felt a little like a cougar imagining what his massive hands would feel like wrapped around my waist.
Then again, a body like his and money like the one it took to buy a condo like this told me Makoa’s age didn’t have anything to do with how grown he was.
“Have no fear, Mr. Kumaka.” I looked around the space, design ideas dancing in my head like a ballet troupe. “When I’m done with this place, it’ll be everything you wanted and more.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
His voice was a low rumble, one that had my neck heating when I turned to meet his gaze again. Now that the tour was done, the measurements taken, and the design imagined, there was nothing more to discuss — not until I could draw up some samples, at least.
I had a feeling we’d have a lot more fun without words, anyway.
It wasn’t my usual style, to sleep with a client. Then again, most of my clients were couples or families or corporate assholes who didn’t stand a chance.
Mr. Kumaka was in a completely different category.
And I filed him right under fair game.
Perks of being your own boss.
Makoa’s eyes slipped to my lips, and I sucked in a hot breath with an unwhispered yes reverberating through me. I couldn’t wait for him to touch me. I couldn’t wait for us to bust through the niceties on the pretense of being professional. I wanted his mouth on me, and I wanted to devour all of him.
“At the risk of being too forward,” he started, stepping just an inch closer to me.
I held my hands at my sides with every ounce of willpower I had left, waiting for his move.
“Could I take you out to dinner sometime?”
My next breath was a cold one, and I blinked, wondering if I heard him correctly. “Dinner?”
He nodded, and then immediately looked like he regretted the question. “I mean, of course, if that’s not appropriate… I’m sure you don’t normally date your clients.” His eyes widened. “Not that it would be a date. Well, I mean, it would be a date. At least, I’d like it to be a date. If you’d be interested.” He swallowed, and I could almost see the little voice in his head telling him to shut up. “In that.”
I couldn’t help the smile that curled on my lips, or the giggly schoolgirl feeling that flowered in my stomach watching this grown, tall, incredibly cut man stumble over his words as he asked me out. In one instant, he’d gone from this enigmatic suit-clad mystery, to a blushing high school boy.
Part of me was pissed that I’d have to wait, noting that there was no time quite like the present.
The bigger part of me was flattered, and curious, and intrigued.
“You don’t have to play this role forever.”
Gemma’s words drifted through my mind like smoke, but I blew them away with the next breath, reminding myself that as much as everything around me was changing, my view on dating never would.
But if Mr. Kumaka wanted to wine and dine me before I took his pants off?
Well… why not?
“Dinner sounds nice.”
He blew out a breath. “Yeah?”
I giggled. “Yeah. Unless you just talked yourself out of it in the time it took me to answer.”
“Contrary to my performance just now, I assure you, once I commit,” he said, inching a little closer, just enough that his cologne washed over me in a subtle rush of spice and oak. “I commit.”
That word made me want to sprint out of his condo and slam the door in his face, but I hoped that commitment he was referencing would be to my orgasms, and convinced myself that was the true underlying meaning.
“So, dinner.”
“Dinner,” he echoed.
“Tomorrow night?”
He couldn’t hide his surprise, or the goofy grin that was quickly becoming my favorite thing about him. “Tomorrow.”
I smiled, letting my eyes trace him one last time before I grabbed his file off the counter.
“One more thing,” he said before I made it to the door. When I turned to face him, his eyes were wary. “Do you like football?”
“God, no,” I answered quickly, practically spitting out the words like a bad bite of food. I watched him carefully, hoping like hell I wasn’t about to miss out on what was sure to be a fun romp just because I didn’t like to watch guys throw balls into hoops and score goals and shit. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
His smile slipped back, easy and confident, and something