Follow Me Darkly (Follow Me #1) - Helen Hardt Page 0,7
he’s making fun of me. Addie was right. He’s kind of a douche. A gorgeous douche, but still a douche. “Did you really ask me to dinner to diss my job?”
“That wasn’t my intention,” he says, his blue eyes on fire. “I asked you to dinner because I really want to fuck you.”
Again with the thighs quivering. I’m wet already. I can feel it.
“How am I supposed to respond to that?” I ask, willing my voice not to shake. I’m not completely successful.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t go after what I want,” he says, his voice slightly lower and raspier.
I get that. I do. I’m pretty enough and I have good boobs, but this man can have anyone. He’s way out of my league. So why does Braden Black want me? I desperately want to ask that question, and I’m desperately afraid at the same time that if I do, he’ll realize his ridiculous mistake and send me home.
I compromise and say nothing while my cheeks warm and my heart flutters.
He raises one eyebrow. “You can tell me you’d like to fuck me, too.”
I resist the urge to squirm in my chair. Does he really want me to say that? Even weirder, I actually want to say it.
This will be a fuck. Just a fuck. I’ve had “just a fuck” before. I can live with that. Braden Black probably has some extra-smooth moves, plus there’s something about him that seems to call to me, though I have no idea what.
“Because you do,” he says. “Don’t try to deny it, Skye. I see it in your eyes.” He slurps an oyster and licks a dab of cocktail sauce from the corner of his mouth.
I bite my lip. “If I were to agree to this… Where?”
“My place.”
“I don’t even know you.”
His right eye crinkles a little, and for a moment I think he’s going to smile, but he doesn’t. “Sometimes it’s better that way.”
I cock my head slightly. I have no idea what he means, and I wait for him to explain. But no explanation comes. He simply loads cocktail sauce onto another oyster, slurps it, and again licks the dab of red from the corner of his mouth.
How would that tongue feel between my legs? I take a slow drink of my martini. I may need another.
Instead, though, Braden orders a bottle of some kind of French white to go with our dinner. Good thing I like wine. My boyfriend in college used to order for me all the time, and it pissed me off.
When Braden does it? It kind of turns me on.
What is happening to me? I squirm again against that incessant tickle between my legs.
My martini is gone, and the wine arrives, followed by our meals. My haddock looks plain, which is what I was going for. I take a bite. Tasty. Maybe not mouthwateringly delicious, but tasty.
I should make conversation. I could ask Braden how he made his billions, but I already know that story. Everyone does. He and his younger brother, Ben, worked for their father’s small construction company in South Boston. Braden made some modifications to a pair of safety goggles, which turned out to be state of the art. He patented the design, and he and Ben started Black, Inc. when Braden was twenty-five years old. Now, at thirty-five, he and Ben are billionaires, and most construction workers in the world use his goggles. But he’s gone far beyond goggles. His investments in real estate, luxury assets, public and private holdings, foreign currency, precious metals—you name it—have made Black, Inc. a household name.
Braden is the CEO, while Ben handles marketing and their father, Bobby Black, is chairman of the board.
Not bad for a guy who never went to college.
Yeah, we all know the story. He’ll probably think I’m ridiculous if I ask about it.
“Do you have any pets?” I ask after swallowing a bite of broccoli. I have no idea where that question came from, but it’s too late now. The words have left my mouth.
“A dog.”
I widen my eyes. “Oh?” I’m not sure why I’m surprised, but I am. I love dogs, but Braden doesn’t seem to be the dog type.
“Yeah. A rescue pup. She’s adorable.”
I smile and lift my eyebrows. “You rescued a dog?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
Is it? I’m not sure. “Well…no.”
His eyes soften and he pulls out his phone and hands it to me. “She’s great. Part border collie and part Australian cattle dog