Loki's Game
Page 3
While his ordering for her was flattering, it was also slightly annoying. Such a move seemed pretentious considering they had only just met.
“It’s easier to order the special than attempt to read a menu here,” he said as if reading her mind. The sheepish, rakish grin he flashed was enough—Lily forgave him.
“Fair enough. So why are we here again?” she asked, letting her attention wander to their busy surroundings.
“I would like to apologize…first for the earlier deception,” he said, bringing her thoughts back to the present and her gaze back to his. “But my luck is not what I would call the best.” He relaxed down into the very old, very comfortable-looking wingback chair. This, she realized, was the real him, and cozy as it seemed, she wasn’t about to fall into the trap again. “When I meet women in a non-professional setting, one of two things happens without fail.”
“Let me guess,” Lily stopped him by holding up her palm between them, “your wealth either intimidates or entices them.” He looked up at her, surprised.
“Yes.”
“Oh, please,” she rolled her eyes, having lost interest in whatever game it was he was playing. She rose from her chair, angry. “Don’t hand me that spoiled rich victim crap. Of course money attracts the wrong kinds! But that still doesn’t give you the right to lure people in with the promise of a job.”
It was his turn to sigh. “I know.” Seeing the bereft look on his face, Lily deflated. She sighed and sank back into her chair. Heartbreak and loneliness flickered in his expression, which turned to surprise as she took his hand and patted it. His bare skin felt feverish.
“I get it,” she said. “The world is tough, and we all do what we can to get by.” She thumped his knuckles, making him cringe at the sudden sting. “But more money than God does not make up for such social ineptitude!”
He laughed out loud, a rich, hearty sound that surprised her and stirred her earlier feelings. It also temporarily stopped all movement in the building.
“You certainly do not mince words.”
“I know.” She paused then said, “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, was it? This plan of yours?”
Rowan shook his head. “No. It certainly was not.” He turned her hand over in his and dragged his palm over the length of her fingers. His skin was smooth, yet the pads of his fingers were rough with calluses. Her whole arm tingled.
“You are an amazing woman, Lily.” Her name rolled off his tongue like a caress. She swallowed, unable to hide the blush crawling up her neck.
“I’ve never heard that before.”
“Why is there no man in your life?” His fingers still toyed with her hand and wrist. God, it was hard to think with him doing that. She didn’t want to think at all despite the warning bells in her head. She had every intention of walking away, but now that the conversation had turned, escape would not be easy. Not that she wanted to escape anymore.
“Trust issues,” she said, trying hard not to purr as his fingers tickled their way to her elbow. It was inappropriate, but it felt so good. “I always seem to walk into the wrong relationships.” Rowan paused, and drew his hand back to hers.
“I am sorry, Lily.”
“For what?”
“For betraying your trust.” She started to speak when he held up his free hand to stop her, much as she had done to him moments earlier. “Let me finish, please.” Her mouth snapped shut with an audible click of teeth. “From the moment you walked through my door I knew you were special. You were so much different than anyone else I have…” he hesitated, “interviewed.” She bit back a pang of jealousy and her stomach flip-flopped at the thought that he’d given this speech more than once. She’d temporarily forgotten that this was an interview for the position of wife. “You carried yourself so gracefully. You have the intelligence to back up the mischief I see dancing in your eyes… I should have told you from the start what my intentions were. I should have been clear that I want more than an employee.”
“Am I allowed to speak now?”
Rowan smiled. “Of course. What else would you like to know? What would I need to do to make you stay?”
“First, you know this doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of working, right?”
“I had the feeling,” he said with a dry, brittle smirk.
“Now, I’m going to tell you why.”
“Please do.”
“Three reasons. First, you, at this moment, are too good to be true.”
“That, I can assure you, is not the case. I have my flaws.”
“Second,” she continued with a pointed glare, “you are a very dangerous man.”
“How so?”
“That is the third reason. If I intend to work for you, I can’t have a physical relationship with you. And you doing that,” she wiggled the fingers still clasped in his, “makes it very difficult to think of anything but.”
“So this job… You do understand that there is no clearly defined employment opportunity, right?”
“Oh, yes, there is,” Lily retorted. “You don’t even see the opportunity, do you?” Rowan shook his head slowly, as if he wasn’t following. His smile faltered. “You have the most amazing collection of artifacts I’ve ever seen. You need someone to catalog them and put them on display for you. The world needs to see it. I can do it for you, but I can’t be your beck-and-call-girl and a professional personal assistant all at once.”
“Fair enough,” he mused, that thin smile still playing at the corners of his mouth, revealing dimples. He was trying to kill her...she knew it. Lily closed her eyes and cleared her throat. When she looked up again, the waitress was filling Rowan’s glass from the frosty wine bottle. She conveniently left Lily’s glass empty. Rowan scowled and pulled the bottle from her hand. “Now answer a question for me,” he continued, fixing Lily with a sharp stare.
“Okay,” she croaked.
A smile spread across his face, slow and devious. “How am I dangerous?”
