirting with Love (34 page)

“Exactly.” She smacked his thigh, and both of their eyes dropped to her hand.

He lifted his eyes to hers, and she swallowed hard. In the short time they’d been talking, he’d seen a handful of looks pass through her eyes: embarrassment, arousal, worry. She had to feel the way the air zapped between them. Her eyes darkened, and her lips parted.

Oh yeah, she feels it
.

She licked her lips, and it just about killed him.

“What about you?” she asked, visibly more relaxed now as she leaned back on one hand and turned her body toward him. “Where do you live? What do you do?”

Her question made him think a little deeper about the two of them.
A sexy architect into green building.
Figures
. It had been his experience that tree huggers rarely held much respect for demolition experts. He sucked down his wine and went with an evasive answer in hopes of postponing any negative discussion.

“Depends on the week. I don’t like to be tied to one place for too long. I get itchy.” He’d always been that way. Spending too much time alone in any one of the houses he owned made him edgy. He’d never met anyone he’d liked enough to spend a few weeks with, much less settle down with.

Emily’s finely manicured brows furrowed. Clearly he wasn’t going to get off that easily.

“So…”

“I’m into construction. I go where the jobs take me.”

“Oh. I thought construction workers usually worked around where they lived.”

“Some do. I work with larger projects, which means that I travel a lot.” He didn’t want to talk about his job. Especially not the demolition job he was assessing there in Tuscany. He was enjoying spending time with Emily, and the last thing he wanted to do was talk about why he blew up buildings for a living.

“How long are you here?” His feeble attempt at changing the subject.

“Ten days, and I have every day planned so I don’t miss a thing.” She held up her empty glass.

“No longer worried about me carrying you to your bedroom?” Their eyes locked, and he couldn’t help but think,
Or mine
, as he filled her glass. Although he knew it was just his ego talking. He’d stopped having flings a few years ago—but they were still fun to think about.

“I can think of worse things.” Her voice was quiet, seductive. She mindlessly twirled her finger in her hair and lowered her eyes. When she raised them again, she said more confidently, “Besides, you have sisters. I think you’ll take care of me.”

“That’s a lot of trust in a guy you’ve known for only a little while.” He refilled their glasses.

“If you were a serial killer, you’d have stabbed me and hidden my body by now. And if you were going to make a move, I think you’d have done more than talk about family.” She moved her fingers over so they were touching his. “Like I said, you have sisters. I think the big brother in you will keep me safe.”

Damn.
Talk about conflicting signals. The hand. The brother talk. A guy could get whiplash trying to keep up.

An hour and an empty bottle of wine later, they were standing in front of the door to Emily’s room. She was tucked beneath his arm, her cheeks flushed, her eyes glassy, and her head nestled against his chest.

Lightweight indeed
.
Cute-as-hell lightweight
. Dae took a step back and leaned his hip against the doorframe and crossed his arms. Debating. He wanted to kiss her, to feel the soft press of her lips against his and taste the sweet wine on that sassy tongue of hers.
I think the big brother in you will keep me safe.

“These five overprotective brothers of yours, would they mind if we spent tomorrow together?”

She took a step back and raked her eyes down his body. “That depends. Do serial killers ask women on dates?”

He laughed. “I don’t have enough experience with serial killers to answer that.”

Emily’s phone vibrated in her pocket.

“Maybe that’s one of them. You can ask.”

Emily pulled her phone out of her pocket and read a text. She trapped her lower lip between her teeth and raised her eyes to his, then held up her index finger before responding.

“Christ, you’re not really asking your brother—are you?”

She shook her head, and her hair tumbled forward. “Soon-to-be sister-in-law. Daisy. She’s marrying my brother Luke the weekend after I go home.”

Dae scrubbed his hand down his face at the prospect of her asking her soon-to-be sister-in-law about going on a date with him. “Great.” He didn’t even try to mask his sarcasm.

Her phone vibrated again, and her long lashes fluttered as she read the text.

“Well? What does Daisy say?”

“Um…” She lowered the phone and held it behind her back with a coy smile.

Dae rolled his eyes. So much for their date. The words
stranger danger
came to mind. “It was nice getting to know you tonight, Emily.”

Her smile was replaced with tight lips and a wrinkled brow as he took a step away. “What? That’s it? I haven’t answered you yet.”

He closed the distance between them, so their thighs touched. Their lips were a breath apart, and her eyes held a seductive challenge. It took all of his focus for him not to lean down and wipe that smug look off her face with a kiss.

“I assumed…”

“Assumed?” Her voice turned low and sexy. “What happened to Mr. Hand or Arm? Wow, you’re not quite the man I thought you were if you give up that easy.” She touched his chest, nearly doing him in.

Dae clenched his jaw at the challenge. “I’m trying to be respectful. You’re the one who gave me the big-brother lecture earlier.”

“Oh, yeah.” She wrinkled her nose, and her eyes held a hint of regret.

She was so damn cute that he wanted to take care of her as much as he wanted to kiss her. “Yeah.” He leaned down and pressed his cheek to hers, then wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her against him. “I honestly don’t give a rat’s ass what Daisy said,” he whispered.

Emily nibbled on her lower lip.

Their bedrooms were located on more of a balcony than a hallway, with wrought-iron railings overlooking the great room below. The villa was silent, save for the sound of their heavy breathing.

“It’s your answer I want, not hers.”

