Billionaire Ghost Tour - Stephanie Fowers Page 0,31

his security was trained to be discreet when he wanted to get alone with a woman. Once again he wished for different circumstances—he’d wanted his first kiss with Mollie to be special, to belong only to him.

Strange that I thought about kissing her already.

Man, he didn’t know himself at all. He’d been plotting it from the moment they’d met. “Let’s play a new game,” he said.

CHAPTER NINE

“What sort of game are you thinking of playing?” Mollie wasn’t sure what had come over Janson, but she knew she certainly couldn’t trust his sudden flirtation. Honestly, she liked being around him too much. Sad experience had shown her that a man’s interest would be gone just as easily tomorrow. The more she cared, the more it would hurt to have his warm eyes turn cold, his disinterested gaze shoot through her like he’d never known her at all.

“I’ll try to guess who your hot texting buddies here are.”

She tried to steel herself against his charm, even as he redoubled his efforts to change her mind, seeming to feed off her reluctance to play. “Boring,” she said. “They’re yesterday’s news.”

“You get rid of your men that fast?”

She nodded uneasily. She never let them in at all. Janson was dangerously close to getting at the truth. Luckily his security detail made for a formidable presence—like brutish chaperones. Dwayne and Vin were both annoying and a good reminder that this was a man who did not fit into her life. Never mind that he made her feel more alive than anyone had made her feel in a long time. She ran her hands down her arms.

“Cold?” he asked.

Yeah, a little. Okay, a lot, but she wasn’t putting her mother’s cheetah print jacket on again. That had been a very bad idea. She had no idea how much it made her stand out in a crowd. She’d just been so caught up in Janson for a moment that she’d completely forgotten that he’d look at her. She gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged.

“I’ve got a secret too,” he said. “I’m freezing. I need you to come over here and give me some body warmth.” Her brows shot up with her heart rate. His romantic Brazilian blood must be pumping overtime through his veins. “I’m not joking. There is room in this huge chair for two. Bring your mother’s jacket too. I’m going to die if you don’t.”

Being warm again sounded too good to resist... being next to him sounded even better. Hoping she wasn’t doing the wrong thing, she grabbed the cheetah print jacket and squeezed next to him, her skirt flying over the both of them. “Well, I don’t want you to die,” she said with a reluctant chuckle. The large booth chair wasn’t so bad actually, almost like a regular booth... but with a lot less room. At least she wasn’t sitting on him. His body warmth melted away the last of her reserves. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said. “But I feel better.”

“Good, me too... and I will take it the wrong way.” He winked.

She laughed, surprised that his serious demeanor held such a dry humor that cracked her up over and over again. For the moment, she decided to get lost in whatever he planned for this night. Why not? She could have fun like anyone else.

Her friend Shawnii came over and guffawed when she saw where they were sitting. “Were your seats too far away from each other?” she asked.

“Yes!”

Janson nodded at the same time Mollie shook her head and pleaded the fifth. “I’m cold!”

“Then I guess I’ll get you something warm to drink.” Shawnii’s blue eyes twinkled as she danced away.

It wasn’t what she thought. Sure, they looked like a couple, but no, this was only two new friends who were getting something warm to drink because they happened to have fallen in a pond together. Janson wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her closer. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what Mollie thought they were, only reality as Janson ran his hand down her cold skin. His breath was warm against her cheek. Oh, but Mollie liked this feeling, of fooling herself, if even for a moment, that she belonged with someone.

That was, until she spied her mother across the room. Her cheeks went hot with embarrassment. If Mother Renee caught her with a “date,” Mollie wouldn’t hear the end of it. She hunched down in the seat, trying to disappear.

Janson tried to untangle his fingers