The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,15
complain about that decision.
She wasn’t really interested, but she felt bad for Dave. He had a difficult boss who was pushing him to get tasks accomplished more efficiently. As an accountant, they had to “close the books” every month which required a great deal of tedious activities, according to Dave. He was griping about the monthly schedule and all the overtime he had been putting in lately while Jade tried to listen, but she was more focused on the cheesy pasta and the delicious, crusty bread with the garlic infused olive oil in front of her.
So when his boss and Angelo came into the restaurant that night, he quickly halted his complaining and switched into charming mode. Jade hadn’t figured out what was happening until Angelo stopped by their table to say hello to Jade.
Dave was embarrassingly effusive in inviting them to dine together. It was more than a little mortifying to watch Dave schmooze in such an obvious way. Before the other two men had come into the restaurant, Dave had been sullen with his shoulders drooped as if he were a beaten man. But when his boss sat down next to him and Angelo next to Jade, he perked right up. He was so intent on impressing his boss and the new owner of the company that he completely missed Angelo’s hand on the back of his girlfriend’s chair.
Jade noticed though. How could she not notice? The man’s hand slipped under her hair, his fingers teased the exposed skin at the nape of her neck and made her shiver with awareness. His long, muscular leg was plastered against her own. When she tried to shift away from it, he only changed their positions so that their legs were touching more intimately.
She poked at her pasta, Dave not even aware of anything going on.
She glared at Dave, willing him to get a grip and figure out what was happening. The man he was trying to impress was irritated with Dave’s conversation. Jade tried several times to change the subject but every time she started to speak, either Dave would switch the conversation back to the original, irritating subject, or Angelo’s hand would slide along her neck under her hair, distracting her.
She tried to remove his hand once, but he just moved on to her earlobe. When she gasped at the touch, her whole body shivering with anticipation of what he might do next, she simply closed her mouth and pretended she wasn’t leaning into his touch, that she wasn’t moving her head so that his fingers caressed her neck and throat.
By the time the meal was over, she was a quivering mass of need but she took a deep breath and grabbed onto Dave’s arm, wishing both men a cordial goodbye and walking away with safe and secure Dave beside her.
Later that night, Jasper disappeared again and Jade knew exactly where he was. She was so angry about what Angelo had done during dinner that she stomped over to his house. When she stepped up onto the new stones of his patio, she found him already sitting in the dark, Jasper on his lap while he sipped a glass of wine.
“I came to get my cat,” she said by way of explanation, staying far away from him. She’d had enough of his heat today. She didn’t think she could stand having him close to her again.
“He’s right here,” Angelo replied, but didn’t do anything to push the feline away. Jasper twitched his tail and looked up at her, those golden eyes daring her to take him off of Angelo’s lap. “Would you like some wine?” he asked.
Jade sighed and debated silently what to do. Jasper wasn’t getting up, Angelo definitely wasn’t going to push the cat off and she wasn’t daring enough to go over and lift the enormous fluff ball out of his lap. That was too intimate by far.
“I’ll have a glass,” she finally said, more because she really wanted to just relax. And if he was on the other side of the table, she would feel a bit better.
They sat in the darkness sipping the amazingly good red wine, talking about different things. Angelo even made her laugh as he told her funny stories. But there was still that undercurrent of tension that wasn’t going away.
When Jasper finally jumped off of Angelo’s lap, obviously ready to find his own bed for the night, Jade stood up. “Thank you very much for the wine,” she said and