“I phoned ahead to a nearby hospital and got in touch with one of their directors. I let her know I wanted to make a sizable donation, anonymously, and wondered if she would agree to meet me in the lobby. This made for a nice photo op for Morty.” Dane’s lips pursed in smug arrogance, and she nearly leaned forward to kiss them.
“So what happened?”
“Well, then the director told me she wanted me to see the facilities I’d be helping with my donation.” He sighed. “She took me through the children’s ward and introduced me to some of the kids who were sick. I ended up sitting in the corner, reading to them for about an hour. It was actually quite moving.” His smile dropped, and he sucked on his lower lip, eyes far away.
“I hope Morty got it all on video.”
“Oh, of course.” The wicked smile came back, and his eyes focused back on hers. He hovered, inches from her, and he was no longer laughing. He laid a hand across her cheek. “God, you’re so beautiful.”
His lips brushed hers, and she let him draw her to him. She felt herself letting go and reached deep inside to find the power to resist him. His mouth had moved down to her neck, and his hands were working the top button of her shirt. “Dane.” Her voice sounded like sand paper, raw from desire. “No, Dane. Not now.”
He grabbed her shoulders. “Are you seriously going to make me finish some stupid wager before you’ll have me? I’m right here, right now, Val. Why do you keep pushing me away?”
She half considered taking a chance on Dane’s continued attempts to bed her. She wanted to believe that all it would take to put a stake through this Noelle debacle would be to give in to Dane’s charms and spend a strings-free night in his bed. If only she trusted him.
If sex could fix her current situation, she would have slept with Dane already.
No, she didn’t want to be the one he spent his pent-up lust on until he’d finished his game. She was no side quest.
Besides . . .
“Dane. I’m not alone.”
His eyes opened wide. “Oh.” He stood and grabbed his suit coat. “Of course. I should have asked before I came over.” He walked around as if he were looking for something lost. “I guess I’ll be going.”
“Dane.” Val wanted him to stay, but it was made awkward by the naked man in her bed upstairs. She could send him away, sure, but it would only lead to inconveniences. “Tomorrow?”
He leveled her with a gaze and let his eyes drop down the length of her body. “Tempting. You’re the most desirable woman I’ve ever seen. But you always light the fuse and leave me frustrated. As much as I’d love to wait a full twenty-four hours to dip my wick, I think I may have other plans then.” He didn’t wait for her to lead him out, and by the time she’d reached the foot of the stairs, he’d already closed the front door behind him.
She swallowed down her disappointment and took the stairs slowly, wiping the wetness from her cheeks. But it was fortunate she had a reason to turn him away. If she had given in, he’d have taken her on the floor of her drawing room, and that would be that. She wanted their night together to mean more.
When she opened the bedroom door, Anthony sat up, silk sheets draped over his legs. “Miss Montgomery.”
She unbuttoned her shirt and let it fall to the ground. Anthony had been so skittish when she first came on to him. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into him today, but if she had sent him away, she was sure he’d never have come back again. And she so wanted someone young and beautiful and inexperienced as a summer toy.
She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her hand down Anthony’s chest. He didn’t have the build of Dane, but he responded eagerly to her touch, and that pleased her. She teased his cock, knowing full well he wouldn’t know how to return the gesture. Yet. She unzipped her skirt, picked his hand up, and laid it on her bare abdomen. He took the hint and slid the rest of her clothes off. Then she showed him what else to do.
“I told you to call me Val.”
Dane found the group of interns huddling together near their cubes, gossiping about whatever they thought they knew. Anthony wore the smile of an investment banker’s son who’d never had a real struggle his whole life. It was distinctly different from the obsequious expression from just a week before. From just yesterday come to think of it. Maybe Dane had lost Selena’s obvious infatuation to a kid after all. But surely he could coax her back with a bit of flirting. If he wanted to. Piece of cake.
“Anthony. Can I talk to you?”
Anthony looked up, and his cocky smile grew even more arrogant if possible. He clapped one of the guys on the back and exchanged a Douche Lord handshake with another. “See you guys later.”
Dane hated that he’d come to tell Anthony he’d decided to mentor him since nobody else was fighting him for it. He hoped the kid wasn’t bragging about banging Selena. He didn’t care what he did on his own time, but he respected people who let their reputations be built for them. Bragging was crass.
Anthony’s self-congratulatory post-coital victory lap only increased his motivation to win Selena away from him. Assuming it hadn’t been a one-night stand. No, Anthony had asked about dating Selena, not getting her to sleep with him. She must have been more willing than he’d expected. It didn’t surprise Dane after she’d come on to him the other night.
They approached the office, and Dane hung back to let Anthony go on in. As he closed the door, he refrained from gossip and focused on the business at hand. “So if you still want me to mentor you, you’re in. I seem to have grown unpopular.”
Anthony frown-smiled with smug knowledge. “Actually, I pulled a few strings.”
Dane raised his eyebrow. He couldn’t take much more of this. “With the interns?”
“Well, yeah.” He finally had the grace to appear somewhat humbled. “I promised to show them how to code mods forMinecraft.”
“You program?”
