Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,77
Geraldine Grayson’. She raised her eyebrows at that one, clearly believing he had made it up having never seen EGG on a number plate in her life. Nevertheless she found herself totally enthralled by the new way in which he was playing the game and waited patiently, fascinated to see what he would come up with next.
Vaughn carried on watching the cars and picked out NIC which gave him ‘Now I Can’t’ and then INH which was ‘Imagine Not Having’; he then slightly dubiously went for EGG again ‘Elise Geraldine Grayson’ and then finished with IML, ‘In My Life’.
During his last few sentences, he had dropped his voice to a ridiculously sexy drawl and as he spoke the last three words he locked his eyes onto hers, their dark depths burning and Elise was fairly certain that she had stopped breathing. Never had she experienced something so intense before and nervously she poked the tip of her tongue out and ran it over her dry lips, watching as his eyes automatically followed the movement and then darkened even further. Her mouth had gone numb, she couldn’t form any words and the rest of the world melted away; it was just her and this man and those dark, dark eyes doing unspoken things to her body. She felt her arousal quickening as their eyes remained connected and she crossed her legs under the table in an effort to stave off the feelings. His eyes glinted wickedly and she knew that he had realised the effect he was having on her – she was in a hopeless state of excitement and he hadn’t even touched her.
Suddenly there was a loud crash from the other side of the restaurant as someone dropped a plate and their moment was instantly broken, both pairs of eyes darting across to the source of the commotion. Elise sent a silent prayer of thanks for the other diner’s clumsiness, those precious few seconds allowing her to draw breath and attempt to retain some much needed equilibrium.
Turning back to her after checking out the cause of the noise himself, Vaughn blew out a deep breath and ran his hand somewhat shakily through his hair. It was a tiny movement but Elise noticed it and was thankful to realise that she wasn’t the only one affected by their recent game.
“Well...” Vaughn said at length “That was way more fun than I remember it being when I was ten.”
Grateful that the intense sexual tension had been broken, Elise smiled and got up to leave the table.
“As I’ve never played it before, I have nothing to compare it to,” she said, “although I don’t remember any travelling games I ever played being quite so – hot.” And giving him a taste of his own medicine, she winked and sauntered away; heading back out to the car park and leaving him to clear the table and follow in her wake.
During the rest of the journey they chatted easily, deciding by unspoken agreement that perhaps it was safer for both of them that they didn’t play any more travelling games. There was no residual atmosphere now from when she had stormed out of his office and for that Elise was glad. Vaughn hadn’t broached the subject of Cole again and their relationship however if he ever did, she knew that she would tell him the truth. He had no right to dictate her life to her but she had no right to lie to him either. If nothing else, whatever was happening between them needed to be based on honesty and as they were only ever going to be friends in her eyes, then being honest about her relationship with Cole was hardly a big deal.
When they got closer to the hotel, Elise started to question Vaughn on the details of the conference that they were attending; wondering who it was for and what type of client they would encounter.
“It’s a conference for stock brokers and investment bankers.” He said. “A friend of mine is in the business and tipped me off. Fortunately the hotel owner was more than happy to accommodate us, which means we get to set up right outside the entrance to the conference, allowing us to catch them as they come in and go out. The thing with these types is that they have a lot of money at their disposal, which they invest for their clients. They thrive on the thrill of the investment and can sometimes forget about