“Power, wealth, and charm,” she said through clenched teeth and took the glass he offered. “No man should have all three.”
“Which says nothing at all about my ravishing good looks.”
“Exactly,” Lily replied, staring at him with smoldering eyes. Rowan blinked in obvious surprise.
“You do know I was kidding?”
“Then you’ve obviously never looked in a mirror.”
Something shifted between them. Lily felt the power surge around her, knowing his desire just as strong and clear as she felt her own. She swallowed the lump in her throat, tensing as he leaned toward her.
The waitress, to Lily’s great chagrin, interrupted the moment by placing their food on the table. Rowan’s meal consisted of the most artistic sandwich, salad and soup combination she’d ever seen, while hers appeared slapped together and tossed around on the plate. What may once have been a beautiful meal worried her. If Lily lifted the lettuce, she worried she might find an unwanted gift, and she had the sneaking suspicion it had everything to do with her choice of company. It was obvious the girl carried a torch for him even if he ignored her.
How he could watch her with such adoration was beyond Lily’s comprehension. Shifting uncomfortably, she scooped the sandwich up as best she could, prepared to eat though it appeared her food had already been chewed a few times, when Rowan’s hand landed on her wrist.
“Wait a minute,” he said, examining her food with a look of disgust. “Give me your plate.” She laid the sandwich down and handed it over. Calm and silent, Rowan stood and took her food back to the small window that acted as a pass. After a heated discussion with whoever was on the other side of the wall, he returned, a new plate in his hands that looked worlds different from what the waitress had given her.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said as he laid it in front of her. “I was going to eat it.”
“I would not let you.”
“Why not? It’s just food.”
“It was tainted.” His gaze darkened, and
just like that his good humor was gone. Rowan planted himself in his chair and picked up his own sandwich.
Tainted? she wondered. How would he know that?
“Do not ask, Lily. Just eat so we can leave.”
They ate quickly and in eerie silence. His outburst seemed to have stilled the restaurant yet again. Before she’d even finished chewing, Rowan had her by the arm, pulling her out of the door without even bothering to stop and pay a bill. She had to jog to keep up with his long strides, and when he deposited her into his car, she was breathing so heavily that her vision was blurred.
He was already stopping the car before she was able to catch her breath again. “Where are we?” she gasped, which seemed to pause him in his single-minded mission. His face fell blank, and his whole demeanor shifted.
“Away from that horrid woman,” he replied. His nostrils flared with one last hint of residual anger, but when he looked over at her, only the warm humor from earlier remained. My home is just around the corner. I thought it best if I deliver you back to civilization and your means of escape before I decide to keep you forever.”
An anticipatory thrill ran up and down her spine. Absurd, but she liked the idea of being his kept woman. Sort of—with some freedom, of course, but to be his could be fun.
“Perhaps you would like to come back inside for a drink?” he asked as he maneuvered the car into the garage and killed the engine. Common sense told her she should say goodnight, leave, and continue her job search in the morning. Lily wasn’t cut out for his lifestyle. However, her intentions were far different than her common sense dictated.
“I would love that.”
“Fabulous.” Rowan exited the car, and before she could remove her seatbelt was pulling open her door and offering his hand. Lily took it, exciting in the jolt of energy that passed between them. Logically, she knew this was a bad idea and knew what could happen. What would happen.
But she didn’t care. She allowed him to pull her from the seat and lead her inside, stopping only long enough to proffer another bottle of wine from a hidden refrigerator and two glasses from the overhead rack. He took her hand again, and tugged her out of the darkened kitchen.
Lily scarcely noticed her surroundings as he led her up a staircase and into a different part of the building—his home. The whole building, half a city block. That realization was overwhelming.
The stairwell opened into a high-ceilinged room, lavishly decorated with the same cozy antiques as the rest of the house, but this new area felt warm and lived-in. Behind her, Lily heard the pop of the cork, and the soft glug-glug of wine filling the glasses. Rowan appeared at her side a moment later and pressed one of the glasses into her hand. He raised his toward her.
“A toast to interesting conversation and a new beginning.” The warm smile on his face melted her reservations, and she touched her glass to his.
“To new beginnings,” she echoed and drank. When she lowered her glass, Rowan was watching her intently. Arousal burned in his pale eyes, and the strength of his determination raised the hairs along her arms. Lily swallowed as he leaned toward her one more time.
Chapter Three
“I am going to kiss you,” Rowan whispered, and she nodded just as his lips met hers. It started as a light flutter of pressure in a chaste brush of his mouth. His warm fingers brushed her throat and she gasped. Bracing his palm against the nape of her neck, Rowan crushed his mouth to hers, sweeping his tongue across her lips before plunging inside and tangling with her own.
When he pulled away, they were both breathless. The bowl of her glass dangled limply from the tips of her fingers, the last drops of wine threatening to drip out onto the carpet as she braced herself on his forearms, strong and muscular through the thick sleeves of his coat.
“I am sorry,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. His voice was little more than a husky growl. “That was highly inappropriate.”
