Stefan. Goodness, she’d forgotten all about him.
“That was delicious. Thanks.” KD had finished his steak and was now leaning against the backrest of his chair. She hadn’t finished hers, but she’d had as much as she wanted. Of food. And nothing else was on the menu.
“No problem.” She stood to collect the plates. A wave of dizziness hit and she swayed, clutching the table edge for support.
KD was beside her in a split second, gently easing her back into her chair. Kelsey giggled. “You don’t have to treat me like your grandmother, KD.”
“Believe me, you don’t remind me of anyone’s grandmother. Why don’t you sit and let me clear the table?”
A man—a macho, man’s man at that—who offered to clear the table? She was hardly going to knock back that offer. She spread her hands wide. “Be my guest. I’ll just sit here, have another glass of wine and enjoy the night air.”
She moved to pick up the half-empty bottle, but KD grabbed it first, holding it out of reach. “I think you ought to slow down on this stuff.”
“Why?”
“Because, Miss Simmons.” He smiled. “You’re a little drunk.”
“Oh, that.” Kelsey flopped back in her chair and pushed out a sigh. “I think, since we’ve shared a meal and all now, you should start calling me Kelsey.”
Leaning over the table, hands flat on the surface, he looked at her steadily with those dreamy blue eyes. She went all warm inside, from more than the wine. It would be so easy to tilt her head and offer her lips, urge him to kiss her. So easy and so good and so very, very wrong.
“I’ll be right back.” KD cleared the dishes without a further word and disappeared inside.
Kelsey closed her eyes and rested her head on her crossed arms. What was she doing, thinking about kissing KD? Was she nuts, as well as intoxicated?
“Here, drink this.”
Lifting her head with a start, Kelsey saw a mug of steaming black coffee in front of her and wondered how it had gotten there. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Seems that way.” He took his seat again and drank from his own mug. He surveyed her face with those keen eyes. “Want to talk about why you’re in such a drinking mood?”
She lifted a careless shoulder and sipped her coffee. Black and strong, no sugar. As if he had known how she liked it. Her eyes flicked back to him. “Tell me what it means when a man doesn’t want to be alone with a woman.”
“If it’s with you? He’s gay.”
His unequivocal tone made her laugh.
“You think I’m joking?”
Her gaze strayed back to him. He simply continued to look at her, steady and sure. His question wasn’t rhetorical and Kelsey shook her head. “But Stefan’s not.”
“If that’s true, he’s mighty stupid.”
“Wrong again.” Kelsey leapt to Stefan’s defense. “He has a degree in town planning and a masters in political science. He’s a very intelligent man.”
KD put his mug down and leaned forward to drill her with a hard expression. “A piece of paper isn’t always a good measure of a person’s intelligence, Kelsey.”
It was the first time he had said her name since she had suggested he do so. Kelsey gulped, wishing she had never extended the offer. It sounded bone-shiveringly good on his lips.
“Neither can it be dismissed as a factor.” Although what he said was true—after all, she had no degree and didn’t think herself the lesser for it—she was loath to agree with him so readily. “How about you? Did you ever go to university?”
She hadn’t meant the question to sound like a challenge, but the scornful twist of his lips told her it had come out that way. His eyes turned glacial. “Making comparisons, sugar?”
Kelsey amended her earlier opinion. She wished he would call her by her name. If he called her sugar like that one more time she might dissolve like a spoonful in a hot cup of tea. “Between you and Stefan? Why on earth would I?”
He merely tilted his head slightly until his meaning sank in. Kelsey gasped and all but sputtered, “You don’t think I’m interested in…you?”
“I think you’re interested in something ol’ Stevie doesn’t seem to want to give you.”
“His name,” she enunciated, “is Stefan.”
“Whatever. He’s not sleeping with you and by my reckoning you’re in need of a good, hard—”
“What makes you think Stefan and I aren’t sleeping together?”
“Because if this guy was your lover there’d be no way he’d allow you to have dinner with me. He’d be over here taking advantage of the situation.”
“Taking advantage…no way he’d allow me…” Kelsey didn’t know where to start to argue with such an arrogant, sexist statement. All her soft-edged tipsiness evaporated. Her anger intensified at her inability to express to this Neanderthal what a throwback he was.
She pushed back her chair and stood, this time feeling no dizziness, only determination. “Get out of my house.”
He pushed back his chair and stood, too. “Your imperious, lady-of-the-house thing is hot as hell. Anytime you want me to play at being your footman—”
“I said get out!”
“Alright, alright.” To Kelsey’s mounting rage he actually laughed, the sound soft, melodic and maddeningly sexy. “Anything the lady wants.”
The innuendo hung in the air as he left, making heat that didn’t belong to fury slice through her. As arrogant and rude as she knew him to be, the idea of KD giving her whatever she wanted had more appeal than she felt capable of dealing with. How could she want to sleep with a man she found so reprehensible?
Chemistry, that’s what. Hormones, celibacy and frustration. None of which she would let rule her life.
With a determined sigh, Kelsey scooped up the coffee cups and carried them inside. She had just finished washing them when she heard footsteps in the hall. The distinctive, heavy clunk of KD’s boots.
She turned as he entered the kitchen. His expression taut, his shoulders tense with restraint, he asked, “Have you ever heard the expression, might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Well, I figure this is one of those situations.” He took a few, seemingly casual steps. But there was nothing casual in his heated expression as he drew near. Kelsey’s knees weakened and she clutched the solid steel of the kitchen sink for support. “You hate me enough to slap me right about now, so making you hate me a little bit more isn’t gonna make much difference, is it?”
She recognized the intent in his eyes a moment before he acted. It wasn’t enough time to stop him. Before she could even gasp, KD hauled her into his arms, crushing her already aching breasts against the hard wall of his chest and covering her mouth with his.
Sexy Lips 66 Page 35
