The Longest Night

He coughed.

“Mr. Barclay. I’m surprised you remembered the invitation.”

“Surely we’ve progressed beyond last names?”

“Noah.”

He liked the way she said it, almost a whisper, her perfect mouth caressing his name. Her eyes looked softer today. The anger was gone. It was a good sign.

“Do a man a favor?” he asked.

The perfect mouth pulled into a tight line and the eyes grew sharp. He had a feeling that Cassandra Ward, society-page sex kitten, had taken his comment the wrong way. Oops. He was ready to apologize, but just as he opened his mouth, the sharpness was gone—like it’d never been there at all.

Her laugh was throaty and full, and her nails raked his hand—a teasing touch. “Hold that thought. I need to write something down before I forget.” Then she pulled a pen from the drawer and leaned down on the counter, and Noah found himself staring in the valley of her breasts. A man could lose his soul there if he wasn’t careful.

She scribbled down some notes. There was a name he couldn’t read. Then she straightened, pen in one hand.

“Now. What sort of favor were you thinking of?” she asked, capping the pen and pointing it at him.

Noah swallowed. He had been ready to ask her to lunch, but she was fogging his brain.

“Something with just the two of us?” she asked, her eyes focused directly on his mouth, and he wondered where that girl was and why she wasn’t rescuing him. He knew this was a bad idea, but he couldn’t think rationally. All he could focus on was the liquid plumpness of her mouth and the thousand years of sin that were reflected in her eyes. Already he had a hard-on, a couple more seconds and he was going to explode.

She smiled at him, reading his thoughts, and leaned a hip against the counter, which meant six inches closer to him. And six inches closer to touching him. Then she slid the pen deep into the V of her shirt and he watched as it disappeared between sun-kissed skin. He licked his lips, and just when he was ready to go diving for the pen, she pulled it back out, tilted her head back and laughed.