“Yes,” she gasped. “Do it again.”
Rowan laughed as he cradled her head in his free hand and pulled back to look at her. “You said this would ruin our working relationship.”
“No, I said I wouldn’t work for you.”
“Are you saying you have forgiven me for my earlier untruths?”
“Not yet,” she said sternly, and pressed a gentle hand to his chest. She drained the final bit of liquid from her glass. “So you have a lot of groveling to do.”
“Gladly,” he said with a groan and pulled her flush against him. Their lips met once more with a jolt of passionate energy and she vaguely heard the tinkling of glass on the floor as his dropped glass shattered. Rowan crushed her against his chest. Through the thin fabric of her blouse she could feel the heat of his body, pulsing with the frantic beat of his heart. Her own battered out an uneven, excited rhythm as she wound her arms around him, tugging the tie and pulling it loose from the collar of his deep green satin shirt. Her fingers bunched in the fabric, pulling him closer. His hands found her hips, fingers digging into the sensitive flesh there as he tugged her first to a nearby settee, then to straddle his lap. Beneath their combined weight, the legs of the antique sofa groaned, snatching them both out of the moment.
Rowan chuckled against her neck. “I suppose this is not the best place for such activity.” Lily avoided his eyes, a blush blooming on her cheeks. Her gaze raked over his kiss-swollen lips. He looked even more enticing. She hadn’t thought that possible.
Then the reality set in. She was straddling the lap of a man she did not know, all too eager to have sex with him. This was not her. But the things he did to her…just the touch of his fingertips on her cheek ignited a frenzy she’d never felt before.
Fighting panic, Lily shimmied backwards, finding her footing before hauling herself out of his arms and across the room.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I got a little carried away.” Still, she refused to look at Rowan, despite his attempts to catch her eye.
“Lily, look at me,” he coaxed, adjusting his shirt as he rose from the couch. Reluctantly, she cast her gaze up at him. “You have nothing to apologize for.” He took a step toward her and she took one backward. “I fear it is I who should apologize to you.”
The comment startled her. “For what?”
“I should have let you leave when you first asked to do so.” His face flushed and his stare burned. “But you are so beautiful…so intelligent…so…right.” He took a deep breath, inhaling her essence. “The thought of you walking out my door and never returning is heartbreaking.”
Lily chewed her bottom lip. No man had ever said such things to her, and certainly not with such conviction. Rowan watched her, his eyes fixed on her teeth as they worried the sensitive skin between them.
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Lily said quietly, and re-twisted the chignon on the back of her head. She clutched the chopsticks between her teeth as she did so. Rowan sucked in a breath. “What?”
“You tempt me,” he admitted. “I do not deserve you.”
“Why?” She pulled the sticks from her mouth and went back to chewing her lip as she secured her hair in place.
“My mother raised me a gentleman, Lily. I have been foolish and taken advantage of you.” He watched her through narrowed eyelids. “And unless you stop doing that, I may not be able to stop from doing so again.”
Lily let go of her lip with an audible pop. His intense gaze burned. She felt like she was under a microscope. “I’m sorry,” she said. She licked her lips and swallowed hard. Rowan groaned.
“You really are making this so difficult,” he said, and drew in a hard breath through his nose. “If you intend to leave,” he continued, closing the distance between them in two strides, “you should do it now because I am going to kiss you again, and once I do I will not be able to stop.”
Lily floundered for words, and found none. She wanted him; there was no way to deny it. He moved toward her, backing her against the wall where he pressed his body against hers.
Lily discovered in that moment that she was tired of careful. No man had ever shown such interest in her, so she no longer cared about propriety. She was jobless, on the verge of being homeless, and without a single redeeming prospect. She needed the release, and right now all she cared about was having him in the most intimate way possible. As her inhibitions melted, so did his restraint. Tightening his hands on her, Rowan forced her mouth open, possessing her with a hungry growl. She let him lead, let him tug her away from the wall and hard against the length of his body. His arms wound around her as he tasted her. Rowan lifted her like she were no heavier than a ragdoll, and again she followed his lead, twisting her legs around his waist. Without releasing her mouth, he turned and carried her into another room. Then she felt the softness of a down mattress beneath her and the weight of his body on top of her. Warm, wet lips trailed down her throat and over her collar bone. She gasped as the fabric of her blouse parted enough for his fingers to tickle across her ribcage.
“There is more you need to know,” he growled against her, his mouth still occupied by her skin.
“Later…” she gasped. She wanted to speak more but couldn’t find the courage to say his name. Even if she had been able to find her voice, he’d have taken it away again as his teeth grazed the soft flesh above her left breast. He growled something against her skin, and Lily’s hands moved from his shoulders to stroke across the top of his head—something she’d wanted to do since the first time she laid eyes on him. His hair was longer than she thought, thick and soft against her palms.
The sound of ripping fabric echoed in the quiet room, and his fingers danced across her now bare nipples. Lily closed her eyes against the sensations, gasping when the sharp points of his teeth grazed the places his fingers had been.