The Wager. Metsy Hingle

myself from getting booted out of the Southern gentleman’s union.”

      “There is no such union,” she said, her lips twitching with laughter again.

      “Are you willing to risk it and have my disgrace hanging over your head?”

      “Whoever came up with the description of charming to describe Southern men forgot to mention that they were stubborn, too.” She sighed. “Come on. My car’s this way.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Josh said, and fell into step beside her. With his hand at her back, they started through the cavernous garage in the direction she’d indicated.

      As they walked past row after row of cars of various makes and models, Josh was conscious of the shadows shifting along the garage’s walls and the echo of Laura’s heels as they clicked on the concrete flooring.

      She stopped in front of a sleek blue convertible. “This is me,” she said, and after unlocking the door with the remote on her key ring, she turned to him. “Thank you again for dinner.”

      “I’m the one who should be thanking you. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed an evening so much.”

      “Me, too,” she murmured.

      The lighting was poor, but bright enough for him to see the glint of silver in her blue eyes, the satin smoothness of her skin. Desire kicked him in the gut as he stared at her lush mouth. He wanted to sample that ripe mouth, had been eager to taste it all evening.

      “It’s getting late. I really should be going. So, I guess this is goodbye,” she said, and extended her hand.

      Josh looked at the hand she held out to him. The smart thing for him to do was to shake hands, make arrangements to see her in the morning so that he could tell her about Olivia and say good-night.

      “Josh?”

      To hell with being smart, he decided. Going with impulse, he pulled her to him. Against him. Into him. He heard the quick hitch of her breath, saw her eyes turn cloudy. And then he swooped down and took her mouth.

      She tasted just the way he’d imagined—hot and sweet, soft and strong. She made some primitive sound low in her throat. Protest or plea, Josh wasn’t sure which. He only knew that the desire for her that he’d managed to keep at simmer all afternoon and evening was now storming to a boiling point. And it showed no signs of slowing down.

      Fusing his mouth to hers, he took.

      So did she.

      Tongues danced, mated. He filled himself with her scent, with her taste, with the explosion of her response. Still it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He tore his mouth free, speared his fingers into the fiery hair that framed her face. When her lashes fluttered and she stared up at him out of eyes that were the color of smoke, desire delivered another one-two punch to his system. He would have to pay for this lapse in reasoning later. Josh didn’t have any doubt about that. But for now, for now he couldn’t bring himself to care what retribution awaited him—not when the taste, the scent, the feel of Laura in his arms was a fire burning hot in his blood.

      Using his teeth, he nipped at the soft skin of her lips, her jaw, her neck. He sloped his hands down her sides, shaped her waist, her hips. And when she arched her body, pressed herself against his arousal, Josh groaned.

      “This is insane,” she whispered, her hands racing over his shoulders, down his back, setting off new fires wherever she touched.

      “Yes.” It was insane. He knew mixing business and pleasure was asking for trouble. And considering the stakes, to do so now with Laura could prove disastrous. He didn’t dare risk it. But oh how he wanted to. How he wished he could just say to hell with it and take what he wanted, what she was offering now.

      “I should go,” she murmured against his lips even as she wound her arms around his neck, drove her fingers through his hair.

      “All right.” He choked out the words and started to step back.

      Laura yanked him by the hair and pulled his mouth back down to hers.

      Hunger whipped through him lightning quick, driving every thought from his mind save one—Laura. He feasted on her mouth, groaned as her teeth scraped his lip. But her mouth wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Breaking off the kiss, he captured her face between his palms. “I want you,” he confessed. “I’ve wanted you from the minute I set eyes on you.”

      “I know. I know,” she said, her breathing as ragged as his. “It’s crazy. We hardly know each other.”

      “Doesn’t matter.” All that mattered was this. All that mattered was now. Blinded by need, he reached for the zipper at the back of her dress. And he froze at the grumble of a car’s engine.

      Sanity came slamming back to him in a rush as the headlights from an approaching car flashed on the wall behind them. Laura stiffened in his arms as the car turned off toward the exit lane and disappeared into the belly of the garage. When it was silent once more, Josh dragged in several breaths. He took a step back. “Laura, I—”

      “Don’t,” she said, holding up a hand. She sucked in a few breaths of her own. “Whatever you do, don’t you dare apologize.”

      “I have no intention of apologizing—especially since I’m not the least bit sorry.”

      “I…um, right. That’s good, then. I guess.”

      Unexpectedly moved by the flush of pink to her cheeks and the distress swimming in her eyes, something inside of him shifted, softened. “Laura, it was only a kiss.”

      “I know that.” She looked down at the ground as though it held all the answers to the mysteries of the universe. She looked everywhere and at everything except him.

      He tipped her chin up so that he could see her eyes. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’re two healthy adults who are attracted to each other.”

      “I know. It’s just that I’m not very good at this sort of thing.”

      “At kissing? You could have fooled me,” he teased.

      “That’s not what I meant,” she said, more color flooding her cheeks. “I meant that I don’t usually end up crawling all over a man I’ve just met.”

      “That’s good to hear, since I don’t usually end up necking in hotel parking lots with assistant general managers, either.”

      She laughed as he’d hoped she would, then eased back a step. “I’d better go.”

      Josh stooped down, retrieved her keys where they had fallen just behind her foot. He held them out to her. But when she reached for the keys, he held on to them. He stared at her, wished that things could be different, that she wasn’t Olivia Jardine’s granddaughter and that his regaining ownership of the Princess was not tied to her.

      “Josh? You’re going to have to give me my keys. I need them to get home,” she said, her voice light, teasing.

      “I want to see you again. Will you meet me for breakfast in the morning? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

      The smile slipped from her lips as she reclaimed her keys. “Listen, Josh, there’s no point in me denying that I’m attracted to you after what just happened. And I know Logan Hotels has a reputation of being a great firm to work for. But Nick Baldwin is not only my boss, he’s my friend. I thought he was your friend, too,” she said, her voice as cool as her eyes. “So if you want to see me again just so you can offer me a job, I can save us both some time and embarrassment and tell you right now that I’m not interested.”

      “Nick is my friend,” he advised her, hurt that she would think he would stab his pal in the back by trying to steal his employee. “My wanting to see you isn’t about business. It’s personal.”

      “I—I’m sorry. It was foolish of me to jump to that conclusion. I had no right to assume—”