He leaned back and gazed into her eyes, hoping she’d take a chance on the desire he could see lingering in them.

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Great, and just for the record, I’d have kept you safe even if I didn’t have sisters, but I can assure you that my feelings toward you are not brotherly.”

Emily’s eyes widened.

“And I wouldn’t mind if you didn’t act sisterly toward me, either.”

“I—”

“Good night, Emily.”

(End of Sneak Peek)

To continue reading, be sure to pick up the next

LOVE IN BLOOM release:

DREAMING OF LOVE,
The Bradens

JESSICA AYERS COULD hold a note on her cello for thirty-eight seconds without ever breaking a sweat, but staring at the eBay auction on her iPhone as the last forty seconds ticked away had her hands sweating and her heart racing. She never knew seconds could pass so slowly. She’d been pacing the deck of her rented apartment in the Seaside cottage community in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, for forty-five minutes. This was her first time—and she was certain her last time—using the online auction site. She was the high bidder on a baseball that she was fairly certain was her father’s from when he was a boy.

“Come on. Come on. Come on.”
Fifteen seconds
. She clenched her eyes shut and squeezed the phone, as if she could will the win. It was only seven thirty in the morning, and already the sun had blazed a path through the trees. She was hot and frustrated, and after fighting with her orchestra manager for two weeks about taking a hiatus, and her mother for even longer about everything under the sun, she was ready to blow. She’d come to the Cape for a respite from playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, hoping to figure out if she was living her life to the fullest, or missing out on it altogether. Finding her father’s baseball autographed by Mickey Mantle was her self-imposed distraction to keep her mind off picking up the cello. She’d never imagined she’d find it a week into her vacation.

She opened her eyes and stared at the phone.

Five seconds. Four. Three
.

A message flashed on the screen.
You have been outbid by another bidder
.

“What? No. No, no, no.” She pressed the bid icon, and nothing happened. She pressed it again, and again, her muscles tightening with each attempt. Another message flashed on the screen.
Bidding for this item has ended.

No!

She stared at the phone, unable to believe she’d been seconds away from winning what she was sure was her father’s baseball and had lost it. She hated phones. She hated eBay. She hated bidding against nonexistent people in tiny little stupid phones. She hated the whole thing so much she turned and hurled the phone over the deck.

Wow.

That felt really, really good
.

“Ouch! What the…” A deep male voice rose up to her.

Jessica crouched and peered between the balusters. Standing on the gravel road just a few feet from her building, in a pair of black running shorts and no shirt, was the nicest butt she’d ever seen, attached to a tanned back that was glistening with sweat and rippled with muscles. Holy moly, they didn’t make orchestra musicians with bodies like that. Not that she’d know, considering that they were always properly covered in black suits and white shirts, but could a body like that even
be
hidden?

He turned, one hand rubbing his unruly black hair as he looked up at the pitch pine trees.

Yeah, you won’t find the culprit there
.

His eyes passed by her deck, and she cringed. At least he hadn’t seen her phone, which she spotted a few feet away, where it must have fallen after conking him on the head. His eyes dropped to the ground…and traveled directly to it.

Jessica ducked lower, watching his brows knit together, giving him a brooding, sexy look.

Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me
.

He looked at the cottages to his left, then to the pool off to his right, and just as Jessica sighed with relief, he crossed the road toward the steps to her apartment. His eyes locked on her. He shaded them with his hand and looked back down at the phone, then back up at her, and lifted the phone in the air.

“Is this yours?”

She debated staying there, crouched and peering between the railings like a child playing hide-and-seek, hoping he really couldn’t see her.

I’ve been seen
.

Darn it!
She rose slowly to her feet. “My what?” She had no idea what she was going to say or do as the words flew from her mouth.

He laughed. God, he had a sexy laugh. “Your phone?”

He stood there looking amused and so damn sexy that Jessica couldn’t take her eyes off of him. “Why would that be mine? I don’t even have a phone.”
Great. Now I’m a phone assaulter and a liar.
She had no idea that being incredibly attracted to a man could couple with embarrassment and make her spew lies, as if she lied every day.

He looked back down at the phone and scratched his head. She wondered what he was thinking. That it fell from the sky? No one was that stupid, but she couldn’t own up to it now. She was in too deep. As he mounted the stairs, she got a good look at his chest, covered with a light dusting of hair, over muscles that bunched and rippled down his stomach, forming a V between his hips.

He stepped onto the deck and raked his hazel eyes down her body with the kind of smile that should have made her feel at ease and instead made her feel very naked. And hot. Definitely hot. Oh wait, he was hot. She was just bothered. Hot and bothered. Jesus, up close he was even more handsome than she imagined, with at least three days’ scruff peppering his strong chin and eyes that played hues of green and brown like a melody.

“Hi. I’m Jamie Reed.”

“Hi. Jessica…Ayers.”

“How long are you renting?” He used his forearm to wipe his brow. She never knew sweating could look so sexy.

“For the summer.” She shifted her eyes to her phone. “What will you do with that phone?”

He looked down at it. “I guess that depends, doesn’t it?” The side of his mouth quirked up, making his handsome, rugged face look playful and sending her stomach into a tailspin.

Jessica needed and wanted playful in her too prim and proper life, but she needed her phone even more, in case her orchestra manager called.

“Let’s say it was my phone. Let’s say it slipped from my hand and fell over the deck, purely by accident.”