by Raquel Belle
“Smart lady.”
“Indeed.” He straightened and strode toward her with slow, confident strides. He wasn’t wearing a coat, so she got to appreciate the way his suit clung to his muscular frame as if it was custom made. Abby couldn’t take her eyes off of him as he neared and stopped in front of her. By standing on the last step, she didn’t seem quite so intimidated by his height. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You came out looking as if someone had kicked your puppy.”
Her mouth twitched. “I don’t have a puppy. And nothing is wrong. I just had a little sibling tiff.” It was the best she could come up with, and it wasn’t a complete lie. Elaina’s words still remained in her mind.
“Are you alright?”
Abby’s gaze lifted to meet his. There was genuine concern on his face. For someone allegedly as callous as Damian, his concern for her feelings was surprising. “I’m fine. It was nothing serious.”
With narrowed eyes—sort of like Clint Eastwood—he studied her face…and she wanted desperately to look away.
“I can’t see much under that coat, but I imagine you’re looking ravishing.”
Abby’s stomach clenched. She knew now why so many women fell into Damian’s bed. The way he purred out the simplest of compliments made a girl want to throw her panties at him and beg him to take her. She couldn’t help the heat that spread into her cheeks, and in the pit of her stomach. She had to remind herself that Damian wasn’t the nice, charming man that he pretended to be. He’s evil, Abby. Remember that.
He held out an arm. “Shall we?”
***
Dinner was pleasantly and unexpectedly relaxing. Despite her ulterior motive for accepting Damian’s invitation, Abby found herself enjoying the date. Damian matched her wit with his own. Usually, she could talk people under a table, but he held his own…and more.
“Wuthering Heights, West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, Madame Bovary,” Damian said. Abby shrugged and sipped her wine. He looked her in the eyes. “I’m starting to think you have a dark side, Abby.”
Her heart stuttered a few times before resuming its normal tempo. For a second, she was thrown into confusion. “Why … Why do you say that?” Dark brown eyes, the darkest she’d ever seen, seemed to penetrate her to her very soul. Was it possible that Damian had figured out that she was playing him?
He smiled. “You just said that you enjoy some of the most tragic love stories in classical literature.”
She let out a breath. Damian appeared totally at ease and leaned back with his glass of water in his hand. His gaze was fixed on her face, and she hated it. She felt like he could see everything that she wanted to hide. “Do you have a dark side, Abby?”
She squirmed in her seat and let out a laugh. “No. I choose to focus on the epic romances. You’re the one who pointed out that they were all tragic. Perhaps it’s you who has the dark side.”
“I do,” he said. “You’ve been home a few weeks now. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors.”
He said nothing further, but the knowledge of what he referred to hung between them. Abby met his stare, thinking about how he led her father to ruin. He probably felt no guilt about Caleb’s death. His eyes never wavered, and she knew it was another test. He was no doubt waiting for her to crack. Abby’s heart pounded so hard she thought it would explode. Visions of herself reaching across the table to wrap her fingers around his neck played in her mind. How dare he bring up her father, even indirectly? The bastard. Drawing on years of experience of hiding her true feelings, she kept her features disciplined and betrayed no emotion.
“Are you by any chance referring to my father, Damian?”
“You know I am.”
“Maybe now isn’t the time to have that discussion.”
“But it needs to be addressed at some point, don’t you think? No time better than the present.”
Damian was the epitome of cool and calm even as he brought up the sensitive subject. Abby, on the other hand, struggled to maintain her composure. “Fine.” Squaring her shoulders, she maintained eye contact. “If you bought out a company that was on the edge of ruin, how does that make you dark? It was just business. Wasn’t it?” He didn’t answer. He merely lifted his glass to his lips, those maddening, dark eyes still on her. She had to direct the conversation away from the path it was heading. Fast. Or she would likely stab him with a butter knife or throw her wine in his face. “I’m surprised that you’re familiar with the classics.”
“I read,” he said.
“You don’t strike me as a romance kind of man.”
“To be honest, my mother forced me to read widely. More than a few classics and romances ended up in my hands over the years.”
Briefly forgetting that she hated him, Abby smiled. “It’s sweet that you read just to please your mom.”
Damian snorted. “Nothing sweet about it. Reading was my punishment when I misbehaved. Very few teenage boys want to read Romeo and Juliet, trust me. I had to sit in our living room under my mother’s supervision and read every word of whatever book she chose. Then, there would be a quiz after. It was cruel and unusual punishment to a boy in his teenage years. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized the value of being well read and felt immense gratitude toward my mother.”
Her giggles surprised even her as she imagined a teenage Damian with his nose reluctantly buried in Shakespeare. His mother sounded like a wise woman, who cared a great deal about him. It was more than Abby could say about her own mother. “I bet you were punished quite a bit.”
“Of course. I was a scallywag who constantly sent up my mother’s blood pressure.”
“Scallywag? Who says scallywag?”
He grinned. “My mother.”
“Are you two close?”
“We are. It was just the two of us for a long time.
