The Dare Collection: April 2018. Stefanie London

grinned. ‘You didn’t have to say it aloud.’ His eyes lingered on her mouth, his own lip curling. ‘Don’t worry, I don’t trust you, either.’ His lazy stare dragged slowly down the length of her body, and he stepped close, his voice dropping to a sultry murmur that skated over her ear and slid down her neck.

      ‘And yet you trust me with your body? With your pleasure?’ His lips grazed her earlobe as he straightened, the only point of contact between them. And just like that she returned to a state of full-body meltdown.

      She leaned forward as he pulled away, as if her entire being were magnetised and drawn to his, opposing poles. Memory of that pleasure snaked south, a flood of heat dampening her panties. Damn him. How could he do that to her, with a few husky words? He seemed to have a direct line, a retinal scanner and magic wand to her libido.

      A round of applause heralded the end to the current show. Harley ignored the heat fizzing through her veins and the more potent heat rising from the man next to her. She placed her champagne on a nearby table to clap as the designer took the stage with his models for one last walk.

      ‘Your turn next,’ he said as the lights went up, heralding the start of a fifteen-minute interval. Why did his every word scrape at her nipples? His sexy accent, the deep timbre, the accompanying smoulder that seemed to be tailored specifically for her.

      ‘Oh, I don’t walk at my shows.’ She picked up her champagne flute, giving her restless hands something to do other than touch Jack as she busied her stare with the audience, who rose from their seats, many heading to the bar.

      ‘Why not?’ He sipped his own drink, his tongue taking a slow swipe across his bottom lip. A lip she’d tasted, scraped with her teeth, sucked at while kissing him as if her life depended on it. Would it feel as amazing gliding over the rest of her body?

      She lifted one shoulder, heat of a different kind infecting her buzz. Should she justify her rather unorthodox choices to him?

      In the past, explaining her beliefs and opinions to the men in her life had only led to criticism. And she’d heard enough of that to last a lifetime. Could she tolerate it from Jack, of all people?

      ‘I find my label does better without the often adverse publicity of the Jacob name.’

      His brow dipped, as if puzzled by her revelation. She was about to elaborate when they were joined by another couple, the man tall and immaculately tailored like Jack, and the woman elegantly understated in that trendy, New York way.

      Jack stepped aside, welcoming the couple into their space. ‘Harley, I’d like you to meet my cousin, Alex Lancaster, and his fiancée, Libby Noble. Libby is a New Yorker, too.’

      They shook hands, exchanging warm, polite greetings, and then the gorgeous couple took flutes of champagne from a passing waiter.

      ‘So, how do you two know each other?’ asked Alex, eyeing his cousin.

      Harley jumped in. ‘We...’ What could she say? Their liaisons, both then and now, too complicated for polite conversation.

      ‘Harley and I are in business negotiations.’ Jack flicked her a look that replicated the effect of his fingers teasing her nipple earlier. She clamped her mouth shut in case she actually whimpered out loud. How did he do that? He hadn’t even touched her.

      With his eyes still on her, he spoke to his cousin.

      ‘Her company is purchasing the Morris Building.’ He could have used different words, other explanations.

      We holidayed together as kids. Our families were once friends. We shared hot and heavy make-out sessions during stolen teenaged moments.

      Highly attuned to the erotic tension coiling between her and Jack, she avoided his eyes. But she couldn’t avoid the memories—those innocent moments of sexual awakening hijacked by an awakening of another kind, one that had killed that innocence, changed her view on relationships for ever and tore their two families apart. Hal’s explanation had been a business deal turned sour. But sadly, Harley knew better.

      She swallowed the bitter aftertaste those memories always evoked, along with the harder to overcome shame.

      Alex looked at Jack, who still stared at Harley.

      ‘Oh...’ Alex glanced between Harley and his cousin ‘...are you the person responsible for the cock up?’ He grinned, his expression teasing mischief. But the barb went deep, with the accuracy of a medical laser.

      Harley winced, looking away.

      ‘Libby, are you enjoying the show?’ Jack deftly saved her from answering and changed the subject in one move.

      But the damage had been done. What did Alex know? Had Jack talked about her? Blamed her stupidity for the stalled deal? Credited the error to some girl he’d known nine years ago, playing at business but woefully underqualified?

      Did he congratulate himself on his disentanglement from her, from her dysfunctional family and now from their business deal? A close escape from dumb Harley and her ruthless old man. Oh, she could almost hear the conversation. No doubt Joe Lane had badmouthed her family as much as Hal had maligned his.

      Her shoulders fell. Jack owed her no loyalty. And it was all true, mirroring how she saw herself.

      As Libby and Jack discussed the first half of the show, Harley offered Alex a tight, polite smile, her face flaming. ‘Excuse me.’

      Alex frowned. ‘I’m sorry. I—’

      She almost comforted him; he seemed so contrite.

      ‘No problem.’ She forced her facial muscles to relax. Her blood pounded hot. Spreading fire. Whatever Jack had said about her to his cousin, she didn’t need to hear. ‘I need to check things backstage.’ She made to sidestep away from the group, away from the awkward exchange that had brought all her insecurities to the surface.

      Despite the front she presented to the world, deep inside her self-esteem was shaky at best. Her undiagnosed dyslexia, a lifetime of never quite fitting in, even at home, and years of listening to her tactless and selfish father had shredded every scrap she possessed.

      That was why her ‘projects’, as Hall called her business enterprises, carried such importance. They represented a chance to feel pride in her hard work. A chance to make a difference.

      She’d barely moved when Jack’s hand found the small of her back, his fingers pressing with possession. She shot him a look, his own expression unreadable as he stared at her over the rim of his glass.

      Harley smiled for Libby and made her excuses. He might have set her body alight, showed her the good time he’d promised, but he didn’t own her, didn’t even know her. And she owed him nothing.

      She wasn’t that naïve schoolgirl any longer. She understood how the world worked, how people used each other, wrecked lives for a few minutes of selfish pleasure. She could compartmentalise sex. And she and Jack hadn’t even shared that.

      As she wove her way backstage she made a vow. Tomorrow, she’d set her dreams back a few months and start looking for another piece of real estate for her beloved school.

      * * *

      Fuck, he’d blown it.

      Harley had disappeared. He’d waited for her to emerge after her show but there’d been no sign of her. Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut? Why hadn’t he had a better explanation ready for his inquisitive cousin? He should have known Alex would put it all together—sharp, astute bastard. He bit back another curse.

      Alex and he had attended the same university. Their bond more akin to brothers than cousins. Alex had witnessed first hand the fallout from the abrupt, unexplained end of his relationship with teenaged Harley, his first relationship. And he knew all about the bad business, the rift that tore his and Harley’s families apart.

      Without Alex’s friendship, he’d never have weathered his parents’ divorce, nor the financially turbulent years that had followed as everything his father had worked for