His tone or expression must have given away some of what he was feeling because Eric finally let go of Claire’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Claire.”
“No,” she said with an eagerness that made Luke determined to get his friend out of there as fast as possible. The last thing he needed was to fight the chef for the contractor. “The pleasure was mine. This is a meal I won’t ever forget.”
“I hope you’ll come back again. With or without this asshole,” Eric said with a grin.
“Nice,” said Luke while Claire laughed, a sweet feminine sound. “Don’t you have a restaurant to run?”
“I mean it, Claire,” he said, ignoring Luke. “With or without him, I’d be happy to have you.” He laced his words with enough double entendre to bring a blush to Claire’s cheeks, but she didn’t look down or shy away.
Yeah, Eric definitely needed to know where the boundaries were.
“Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of dessert with this? For as much as I’m paying, surely you could at least throw a cookie our way.”
Luke saw Claire’s face cloud and knew he’d miscalculated. The women he dated liked to be reminded of his money and how much of it he spent on them. That wouldn’t work on Claire.
“I don’t think I could eat another bite,” she said, giving Eric another of her spectacular smiles. “Besides, Mr. Masters and I need to get to work. Maybe I can come back another time just for pleasure.”
She gave Luke a look that would have withered lesser men. It only served to heat his blood and make him more determined to win the challenge of getting her into his bed where he’d make sure they both won.
SHE’D HADLUNCH at Chef Auxtre’s restaurant and had even met the man behind the amazing creations. Claire loved food and loved to cook – too much to keep her petite frame model thin. She knew enough to understand the nuances of the truly superb food and appreciate the skill that went into making it. And if the chef happened to be a gorgeous man and charming flirt, so much the better.
She’d watched Luke’s jaw clench while she and Chef talked. He seemed frustrated and part of her relished giving him some of his own medicine. He’d frustrated her almost since the moment they’d met with his condescending mannerism combined with the heat she felt every time he touched her even casually.
And Luke frustrated was infinitely easier to deal with than the raw hungry look she’d seen on his face while they ate. More than once she’s glanced up from a particularly delicious bite to find him staring at her like he’d rather have his mouth on her than the food in front of him. Every look sent desire curling low in her stomach.
She didn’t want to want him, and she was having an increasingly difficult time convincing herself the heat she felt was just because she hadn’t been with a man in so long. Luke Masters did something to her, and she was far more comfortable channeling that energy into anger at his condescending manners. She knew he was pushing her buttons on purpose. It didn’t matter. She’d much rather be angry at him than turned on. And if he kept throwing his money around that was going to be easy to do.
She’d loved having a chance to eat at Comme Ci, but she’d always despised people who thought having money somehow made them better than everyone around them. She’d worked for everything she had. Her dad gave her a head start, but she was where she was because of hard work. That’s what she respected, not someone’s bloated bank account.
She reached for the tube of drawings, perfectly content when she saw Luke’s expression cloud. He’d put her off long enough; it was time to remind him why they were here.
“Chef, I hate to disrespect your food by bringing up work.” She wrinkled her nose for emphasis. “But it is why Mr. Masters and I are here.”
“Call me Eric and don’t worry about it. Perhaps sometime, if I’m very lucky, you will come back for the pleasure alone and let me feed you again.”
He captured her hand in his strong warm one and brushed her knuckles with a kiss. Luke stood so quickly his chair wobbled, and Claire didn’t bother to hide her smile. She might be wearing denim and work boots, but being the object of two powerful men’s attention made her feel sexier than if she’d been wearing a slinky club dress. If it knocked Luke off his game, so much the better.
“Thanks for taking so much time with us,” he said, clapping Eric hard on the back. Harder than normal if the chef’s grunt was any indication. “But I know you have things to do and as Ms. English said, we have work to do.”
“Of course. I’ll send Rachel in with dessert and espresso to fortify you for your busy afternoon. It was a pleasure, Claire,” he said with a wink. “One I hope to repeat.”
Claire felt more than heard Luke growl beside her and bit her lip to keep from laughing. It served him right for all the grief he’d been giving her. The door closed behind them as he took the plans from her and any vindication she’d felt evaporated when his hand touched hers.
Good God, was the man electrically charged?
Just the simple brush of his hand against hers made her skin tingle. He stood behind her chair and she felt the heat of his body along her back. She couldn’t stay sitting and let him just loom over her. He was too big, too male, just too much.
She pushed her chair back, excusing herself when the edge of it bumped his hip.
Smooth Claire, very smooth. Never let them see you shake.
It’s what she told herself whenever she dealt with high pressure situations, important clients or general contractors who didn’t think a woman could do as good of a job as a man. It had worked for her up until today, but standing next to Luke had her knees threatening to knock together and that would not do.
“Move down, please,” she said, taking back the plans and some of her power. Ignoring his satisfied grin, she spread the plans out on the table in front of them. “We covered the restaurant. I’ll fix that for you. And the lighting in the units is fine,” she said, flipping the sheets over to reveal the layout for the condos on the upper floors. “I already told my guys to shift this fixture to here and to move this switch here.” She used her clean, unmanicured finger to point out the red ink she’d used to draw in the changes .
“Who authorized this?”