Abby’s exhale was inaudible. What was she doing fishing for details about Damian that made him likable? The more she liked him, the harder it would be to hurt him. She tore her eyes away from him and surveyed the restaurant. It was one she was familiar with. A very nice and ridiculously expensive place that her family frequented for special occasions when she was younger. Suddenly, she was bombarded with too many emotions, making it impossible to hide all of them.
“You seem upset,” Damian said.
“This place brings back memories. My dad used to bring us here. A few times when I was a teenager, he’d bring me here for our father-daughter dinners when I made the honor roll or some other scholastic achievement. I enjoyed those times alone with him.” She had no idea why she was telling Damian anything about her relationship with her father. As if he would care.
She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry.”
His expression hadn’t changed, making it impossible to gauge what he was thinking. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t know this place held memories for you. Since we’re just about finished, we can leave.” His smile was barely there. “I do have somewhere else to take you, after all.”
Abby looked down at her half-eaten meal. No way could she stomach anything else. “Right. The surprise.” All she wanted to do was run home, curl up in bed, and cry but, she had a man to seduce. How she would manage that was beyond her.
Chapter Nine
Damian
Damian stole many glances at Abby as he neared the surprise location. Abby would love it, he was sure. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction. Sure, he’d cheated a little by doing a very in-depth background check on her, and as a result, discovered precisely what she would like. It occurred to him that he was going out of his way to impress her. That boyish urge hadn’t been felt in a long time.
He stopped his car in front of a massive white limestone building and Abby, who had been silently staring out the window, straightened in her seat. She looked around the dimly lit street and then at the building. “What’s this?”
“The surprise.”
“The new ar
t museum? It’s closed.”
“Not for us. I pulled a few strings.” Damian checked his watch. “We have one hour.”
Abby turned to him. “You brought me to a museum.”
The fingers of doubt wrapped around his mind. Perhaps he was wrong to assume she would appreciate a museum as part of their date. Damian nodded. “I thought you’d like it.”
A smile lit up her face. “Are you kidding? I love it! I’ve been dying to visit this museum since I returned home but haven’t had the time. This is amazing. Can we go in now?”
Her excitement brought a smile to his face, and he let out the breath he’d been holding. “Of course.”
Watching Abby inside of the museum was like watching a kid flit excitedly around a toy store. It amazed him that something so simple and boring, in his opinion, brought her such joy. The building was quiet with only the security guards present. The only sound was Abby’s heels clicking on the floor as she moved from one exhibit to the next and from one painting to another.
His eyes were trained on her, studying her in her clingy dress and heels that made her legs go on forever. Damian couldn’t remember a time in his life when he’d felt more desire to put his hands on such a petite, slender frame. Yet, there he was, starving for the feel and taste of Abby. He especially wanted to lick the pale skin of her neck…from her ear to her shoulder was left exposed by an elegant chignon. Pulling a breath, he shoved his hands into his pockets to avoid temptation.
Abby stood in front of a painting with her head tilted, and her expression was one of immense concentration. Damian stared at the painting, wondering what she found so fascinating about the portrait of a woman staring back at them. Abby was much lovelier to look at…so he turned his attention to her and decided to watch her watch the dull painting.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?”
Damian’s brows went up. “Sí, mucho.” Very beautiful.
Abby turned to find his gaze steady on her. Patches of pink spread in her cheeks. “I meant the painting.”
He grinned. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to it. I’m afraid I don’t see the appeal in any of this,” he waved his hand to encompass the large, open room filled with works of art, “certainly not as you do.”
“Then why bring me here if you don’t appreciate art?”
“To please you, Abby.”
Her brows dipped into a frown. “How did you know a museum was my scene?”
Damian shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He wasn’t sure how she’d react to his investigation of her. “Lucky guess. I suppose that I could tell that you were the artsy type at first glance.”
Abby’s lips twisted into a small smile, and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief that she’d accepted his half-assed explanation. He sighed. “And I never said I don’t appreciate art.” Damian allowed his gaze to blatantly appraise her delicate frame. “There are certain bodies of work that I have a very deep appreciation for.”
Abby visibly swallowed, and her tongue darted out to run over bottom lip. He watched, fascinated by how much the small gesture affected him. Suddenly, all he could think about was kissing her, tasting every inch of her and maybe pushing her up again the wall to take her beside one of the paintings she was so excited about. Her soft inquiry seeped through his lustful haze, and he blinked.
“Are you trying to seduce me, Damian?”
His deep chuckle bounced off the museum walls. “Well, there’s no point in being coy. Yes, pequeña pelirroja … I am.”
Abby sucked in a breath but didn’t respond to his admission. “You tend to break out into Spanish from time to time, but you don’t have even a hint of an accent.”
Damian hated being left in suspense. He wanted to know if he had a chance of getting between her legs or not. “I was raised in a bilingual household. My mother is Cuban, and my father was American.”
“I’m going to go ahead and assume you got your dark good looks from your mother.”
Damian’s mouth kicked up at the corners. He did resemble his mother more than his blonde-haired, green-eyed father. “Dark good looks, huh?”
