She shot him a look over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “No one. Sparks knows about it, but if you’re going to have a problem with it, your beef is with me. Although I don’t know why you would. I’m giving you a better building.”
She watched his lips twitch in what was very nearly a smile and turned back to the table. She preferred to think of him as an arrogant prick. She really didn’t want to find any excuse to like him. Resisting him was difficult enough as it was. Flipping back to the lower levels, she found the page that showed the lobby and conference rooms, including the ballroom that could be divided depending on the size of the event.
“You have a problem here.” She leaned over to point to the fixture placement in the ballroom and sucked in a breath when she felt him lean in too, his long hard body practically covering her, not quite touching but close enough that she could feel the heat coming off of him in waves.
The man was a fucking furnace.
“At first glance, everything seems okay,” she said, taking a step away to put some space between them. “But see what happens when you divide the room up?” She traced the lines of the movable partition walls with her finger. “You have dark spots all over the place. Who did your lighting plan by the way?” She looked over her shoulder to see his full attention on her and not the plans in front of them.
“Mm, the architect,” he said, still paying more attention to her mouth than to what she was saying.
“That’s your problem. You need a lighting designer. Someone who’s going to do more than look at Architectural Graphic Standards for the number of fixtures.” She straightened so she could take another step away from him, grateful when Rachel came in carrying a tray with two cups of espresso and an eighteen inch long board holding a variety of small cakes and tiny bowls of mousse and crèmes.
Luke pulled out her chair and again she found herself in the awkward position of being nudged into the table by the large strong man taking up all the space behind her. “But I have you,” he said, his warm breath tickling the shell of her ear.
She dropped a sugar cube into the demitasse and swirled it with her spoon to have something to do with her hands. The last thing she wanted to do was to show Luke the effect being near him had on her. He was arrogant enough without her giving him any more ammunition.
He dropped two cubes into his tiny cup and she arched a brow at him.
“I like things sweet,” he said. “Here try this.” He passed her a bowl about two inches in diameter filled with pale salmon-colored custard. “It’s blood orange, and it‘s fantastic.”
Using the teaspoon, she took a bite of the custard, groaning in pleasure as the sweet tart taste of the citrus hit her tongue.
“You’re not getting this back.” She spooned up another mouthful, letting her eyes drift closed as she savored the sweet orange mixed with just a hint of zest and the bite and heat of ginger. She opened her eyes in time to see Luke reaching for her, and she froze, deer in the headlights to his predator.
Cupping her chin with his fingers, he slid his thumb along her bottom lip, coming away with a smear of the custard. She licked her bottom lip running her tongue across the place he’d touched as he stuck the pad of his thumb into his mouth and sucked it clean.
Desire crackled between them and it didn’t matter whether she liked it or not. She wanted him, and he wanted her. The only question worth asking was what were they going to do about it?
“Well then,” he said, watching her as he leaned closer. “I’ll just have to find a way to make you share.”
He took her face in his hands, holding her gently while he gazed into her eyes. She nearly lost herself in his warm brown eyes gone dark chocolate with desire. When she didn’t pull back, he slanted his mouth over hers, teasing her lips with his tongue until she opened for him. In a flash, the kiss took on a greedy desperate hunger that worried her more than she wanted to admit.
God, she could not let herself feel like that about him.
“I can’t,” she said, pulling away breathless. “We can’t. I’ve got to go.” She jumped to her feet, knocking over her chair in her haste and leaving Luke and the plans behind her.