“All that luxurious dark hair and those mysterious dark eyes.”
“Ah, she’s attracted to me,” he whispered to himself with a grin.
“Of course she is, or she wouldn’t be on this date with you, nor be very open to your seduction.”
Anticipation brought his blood to a boil. He was definitely going to get Abby into his bed very soon. “Not only do I find you attractive, Abby, but I also love your honesty.”
Her smile slowly faded, and her lashes lowered to hide her eyes. Uncertainty made Damian shuffle from one foot to the other. He thought he’d been heading in the right direction with the flirtation. She just said she found him attractive. Surely, he hadn’t said anything wrong. Apparently, he was off of his game with Abby. Usually, he would have a woman swooning and falling right into bed by now. With Abby, he’d managed to screw up more than once- doing or saying something to upset her. He searched desperately for something to say.
“I feel guilty, Damian. I haven’t been honest with you.”
His shoulders stiffened. Out of habit, his expression went blank, and his eyes shuttered. For as long as he could remember, allowing others to see what he was feeling was a big no, no. No one would have that kind of power over him. Ever. “Oh?”
Abby inhaled deeply. “I had an ulterior motive when I accepted this date.”
Of course she did. Everyone had an ulterior motive when it came to him. It was always money or something else. Perhaps Abby only gave him the time of day to plead her family’s case. So, she’d been lying when she claimed to not know what was going on with her family’s finances. He clenched his jaw. “I see.”
Blue eyes met his, and he forced himself not to be pulled in. “You aren’t the only one playing the seduction game. I was hoping you would take me home with you tonight. Since meeting you, all I’ve been able to think about is sex. With you.”
Totally unexpected. In just a matter of a few minutes, Abby had held him in suspense, made him unsure of himself, and then shocked him to his core. His first impression of her had been right. She was a breath of fresh air, and she literally added color to his otherwise gray existence. Only a few days ago, he was forcing himself to feel something. Anything. Since meeting Abby, he was starting to feel too much.
Damian released a slow hiss of breath. “Please tell me you’re finished admiring these works of art.”
“I’m more than ready to admire another work of art somewhere more private.”
Damian felt like a teenage boy again, hormones raging and anticipation clawing at his gut. Everything else had been shoved to the far recesses of his mind. His suspicions about Abby, his guilt about invading her privacy, possibly making her a pawn in his twisted mission for revenge, everything, gone. The only thing on his mind was getting them to his place in one piece, in the fastest possible time frame, and tearing her dress from her delectable body.
Abby laughed. “You’re on your way to a speeding ticket.”
“I don’t care.” He’d pay any price to get a taste of the woman next to him. The logical part of his brain set off an alarm. Maybe he was going too fast with Abby. She wasn’t some woman he’d picked up at a bar with the intention of enjoying her for one night. The smart thing to do was to play the gentleman, take her home, and arrange another date. His sick agenda of using her aside, he enjoyed her company. What if jumping into bed ruined any chance of seeing her again? Screw it. He’d make sure they saw each other again. Getting what he wanted was his specialty.
“Do you always take women home with you so soon?”
He gave her a quick glance. “No. I take them to hotels.”
“So, you’re taking me to a hotel?”
“No.” It was official…he’d lost his mind. He could count the number of women he’d ever brought back to his home on one hand. And those were women whom he’d attempted to have meaningful relationship
s with. None of them lasted long.
“Should I feel special?”
Quirking a brow, he grunted. “We’ll decide on that in the morning.”
Chapter Ten
Abby
Abby scowled. How could the man be so infuriating and alluring at the same time? It was impossible. Yet, Damian somehow managed to accomplish that feat. They would decide in the morning if she meant more than just a roll in the sack. Despicable! But for some reason, she couldn’t wait to see what was in store for her. No doubt, he knew how to please a woman or so many wouldn’t throw themselves shamelessly at him. From some irrational part of her, jealousy reared its head, and she almost broke out into hysterical laughter. She was jealous of the other women Damian had been with when she hated him and was only supposed to sleep with him to get information.
Abby had always laughed at her rich peers who’d all had therapists since they were old enough to walk. It seemed she’d been too hasty in dismissing the need for one. She definitely needed psychological help, especially if she was going to see this entire revenge scheme through. She already felt like she was going crazy. One minute she resented Damian, the next she liked him. That had been the crazy cycle of her emotions since meeting him, and it had only been a few days. Imagine what would happen to her weeks into their relationship if she didn’t manage to get dirt on him soon. She’d end up in the looney bin for sure. An involuntary snort escaped her lips.
Damian gave her a fleeting glance. “What? Do you have a problem with my comment? I was only being honest.”
“I have no problem at all. It isn’t like you’re all that special to me either. I barely know you.”
“Yet you’re about to fall into bed with me. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Well, you’re no better than I am, Damian.”
His roar of laughter made her toes curl in her pumps. She was transported to the night they met when she’d been ready to offer herself up to him just because of the sound of his laugh.
